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PeconicPuffin
Joined: 07 Jun 2004
Posts: 1830
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 Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 11:50 pm Post subject: |
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Bonaire. Try this Bonaire windsurfing travel agent...she may know how to get you to Bonaire from whereever your airline does go to:
http://www.bonairecaribbean.com/
Ann Phelan is her name. Been using her for a decade...you won't regret it.
_________________
Michael
http://www.peconicpuffin.com |
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thombiz
Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 799
Location: Corpus Christi
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 8:06 am Post subject: |
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| As for Corpus Christi, I think the only gear rental place is closed for the month of January. It would be worth checking: http://www.worldwinds.net/ |
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boardsurfr
Joined: 23 Aug 2001
Posts: 1266
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 9:15 am Post subject: |
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I've been to Bonaire and Tobago several times. Tobago is flatter than the Gorge, and at low tide, you can often reach the ground even half a mile out. But not so at high tide, and there's a current that can create chop. The wind tends to be lighter in Tobago, since it's side-off.
Bonaire is a much better choice, with a large knee- to waist-deep area and the best beach bar in the world. At low tide, it can be very shallow. Make sure to learn how to fall flat on your back - landing with straight legs in a foot of water can be dangerous. Much better to get sand in your board shorts from "proper" Bonaire falls.
As several others have suggested, take an ABK camp in Bonaire if you can. It's a perfect place to learn a lot. Check out the video about the 2011 camp at http://youtu.be/h87SOFPf0Z4 to see the conditions and what some campers thought. If you can't take the ABK camp, take a few lessons from the local instructors. |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 12:46 pm Post subject: |
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| TooSteep wrote: | | Here's why I think shallow matters so much: I have spent a week in Hood River each of the past two summers, and I am comfortable in the harness and foot straps, but I NEVER sail out of a Jybe, and I find that constant water-starting exhausts me. So I figure if I can go somewhere that I can beach start every time I blow up, I can get about 5X more practice in, and maybe actually learn to Jybe a little bit. |
Waterstarting should be a very low-effort endeavor, almost a nice break from sailing. Let’s break it down, based on my own 200,000+ waterstarts (no joke).
1. Wear enough flotation that you don’t need to swim or tread water to breathe freely. A PFD is overkill, a soft rib protection vest is about right. The objective is to make your immersion time relaxing, not taxing.
2. When you fall, try to shove or place the rig where it needs to be for the waterstart. You’ll become successful occasionally.
3. Orient the pieces into the correct relationship with each other and with the wind … board pointed across the wind, mast parallel with board and hanging off the back of the board, clew downwind. If the rig is “out of synch” with the board and needs to be flipped over, raise an edge and let the wind flip it; no point in using YOUR energy to flip it (or rotate the board 180 degrees). This orientation does not involve swimming; you just grab the pieces and windmill your entire body from chest to feet in a huge horizontal circle just below the surface (WATCH OUT FOR THE FIN!) using your big torso muscles. WIthin a few effortless circles and with a bit of practice, your gear will be oriented where you want it with no swimming.
4. Now everything’s ready, with very little effort, except for one little issue: your sail is lying on the water rather than flying. Now some lifting force is required, but even that doesn’t need to come at your expense; let Archimedes do it. Drag your boom onto your your board tail and let the board lift the rig free of the water. It may take a moment, but there’s no hurry.
WHAT’S THAT? YOUR BOOM IS TOO HIGH TO REST ON THE BOARD TAIL? DOOD … quit worrying about advanced efficiency theories and what all these advanced to expert sailors are telling you and simplify your learning process; unless you’re very tall, lower the booms enough to just touch the tail of the board, shorten your harness lines accordingly, and make waterstarting easy. You can worry about that Figure 7 and its hypothetical extra 2 mph later, after you stop falling alla time. A solid, low-effort, automatic waterstart in any and all conditions is much more likely, is far more important, adds MUCH more safety, and comes years earlier than a solid planing jibe.
Besides, I'm faster on my wave boards than most ordinary recreational sailors are on their flatter B&J boards even with my booms still set to hit the tail after 35 years of this. I've tried higher booms; for me, at an inch above average height, they double the effort of sailing and at least quadruple the effort of waterstarting, with no discernible advantage.
So, back to that easy waterstart.
