Windsurfing Learning Curve

Well was a bit of a weekend of it just past.

Ben - came out on Sunday and we had a run with Simon in the morning at wynnum @ rosebay. He is getting frustrated too rough give me smooth and a wakeboard he says. I think Ben needs some lessons to get him going - he just doesn't seem to be able to hang when the board gets going - I say stay low and move back (but I am dad and am only learning too) He says when he steps down the rear of the board once he is going it sinks and the front of the board rares up becomes unstable and he falls off most of the time. He is not much heavier that me so must be technique. Hopefully he persists with it as he is coming along really well. Board Pacifico with 6m saverne synergy.

Jaye - went to RQYS on Saturday and had some time with Cameron and Pat (Thank you for that) on the Bic techno - he did really well. Had a go with 3m , 4.7, and 5.3 (which I was running). 3m - comfort zone now I think, 4.7m sail found it heavy and hard to uphaul. Did ok with the 5.3m sail - go figure. Sunday was with us at wynnum did well and started with the 3m and progressed to the 5.3 and stuck with that. He did very well a natural both Cameron and Simon commented. Board Naish Kaihlua 180

Anita - had another go on Sunday and did well with the Naish 180 and 3m kids rig

Me - Pacifico 200l with 6m severne synergy (our biggest sail) Well I was doing great til Simon say show me a gybe (only worked out what a gybe was last week - lucky) Thanks Simon for the tips will practice that one - easier that uphauling which I might ad I am getting very good at. MMM not quite sure but the 6m sails used to scare the crap out of us but don't seem to anymore in fact we are discussing getting a 7m sail (daunting with the prospect of uphauling).

I progressed to the Naish 180 and the 6m synergy and seemed relatively comfortable on it even though it still seems quite flighty to me as far as going in a straight line in a bit of swell. I am very comfortable with the Pacifico so I guess that probably means time to move to something smaller like the naish 180 and get comfortable with it.

Another fun weekend on the boards - I still reckon the pacifico is faster. Have fun

Cheers
Morgan

Looks like it might be a bit of a walk at Wello this afternoon.

Foot straps are on Jaye's board the 180l - time for him to start aiming for these I think. Lets see how his gybing is like in a bit of wind.

Ben and I will be on the Pacifico 200l are looking to use the harness - see how we go - looks like around 20 knots the question what size sail 5.4, 6, 7.5??

Hook in, stay low, arms straight, stand back and look in the direction heading and have fun. MMM sounds easy enough... Bring it on

Sounds like a great time Morgan

Good to see the kids progressing quickly.

Cheers Jeff

Nice meeting you Morgan and Ben yesterday at Wello. Sure was a nice day for sailing. See you in the water. Keep up the good work. Steve

Well today

Jaye with his new harness thank you Simon was straight into foot straps and hooked and blasting. Fell over a lot though. Brief moments of looking as though he new what he was doing lol.

Fantastic

Visitors will ad more later. Pretty funny

Lovely to meet you Morgan and Anita. You both had some great runs out at Wello today! Thanks for giving me a go of your smaller sail, definitely felt better for me given the wind.
Karen

Well what can I say about today's runs

Firstly the two boy piked and played with cars instead pffft to that lol.

Did I say I was going to focus on the harness.... Hooked in twice and got flung straight away..... That sucked big time!!! Who needs it I anyway.

Someone said it was over 20 knot wind today sure did seem like it too. Had some fantastic runs out there today, beach starts about 50% of the time - pacifico with 6 m synergy the monster smashed it today with some very on the limit of control runs - hold on, hang low, staight front arm and straightish front leg, look in the direction u want to go and blast across the top of that swell. Seemed to work ok.

Fired up the naish with the six on it and couldn't even get a start, tried for at least half an hour - that sucked too so swapped back to the Pacifico and away I went.

Anita - yes did get back on the horse - bit surprised but good on her on the naish 180 with the kids 3m rig and smashed it. When we swapped she had a go on the pacifico and said it went too fast so waited patiently for me to finish falling off the Naish to get going again. Nice work girl keep up the good work.

We met some more really nice people today - seems windsurfing people are very friendly.

We would like to say thanks to all you guys that missed us - hope we didn't get in the way too much

Lot of action down at Wello today.

We will sleep well tonight

Its great to see you and the family having a go and succeeding.

You gotta nail the harness. Its the pathway to heaps more fun.

One method to stop catapulting when you hook up, is to sit in your harness when you hook up, so the sail has to lift you up to throw you over the handlebars.

Thanks John340 for the tips - I think we need all the help we can get - I will have to look at more down haul and more weight down in the harness.

That's all part of the learning curve, in 6 months time you will have another goal (i.e. carve gybe) which will be just as challenging, all part of the fun. Having said that it was pretty challenging conditions being so gusty and choppy. You probably learnt a lot but it doesn't feel like it on those days. When you go out on a calmer day it will all seem so much easier

Keep at it...

