Waterstart Lessons - Female Perspective

[mjamero]

My wife is in the thick of learning to waterstart and also trying to increase her threshold for higher wind. She can deep beach start and I feel she is 90% of the way to getting her first waterstart. That last 10% is proving challenging. She is beginning to get frustrated and starting to get discouraged with Windsurfing in general which is no good. Time for some intervention!

Could someone kindly recommend a qualified local teacher that could assist? Perhaps one or two sessions up at Squamish would do the trick. Seeing as she is a lady (obviously), lessons from a women or with a female perspective would be preferred. Thanks for the suggestions. In the meantime, any tips from a female perspective that can be offered to make waterstarting easier, (and windsurfing in general) would greatly be appreciated.

[joeblo]

She may benefit from practicing on the beach. Not at Squamish of course. She could sit on the beach with her feet on the board and learn how to work the sail. Of course she won't learn how to orient the board as the sail pulls it around when she is in the water for real, but you may be able to mimic this by putting a towel down so that the board will rotate a bit on the sand. Practicing on the land is way less effort and frustration than practicing on the water, where a mistake means a lot of work to get the sail all ready again. There are a lot of things going on so if she can get the sail working, the rest may be a little easier.
Also try to set the boom low enough so that it comes hits the back of the board. That way she gets the sail flying by using the tail of the board. The biggest mistake new water starters make is to lay back in the water and wait for the sail to pull them up. It has to be nuking to do that. An article in the windsurfing mag, when there was one, suggested that people try to get the sail to stand up as much as possible and try to kiss it. The idea being - keep your body close to the sail. In the water she should put her front foot on the board and tread water with her back foot and get her back foot hip or upper thigh to touch the board if possible. This will make the sail get more vertical so she then has a better chance of pulling herself up. She can do visa versa if it is more comfortable for her. Back foot up first usually has the effect of turning the board up into the wind when you try and stand up. Not helpful!
If all that is too frustrating, buy her a kite! It is much easier to learn and she could be having fun pretty quickly. Learning how to turn on a windsurfer without falling in could take years! You may be able to have fun out on the water together with her on her kite.

[Jennifer]

Book a holiday to Bonaire! It is 100% the best place to learn to windsurf without frusteration. Warm waist deep water and nice 18-25knot winds. It is paradise! No wetsuit/sharp rocks/sketchy pylons/kites and thier scary lines/jet skiis/currents etc.

Once she builds up confidence she can venture out into the bay and windsurf with sea turtles! Lots of lessons available in Bonaire too, you can even sign up for yoga/windsurf all girl camps by professional women windsurfers.

If Bonaire isn't an option then Nitnat is a nice place to learn -more women there too to ask advice (squamish is a hard place and scary place to learn, see my list above - too many hazards to worry about at the same time as waterstarting).

I'm also happy to chat with your wife and give her some of the tricks that utilize the wind rather than strength to help learn the waterstart. Just send me a message!

We just got the new trickonary and there are lots of great articles about the basics of water starting and getting going. Highly recommend it!

[mjamero]

I'm also happy to chat with your wife and give her some of the tricks that utilize the wind rather than strength to help learn the waterstart. Just send me a message!

Thanks for the info and offer Jennifer. I will pass this on to my wife. I'm sure she would appreciate chatting with you. Expect a PM from myself or my wife.

[mjamero]

She may benefit from practicing on the beach....

Thanks for the tips "joeblo". Some good pointers here.

[grantmac]

Lower the boom all the way.

Make sure there is enough wind to be planing.

The biggest issue newbie's have is trying to lift the sail clear of the water instead of sliding the water off of it. It may seem like more work but getting right out to the tip and flying it from there takes less muscle.

[telus022420]

Dryland water start. Once you can get up consistently, try it with the eyes closed.

https://youtu.be/6A_4Eifxjew

https://youtu.be/DnL3Zk4RfDE

Good Luck.

[Michael]

Another good place to practice waterstarts is Boundary Bay in the fall. If you go around a 3M tide the water will be waist deep with a nice sandy bottom and lots of room. I see you got your 5.4 so you are ready for the fall, did you get one for your wife? Tell her not to give up, it is a frustrating process for everyone, it drove me crazy! I tried the pool noodles on my boom and it doesn't really help. I did get some nice comments on the beach though, not.

[ubcsailingclub]

In the summers, I teach ladies and men at Jericho beach , the basics of windsurfing and high wind skills waterstarts too. Sometimes being a patient, kind instructor who doesn't just shout out commands at the students goes miles instead of aggressive teaching style where you actually push the person onto the board... Paid lessons can still be poorly instructed. Do your research and find the kind of individual instructor that suits the learning style.

I believe anyone can get a waterstart in less than 3 hours in steady (not gusty) conditions with not too big of waves. Berkeley marina, California worked well for me. Go somewhere where there is a rescue boat on hand like Berkeley - it will help calm the nerves in deeper water knowing that you can forget the world and just focus on the waterstart. You really do just forget your surroundings when you are "all in" , which is needed to really feel, and get this.

For me, I had people (good windsurfers) barking instructions at me and it really does not help when you hear the same thing the 10th time.., It is very annoying and tone matters a lot too, I find. I also don't like learning skills from a boyfriend. Teacher voice = sooooo aggravating, depending on the person ofcourse.

For rig handling, help her carry to the water if its too heavy. I'm curious what size board and sail she's using.. For her size, you could go for 18 kts steady wind, 4.5 sail, and a 120L board, and adjust if needed.
Did you try showing her a way to getting the rig out of the water is to grab the mast and think about perpendicular wind angles. If it's not perpendicular, you are fighting the wind when you want to work with it! Then, once the rig is in place, just give it a little jiggle for 10 seconds and voila! no strength necessary. This being said, swimming lessons and general fitness and conditioning goes a long way to make everything easier. And, helps with confidence in the water to be a confident swimmer / water treader.

Happy to chat with Jen and your wife, also - I can't imagine being stuck on a water start for a year or 6 months. That would drive me insane... your wife is obviously tough as nails and persistent so she can get a waterstart, if she wants to. Maybe suggest she gets involved in a forum like this to ask for tips, instead of going through you? Just a thought--

Cheers, and happy sailing! Sorry if my post is a bit harsh, just think it's important to say it like it is-- I am sure you're great instructor - sometimes third degree separation helps is all.
Linda

[GeorgS]

I would also recommend a good fitting lifevest if she doesn't already have one. Make sure it doesn't ride up when in the water which, unfortunately, a lot do (strap it down). The higher her upper body floats in the water the easier it is to learn.

Georg