Theres got a few guys wanting to start windsurfing that I know .
they ask me these tough questions ..is it better to have surfed or sailed ?
i say sailed ...but as we know it s only a half answered answer .what do you say.?

I'm a guy who has surfed most of his life (I'm 46) then sailed boats then learnt to windsurf just over two years ago. It's more like sailing than surfing. But once you get the rig handling stuff sorted with your sailing skills, surfing helps heaps with your board handling skills in rough water. I don't bother surfing any more now I windsurf, I wish I'd started years ago.

Tardy, most people have ok balance. So the board part is generally easy for beginners. From beginners ive seen around, its the invisible WIND that is the issue with a lot of people. Id think if youve sailed a boat you have a good headstart over someone who hasnt. Some pick up on the wind quickly n some just struggle struggle struggle. Frustrating to watch.... if theyd only be more aware of the telltale signs. Like the small wave direction, the spray, the sand blowing on the beach. Windsurfing makes you become more finely tuned to the immediate environment n prevailing conditions. WICKED FUN

I say it's more like water skiing, just without a boat.

I'd say it's more like riding a snow board on a tight rope getting prodded with the boxing glove stick.

Sometimes it's like an enema.

Sailing.
If you have a background d in sailing the picking up the basics of windsurfing I'd easier.
When you progress into wave riding then obviously surfing comes into it. Knowing how a wave is going to break. When to hit the lip, bottom turn etc..

The best windsurfers I know are also good surfers.

I've never sailed, but started surfing in1961. As said took me a while to nut out the wind, but I've found. I do that by boom feedback.
Not too long ago I had a go on a landyacht. Had me totally stumped, I had no idea what the wind was doing. At one stage I was trying to go directly up wind. So a windsurfer's wind sense is not necessarily the same as a sailor's.

Would I be a better windsurfer if I new how to sail???? No idea.

Wave sailing is probably a bit different to pure surfing, in that a surfer can only extract power from the wave, a lot of the maneuvers, are to enhance that. Unless it's very light wind, you don't need to do that with a sail in your hand

I think in the early stages, sailing. Saves a 2hr lesson on CoE vs CLR, apparent wind etc. I learned just after we did vectors in physics at school so it helped a lot.

Once at planing stage then surfing helps with weighting and carving. So a surfer may be better with the hard method - straight to waterstarts in 20kn........ and a sailor might be more suited to the old method...?

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Mark _australia said.. Once at planing stage then surfing helps with weighting and carving. So a surfer may be better with the hard method - straight to waterstarts in 20kn........ and a sailor might be more suited to the old method...?

YES!!!!! The guy I taught by the hard method was a good surfer, he picked it up very quickly, snapped his old learning board in half, learning to jump it, in his second month.

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Sparky said..
Sometimes it's like an enema.

.? Were talking sailing , who's on the beers ?
Id think more fun than an enema , but whatever reason u got into sailing is fine . We now accept all minority groups .

It's just like sailing, but fishy.

Ok ..thought as much.
ones 55 the other 28 ,great to get a few more into it and all they want to talk about is windsurfing .
they are getting hooked ,glad to share the stoke ...they are not planning yet ,but have no trouble with
going both ways .cant wait to see their faces when the do plane .they are also eyeing up my gear .
Hhhmmm do I need a update .

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Tardy said..
Ok ..thought as much.
ones 55 the other 28 ,great to get a few more into it and all they want to talk about is windsurfing .
they are getting hooked ,glad to share the stoke ...they are not planning yet ,but have no trouble with
going both ways .cant wait to see their faces when the do plane .they are also eyeing up my gear .
Hhhmmm do I need a update .

Teach them to water start ASAP.

I not sure either helps a great deal to be honest with direct skills. sailing knowledge probably saves an hour on day 1. But I think the main thing surfing would bring at the early phase is confidence in being out in the ocean and having to swim it back in it or getting bashed around. I think it would be much more handy to have a surfing back ground than sailing. caveat. I never sailed. haha.

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Imax1 said..

Sparky said..
Sometimes it's like an enema.

.? Were talking sailing , who's on the beers ?
Id think more fun than an enema , but whatever reason u got into sailing is fine . We now accept all minority groups .

Who says enemas aren't fun? They're more fun than harness straps flicking your knob in 25 knots when you can't do anything about it. That can be enough to make you stop.

Sailing

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Faff said..
Teach them to water start ASAP.

Hmmm I dunno, pondering:
it takes so much wind to waterstart easily that ideally you need to understand planing and catapaults first. Plus its hard to get a leg over to the centreline on a massive beginner board. I reckon if they learned the traditional way so far, they might be better served getting going fast first, step down to freeride, then learn waterstart.

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Mark _australia said..

Faff said..
Teach them to water start ASAP.

Hmmm I dunno, pondering:
it takes so much wind to waterstart easily that ideally you need to understand planing and catapaults first. Plus its hard to get a leg over to the centreline on a massive beginner board. I reckon if they learned the traditional way so far, they might be better served getting going fast first, step down to freeride, then learn waterstart.

If the learner has a surfing background, they may be able to skip the massive beginner board. One advantage that the wide thin free moves have is that they are more stable for a given volume, and being thinner , easier to get the leg over when water starting. You can also keep them as a light wind board when progressing to smaller boards. Anyway, I learned to waterstart well before I could plane in the straps... If your local spot has rough water, this may be the only way.

These are the boards they are learning on twin fins .uphauling .
85 wide .easy.and fast progress seems to be .i just give a few pointers then go out sailing ...they seem to be working it out....ok.one is a sailer the other a surfer...

I hadn't sailed or surfed when I started windsurfing. I had done a lot of waterskiing though. I did a lot of wave sailing but was pretty crap at the wave riding part.

Overall......... I think the skills of sailing will help in the beginning.

Windsurfing is pretty unique and a combination of specialised motor skills and situational awareness helps immensely. Surfing and sailing will each bring their own skill sets that will help. Reading gusts, sheeting in/out, leaning and trimming the sail as the gusts hit all come with sailing. Once you get to stuff like jibing and waveriding, the surfing will help a lot. Freestyle and aerial moves .... more like gymnastics and skateboarding.

Not really sure if surfing really helps but it does help to have a love of the salt water as windsurfing take a bit of perseverance to keep coming back .