5. You’re -- no, the WIND -- is now flying your sail in the waterstart position. You’re pushing up on the boom by extending/protracting your shoulders, locking out your elbows, and straightening your wrists, maybe even opening your grip a bit if it’s not too gusty. That’s right: pushing up, as high as you can get it. You don’t pull yourself out; when the power is there, IT will lift YOU out of the water. Now, see … you just waterstarted with very little effort and are sailing away refreshed from your 45-second rest.
Now about those planing jibes … Lessons, lessons, lessons, and LOTS of patience.
Waterstarting is the single most useful, most empowering, most vital-to-your-safety skill in all of windsurfing; bypassing it is a huge mistake. Anyone not good enough, strong enough, and not confident enough to waterstart in any conditions after many hours into a session is a long ways from a good planing jibe and should not be sailing across the Columbia River barge channels or in any other threatening conditions such as cold, offshore winds, boat traffic, limited shoreline exits, risky currents, any chance of sudden serious wind surges, etc.
Of course, there are lots of opinions in this post, but they come from having WSed obsessively in all conditions short of 10-foot ocean surf since 1980. They're well-grounded, sound opinions.
Mike \m/ |
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Sailboarder
Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 656
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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| isobars wrote: |
5. You’re -- no, the WIND -- is now flying your sail in the waterstart position. You’re pushing up on the boom by extending/protracting your shoulders, locking out your elbows, and straightening your wrists, maybe even opening your grip a bit if it’s not too gusty. That’s right: pushing up, as high as you can get it. You don’t pull yourself out; when the power is there, IT will lift YOU out of the water. Now, see … you just waterstarted with very little effort and are sailing away refreshed from your 45-second rest.
Mike \m/ |
Iso implies it, but in marginal wind, once the sail is more or less vertical, you have to pull yourself up on the board, using MFP.
And in more wind, I still recall vividly my first few perfect waterstarts. You definitely feel as if the Hand of God places you straight on your board, ready to sail, without any effort of any sort. It's kind of magical!
The big summary is: your allowed to take your time and done right, it's effortless! |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Sailboarder wrote: | Iso implies it, but in marginal wind, once the sail is more or less vertical, you have to pull yourself up on the board, using MFP.
And in more wind, I still recall vividly my first few perfect waterstarts. You definitely feel as if the Hand of God places you straight on your board, ready to sail, without any effort of any sort. It's kind of magical!
The big summary is: your allowed to take your time and done right, it's effortless! |
Now we're talking semantics, but the distinction is still very important, especially in marginal winds.
Most newby waterstarters think that "pull yourself up" means "do a pullup" or "use your biceps to pull yourself up onto the board". Nope. That pulls the sail down, reducing its vertical lift ... just the opposite of what we need in marginal wind (relative to sail size). Our objective in that scenario is to maximize the sail's lift by getting it as high as possible ... thus we want to consciously push it as high as possible without relinquishing our grip on it.
Never fear; unless we let go altogether, our elbows, then shoulders, then torsos, then butt, then legs will follow our hands, and ... violins ... we just waterstarted without even using any muscles to speak of except our hand grip muscles and maybe some legs as we get upright. We used our skeleton and ligaments as cables responding to the sail's lift, rather than using all our muscles as power sources to do a pullup, saving a lot of pasta for actually windsurfing. The lighter the wind at that moment, the more consciously I push the boom as high as possible. Sure, this translates into MFP, but that force passes through my skeleton without help from muscle contraction, saving my energy for the fun stuff. I am by no means doing a pullup; I'm just hangin'. If I were wearing those hand-hook glove thingies, I could fall asleep right there and still get pulled to my feet.
That's OK; the faceplant one second later would wake me up. |
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TooSteep
Joined: 19 Nov 2014
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:41 pm Post subject: Bonaire |
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Thank you for all the suggestions. Before I posted here, I was going around in circles trying to figure out what to do.
You all helped me decide: will try to book a flight to Curacao, and take a local flight over to Bonaire. We will be going ~ January 12-26 - is that late enough for consistent wind?
ISOBARS - regarding waterstarting point #3 - are you talking about some efficient technique to use when the rig ends up downwind of the board? I'm not really sure I can visualize what you are describing.
