Hey Guys,
I have more respect for what you people do. It looks easy but i know now it is hard as hell. I sailed a total of about 30 secs, the rest of the time i was in the water (i was down there for about 5 hours). The sad bit is i was on a starboard go with a small sail o well i had heaps of fun and i had a nice guy who lent me the board and gave me some pointers. Thanks to everyone who helped me out.

Don't give up!, we've all been there, falling in (quite spectacular for onlookers)
it's well worth the effort, there's nothing like getting up on the plane for the first time!

As someone who was only recently at the same stage you are I can only say STICK WITH IT! It only gets better from there and you get more enjoyment with every new thing you learn. Then when you're good enough you get to relearn it all over again when you get to a short board and the enjoyment continues!

Agreed Oz, Don't give up. It wont be long til your hooked in and and planing along.
Great to see you took some lessons and enjoyed yourself.
Just remember some of the best sesions can be had with hardly any wind.
I was out the other week in about 7knts and had an encounter with some dolphins. Made my week

My first time I was totally useless. I didn't even know that to uphaul you should have the sail on the downwind side of the board, and consequently it kept slamming me down into the water. I don't think I got up and going at all.

I'm still no expert, but still improving, having fun, and fitter than I have ever been.

Don't give up. Those first few sessions are the hardest.

We're all hopeless on the first go. We may not be great on the second go, but we keep coming back. It's all about human spirit, who would get into a sport you can master in five minutes. That's what keeps me going.
You're first carve gybe You're quickest water start The onshore chats about gear

this is where i think the mistral windglider is under-rated
it is portable, easy to set up, has a small sail and is soft
it is a bit wobbly though
i get people out on it in light wind first - one can even kneel at the back while student is learning !!
after about 20 minutes they are ready for a longboard or GO with the same sail
last student - a woman - fell in twice in 2 hours !!!
same day , a young fellow did exactly the same thing as the original poster - bigger board and bigger sail and he just kept falling in
one must start small n easy !!

What size GO was it? 155 litres?

Refer to your last post. There were some good pointers there.

I will probably just re-iterate what I said last time.

No matter how patient you are starting on a small board will be frustrating, difficult and at times dangerous.

Try to avoid choppy open water. Get a big board 150+ just to learn. Contact your state windsurfing association and ask if they have free beginner gear hire for members (We have this in VIC). Or even ask the stores for a demo learner board for a weekend.

Dont give up. Too many people try the sport with the most innapropriate equiptment and then throw in the towel without giving it a fair go.

I run a kids windsurfing club in VIC and within a couple of hours I have 5 year olds sailing and jibing and tacking. This is all because we use appropriate gear for them to learn on.

If you try to skip ahead too fast the only thing that you will do is destroy your own spirit.

Now get out there again and do it properly.

yeah its a huge board, i'm pretty sure its 155 L. It's like a boat and i'm using a tiny sail, i think its a 5.5 wave sail but don't quote me on that.

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Aussiex said...

yeah its a huge board, i'm pretty sure its 155 L. It's like a boat and i'm using a tiny sail, i think its a 5.5 wave sail but don't quote me on that.

Where are you sailing and what conditions?

Reading this post is very interesting, as on Thursday I go for my first lession. I figured nothin is as easy as it looks, so I expect trouble and a few dunkings. Time will tell anway...

Oh, and quiting is never an option!

5.5 isn't tiny for an absolute beginner. Unless you're a really big guy or the wind very light I'd go smaller.

Things that will put off a beginner because they make it too hard:
Wind too strong
Sail too big
Board too small/ too narrow
Poor instruction

Agree with Windxtasy 100%.

You should have a 3.5m sail for your first lesson.
The winds should be no more than 5 - 10 kts.
The board shoudl have at least 155 litres with a centreboard - but for a fist go I would even recommend a 205 Litre!
Poor instruction doesnt help. Sometimes the best instructors are not always the best windsurfers. Kowing how to teach (anything) is an underestimated skill!

yer sorry i got it wrong it's a 4.5 sail :) my bad. I sail at wellington point. the day i went down it was pretty strong wind (the internet lied it said it would be weak wind about 6 knots) And i didn't have a proper instructor i just had a guy that loves windsurfing. He was real helpful and told me what i was doing wrong and where on the point to sail. And he lent me all the gear :)

Alright, I figure I better throw in some details as I lent Alex my GO and rig, as well as some quick pointers.

Firstly the board is I think 155L, maybe bigger? Not sure I haven't really looked at it much since I bought it. Incidentally I learnt on a 96L freestyle board, I bought the GO to teach my dad how to sail. Rig is my old 4.5m simmer icon (2009), with an 85% carbon rdm mast. I think Alex is only 60kg wet, so a smaller sail would be better, but I don't own anything much smaller.

As far as conditions go, saturday was definately too windy, close to 20kts, so we went around the back side of wellington point, where it was sheltered, the wind was probably more like 0-10kts, but fairly gusty which isn't ideal. The weather isn't exactly playing ball at the moment in regards to good learning conditions. Water was dead flat and probably waist deep max.

