Learning
For the novice it takes a relatively long time to reach the sport's 'fun' level (i.d. planing, carve jibing etc.) when compared to other so-called "extreme" sports, like snowboarding, freeride Mountain Biking or kitesurfing. Beginners, starting off on a large board with a tiny triangular sail in less than 5 knots of wind on a shallow lake, often struggle to see the similarity between what they are doing and the images they see in magazines of advanced riders using a 2.25 m board to ride waves in 20–30 knots of wind. Learning to windsurf used to present the biggest barrier to the sport's growth, but with the development of new, wider (80 to 100 cm), high volume (more than 200 liters) beginner boards the transition time from beginner to intermediate has been reduced. Learning to windsurf can be compared to chess in that there are many pieces moving in different directions which must be kept track of. After a few attempts most learners finally catch on.
Beginners must develop their balance and core stability, acquire a basic understanding of sailing theory, and learn a few techniques before they can progress from sailing to planing. These techniques involve a similar process to that required to learn to ride a bicycle – the development of muscle-memory automatic reactions:
1. Standing on the board while holding the sail and balancing the weight of the sail leaning to one side with the sailor's weight leaning out on the other side.
2. Leaning the sail towards the front and rear of the board and learning how this is used to turn the board by adjusting the relative positions of the centre of weight of the whole sail/board/sailor combination and the centre of pressure of the wind in the sail.
3. Learning to adjust the amount of pressure in the sail while simultaneously counteracting that pressure by leaning the sailor's body in or out from the board.
Initial lessons can be taken with a windsurfing school, which exist in reasonable numbers in most countries. With coaching and favorable conditions, the basic skills of sailing, steering, and turning can be learned within a few hours. Competence in the sport and mastery of more advanced maneuvers such as planing, carve gybing (turning downwind at speed), water starting, jumping, and more advanced moves can require more practice. Training DVDs exist which are useful in a sport where it is difficult for a coach to be close to a pupil particularly when learning the more advanced maneuvers.
Nevertheless, windsurfing is a sport which, once mastered, can be enjoyed, even at an advanced level, well into retirement and then at a more sedate level for considerably longer still. This is partly due to the fact that windsurfing crashes tend to cause less injury than those sports which take place on harder surfaces (although being reckless whilst windsurfing in advanced conditions can still cause serious injury or death due to the speeds and altitudes involved).
Read more about this topic: Windsurfers
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