Hi Morgan I'm with you

I've got a chainsaw!!! Means nobody else has to experience the pain and pleasure

Just kidding but know the feeling well.

1 good day and you will fell the love again

Yes an epic weekend - couldn't make it to the gym this morning!

5 hours on the water on Saturday - 2 hours at queens dealing with the surf getting lessons from Damo - making progress on water starting.
Lunch then Nowork texted me Sandstone in the arvo????? Ok if I must! 3 hours later had to crawl off the water. All the tide was gone
(Flame suit on) riding my new board thanks to Kurt. I was like a kid - just one more run. Okay another run

So I back up on Sunday feeling fatigued but Nowork and Deejay were back at sandstone and the wind pumping

Felt completely different to previous day - more gusty?- just couldn't get comfortable. Catapult after catapult cracked nose of the board

Gave up after 2 hours- decided to concentrate on water stars. Getting them most of time now. Still can't find the back strap

Nowork was opposite - couldn't get a grip on Saturdays conditions with his 115l board then on Sunday trailed his $50 special 98l board and was away

So just sending love and respect - certainly not an overnight sport - I've got the mental and physical scars to prove it

Decided at this stage to invest in private lessons to keep the sport progressing. Often I feel learning windsurfing is like learning snow skiing.

My friends said come skiing!! We'll take you to top of thredbo and by the time you reach the bottom you'll be able to ski

Well after being rescued half way down I decided - contrary to my friends advice - to 'waste' some money on lessons.
Changed everything and still took a couple of seasons and lots more lessons to get what 'just ride on your toes' meant and felt like.

Some days with windsurfing I feel like I'm at the top of Thredbo crashing my way to the bottom
With advice on 'commit to harness' making sense' but appearing like black magic and ' a little bit of this and that' and you'll be in the straps equally baffling.
The learning curve can appear as steep as Thredbo!

however on the days when it all comes together
Getting trashed on an epic day is certainly a downer, these days I see it like - well I'm in over my head trying to ski ' black' runs when I'm only just at ' blue run' level.

I'll fix my board and push on

Resspect++++ to you for doing it without harness. I had a short planning run without harness (broke a line) and now have blister on my thumb! It was a killer on the arms!!

Cheers Jeff

Three months in and you are allready getting water starts! They took me about a year to start getting. Windsurfing has a seriously big learning curve. Every one you saw on the weekend that were caving it up has had days like that. I'm not sure how much wind you guys had down there but I was getting smashed with a 60l board & 5m sail yesterday, but still loving it. Next time you go out in better conditions for your level the stoke will be back and most bad memories of the weekend will be erased. In fact scroll up and have a look at those pictures posted on these 2 pages with the knowledge it gets even better than that.

^ +1 I agree with ROSSS. You look good in the photos. Good stance, balance, sail and foot position. Its a matter of time on water and persistence and you will be comfortable sailing in your harness and footstraps in 15kts of wind.

Yesterdays conditions are another story. With higher wind speed you have less time to react. You have to develop the muscle memory. That comes from time on water.

I reinforce what ROSSS has said, you've come along heaps in 6 months, the next 6 are going to be a lot of fun.

Hehehe! Slapped silly,Had a gutful, 2 days later your looking for green arrows"Your AN ADDICT!! So you will be in the straps and planing and be beating yourself up for not getting thru a carve gybe before you know it

G'day Morgan

I am also a learner-driver (probably 'intermediate' level), so really interesting reading this blog as I was 'there' not so long ago

I can get into the harness and the footstraps, and do beach-starts (working on deep-water starts) ... my major downfall is I can't gybe in a strong wind ... friends always pay me out about having to do 270 degree tack turns when sailing downwind in heavy air.

Saw some complaints about the swell ... agree this is a massive pain in the @r5e, especially on Moreton Bay where the waves seem to be 1m long and 1.5m high. I've come back wanting to leave my gear on the beach, report it stolen and claim insurance on a couple of occassions...

Then one day this absolute weapon of a windsurfer (must have been at least 65 ... probably reading this post and laughing) came screaming up next to me on a big day after seeing me having trouble getting over the waves. he said I should try to stand up as straight as possible, keep my legs relatively straight and don't attempt to bend my knees like a skier going over moguls. He said 'stand strong and blow a hole through the wave in front of you' ... which worked really well. He then twitched his back arm and disappeared into the distance, like Batman or something.

So the best thing I've learnt is windsurf near a bunch of others (without getting in their way), and have a chat to them at the beach afterwards and they will 100% of the time be able to give you some sort of valuable tip. Looks like you're already well amongst this though, I'm sure you'll be one of those people I'm asking advice from before too long!

Heading down to Rose Bay / Manly this weekend, going to try my hand in the forecasted 20+ knot sou-easter with a 5.3m sail. Hope to see you out there!

Tim