HURGHADA ONLINE YOR GUIDE TO HURGHADA

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

hurghada Learn to windsurf 5
Turning. Okay, so leaming how to sail in one direction wasn't that tough. But don't forget you have to know how to get back to your beach! There are two kinds of turns: an upwind turn, called a "tack" and a downwind turn, called a "jibe."

[Hint. Take a moment to visualize yourvelf doing these movements before vou try them on the water.]

The tack. The tack is an upwind turn. When we say upwind, we mean that as the board turns, the nose of the board will rotate upwind and through the 12 o'clock position on your wind clock. As long as you maintain the turning position, the board will continue to turn toward the opposite position across-the-wind on your wind clock. For example, if I am sailing toward 3 o'clock and I do a tack, the nose of my board will turn, in a single smooth movement toward 12 o'clock and keep turning, and rotate beneath my feel as I change my body position. The whole time I will stay in the middle of my wind clock and watch the nose of the board sweep around the clock numbers like a backward moving second hand. When I get back to almost 9 o'clock, I move into my ready, set, go position, with my hands on the other side of the booms and sail toward my new destination. Okay. that's the concept. Here's the step- by-step specifics:

Return to the neutral position. Both hands on the masl feet on either side of the mast base, facing the sail. Lean the mast back. Lean the mast back toward the water at the tail end of the board. You can even dip the ends of the boom in the water if you are in very light wind.

As you lean the mast back, notice that the nose of the board is beginning to turn upwind toward 12 o'clock and that the clue of the sail is moving across the back of the board. The back of the board will pass under the clue of the sail. This is perfect!

Move your feet. Begin moving your feet around the mast as the board turns and keep your back to 12 o'clock (if you keep your back to 12 o'clock, your feet will have to move around the mast as if you were moving in an area in front of the mast). As you lift your feet (take baby steps, shuffle and stay in the center of the board so you don't lose your balance) you will allow the board to turn under your feet. Do not move your body faster than the board is turning and keep leaning the mast back and away from you! Notice that your board turned and you are still with your back to 12 o'clock and the clue of your sail is still pointing toward 6 o'clock. The only thing that changed was the direction of the nose of the board.

Keep leaning your mast and moving your feet until your board is turned all the way around into the new across-the-wind position. If you started facing the 3 o'clock position, you will now face the 9 o'clock position. If vou started facing 9 o'clock. you will now face the 3 o'clock position. Congratulations!

Don't just stand there,. ready, set, go on the other side of the booms in your new direction!!

The jibe.The jibe is a downwind turn. When we say downwind, we mean that, as the board turns, the nose of the board will rotate downwind and through the 6 o'clock position on your wind clock. As long as you maintain the turning position, the board will continue to turn toward the opposite position across-the-wind on your wind clock. For example, if I am sailing toward 3 o'clock and I do a jibe, the nose of my board will turn, in a single smooth movement, toward 6 o'clock and keep turning, and rotate beneath my feet, as I change my body position. The whole time I will stay in the middle of my wind clock and watch the nose of the board sweep around the clock numbers like a forward moving second hand. When I get back to almost 9 o'clock, I move into my ready, set go position, with my hands on the other side of the booms and sail toward my new destination. Okay. that's the concept. Here's the step-by-step specifics:

Return to the neutral position. Both hands on the mast feet on either side of the mast base, facing the sail.

Lean the mast forward. Lean the mast forward toward the water at the nose of the board. You can lean it at a very extreme angle.

As you lean the mast forward, notice that the nose of the board is beginning to turn downwind toward 6 o'clock and that the clue of the sail is moving toward the front of the board. This is perfect!

Move your feet. Begin moving your feet around the mast, as the board turns and keep your back to 12 o'clock (if you keep your back to 12 o'clock, your feet will have to move around the mast as if you were moving in an area behind them ast. As you lift your feet (take baby steps, shuffle and stay in the center of the board so you don't lose your balance) you will allow the board to turn under your feet. Do not move your body faster than the board is turning and keep leaning the mast forward and away from you! Notice that your board turned and you are still with your back to 12 o'clock and the clue of your sail is still pointing toward 6 o'clock. The only thing that changed was the direction of the nose of the board.

Keep leaning your mast and moving your feet until your board is turned all the way around into the new across-the-wind position. If you started facing the 3 o'clock position, you will now face the 9 o'clock position. If you started facing 9 o'clock, you will now face the 3 o'clock position. Congratulations!

Don't just stand there.. ready, set, go on the other side of the booms in your new direction!!

An important summary. Remember a tack is an upwind turn. Lean your mast to theback to tack. Remember a jibe is a downwind tum. Lean your mast forward to the front to do a jibe.

But teacher! I couldn't stop turning! I keep doing little circles! That's okay student, be patient with yourself and be aware that you will keep turning until you stop leaning the mast. When you want to stop turning, bring the mast back to the center of the board.

