Windsurfing...How much practice do I need before I am proficeint?

Question

I am very athletic: I snow ski, snow board, boogie board, roller hockey, do 100 mile adventure races, and about 15 other sports. I want to go on a 5 day windsurfing tour in the Pacific islands next summer, but I have never windsurfed. Approximately, how many days, or hours, of practice would I need before I would be a strong & proficeint windsurfer? My guess is about 30 days of 2-4 hours each day. I'd have to make it about 20 miles a day for 5 days, and deal with whatever the ocean throws at me.

Answer 1

I learnt Wind surfing many years ago on a weeks sail and surf camp in the West of Ireland.  The water was cold and it rained a lot, that being said. It took some time to master the board,  Balance is the first thing   once done basics of sailing come in handy especially reading the wind. Once this is mastered then you are half way there.

The big buzz I got was on my fist big wind and getting used to a harness.  Once you have this mastered the board slapping the waves as you travel in strong breezes, your confidence level will boost your proficiency.

Trying to be an expert day one will not work.  Its will take a little time and frustration to click but when it does its a great

You could be a natural, you seem to have the balance thing sorted out  so thats a couple of days effort in itself

Its all about going with the force.  If you have about 25 hours solid board time you should be ok,  Just remember a life jacket..

Hope this helps

Enjoy

Answer 2

Athletic is good, being able to read wind and wave is better. You can take the best high school jock that is a great snow boarder, put him on a wind surfer and he'll dump forever. That said you can take a 90 pound computer geek, put him on the same board with the same sail and he may get up and go for miles.

It's just like sailing a boat. Arm and leg strength means squat. It's how you read the water and wind and a little coordination between your inner ear (balance) and how your extremities can control the rig under the given conditions.

Most people can pick it up in a day. If you're a jock that wants to overpower whatever it is that you do, you'll take a lot longer. The idea is to let the wind work for you, not vice versa. Usually, the harder you try, the harder you dump.

Your best bet for starting is a high volume board with moderate sail area for the wind at the time. At least that way, you'll get up and for the most part, stay there and the board won't rely on planing to keep afloat. That means you don't need to go fast to stay up. faster means that issues that come up require faster responses, something that you haven't trained your body to do just yet. If you're a jock, then you know about muscle memory. Same thing here.

One thing to note. You will never be ready to "deal with whatever the ocean throws at me.". Most with time, but never anything.

Answer 3

It seems to me that the 90 hours in the water that you are mentioning (3 x 30) are very optimistic. I would expect more than that to learn the basic things including use of straps, harness, learn to water-start and jibe. And I am not talking jumping waves...

That is, unless you live in the perfect spot with windy days, flat water, have good learning equipment and somebody to teach you. If that is the case, you may have a chance.

Being athletic helps but it is more important to be persistent, understand the wind and able to overcome frustration when things don't go the way we want to.