Also, you wrote:
| Quote: | | Waterstarting is the single most useful, most empowering, most vital-to-your-safety skill in all of windsurfing; bypassing it is a huge mistake. Anyone not good enough, strong enough, and not confident enough to waterstart in any conditions after many hours into a session is a long ways from a good planing jibe and should not be sailing across the Columbia River barge channels or in any other threatening conditions such as cold, offshore winds, boat traffic, limited shoreline exits, risky currents, any chance of sudden serious wind surges, etc. |
Actually, I totally agree with you here. I'm not trying to bypass it (I have successfully waterstarted hundreds of times, although not too well when the wind dies down) - it's just that I never make it close to the "many hours into a session" part if I'm blowing up every turn and having to reorganize my rig and waterstart. In the back of my mind, I'm always wondering what it would be like to be able to try many many Jybes in a session without big fatigue limitations. In the gorge, I never have the courage to go deep in to the channel. I'm always staying pretty close to home. I need to work on my waterstart efficiency. I'm going to write down your tips before I go.
Thank you.
One last question - does anyone have a recommended online resource or DVD/book suggestion for learning to i) sail efficiently (I'm always fighting my board/sail a least a little) ii) plane through a Jybe and iii) waterstart efficiently? |
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justall
Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Posts: 442
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 10:00 pm Post subject: Re: Bonaire |
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| TooSteep wrote: |
One last question - does anyone have a recommended online resource or DVD/book suggestion for learning to i) sail efficiently (I'm always fighting my board/sail a least a little) ii) plane through a Jybe and iii) waterstart efficiently? |
Well for items (ii) and (iii), definitely Dasher's The ABC's of Waterstarting, and Dasher's The 12 Step Jibe. |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 10:08 pm Post subject: |
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| TooSteep wrote: | | ISOBARS - regarding waterstarting point #3 - are you talking about some efficient technique to use when the rig ends up downwind of the board? I'm not really sure I can visualize what you are describing. |
#3 applies any time our board and/or sail need to be rotated relative to the wind. You can learn that technique in one minute by getting into an inner tube up to your armpits in a pool and rotating your feet, legs, and lower torso in a big circle. You can get that sucker spinning at something approaching 100 RPM. 5 or 6 rotations will turn a board and rig 180 degrees with little perceived exertion.
| TooSteep wrote: | | I never make it close to the "many hours into a session" part if I'm blowing up every turn and having to reorganize my rig and waterstart. ... I'm always wondering what it would be like to be able to try many many Jybes in a session without big fatigue limitations. |
Sounds like a candidate for more gym and/or sailing time and more carbs. You also need more mitochondria, which are increased by HIIT workouts. You can Google both.
| TooSteep wrote: | | In the gorge, I never have the courage to go deep in to the channel. I'm always staying pretty close to home. |
That's not lack of courage. That's SMART, if one's waterstart isn't rock solid in ANY amount of wind, because both ANY amount of wind AND a barge can appear at ANY time.
| TooSteep wrote: | | does anyone have a recommended online resource or DVD/book suggestion for learning to ... ii) plane through a Jybe |
I started to say, "Google Mike Fick's Jibe Tips", but someone has erased them from several websites in multiple languages on several continents, beginning with bringing down the entire primary Gorge recreation website a couple of years ago. Not to worry; here they are, from an old draft:
THE BEST JIBE TIP I EVER GOT by Mike Fick
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I'm a world-class expert at jibes. Missing them, that is. When I was trying
to learn to jibe, none of our regular local sailors could jibe, and
extensive travel failed to find good lessons, videos, or magazine tutorials.
Thus I failed what seemed like 10,392 carving jibe attempts (i.e., planing
all the way from one beam reach to the next) before a friend gave me THE
jibing tip that became crucial to my jibing and thus changed my life.
Another tip of my own significantly helped my board carve and sail jibe
timing. Both are in this jibe procedure that works for me in every type of
carved (planing) jibe and even in many subplaning jibes. Done right, this
sequence lets me exit carved jibes going at least as fast as I enter them.
It doesn't require memorizing a repertoire of handwork and footwork, because
the same simple handwork and footwork work from mundane to monster winds. I
have no idea how it works on them there Formuly things, but it works great
on the other several hundred boards I've ridden, from 260 to 55 liters, in
the past 35 years.
