Hello, I returned from Lago di Garda, Italy a week ago where I tried windsurfing for a first time in my life. I absolutely fell in love with the sport so the first thing I did when I returned was buying a gear. After my euphory weared off and my sanity returned, I noticed that this is in my garage:


2001 Fanatic Bee 124 litres

Mistral 5.9 sail

all the rig components I need to get going (everything new, I bought it with the sail and the guy in the shop trimmed it for me and explained everything, so I should be able to set it up properly)

some Rip Curl neoprene


Now the thing is I had something huge under my feet on Lago di Garda and the 124 l Bee looks pretty unstable for my 80 kg (cca 178 lbs) of weight. I tried to get on it last Sunday without sails (just the board on the water) and it didnt feel THAT bad, but I couldnt actually stand on it - I always ended in a water.

Next weekend is the first time Im gonna get all the equipment to my local WS-friendly lake and Im pretty determined to spend hours in water trying to get on the board and rise the sail, but TBH Im also pretty scared that I bought the wrong gear.

Long story short:

Is it possible for basically an absolute newbie with weight of 80 kg (cca 178 lbs) to learn windsurfing on a 124 l freeride board?

In ideal conditions it won't be too bad, ie flat water and steady light to medium wind.
It doesn't matter that you can't stand on the board without the rig.
The rig with a bit of steady wind in it adds enormously to stability, once you've learned a bit of sail control.
It may pay to practice uphauling on the beach, until you have it down pat, the transition between rope and boom is always the tricky bit. Also practise sheeting the sail in and putting your weight on the boom, hang on with your front hand and control sail power with your back hand.
It's learning these skills that will be harder on a smaller board, if you can do it on the beach a bigger board won't be necessary

PS don't forget to do this in both directions!!!
That's one of the downsides of learning to windsurf, you have to do everything twice!

Might be worth getting a couple of lessons on your gear to get you going.

I am a newbie to the sport also,I have a 150l board but it is 87cm wide at 100kgs I find the width really helps.I also go out in lighter winds to learn my tacs and gybes that also let's me know where I can and can't stand on my board

A great choise in the fork of the road windsurfing will give you so much pleasure 4 the rest of your life remember keep your back square 2 the wind when uphauling once you can keep your balance holding the sail with a small amount of back hand pressure and your front arm stiff and strong and you are going forward try tilting the rig forward towards the nose and you will go away from the wind and if you tilt it back you will go towards the wind thats your basic steering but you might allready know that dont expect 2 improve straight away it dose take practice and is proberbly on of the hardest sports 2 learn but lifes full of challenges and dont let this one beat you we all strugled as much as each other but the rewards are awesome and all the windsurfing crew are very approchable and allways willing 2 guide you along the way happy days ahead

i actually have a Fanatic BEE LTD 124 and use it for bigger winds {over 20 mph/knots} since I am a heavyweight of 100 kilos
i use it with sails 7-oh and 6.3

i tried like you did - stand on board with no rig - impossible for a heavyweight
tried to uphaul it traditional way ie feet equidistant from mast base - almost impossible
now can uphaul it with front foot just in front of mast base and back foot further back
things i have suggested to others is - find balance point on board and put mast base close to it - for uphauling
now i water start this board and reserve uphauling for emergencies
it is a very good board and will serve you well !!!

hope you learn to love the sport as much as i do

if you buy a bigger board to start, KEEP this one - it will be your go-to board with your weight

good winds
joe windsurfer

Alot of technical info about the 2001 Fanatic Bee 124L here, about 2/3rd's of the way down this blog by a bloke in Canada.

joewindsurfer.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-i-started-shortboarding.html

evlPanda said...

>>>>>>. Instead of learning on a big floaty with a small sail I kinda wish I'd learnt starting with a waterstart in good winds, which is far more like real windsurfing and probably takes 1-2 days to learn. And once you can waterstart you have sail control.

>>>

Learning to waterstart first can be faster, I like teaching this way my self, but I'm not sure it's possible without constant help from an instructor who knows what they're doing.
Certainly the 124 Bee is almost ideal to start this way.

The first weekend of windsurfing on my own gear is over!

I must say the beginnings were quite tough (whole Saturday was mostly about uphauling & swimming ), but Sunday afternoon I was standing on the board with my sail full of wind cruising at moderate speed. Im going to start working on jibes next weekend.

decrepit said...

Nice one NewKy, bet that feels good.

Thanks! I got still a LONG way to go though

billyboy402 said...

Are you still dreaming at night about flying over the water , and skipping over the waves ......
I am it it been 6 months for me

I dont think I will ever be able to ride jaws etc. This is about where I want to realistically get eventually (skill-wise):



[}:)]

NewKy said...
Is it possible for basically an absolute newbie with weight of 80 kg (cca 178 lbs) to learn windsurfing on a 124 l freeride board?

You're going to love this sport! I started about a year ago. After a few sails on a big 80s board, I bought a 2003 120L Fanatic Cross with a 6.6m sail (I weigh about 10kg more than you). I wasted a few session trying to learn to uphaul it, but things went much more quickly once I started sailing in knee-waist deep water and only doing beach starts.

Slowly moving into deeper water, I got the hang of water starts after about ten sessions, about the same time as footstraps and harness lines. Once you get the hang of planing in footstraps & harness you won't be able to get the smile off your face!

About nine months later I finally cracked 30knots (albeit with a Isonic 94L and at a speed spot). :-)

I have neglected to develop my gybing and tacking skills as planing on long tacks is far too much fun... I suspect on a wider board I would have got the hang of carving gybes by now.

NewKy said...

billyboy402 said...

Are you still dreaming at night about flying over the water , and skipping over the waves ......
I am it it been 6 months for me

I dont think I will ever be able to ride jaws etc. This is about where I want to realistically get eventually (skill-wise):

[}:)]

That's a realistic dream. So how long do you think it will take you to reach the level of the guys on the clip? Just curious. What time frame do others think to get from total learner to this standard?

Cheers

Join a Club. Most of them have a learners board that you can borrow for free.

PhilSWR said...



That's a realistic dream. So how long do you think it will take you to reach the level of the guys on the clip? Just curious. What time frame do others think to get from total learner to this standard?

Cheers

I guess it comes a lot down to the amount of time you invest into windsurfing. Im 28 now and I hope I will be able to plane on a sea on my 30th birthday [}:)] Maybe Im just too ambitious though.

looks to be the down haul coming from the mast extension not actually from uni joint