n00b learning the wind surf - Solo Day 1

So yesterday was my first day solo sailing for 1.5 hours at La Peruse (as suggested by another forum member for southerlies). I was only about 7-10 knots and i was running a 5.9m sail. It was also my first solo rigging. I had a fair bit of fun in an adventurous way, although didn't feel very fullfilled by the end of it as i'd spent so much time in the drink.

Thoughts:

My balance is my biggest weakness. Not being a snowboarder/skateboarder i really seam to be lacking in this area. I only ever successfully jibed once without falling off.

i need to get another board. My formula board is quite hard to balance on and doesn't seem to have the lateral stability that i had on both the board @Mobydisc took me out on at the beginning of the year or the starboard go i used when i went windsurfing in Maui this year - considering my balance is crap as above this is prob my first priority

I seemed to struggle to get the right amount of tension on my sail to get the battens at the boom height to sit off the mast (they looked like i'd have to bend the mast to make this happen) - what do you think i might have been doing wrong here? The batten would sit to the side of the mast and rubb against it (i was actually concerned i'd rub a hole in the batten sheath if it stayed that way?

I have gone and bought a brush to get sand off before transport, and also want to buy a length of hose - how much do you carry (lenght) and what connection do you have on the end. do you also carry a hose tap for taps that have had them removed?

I also seem to be a bit paranoid heading into to deaper water. This might be a bit for fear of sharks (The Harold Holt effect) and also because i'm scared of getting far out to shore - thoughts? I am a very strong swimmer so not being able to get back to shore/drowning it the last of my thoughts.

I would guess it would have been a bit choppy at La Perouse, I think you were doing well just to get out there! You will find it easier with practise and in flatter water when the weather allows (e.g. kyeemagh in NE in summer)

A brush is a good idea. But you don't need to rinse everything with fresh water.

Can you rig your sail somewhere and post a picture of it?

If you are not so confident in the water you can get pretty streamlined life jackets from Windsurf n' Snow which would help. Or go swimming when it's not windy

Narrabeen might not have the most consistent wind but the safety aspect makes it the best place for you to venture out at the moment.

Def don't worry about mast bend, whack on a load of tension, you need to have you foot on the bottom of the mast and pulling the sail down really hard to get it tight enough. Unless you are a lot stronger than most you won't be able to cause any damage by pulling the sail down as hard as you can.

Be very careful of a brush on the sail, scratch very easily. The only bits that really need a wash off our the mast base, boom and any other metal.

Board is a challenge, if it was going to come in to it's own after a few sessions I'd say stick with it, maybe hire a big board from WSS a few times but it probably won't come in useful as once you get a bit more confident you'll want a freeride board that will be easier to get going on.

Might be worth seeing how much WSS will hire a big stable board out to you for 4-5 sessions, that's probably all you need it before you'll be ready for something like a 150 freeride, I think there might be a suitable jp on here.

By the way, even turning once a this stage is bloody good going!!

Hi Doug,

Please come by and we'll rig the sail for you and as I said when you first came by I can loan you a beginner board for the weekend to help progress your skills faster.

At this point you should try this style of board again before buying as the stability of the F2 FX100 III is pretty high and I'd hazard a guess as high if not higher than most boards mentioned here. It's length is relatively long for a formula board so volume of 160l is distributed further forward than newer formula kit which will help.

It's not perfect but with a smaller fin, a weekend or 2 on a 180 -220l entry board you'll find you'll improve quickly.

Obviously there are more ideal board around but I think your goal was to save some coin and improve. Should you want to change your board once you've tried some others then we can look at a trade.

Catch you soon.

Sam.

Thanks Sam - not afraid of the deep from a buoyancy/swimming point of view just more of a fear of the grey suited man in Botany Bay (a few windsurfing in botany bay "there are sharks everywhere" blog posts i had read didn't help with this fear)

harald that sounds awesome, will send you a message closer to the date