You drive by the river or the coast and see those windsurfers flying along, their colorful sails glistening in the sun and mixing it with the wind and the waves. Sounds good, doesn’t it? If you take the right approach to learning to windsurf, mastering the basics before venturing out with the big guys, then you can soon be the object of others’ envy. This article gives you step-by-step ideas for the first few months of your windsurfing career.
“I want to be able to windsurf.” Making this kind of statement is a good start, but there’s quite a lot of work between an utterance and an accomplishment. Like many rewarding activities, this one requires a patient start. From practicing standing on the board, to small, slow movements and then, as you get more skilled, to making various turns and picking up speed, and buying your own equipment, this article will give you useful hints on how to turn a wish into many enjoyable weekends out on the water.
Start with Basics and Lessons
Start with lessons, start with a big, borrowed beginners’ board – or your start will probably soon be followed by a frustrating end. Your first hours or days of windsurfing will involve a lot of “practice makes perfect” kind of talk, and you might sometimes think there is no chance you’ll ever be able to do it properly. But you have to crawl before you can walk, and in windsurfing, crawling is simply standing on the board – most likely, while somebody else is holding it steady.
Find a coach to give you a couple of lessons early on, both to help you get a feel for the board and sail and to make sure you don’t pick up incorrect habits right from the beginning. While your coach (or an expert friend, if you think the relationship will survive a few training sessions) holds the board steady, practice getting your balance, moving around, and then rocking the board side to side. The next step is to learn how to pull the sail up out of the water without falling backwards.
Once the sail is up and your gear is beginning to look like a windsurfer, grab the upright mast with both hands – not the boom, which spans the width of the sail – this will come later. Holding the mast means the sail will catch just a little wind, which is preferable at this stage, so you don’t go flying out of control. Leaning the mast forwards and backwards will help you turn into or away from the wind as you putt along gradually (and most importantly, under control!). Right now, turning around entirely can only be done by jumping off (make sure you stick to shallow water at the beginning), turning the board around and getting back up again – but don’t worry, this phase won’t last forever.
Moving on to Basic Windsurfing
Keep practicing by holding onto the mast, and when you feel more confident with the way the board moves and the effect of the wind, you can start to use the sail as it was designed – to really catch that wind. But wait – take it slowly. Start by holding the mast as usual with both hands, then reach around with your back hand to pull in the boom a little. All things being equal, you should start to speed up, and gradually you’ll be able to progress to holding the boom with both hands. While you’re still beginning, try to avoid doing this in really strong wind conditions – you’ll only give yourself a fright! But in any case, falling off is part of the fun, so keep falling off, getting back on that board, and getting ready to fall off all over again.
When you’ve got sick of jumping off your board every time you want to go in the other direction, head back to your coach and get a lesson on tacking. This happens when you turn the nose of your board across the direction of the wind to turn around. After you’ve got this under control, you can learn to jibe – another way to turn around, this time by turning the nose away from the direction of the wind. This is a bit trickier and will definitely result in a few falls, but remember, it’s just part of the appeal!
Time for Your Own Equipment
After you’ve mastered these basics on a beginners’ board, it’s time to move up to a smaller, faster board. If you’ve already got hooked on the idea of windsurfing, then now’s the time to invest a little. Talk to experienced people in a windsurfing shop to get the perfect windsurfer for you. The equipment should be suited to your height and weight, and other factors to consider are the usual weather conditions in the area you want to sail, the type of windsurfing you’re most interested in (generally speaking, you might be more into either slalom-style racing, or wave jumping), and of course, your budget.
When choosing a board, you usually need to decide between plastic and carbon fibre, both of which have their pros and cons. If you’re really in it just for fun, and want something more durable that’ll take bumps and knocks without too much damage being done, as well as being cheaper, then head for plastic in the first instance. More serious windsurfers can try the more delicate but better performing carbon fibre, but the bank account will notice this too. Moving onto masts, some similar decisions are required, usually between the pricier but more responsive carbon fibre or the heavier but tougher fibreglass. Finally, most windsurfers at this stage stick to just two sails of different sizes, to give some flexibility depending on the wind conditions. Try to make sure you get a mast that fits both of your sails.
Practice Makes a Perfect Windsurfer
You’ve got the basics, you’ve got the gear, now you just need to get out there and sail, sail, sail. Aim to increase your confidence in terms of how far or how long you can sail for in one stretch, or in the percentage of turns you make successfully. Always turn over in your mind the basic instructions your coach gave you. Practice manoeuvrability by setting yourself an imaginary course and following it as closely as possible.
A common problem at this stage is the fear of getting hurt, usually by being thrown from your board or “catapaulted.” Most of the time, this problem can be avoided by using correct technique. Watch other, more advanced windsurfers in your patch to pick up tips on technique, and ask someone to watch you and provide feedback. Other problem areas are learning to jibe on your shorter board, and perfecting the water start. These are techniques that really just take time to master, so keep practicing to overcome the hurdles.
As time goes on, you might start thinking of branching into one of the specialised fields of windsurfing. Different boards are required for each of these, so most windsurfers (except those lucky enough to have a big budget) choose one and get really involved. Wavejumping on the ocean is becoming increasingly popular, but slalom racing (which you can do on rivers, lakes, or a reasonably flat ocean) is still a common pursuit. Freestyle windsurfing mixes aspects of both and adds a few tricks, making it a challenge for all. Whichever you choose, you’re giving yourself a great chance to spend time in the fresh air getting fit, so you definitely can’t lose.