1. Sail "faster than you've ever sailed", 'til your eyes bleed, you pee your
pants, and your shadow is two seconds behind you. (If you don't at least
feel like you're going that fast, you don't have time to bobble and recover
before you coast to a halt. Recovering from bobbles to complete a jibe is a
good sign you're developing a feel for jibes, rather than just memorizing
the steps.)
2. Bear off, still sheeted in, to gain even more speed and to steer from a
beam reach into a very broad reach. (A jibe is a 90-degree turn; you SAIL, powered up,
through the first and last 45-degree segments of the total 180-degree turn.)
3. Move your back hand about a foot farther back on the boom, switch your
front grip to palm-up to greatly aid throwing the mast across your face and
into the turn, unhook without disturbing the sail, and set your back foot on
the lee rail behind the front strap. You are still sheeted in, sailing in a
broad reach with your sail foot near the back of your board. (Some expert
jibers bear off still hooked in, letting the harness pull them forward into
the correct weight-forward position. The few times I've tried it felt good
and worked well, but it has obvious hazards.)
4. Now all in the space of about one or two heartbeats - virtually
simultaneously when possible - point and drive your knees further downwind
and into your turn, curtsey (you never bow; you CURTSEY, dropping your butt
down and forward until your knees are bent at least 90 degrees and you're
looking forward from BELOW the booms; in especially rough water I think and
do a big "Sit"), aggressively move (or let the sail pull) your weight
forward over your toes, thrust and lock your front elbow out straight as
though you were stiff-arming a tackler, tip that front hand (and the mast)
downwind as you bend your back elbow hard to sheet in until your sail foot
nearly brushes your back leg (this oversheeting switches the power off), and
look at the water well out in front of you where you will exit your jibe (I
look at some downwind horizon landmark to gauge my progress in my turn and
time my sail jibe). Your weight is riding evenly on the ball of your front
foot and your flat back/inside foot, so you're not carving the turn yet.
You're still on a broad reach, ready to jibe your board, sail, and feet to
the new tack. If you were unable to oversheet because of too much backhand
sail pressure, you (a) waited too late to oversheet and/or (b) did not
thrust the front hand and mast forward and into the turn. To correct this
error, straighten that front elbow and tip the mast into the turn
dramatically at the same time you oversheet. This totally and instantly
shuts off the power in the sail like a kill switch and puts you back in
control. The only time you don't want to oversheet is when you're not
planing and need to use the sail to push your board through the turn. So far
this is all just normal, textbook, powered-up carved jibing. But here is
where my friend's tip and my own addition helped my jibing in several ways
.
FREEZE FRAME: Notice your arm and hand positions. They're cocked as though
ready to fire a bow and arrow at a target downwind of your present path
(inside your turn). Your back hand is cocked near your downwind shoulder as
though it were holding the bowstring and arrow feathers, your front hand is
way out there at full extension holding your bow and supporting the arrow.
Both arms are cocked to fire the arrow (spin the sail), but WHEN should we
jibe the sail?
My own modification helped me time the sail jibe. Rather than simply and
subtly shifting weight to my lee/back foot on the inside rail to initiate
the carve, I shove my hips sideways into the turn HARD -- as though trying
to bump the car door closed while standing beside it with my arms full. This
carves a very tight, smooth turn and puts my body into an excellent position
to exit the turn with full power on the new broad reach, maybe even
automatically hooked and sheeted in if everything falls into place well.
This hip swing weights the leeward rail to initiate and maintain the carve,
and times the sail jibe (flip) for me. Your body should be arced into a
pronounced C, with your hips leading the convex side of the C into the turn.
Because your front hand is as far in front of you as you can reach and
slightly onto the turn but you' re thrusting your hips towards the new
direction, it sounds and almost feels like you're trying to surf your board
in the opposite direction from where the sail is going. The sail's still
heading on the old broad reach but your board is turning towards the new
broad reach, so to speak. At some point, of course, you need to jibe the
sail and take it along with you.
In fact, I consciously and forcefully focus all my power into my hips and
thighs to POWER the board through its carve, then bring the rig with me. Not
to worry; my torso and upper extremities will follow where my hips lead
them, which is why football defensive backs are taught to watch a receiver'
s hips, not his eyes, when covering him on a pass. After all, if the board
doesn't carve the turn, the jibe is not going to happen, and just
consciously mashing that foot on the inside rail rather than driving the
hips into and through the turn is a very tentative, indirect means of
turning the board.
