| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
windowsurfer
Joined: 14 Jul 2007
Posts: 13
Location: Chilliwack, BC >> Harrison Lake
|
 Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 11:50 am Post subject: Now I get it |
 |
|
Hi - I am an avid windsurfer - flat water blasting and bump-n-jump. As SUP came on and then WindSUP, I was not as involved and was not into the magazines and online chatter. Truth-be-told, I did not see the appeal of SUP - so very many big boards on top of cars! - and wondered why bother with WindSUP when u have a quiver of full-on windsurf boards?
Then I went to a resort near Bucerias in Mexico this month. Lots of surfers. There were a few SUP folks out in the waves who knew what they were doing and it really looked like fun and skills worth learning. Great workout, unique sport. MUCH more fun than paddling my old 12' Vinta around on flat water! I did not see any wave sailors out there on windsurf boards or WindSUPS, but I can clearly imagine the fun of that. But, I imagine the right gear is pretty critical, especially in light wind.
I have been doing lots of searching on forums, etc. about WindSUP. This one was one of the best. It looks like people are figuring it out and the whole "triple-threat" (SUP, windsurf, surf) aspect of a WindSUP board with multiple small fins and a small, light WindSUP sail that gives you 7.5 regular sail power.
I have Starboard windsurf boards and the best SUP guy on the beach at Palladium Vallarta had a Starboard too - in what looked like a full carbon. (Not sure I'd start with a $2500 stick!) He was an expert and really made it look like fun.
We may try to get out to this region for an extended stay next winter - Jan-Apr - as we get into semi-retirement. Having a small collection of multi-purpose gear and playing in the waves seems like a fantastic way to spend the time. Any gear or location thoughts? I am a decent basic windsurfer - reliable water-start/jibe on flat water - and weigh about 180.
(P.S. - My rotator cuffs are shot, so I think the surfing might be tough; I have limited paddling power/stamina. Maybe that would improve with practice?)
Mitch from Chilliwack |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 2:08 pm Post subject: Re: Now I get it |
|
|
| windowsurfer wrote: | | (P.S. - My rotator cuffs are shot, so I think the surfing might be tough; I have limited paddling power/stamina. Maybe that would improve with practice?) |
Yes, but properly prescribed and executed physical therapy would do a LOT more for you, without the threat of doing more harm. If the damage is so bad that even PT won't help, it's probably time for surgery. Your mobility over the next several decades apparently depends on it. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jingebritsen
Joined: 21 Aug 2002
Posts: 3371
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jingebritsen
Joined: 21 Aug 2002
Posts: 3371
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
windowsurfer
Joined: 14 Jul 2007
Posts: 13
Location: Chilliwack, BC >> Harrison Lake
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 5:16 pm Post subject: Re: Now I get it |
|
|
| isobars wrote: | | Yes, but properly prescribed and executed physical therapy would do a LOT more for you, without the threat of doing more harm. If the damage is so bad that even PT won't help, it's probably time for surgery. Your mobility over the next several decades apparently depends on it. |
Tell me more, if u have time & inclination. My doc can hook me up, although, this is Canada and unless I pay to get to the front of the line, it may be an (un)healthy wait until I get to see the therapist. Surgery? Sheesh. I golf a lot and it does not hurt bad, though there have been some flare-ups. Par for the course for old high milers, right? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
windowsurfer
Joined: 14 Jul 2007
Posts: 13
Location: Chilliwack, BC >> Harrison Lake
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 5:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Thanks jingebritsen - great info! Kona 1 is a SUP too, but maybe slanted a little more towards windsurf? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jingebritsen
Joined: 21 Aug 2002
Posts: 3371
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
windowsurfer
Joined: 14 Jul 2007
Posts: 13
Location: Chilliwack, BC >> Harrison Lake
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Thx jingebritsen. I was confused about the Kona name. Exocet had/has an older model named Kona, Kona is a new board brand. (Yes?) You are a Exocet Kona carbon advocate.
I am diggin it, but it all looks a little bit Equippe-ish to me me. I have lots of time in the straps of an Equippe (on flat water). Lots of fun, and I appreciate the way a long board is more fun in light wind, but . . . I am thinking the WindSup sail and waves will make it even bettah.
