Essential Improvers Tips
for windsurfing (PART 3)
WATERSTARTS
PLENTY OF ROOM UPWIND. There is only one place to
be when you waterstart and that is at least a metre UPWIND of the
board. Let yourself drift into the tail or the windward edge and
there's no way you can stop it heading up into wind.
BLOODY GET ON WITH IT! For every second the rig
stays in the water after a fall, it fills up and gets 100% harder to
recover. Get to it straight away and the deftest push is often all
that's needed to fly it again
LOOK AROUND THE FRONT. Trouble getting up? So
nearly there? Well as you lunge out of the water and throw the rig
up, try and look around the front of the board. That action alone
gets your body moving forward towards the mastfoot, bears you away
and generates the extra power you need to finish it off.
FEET, GRIP AND SAFETY
BARE FEET. Good Sailors have sensitive feet to the
extent where they are using individual toe pressure to keep the
board on line, something they can't achieve if they're wearing thick
boots. Now foot protection is of course sensible if you sail at a
venue with a threatening bottom, but increase your 'feel' by
selecting the thinnest most subtle shoes that the season allows.
Wellingtons are not the way forward.
SLIPPERY DECKS - THE CONFIDENCE SMASHER. The agony
of having a foot slide off the deck and crunch into the UJ destroys
your self belief to the extent where you cramp up and even try to
grip the deck with your toes. A good non-slip deck meanwhile gives
you the confidence to dance around and press against the surface
with controlled aggression in the manoeuvres. Get it re-covered
regularly. You'll never spend a more fruitful amount of money (even
less if you do it yourself) on windsurfing gear.
ROPE - THE ALL PURPOSE SAVIOUR. Safety isn't a very
sexy subject, so even if you forget the whistles, flags, flares,
inflatable dinghies etc., always stuff 2 or 3 metres of rope into a
harness pocket or wherever. You can use it to tow and be towed as
well as to lash a mast together, make a temporary UJ or tie up a
collapsed rig.
CARVE GYBES
THE RIG - MOTOR NOT STEERING WHEEL. The concept to
overcome as you move towards carve gybes, is that from now on the
rig is only there to provide power NOT steerage. So before trying
the gybe, just sail on a reach and foot-steer up and downwind. As
you do so, pretend that mast is stuck straight into the board
without a UJ so the rig and board move as one unit and both bank
over at the same angle.
MORE TIME = LESS CHANCE. The idea of taking out a
smaller sail when you carve gybe in the hope of buying a few more
seconds is totally flawed. Under-powered the board sits too deep in
the water and will trip as soon as you try to carve.
GIVE THE BRAIN A CHANCE! A good carve gybe lasts no
more than 4 seconds during which time many things have to happen. It
is IMPOSSIBLE to concentrate on everything so make a plan and with
every attempt concentrate on just ONE aspect of it: first your
posture, then your back foot pressure, next time the rig angle, next
time sheeting in etc etc. Work logically through it, and as one
section comes together, move onto the next.
CHECK OUT YOUR ROOTS! 99% of carve gybing errors
stem from bad beginnings. The way you PREPARE for the gybe - your
speed and posture as you commit to the turning edge - is crucial.
Get these right and all else follows.
BODY AND RIG - A STEADY RELATIONSHIP. We are prone
to over-complicating the carve gybe especially the relationship
between body and rig. In fact it si very simple and they are as one
unit. From the moment you unhook, through the cave itself and right
up to the rig and foot change, you just hold it out in front of you
on an extended front arm. The body moves forward and inboard and
then into the turn and so does the rig.
SOCK HELL. Wearing black or grey calf length socks
with wetsuit boots or shoes does not send out positive signs to the
opposite sex.
HAND DOWN - SHEET IN! There are a surprising amount
of parallels between the flare and carve gybes. Although the rig
performs a different role, in both it's only by sliding the back
hand down the boom towards the clew that you can sheet in
effectively.
PRESS - DON'T STAMP. The 290-330cm boards which we
generally use to learn the carve gybe, have quite thick rails
designed to support a big rig and offer the sailor some comfortable
floatiness. They are not designed to grip like those on a wave board
so treat them gently. The action is one of PRESSING them gradually
into the water as you turn and NOT banking too hard. Stamp on them
and they just cork out and throw you off.
TIE A KNOT IN IT. Don't pee in a modern,
heat-sealed or blind stitched wetsuit, it will stay with you all
day.