Try this hip swing, but be forewarned; before you even have time to THINK
about jibing the sail, you will whip through the full 180 degrees in two
heartbeats, get back winded, and crash. THAT'S GREAT, because you FINALLY
carved (jibed) the board all the way through the turn. Now all you have to
do is jibe (flip) your sail and jibe (switch) your feet within that same
couple of heartbeats, and you're jibin'! This turns the board so quickly
that part of the problem now becomes jibing the sail before the board
completes its jibe. Piece 'o cake, if you do it the following way:
5. Just after you shove your hips into the turn, long before you're pointing
downwind, the pressure will leave your sail as your fast swerve off the wind
generates an apparent vacuum. NOW fire the arrow [i.e., jibe (flip) the
sail].
Right here is where millions of carved jibe attempts fail. The magazines
once told us to release the back hand, grasp the mast with it, let the wind
blow the sail around the mast like a barn door blowing around its hinges as
we coast to a slog, and when the sail wanders around far enough we take the
new side of the boom and sail away.
BS! That has a MAJOR, fatal, inherent flaw: If you outrun the true wind
throughout your jibe, as you should, there won't BE any tailwind to push the
sail around. You feel tailwind only after your speed drops below the true
wind speed, well on your way to dropping off a plane, at which point you're
standing there at zero speed holding a fully powered-up sail. In the 15th
century this position was known as a loaded catapult - hence the application
of that term to this sport.
The sailor, not the wind, should jibe the sail. We should SPIN that sucker
around its natural center like a top, not wait until we slow down so much
the tailwind pushes the sail around the mast like a $1,500 barn door. A jibe
is a very aggressive mindset and process which WE, not the wind, should
control.
This is where "Monte" changed my life, when he said, "THROW, THROW, GRAB,
and GO!" Only the sailor can spin the sail inside its boom length; the
wind's surely not going to do it. At the hip thrust, just as you feel you
and the sail are heading in opposite directions and before your board is
pointing at that distant downwind landmark (the end zone goalposts, so to
speak), you THROW the back of the boom away like a hot shot-putt. A
millisecond later -- way before you complete that first THROW -- you THROW
the front of the boom way across your face and past your downwind ear, right
into the new very broad reach. This motion of your old front/mast hand is
much like throwing a football to a receiver going long into the end zone
corner towards which you should exit your jibe. (This is why you inverted
the front-hand grip; this second, or mast-hand, throw is much easier and has
better follow-through with your palm up. Imagine trying to throw a long pass
with your palm on TOP of the football.) The sail spins untouched before your
heart beats again, leaving the new side of the boom floating in the air in
front of you. GRAB it with both hands and GO (i.e., sheet in and sail away
on a screaming broad reach, often sailing faster than you were going before
you began the jibe).
WHEN should we jibe the sail/fire the arrow? Just as the old step jibe
technique calls for us to step forward at the same time we release the back
hand in the old barn-door jibe technique, this technique works best if we
jibe the sail as we thrust the hip. The board will turn so fast with this
hip thrust that we'd BETTER fire the sail into the turn that soon or it will
get left behind.
With luck and minimal practice, you will switch your feet simultaneously
within or immediately after the heartbeat in which the sail rotates and
will exit accelerating hard in the new broad reach. You should lose no
perceptible speed in the whole process because a) it's all off the wind --
the fastest point of sail -- and b) you're coasting unpowered for only a
second or two. If I haven't spun the sail by the time I'm pointing downwind
towards my landmark, I'm late and must stop the carve and spin the sail NOW,
or I'm going to be on the new beam reach before I've jibed the sail;
grabbing a sail at full power on a dying beam reach before getting that back
foot strapped in is begging for a tumble.
Jibing quickly like this doesn't give you TIME to hit three rows of swell,
lose speed, get nailed from behind by the true wind, and lose your balance
or crash. I don't think my sail flip, from throwing the back hand away to
sheeting in on the new tack, takes a full second when I do it right. The
whole Throw/Throw/Grab/Go business is just one continuous, fluid two-handed
sweep of my hands and forearms, as much like a Kung Fu move as I can make
it.