[Hint. the speed of vour turn will depend on a number of factors: your weight, your sail size, your board size and volume and, most importantly, the wind speed. The more you practice, the faster you can turn.]

[Another hint. Practice doing your tacks first. When you are well upwind of where you started, then do a jibe. Believe it or not, jibes are easier to learn. This is because you will move your feet in a direction that keeps you in the part of the board that has the most flotation. But think, if you only do jibes, you will have to walk your gear back to where you started because the wind is always blowing from 12 o'clock toward 6 o'clock (upwind to downwind.]

Self rescue. This is important to know and equally important to practice. The basic self rescue is to lay down on the board, with your feet toward the tail of the board and the sail in the water and paddle back to home or, the closest land. The sail will be heavy and make paddling difficult if there is considerable distance to paddle. You can also partially disassemble the rig by undoing the outhaul and the boom (Yes, this is awkward, but remember you are not doing this because you want to. Do NOT undo the uphaul and the base). Roll the sail around the mast (neatness does not matter) and move the boom so it is parallel with the mast. Push the mast and boom onto the board and let them hang off the back. Get back on the board and hold the mast and boom between your legs and paddle to the closest land. Notice a couple of things: you did not detach the uphaul, so the boom won't sink or get lost. And you didn't undo the mast so you won't lose the sail or the mast. See, you can paddle without concern about losing your gear! If you have battens in your sail you can't roll it up unless you remove the battens and stick the battens in your bathing suit or wetsuit (careful, they are fiberglass).

There are many good reasons not to get yourself in a situation that requires a self rescue. Practice a self rescue close to shore but in a depth over your head so you can see how much trouble it is to get out of trouble. Better to practice maneuvers close to shore and paddle back when you are just a little way out. When you have practiced enough, then go out further across the lake. And even if you do that, still practice a self rescue because the wind is unpredictable and if it stops blowing or blows harder than you can handle at your skill level, you should be prepared to get to shore safely.

Steering. Steering is a like doing part of a turn. For practice, try holding the mast (or the mast and uphaul line, or just the uphaul line) without putting your hands on the boom and tilt the mast slightly toward the tail of the board. Notice the nose of the board begins to turn toward 12 o'clock. Then bring the mast back to the normal sailing position. The nose of the board will return to the across-the-wind direction. Practice doing a snake dance across the lake. Then turn around, by doing either a tack or a jibe, and do the dance again, except this time lean the mast slightly forward. Notice the nose of the board begins to turn toward 6 o'clock. Then bring the mast back to the sailine position. The nose of the board will return to the same across the wind direction. Do more snake dances across the water. When you feel comfortable, do the snake dance with your hands on the booms.

[Hint: the amount of leaning the mastforward or backward will depend on the size of the sail, size of the board, size of the sailor and amount of wind available. Less wind means slow turns and leaning the mast at more extreme angles.

Getting to places you want to go. When sailing don't go directly toward your destination, unless your destination is conveniently directly across the wind. You will need to think and plan your route. In order to get to a destination upwind of where you start you must consistently said toward your upwind clock positions and do upwind turns until you reach your destination. To go to a downwind destination, sail toward your downwind clock positions and do downwind turns until you reach your destinations.

Things that complicate getting places: the wind stops blowing and the sailor has to do a self rescue, when trying to sail upwind the windsurfer is actually drifting downwind and doesn't figure this out because they forgot to reference their targets, there is a current in the water that the sailor forgot to find out about something broke and the sailor has to do a self rescue. All of these are reasonably preventable.

Other interesting stuff that you might want to review
Common mistakes for beginners. We hope you find this section helpful. It's difficult to describe how to do something wrong and harder yet how to correct it. So if you have suggestions on how this can be clearer, we'd by glad to hear about it.

Butt out. This is a description of the appearance of the sailor. Having gotten under way they will be so happy that they do not realize that the mast is tilting out over the 6 o'clock side of the board so far that they have been pulled into a position that has them leaning from the waist with their butt sticking out. This is the wrong position and can cause unnecessary back pain. Stop if you are in this position. Go back to neutral. Get the mast upright. Then ready, set, go. If you feel the mast getting heavy it's probably because it is hanging too far over the side of the board. Get the mast upright in front of you and even tilted across the center of the board (remember, you are behind the mast so you should not be in a position where your mast will knock you in the water).

Going sailing when there is no wind. This is a common mistake of the people who really, really, really want to learn how to windsurf. If you can see reflections in the surface of the water and the experienced windsurfers are just sitting around looking forlorn, join them on the beach and wait for the wind to come up.

Going sailing when there is too much wind. Again, this is for the truly determined. When you are a beginner you should be out in steady, gentle breezes so you can pay attention to leaming your skills. After you have learned your basics, and can get back to where you started pretty easily, you will naturally move into stronger winds. Don't push yourself and get discouraged. But, if you are determined, you might find that you learn so much that any lighter wind conditions you encounter in the future feel easy.

