ABK Camps, worht it?

[AdRock]

Hi, I've been thinking about going to one of the ABK camps at Sherman Island coming up. I'm looking for a little feedback from people that have attended them.

I'd say I'm an intermediate windsurfer. In the straps all the time, no problems water starting ever, nail about 75% of my jibes, just starting to jump. Can't quite get planing exits on my jibes, but close in ideal conditions.

I'd like to improve all aspects of my sailing, especially short board tacks and maybe some simple freestyle. Just generally get more dialed so that I feel more confident in challenging conditions and sailing at difficult sites. My lack of shortboard tacks has me very hesitant to start wave sailing, so I want to get those really dialed.

Thanks

[wsmtbskate]

absolutely worth it !
I had never had any formal instruction until I attended two ABK camps in the past two years. Instruction is great. Learned a ton at both camps. Now planing out of 1/3 of my jibes and doing more LWFS.
I'd highly recommend it










formerly Greyghost

[pete1111]

worth every penny !!!!!!!

[johnl]

In a word. Yes. I attended about 4 of them in my first couple of seasons, then about 4 more freestyle clinics in the last couple of years. Worth every penny....

[dllee]

Yeah, if you even THINK you should consider it, you really should go. Nothing like being immersed in a total windsurf enviorment.
Sailing without the knowledge is like driving your car in a foreign country, one you don't know which side of the road to drive on, all in a strange lanquage.

[wsurfn1426]

It is a no brainer. Just do it, you will find out.

[watermonkey]

A bit of a caveat: Before attending, I would recommend getting an accurate count and experience of the number of instructors that'll be available.

I went to the weekend camp at Rio quite a while back, as an early intermediate. They were short two instructors - Andy and Sarah had gone to a race or something. Seriously….never saw them. This left the other instructors stretched really thin...one of the two upper-group instructors was excellent, while the other was in his first season of teaching. I've otherwise heard only good things about ABK, so I was super-stoked going into the weekend…but really disappointed upon leaving.

The other option to consider is private instruction. Higher cost, but more flexible scheduling and you get undivided attention from one person the entire time. Jason Voss teaches at the Delta as well, I think (never taken lessons from him, just know the name).

[coachg]

Go for it. I've been going to them for years and learn something new each year. I've already signed up for the June camp.

Coachg

[RichardMueller]

Yes, the ABK camps are well worth attending.

I found the teacher to student ratio very acceptable and the instruction first class. I enjoyed the "beach" talks and evening debriefings as much as the on the water instruction. On one occassion while planeing in 35 mph conditions, Andy was sailing behind me shouting directions. That is one on one teaching.

Richard

[boardsurfr]

Definitely go for it. The story about Andy & Sarah leaving must be ancient - Sarah has not been with ABK for quite a number of years. I have taken about 11 camps in the past 4 years. Andy was at every camp, and all the other instructors were great. The student-to-instructor ratio is 5:1 or lower, which works very well.

You may think that 11 camps are a lot, but there are some campers who have done even more camps. For me, the camps definitely paid off - I got trophies at the East Coast Windsurfing Festival last week in both racing and freestyle. The guys who beat me in freestyle (and many of the racers) have also been to many ABK camps. Most importantly, however, windsurfing has become a lot more fun since I started taking ABK camps. Planing through jibes (which I learned in the first camp) is just one of many things that contribute to the fun.