I suspect I would have a no-daggerboard preference. I have seen J Douglass' blog too (suckhole, etc.) and thought that was pretty interesting. Maybe you Florida guys are on the sloppy, front end of this stuff and are worth listening to?
Cheers and thx for patience. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:19 pm Post subject: Re: Now I get it |
|
|
| windowsurfer wrote: | | isobars wrote: | | Yes, but properly prescribed and executed physical therapy would do a LOT more for you, without the threat of doing more harm. If the damage is so bad that even PT won't help, it's probably time for surgery. Your mobility over the next several decades apparently depends on it. |
Tell me more, if u have time & inclination. My doc can hook me up, although, this is Canada and unless I pay to get to the front of the line, it may be an (un)healthy wait until I get to see the therapist. Surgery? Sheesh. I golf a lot and it does not hurt bad, though there have been some flare-ups. Par for the course for old high milers, right? |
The problem is not inherently age or high mileage. It is very often, maybe almost exclusively, neglect and abuse. Even a lifetime of running is HEALTHY for knees ... IF one's stride is flawless.
Our rotator cuff (aka shoulder girdle) is a complex network of mostly interior muscles which stabilize our shoulder while the bigger, stronger, more visible, and more widely known muscles throw, lift, push, pull, etc. When those stabilizers get weak or injured, the shoulder joint and blade wander around creating all sorts of damage and pain, often many inches away so we don't associate it with the shoulder.
Rotator cuffs muscles, often starting with the supraspinatus, tend to atrophy as we age, sometimes to the point they don't even exist any more. Even active athletes within decades of our age must deliberately and properly strengthen those specific muscles, even in the height of a busy windsurfing season, with specific strength-building exercises to prevent the atrophy, keep the shoulder pars where they belong, and prevent pain and injury.
That's where doctors (to determine whether the shoulder needs surgery), PTs/physios (to prescribe and teach the proper exercises) and the patient (to do the work) come in. Each of those people is vital to a safe and effective repair (if necessary) and rehabilitate (NECESSARY!) a lame cuff. People unwilling to take those steps are usually doomed to spiral right down the toilet to chronic debilitating pain, then a lot ... a LOT ... of television. I got to the point I often couldn't comb my hair or flip a light switch without extreme pain, with no idea what specifically caused it. Many doctors gave up on trying to find the cause or a cure. I was 22, and it took it years to get better. I finally had to have surgery 35 years later to repair and prevent damage caused by a sloppy rotator cuff.
Now, at 71 and with FAR greater attention to proper shoulder use and conditioning, I WS in gale force winds and swing on overhead cables in the gym in confidence.
TV and pain-killers vs or 25 more years of vigorous activity; the choice is yours. I recommend:
1. Have a doctor assess the shoulder in case it really needs surgery. If it does,
2. Get at LEAST one second opinion; surgery is all some quacks know.
3. Move on to PT/physio when given the go-ahead. They will decide what needs rehab and how to do it.
4. Quickly convince them with action that you can proceed on your own, merely guided -- rather than manipulated like a puppet -- by them.
5. Once rehabbed to their satisfaction, spend a few minutes each week for the rest of your life doing simple, low-effort (these are very small muscles), targeted exercises to keep the rotator cuff strong and healthy. You will highly likely regret it if you don't.
6. Then keep up with the PT/rehab field online. Occasionally some well-known PT comes up with a new and more effective --- hell, at least DIFFERENT -- shoulder exercise. I would not start with (6) in case (1) is crucial to recovery.
You have my sympathy for your medical system. Many of my flesh and blood and cyber friends are in the same, sometimes jaw-dropping, boat. I have to go through a doctor to see a PT, but it takes a day or three, not weeks or money, to see even the first-rate doctor and PT of my choice. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
dllee
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 5329
Location: East Bay
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Man, what it must be like to have beaches with 6" to 2' waves, and some wind, and shallow flat for a while.
Around here, San Francisco area, it's either overhead hollow, or waves like that and dead calm no wind nada.
I guess SantaCruz is the closest with weak mushy waves and slight breezes, as Bolinas is never ever windy, and Stinson is usually overhead in the winter weekends.
And here, we get small waves only as closeout shorepound, nothing really rideable if you like your fins intact. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You can attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
|
|
|
Search
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Register