Forgetting the wind clock. Many beginners forget the wind clock and forget which side of the board they should be standing on, which side of the board the sail is supposed to be on and other important details. Remember to stop. Relax. Breath. Think. Then sail. If you are standing on the 6 o'clock side of the sail when the wind blows you can get knocked into the water by the sail.

Going way, way downwind. The determined beginner will have a long, long walk back if they overlook how far they have drifted from their starting point. Better to paddle in when you are close to your starting point and keep starting over until you get the hang of it . We strongly recommend you do not allow yourself to go way downwind.

Getting "in irons." This is a sailing term which means that you do not have any wind in your sail because it is passing on both sides of the sail. The sailor is in irons when the sail is in neutral and the nose of the board is pointing directly toward 12 o'clock. The sail is effectively in the neutral position with the clue of the sail pointing toward 6 o'clock. lt doesn't matter where the sailor is standing in this situation. A sailor in this position should go back to neutral (get the board positioned so that it is across the wind and the sail is still in neutral). Then ready, set go and watch to see if you are accidentally turning the board upwind until you are standing in irons. If you are accidentally doing this it is because your mast is leaning slightly toward the back of the board, which makes the board turn upwind until it "stalls" (goes nowhere) with the nose facing 12 o'clock. You might want to paddle back to shore and practice steering until you can control the direction of the board.

Right of way rules. Are other windsurfers, who were friendly to you on the beach, scowling at you when you are on the water? If this is you, you might want to review right of way rules. These can be complicated to explain, but lets see if we can make it understandable.

Note: if you are determined to be a really fast sailor you should know the right-of-way rules to prevent on-the-water accidents.

Another note: you should always check your direction of travel and make sure you are not on a collision course with any watercraft. If you are, change direction and prevent either an accident and /or a conftontation.

When a windsurfer is sailing toward you and you might collide if you both stay on the same course, this is what you do. First figure out which sailor is downwind. The downwind sailor should yield and turn further downwind, obviously, so that the sailor who is upwind can stay on course. The upwind sailor has the right of way.

If two sailors are sailing in the same direction, the upwind sailor has the right of way again and the downwind sailor must yield to the upwind sailor.

If you have doubts, and there's enough room, you can stop and just tell the other sailor you are a beginner. They might scowl at you but they're just being rude because they are having a bad day and, knowing you are a beginner, they will likely sail away from you so potential right-of-way issues won't occur again. If you did everything you could do to stay out of their way and you still got a dirty look , you probably only could have made it worse. Smile and wave and sincerely apologize. The windsurfer will probably he so surprised at your gracious attitude that you will have a new friend who will give you tips on how to sail better!

How the whole thing really works. There is a relationship between the daggerboard and the sail. Imagine a big circle in the middle of your sail, somewhere above the booms. Imagine a big circle on the side of your daggerboard, when it is in the fully extended position. When these two circles are lined up vertically along an imaginary line going up through the center of the two circles, you will go straight through the water, basically toward 3 or 9 o'clock. If you move the sail circle forward, by leaning your mast forward toward the water in front of the front end of your board, your board will turn downwind, toward 6 o'clock. If you keep leaning it forward your board will turn completely around and keep turning, in a little pirouette, until you stop leaning your imaginary sail circle forward of your imaginary daggerboard circle. The opposite is also true. If you move the sail circle backward, by leaning your mast back toward the water at the back end of your board, your board will turn upwind, toward 12 o'clock. If you keep leaning it backward your board will turn completely around and keep turning, in a little pirouette, until you stop leaning your imaginary sail circle backward of your imaginary daggerboard circle. So if you want to control your direction of travel, think about lining up the imaginary circles on the sail and the daggerboard.

[Hint. If you want to impress people, the circle on the sail is called the "center of effort" and the circle on the daggerboard is called the "center of lateral resistance.]

Beach starts. Beach starts are a fun way to play with your new windsurfing skills. If you hang out on the beach for awhile you will doubtless see someone do a "beach start' right in front of you. What they are doing is holding the sail in a neutral position with both hands on the boom and standing about calf-deep in the water. When they feel a nice little puff of wind, they fill the sail with wind by bringing their back hand slightly closer to their body, push the mast straight up and step up into the center of the board with one foot (either foot will do, just be comfortable). The other foot naturally follows and the sailor places it somewhere in the center of the board. This is all accomplished in one, smooth movement -- after you've practiced awhile. As you sail away you adjust your feet and adjust the amount of wind you catch in your sail and start to turn your board in the direction you want This takes practice and it is the first step to learning other tricks.

These instructions were provided to you courtesy of Vic Swanson, owner of Windcraft and Sue Kateley, Master Instructor

Acknowledgments: Susan Allen, Director, Boardsailing Instructor's Group,Mitch Morrow, Windcraft Manager, John Schuck, Instructor, Kevin Glatzel, Instructor. Terrie Rowland, Student Extraordinaire. All the instructors who have taught for Windcraft or been certified through Windcraft, all the students who have learned from Windcraft.We thank you all.