Looking for lessons

[Jordan Ruff]

Hi I recently bought windsurfing gear and am looking for lessons to get started. I prefer someone who could meet at my home as I’m on lake Ontario in Webster and have direct access to the shore/launch area. also willing to meet elsewhere if better.

I have a full wetsuit and am looking to get started ASAP.

Thanks!

Jordan

[Jordan Ruff]

Also, to clarify, i’m happy to pay any normal rate.

[mihelbergel]

I love hearing that new people are joining our sport. What gear did you get?

[Jordan Ruff]

I got a set that includes an exocet board board 118L, and 4 sets of sails

[mihelbergel]

That’s awesome that you are ready to jump in the water! It’s been a pretty good season so far, and it’s just getting started. A lot of guys at the beach will probably be more than happy to help you out. It’s a very friendly sport. One consideration though….you may want to look into a bigger board. 118 liters will be very challenging to learn on. Here’s why. In general, bigger boards are used for lighter winds and smaller boards for stronger winds. 118 liters is small for a beginner and even an intermediate. A board that size means you need more wind to get it going. More wind, however, means more waves and chop. When learning, you will climb on the board and pull the sail up by an uphaul rope. 118 liters is not very stable and is very difficult to stand on and pull a sail up. With a bigger board you will generally be in lighter wind, which means less waves and chop. Plus the bigger board is much more stable. It makes learning much more fun, less frustrating, and you will ultimately learn quicker because you will actually be sailing rather than falling in the water and swimming. Make sense? Consider a board around 160 liters. That’s what my wife and I learned on and it was a good size. We continued to use that board for about 5 years. It became our light wind board once we got proficient. During that 5 years we also got a 135 liter board. It was very challenging even after we were competent on the 160 liter board. Then we got 115 liter board in our third or fourth year. Hope to meet you sometime. Enjoy all the stoke that comes with this sport. See you on the water.

[windydoug]

Hi Jordan,

Awesome to hear you are eager to get going.  I will piggy back on what Eric said above…..we have a stoked and growing community of wind warriors in our area.  Eric lives in Buffalo, but we see him often as he chases good wind and great riding.

I would agree that a 118 liter board will be a struggle to learn on as a beginner.  With your sailing background and eagerness it might not be out of the question that you could progress to that board with repetition and determination in a year or so.  Their is a windsurfer that has a 150L Exocet board that I don’t think he rides anymore…maybe he would be interested in selling it.  It’s a wide stable platform.

What size sails do you have?  Do you have the rig components to be able to rig all of them?  What I mean by that is do you have a boom with a big extension range, a mast extension to be able to use the same mast etc…

I am not in a place to be able to give lessons, but the folks at Canandaigua Sailboard can help you out, and it is a great location to learn AND progress.  If you call CDGA Sailboard it may help to mention that you were hoping for a lesson from Ben.  CDGA is not his full time gig, but he has been successfully teaching there for years.

Most of us travel for wind ie Lake O. when wind has north in it, Seneca or Canandaigua when it has south in it.  Long Pond for west south west windsurfing.  Lake Ontario does present water challenges for beginning.  Uphauling the sail out of the water in chop and shore break can be exhausting and really affect your early progress.  Their is muscle memory that needs to be developed via up hauling that enables beach and water starting to be learned.

I can’t tell you how glad we all are to hear from a person as eager as yourself.  Wind spots are a magical endeavor and our community is pretty cool.  Hopefully I didn’t dim your enthusiasm for learning with some of these suggestions.  The spot is easier than ever to learn, so that is very much in your favor.  Some of us went through plenty of struggle early on and if we can help you avoid that we’d be really happy to see you on the water.

Stay in touch here with any questions or stoke.

See you on the water,

Doug W.

 

[Jordan Ruff]

Thanks all,

I was able to uphaul and stand up on the board a few times last weekend but  fell back before I could get forward motion…. Still working on balance but the wind may have been too light also. Uphauling was quite the workout but I could get the sail up straight and luff at least. I’m open to buying a larger board to get started (europin style)…. I’ll give it another try tomorrow with my equipment though.

My sails are: 7.5, 6.7, 5.7 and 4.7. I have 2 masts for the larger 3 but still need a mast for the smallest sail ,(380 I think). Boom is adjustable but I haven’t tried on smallest sail yet.

I’ve also called CDGA twice but they don’t yet know when lessons will start…

Thanks again for the comments and advice!

[windydoug]

Hey again Jordan,

I should have dropped this Youtube link here in my last post.

Get Windsurfing is a fantastic instructional resource. I came across it a few years ago as I began to teach my son to windsurf.  Heck I still watch the fast tack video and duck jibe vids.  I believe Phil is a great instructor and uses great cam angles and explains things in a well thought out way.

If you do a search on the Get Windsurfing channel you will find a beginner playlist

https://youtube.com/c/GetWindsurfing

Also, you may be able to make your 4.7m sail work in a 400cm mast as the head strap can be adjusted.  At some point mast length became uniform and increases in 30cm increments. So from a 400 you go to a 370.
i’m not sure of your universal set up, but the Euro pin will have no bearing on what board you are able to get. It may be that you have a moveable Euro pin“plate” that you would have to move between boards, or purchase an additional base plate for a second board. Uniformity between mast extension and universal joint IS important however.

Wd

• This reply was modified 2 years, 12 months ago by windydoug.

[Anonymous]

I have some experience in windsurfing (just starting with harness) and almost bought the same gear you got, but after talking with my friend who is in professional sport I ended up with a 156 litres board.

[Author]

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