HURGHADA ONLINE YOR GUIDE TO HURGHADA

welyonlin · Site Admin Joined: 10 Mar 2008 Posts: 34

hurghada Learn to windsurf 4

Okay, let's learn how to windsurf. You must be tired of reading!

Let's start to understand what you do when you're on the water. Some schools, like ours, use a "dry land simulator" to teach windsurfing. This is a platform on a turntable on dry land. When you stand on it, with your instructor next to you on the ground, the instructor will work you through all your new skills without getting wet! You can probably simulate some of this on the land with your own gear - but probably not the turning and you need to be especially careful to not damage yourself or your gear on the land. Schools will not be able to let you use their simulators without an instructor as a part of their school insurance policy.

We start this instruction at the point when you have completed assembling your gear into a complete rig.

Make sure your booms are solidly attached (they should not wiggle much at all) to the mast no higher than your collarbone and all the parts are securely attached to one another. You should know all the terms used and that the "clue" of the sail is the pointy part of the sail the end of the boom, farthest from the mast. The clue of the sail is pulled out to the boom using the "outhaul line.

Once you're out in the water, remember these general rules:

1.Your back is always facing 12 o'clock.

2.Your sail is always on the 6 o'clock side of the board

3.When you turn, the board turns under your feet, the sail stays in the 6 o'clock position.

4.Pick land-based targets and landmarks to sail toward and from.

5.Use common sense.

Getting out in the water. Carry your sail out into the water and set it down. Then go get your board and carry it out and place it next to the sail and connect the sail and board. If your gear is light enough you can attach the sail to the board on land and carry both together into the water. Do not leave a sail unattached or unattended on dry land. The wind can pick it up and send it flying. Someone could get hurt or the gear can get broken.

[Hint: Set your board upwind of the sail with the mast pointing toward 6 o'clock- Move your body so that you are at 12 o'clock with, the board between you and your sail and the board pointing in the 3 or 9 o'clock direction you would like to start going in]

Walk your gear out to a depth deeper than the length of the fully extended daggerboard, this is usually about mid thigh. Extend your daggerboard.

Raising the sail. Hop on the board facing the sail and place one knee on either side of the mast base. When you are ready, reach out and get the uphaul in your hand. With one hand on the uphaul stand up on your feet, again, with one foot on each side of the mast base.

[Hint: be aware of whether the board is tipping from side to side. If it is, you need to shift your weight to keep the board as flat as possible in the water. Fool around with this by shifting your feet and bending your knees. Stay close to shore until you can keep the board fairly stable.

As you stand up keep your back straight, knees bent and hand on the uphaul. You will begin to lift the sail out of the water. As the sail becomes lighter, because the water is sheeting off the sail, you will be able to lift the mast into a nearly upright position. If you pull it too far in toward your body you will probably knock yourself over backwards. If this happens you will need to reposition the sail to the 6 o'clock side of the board and start over. This time, don't bring the mast so close to your body,

Notice you are still holding only the uphaul. You should not have needed to touch the booms.

Neutral position. Now that you're standing with the mast nearly upright and your hands are on the uphaul, transfer one hand to the mast. TIhen transfer the other hand to the mast. It doesn't really matter where you hold the mast so long as you are comfortable. The board should still be pointing generally across the wind and the clue end of the sail should be pointing toward 6 o'clock. Your back should be to 12 o'clock. If this is true, you are in the "neutral" position. That is, you are not sailing and there is no wind in the sail. If any of this is not true, paddle back close to shore and start over again until you are comfortable in the neutral position.

[Hint: Try to be aware if you are accidentally turning the board upwind or downwind depending upon the angle of the mast with respect to the front and rear of the board. If you lean the mast toward the nose of the the board will turn downwind, if you lean the mast toward the tail of the board, it will turn upwind. You can practice doing this deliberately near the shore and you will learn how to control the direction of the board. This is really good practice that will come in handy later.]

Ready, set, go. Okay, pay attention and practice the steps on dry land, with an imaginary sail, until you feel like you've got them down. If you are getting excited, take a couple of slow, deep breaths. The "ready" position is when you reposition your feet. You shift the foot closest to the back of the board back about 8 to 10 inches, a comfortable step back. You slide the foot closest to the front of the board so your toes point to the front of the board and your arch is next to the mast base. Notice your body is now behind the mast as a result of this shift of your foot position and you have not moved the mast at all. Your sail should still be in the neutral position.

The "set" position changes the position of the mast. Since you are now physically behind the mast you should be able to tilt the mast to an upright position over the mast base, with the top of the mast slightly over the center of the board toward the 12 o'clock side of the board. The clue of the sail will still be out toward 6 o'clock. Your board should still be pointing across the wind.

Place your back hand (the hand closest to the back of the board) in a comfortable position about 1/3 of the way out along the boom.

[Wait -- what is a "back hand?" Good question! Stand with your board lengthwise in front of you. The hand closest to the back of your board is the back hand. Your front hand is the one closest to the front of the board. If you get on the other side of your board, you will see that the back and front hand switch. This is why we don't refer to left or right hand throughout this information.]

The "go" position is just that - time to go sailing! Gently and deliberately move your front hand from the mast and position it on the boom near the mast. Face your hips toward the sail and gently draw your back hand, and only your back hand, back toward your body. Just bringing your hand six inches closer to your body is usually plenty. Do not move the position of the mast or your front hand, just move the back hand. You will feel the wind fill the sail and your board will start to glide across the water.

[Hint. Hands are normally in the knuckle up position on the booms. After a while you might try switching your hand closest to the mast to "knuckles down. " Use whichever hand position is comfortable. Try not to get in the habit of gripping the booms tightly. Trv to just hold them and gently catch the wind in the sail.]

Stopping. You better have read this whole thing, or you won't know how to stop! The simplest way to stop is to let go of the boom with your back hand only. Hold the boom with your front hand (which should still be close to the mast) and allow the sail to swing out back to neutral. You will have stopped sailing but you will sdflbedrifting. You can also simply let go of the sail and allow it to drop into the water. The drag of the sail in the water will slow you down quickly. Andlast, you can always let go and hop in the water -- but remember to stay with the board.

http://www.windcraft.com/windsurflesson.html