HURGHADA ONLINE YOR GUIDE TO HURGHADA

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

The wind clock and targets

Okay, we're getting closer to the part when you can get on the water. Just a few more bits of information.

The wind clock. Windsurfers, and sailors too, use an imaginary wind clock to help make sure they have completed a turn, to catch the best amount of wind, and to get to specific destinations.

The wind clock is an imaginary analog (not digital) clock. You stand at the center of your wind clock. If you turn to face the wind you are looking directly at 12 o'clock. If you turn around, you are facing 6 o'clock. If you hold your hands out to your sides when you are facing either 12 or 6 o'clock, you will be pointing to 3 and 9 o'clock. 12 o'clock is also called "upwind" - the direction the wind is coming from. 6 o'clock is also called "downwind" - the direction the wind is going to. 3 and 9 are going "across the wind."

If you walk around or imagine yourself standing on your board in the middle of a lake, you should also notice that the positions of your clock don't change because you are always at the center of your clock and your clock moves with you.

When you are sailing, you are generally sailing across the wind, toward 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock. When you make your board turn toward 2 o'clock or 10 o'clock you are still sailing across the wind but you are now heading slightly upwind. If you make your board turn toward 4 o'clock or 8 o'clock you are also still sailing across the wind but now you are heading slightly downwind. Leaming to control the direction that you are traveling is how you get to specific destinations - like to visit a friend, help another windsurfer, get back to the cooler for a refreshment or go home. You will learn how to control the direction you are sailing in the next section. But remember your wind clock when you are reading the next secfion and especially when you are on the water.

Last, remember you cannot sail directly toward 12 o'clock. If the nose of the board is pointing to 12 o'clock, you will probably be able to stand on the board in a good sailing position but you will not go anywhere. You will more likely drift backward toward 6 o'clock. You must correct this by turning your board to head across the wind again and then return to a sailing position. When you are beginner, generally the area between 10:30 to 1:30 of the clock is upwind. We sometimes call this the "no go" zone.

Targets. Targets are essential to windsurfing. Before going out on the water, look at where you are launching from and find a landmark. Look across the body of water (assuming it's not the ocean on your first time out!). When you go out, you will start out moving across the wind, toward the 3 or 9 o'clock position) and find a target to aim for, preferably something a bit upwind from where you are starting (like 2:00 or 2:30 or 10:00, or 10:30, depending on which side of the clock you are on when you are starting). If you can consistently reach your targets, you are doing great. After you've got some of the basic steps described next, you should focus on aiming for targets. If you think about aiming for targets you will automatically learn how to steer the board to go where you want it to go. And you've got to remember your wind clock the whole time you are on the water until you have perfected getting where you want to go. Then you can forget it because it will be part of your subconscious!

You can also choose downwind targets, particularly if you are not having problems going upwind. Downwind targets are good to learn once you understand upwind targets. This is because whenever you are not sailing, your board will be drifting downwind anyway, so beginners generally end up drifting downwind while they are working out the steps to windsurf. Most of the downwind drifting occurs during the turns because students usually maneuver so carefully and slowly that they don't notice they are drifting, and drifting and drifting. This is why it is important to paddle back close to shore and practice the steps to windsurfing before you go out on an adventure.

[Hint: If you don't follow this advice, don't be surprised that you have ended up somewhere downwind and will have to walk your gear back to the beginning. This is perfectly acceptable! Windsurfers have been and continue to do this walk at every skill level, even the most advanced! Some of our best adventure stories involve the historic "walk of shame. " Do it with dignity. We all had to do it one time or another. Really. Just try to make sure the walk back doesn't include farm animals or heavy traffic.]

[Another hint:- pick stationary, land-based targets like trees, docks or other landmarks. If you choose a car or a person or another windsurfer they will probably move and then you will have lost your target.]

Does this mean that I don't have to know wind speed in knots or miles per hour or the direction the wind is comine from in compass directions? That's right. The size sail you rig is more relative to your sailing style than the wind speed. After a while of sailing you will just know by the feel of the wind and the sail sizes of the other sailors. The onlv important thing to remember about wind direction is 12 o'clock because the rest of the clock numbers are in relationship to the 12 o'clock position.

[Yet another hint: Wind speed is measured in either mile per hour or knots. One knot is equivalent to 1.1 miles per hour. Not too many windmeters measure in tenths anyway so don't lose anv sleep about knowing the difference between your knots and your mph. Go sailing.]