The same process works for 3.0s and for 6.8s; the 6.8 just takes harder
THROWS and takes two heartbeats rather than one.
The first one of those I tried was the greatest revelation and revolution in
my windsurfing life. No more barn doors eating up precious seconds, board
speed, and two boom-lengths of space while I fight for balance over three
rows of chop in a monster tailwind! I must assume this is partly why leading
ABK instructors began teaching the boom-to-boom approach to jibing back in the 90s.
Oh, yeah -- the feet. My foots is too far from my brain to access and
analyze all them komplykated textbook footwork options, let alone access a
menu and select and implement a footwork method in mid-jibe. The classic
step jibe, for example, requires we pull the front foot mostly out of its
strap, twist its heel across the board centerline, shift weight from the
back foot on the rail to the front heel across the centerline to maintain
the carve, and step forward with the back foot to avoid sinking the tail,
all while we do equally complicated things with our hands. That footwork was
too demanding for me. Besides, the step jibe's purpose is to get our weight
forward to avoid sinking the tail after we slow down, and we want to
accelerate, not slow down, in our jibes.
6. I find it simpler to just take my weight off both feet and switch 'em
simultaneously during any old quarter-second I'm not steering with 'em. That
works at any speed, in any chop or swell, overpowered or underpowered,
planing or slogging, Sunday or Wednesday, before or after the sail jibe,
during any instant I'm not footsteering. If I'm barely planing, I slip my
new front foot further forward on the board, into the step jibe position,
before reapplying weight to it. Unweighting my feet and jibing them
simultaneously sent my jibe success rate way up. It ranges from merely
sliding both feet across the deck on smoother water to hopping a foot off
the deck in huge chop or as I'm cresting a swell. I'll jibe my feet before, during, or (usually)
immediately after jibing the sail -- whenever it feels natural; no thinking
required.
In the GOOD 'uns the rig is spinning untouched in mid-air at the
same time I'm spinning in mid-air untouched, and we all meet again in the
new broad reach, at top speed and ready to strap and hook in. In the very
best ones the line and one foot enter the hook and strap automatically.
(Once again, and vital, this approach helped me to first learn to jibe; it was not an advanced technique, because useful lessons and videos were nearly
non-existent back then.)
When this all comes together properly, as it did consistently before I lost
an inner ear, and when I'm powered up at full speed, my jibes may go like
this: In a beam reach on any terrain, I'll unhook, plant my downwind foot
behind the front strap, stiff arm and tip the mast forward and downwind with
my front hand, oversheet and bend my knees dramatically, throw my hips into
the turn (at this instant I'm almost reaching my front arm in the direction of my old beam
reach, with my front arm and shoulder following the sail but my hips and
thighs already driving towards the new broad reach), throw the mast at the
downwind end zone towards the new broad reach, lift my feet from the board
and spin my hands, body and feet while the sail spins - I'm touching nothin'
but air for that heartbeat or so - and when my hands and feet come back in
contact with board and boom again I'm sheeted in on the new broad reach
still at top speed ... all within a heartbeat or three from one beam reach to
the new broad reach.
This, of course, presumes a responsive board and sails
in the 6.x or smaller range.
If I'm truly powered and wide open, I'll often dispense with all that
bearing-off/setting-up business and just jibe from the beam reach. Just
Bend Zee Knees, throw the hips, throw the rig, engage the new straps/hook/boom,
and sail away. You can jibe from beam-to-beam about as fast as you can
say this sentence.
Now that you've got that mastered and are blazing all the way from the old
beam reach to the new beam reach with no loss of speed more often than not,
add this to the scenario: way, WAY too much power. You're fighting hard yet
barely able to stay on the board, way too petrified to even think about
bearing off into a jibe, yet the shoreline is approaching and the gust is
still building.
My solution is to very quickly, from a beam reach:
1. Swerve sharply upwind to dump enough speed to regain control and ease
back hand pressure, then even more quickly - before the board has time to
regain uncontrollable speed or slow down enough that the wind catches me
from behind - I
2. Exaggerate almost every throw and force described above because the Wind
Monster is waiting to pounce if I waste two whole seconds lollygagging
through my jibe. I thus
3. Get myself jibed to the new side of the rig and board by the time the
board points downwind, and
4. SAIL through the rest of the jibe before I slow down and the wind catches
up.