I think Alex did pretty well for a first time, we spent a bit of time on shore with the fin out of the board to get an idea of the basics before we went in the water. Uphauling was pretty much success on the first attempt. And I think alex was able to get going in one direction reasonably well, and is starting to get the basics of how to rig steer, so I don't think it's bad progress for a first go!

Eitherway, he's got a loan of my kit at the moment, so I figure if he gets out for a few more sessions he'll get the sailing back and forth figured out, have a bit more sailing fitness, and we can then work on tacking/gybing.

As far as instructing goes, tbh I have no idea. I have taught my dad how to sail on the GO and my brother how to sail on my freestyle kit (before I had the GO). So I have managed it in the past. Happy to take suggestions on how best help a learner progress anyway. At the moment my approach is basically hands off, I go sail half the time, and half the time I help by demonstrating, watching and giving tips.

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Aussiex said...

yer sorry i got it wrong it's a 4.5 sail :) my bad. I sail at wellington point. the day i went down it was pretty strong wind (the internet lied it said it would be weak wind about 6 knots) And i didn't have a proper instructor i just had a guy that loves windsurfing. He was real helpful and told me what i was doing wrong and where on the point to sail. And he lent me all the gear :)

Must be murphys law..you'll find that as you get better and want heaps of wind the forecast will predict 30kts and give you 6kts..

Keep up the good work swoosh!

and don't give up, Aussiex!

You will spend days up hauling, days going to the beach with no wind or where the wind is too much or where is too choppy for your level or it's too gusty but at the end, one day, you will get the "plan" sensation and trust me, there is nothing (except sex ... ) better than that!

5hrs!? I can't even last 2hrs...must be a tantalizing 30secs. as I remember mine..getting wet is the fun part and hoping to hear epic stories from you Aussiex on your next outing..regards

Has anyone ever tried the "learn to waterstart first" technique?

I'm wondering if this might be a faster way to learn? Body dragging around is a great way to learn sail control, and if you can waterstart you can sail.

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evlPanda said...

Has anyone ever tried the "learn to waterstart first" technique?

I'm wondering if this might be a faster way to learn? Body dragging around is a great way to learn sail control, and if you can waterstart you can sail.

Thinking about taking that approach with a mate who has just started windsurfing..... the uphauling is a killer..... if he could beach start and water start would save him some pain.....

I'm not too much ahead of you Aussiex, I have self-taught myself, I was only able to get underway when I rigged an incredibly small sail and mast from a Mistral windglider onto an old Mistral ulta-light from the 1980's, I stuck the tiny mast INTO the extension.
Very quickly I was able to progress to a 6.1 cammed sail and now can gybe and tack.
IMHO, unless an individual is young and thin, attempting to waterstart before learning to uphaul would not be appropriate.
On a side note, I find the attitudes of windsurfers very refreshing, here we have Aussiex's mate helping him out, lending him gear and even giving him lessons while everyone lends encouragement. Compare that to conventional surfing where they actually discourage people from entering the sport.
More than a few times when I've been out slogging about, when I came in there was a windsurfer greeting me with encouragement.

Yer i totally agree. The thing i have found is that most kids at school are jerks these days, unless you have friends that are into some sort of sport. I've been playing soccer for 7 years to get away from those people. But once you get to my age group people are to competitive and the same thing, they are now jerks. That is one of the reasons i wanted to start windsurfing to get out of the competition. Windsurfing people have definitely proven my theory correct
But seriously, everyone is really nice and all of you are genuinely interested in helping me out.
I think i am really going to enjoy this sport!!!!!!!!

Soccer, Softball and American football, sports we play here are team spots and one must learn to do what's best for the team, not the individual.
Surfing is the ultimate individual sport, look at me! it's all about me! get off my wave!
With windsurfing one can sail the whole ocean and not have to bother anyone, we are not isolated to the one spot where the wave breaks, we can blast about the whole bay.
I have found most surfers have invested their whole pathetic lives in their minimal achievements, working a crappy job, living off their girlfriends while windsurfing being more technical we generally have more for us going in our lives than just windsurfing.

Hey guys,
just an update, I had my second sail today. Again, it was not ideal conditions but i just couldn't wait any longer to get out there. I did heaps better then my first time. I had no problems uphauling and no problem starting to sail. I even attempted to turn but that was an epic fail. My parents even had a go and that made me feel good to see them fail more then me . But the wind died out and cut my day short.

Good one Aussiex! Sounds like you're starting to piece it together, top effort, bet ya stoked

My next (second) lesson will be later in the week. Hoping to put a few more peices in the huge puzzle that is windsurfing. Time will tell anyway...

PS- Beaglebuddy, I'm hearing you with the surfing comparison. I've surfed pretty full on for 25 years, and I could count the number of good days and sessions on two hands when I haven't been pissed off by some clown thinking he's king of the sea. The basic problem is limited area. A handful of good breaks shared by many = conflict. When windsurfing it seems the entire ocean (lake, bay or river) is open to expore, and as there's far fewer sailers than surfers, tension for water space isn't an issue- though some of the WA guys may have different views But here where I am (mid north coast of NSW), I'd see half a dozen sailboards out in a year. Realistically, probably not even that.

Cheers,

Phil