What all this does is:
1. Scrub off the excess, uncontrollable, rag-doll, bouncing-out-of-control
speed to regain board and rig control,
2. Jibe the equipment as I slash through a VERY brief broad reach in a very
brief "apparent vacuum",
3. Put me back in control by putting me on the new side of the boom and
board, maybe even hooked in and in one or both straps by about the time the
nose of the board slashes through downwind, before the apparent vacuum is
filled by the wind monster.
In these conditions, where not even the
clumsiest sailor on the tiniest sinker is gonna sink the tail, the first
foot engaged will usually be my back foot, for both control and foot instep
safety. These steps allow me to WINDSURF, rather than wrestle with alligators, as I sail back
up from the new broad reach to the new beam reach to encounter the full
glory, maybe fury, of the wind again.
On my bad days, for several reasons, I might still miss many jibes. Here are
my more common errors:
• A face-plant inside the turn because I bent at the waist -- bowed rather
than curtseyed -- into my turn. (I can't perceive that error until too late
since losing one inner ear to surgery.)
• Getting overpowered and pulled forward, maybe even launched, when coming
out of my jibe if I jibe the sail too late and/or carved back up to the new
beam reach before sheeting in. Fixing my eyes on that landmark downwind and
spinning the sail simultaneously with the hip thrust prevents that.
• Getting bounced around and unbalanced and losing my carve in very rough
water because I failed to get that front hand WAY out in front of me and
tipped into the turn. Now that we have the front hand palm-up,
straight-arming the rig like this is how we get our weight forward onto the
front of the board to stop bouncing.
• Getting tossed in huge chop because I didn't bend my knees drastically, as
though sitting on a milk crate.
• Being unable to oversheet because I bore off the wind too far before
trying to oversheet. The save? Shove the mast WAY forward and inward (this
shuts off the power instantly) as I oversheet, or foot-swerve back to a beam
reach, oversheet, then resume the jibe, all in one quick S-shaped slash.
• Losing track of where I was in the turn because I watched my gear or the
water right in front of my board rather than looking at my downwind
landmark or exit path. You must look where you intend to go, rather than where you are,
because our boards (and cars and mountain bikes) follow our gaze. Do you
look at your dashboard to steer your car? Of course not; you look where you
want the car to go. I get my best results looking at that spot on the
horizon downwind.
• Burying the downwind rail with too much rail pressure when inadequate
board speed will not support a weighted rail.
• Missing the board when I jump too high during the foot switch. The cure:
laughter. It happens once a day in the roughest terrain I can find BECAUSE I
'm in rough terrain.
• Thinking too much. I have my best successes when I get PISTOFF and
JUSTDOIT rather than engaging my brain. My brain apparently hasn't the
capacity to think real time about the dozen or so steps required in a tight
carved jibe on a small board. A bigger board and sail slow the process
sufficiently that I can think it through. Textbook footwork and all that
boom-to-mast-to-boom handwork works for millions of people. But 1) I
couldn't make them work; 2) they leave other millions losing their plane
before completing their jibe; and 3) they are not as inherently fast and
tight because they a) involve more steps, b) swing the sail through twice
the space, and c) require greater coasting (unpowered) time and space.
A
magazine reported long ago that Sarah James, a leading ABK instructor, teaches
boom-to-boom jibing instead of the old, more complicated, cumbersome, slower
boom-mast-boom method.
The boom-to-boom sail jibe helps cure the following aborted carved jibe that
I see every five seconds at the amateur end of the Gorge's Hatchery: They
enter the jibe fast, DELIBERATELY sail off the wind until the board stops
planing and the sail yanks their back hand, release the back hand, let the
sail take its own sweet time blowing around the mast as the board coasts to
a standstill, then grab the new side of the boom and try to get planing
again. While that is a jibe, it is NOT a carved, or planing, jibe, by
definition. It's also tough to do in big chop. Aggression and commitment are
virtually required to carve planing jibes. The wind has already done its job
in getting us up to speed; the actual jibe is OUR responsibility, AFTER
which the wind comes back into play.
Try this. It sure made my decade.
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scottwerden
Joined: 11 Jul 1999
Posts: 302
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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Does your wife sail?
Sounds like a nice chance to see something exotic. I would bag the idea of windsurfing and go to Cuba. Or Antigua. |
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