Thinking of learning windsurfing? Wondering if you need a teacher or if you can just rent one yourself? I was wondering that too especially after getting rejected at my local rental place. I told them I was a beginner and they refused to rent to me!
So can you teach yourself? Absolutely. With beginner wind speeds of 5-10 mph, you can teach yourself windsurfing in 2-3 hours.
I’m a firm believer in the idea that you can teach yourself almost anything if you put your mind to it, so I’m a firm believer that you can teach yourself to go windsurfing! That being said, your journey is going to be much easier and safer if you practice with a buddy or at least occasionally work with someone who has a little experience.
Speaking of experience, I can say from my own that you don’t want to push yourself harder than your current skill set allows. There’s this idea in all of the boardsports that you need to continue to progress to certain levels in order to be successful, and I think a lot of people – myself included – fall into the trap of judging themselves based on what others are doing.
Unless you’re trying to make it into a major mistral event, you shouldn’t worry about getting to a certain level by a certain date. Take it easy and relax.
Windsurfing should be fun, and if you’re taking things at your own pace you’re going to reduce your risk of a serious injury.
How Hard is it to Learn to Windsurf?
This is going to depend on your current experience level. If you’ve tried wakeboarding or longboard surfing in the past, then you might have a little bit of an edge when it comes to windsurfing.
Even skaters might have the posture and foot position down regardless of whether they prefer to ride reg or goofy. If you’ve never done any of these things in the past, then you’ll want to start out relatively slowly so you can get down the rhythm of moving with the board.
One thing that I was told when I was first starting out was to always get a sense of the wind direction before every ride. Maneuvering the board slowly so that the sail is downwind of the board becomes routine eventually, but when you first start it’s an excellent learning opportunity.
Should I Teach Myself on a Lake or the Ocean?
The answer to this question probably depends more on where you live than anything else! Those who start in lakes might have an easier time.
People in the middle of the country are lucky enough to have a decently long season on the Great Lakes. If you’re going to start in the ocean, then you want to take care when side-short and side-off winds kick up.
Since this is something I ended up learning the hard way, I’d rather warn other people before it becomes a problem. Temperature is going to become an issue too.
In many areas, ocean water can be several degrees colder than the air is so you might want to put on a full wetsuit or rash guard. Even if the ocean water is warmer, you might want to take some precautions like this because there are always going to be hazards like rocks to deal with.
Try surfing in broader bays or other gentler areas before you’re ready to tackle the big waves.
How Long Does it Take to Get Good at Windsurfing?
If your aim is to be more of a casual rider, then you don’t have to worry because the whole idea of getting good shouldn’t mean a whole lot to you at all! This is something it took me a while to learn, but the concept of being good is sort of a construct and there’s no real reason to judge yourself based on the accomplishments of others.
Naturally, the amount of time you can put in practicing has a lot to do with how fast you progress, but you shouldn’t beat up on yourself if you can only get time in on the weekends. In fact, this could work in your favor because you could end up getting two days of practice in a row.
if you’re planning on actually getting into competitive shape to enter mistral events, then you’ll probably need to give yourself a few years of lead time before you can get to that level. However, if your real goals just involve being able to conquer decent waves and strong winds, you’ll probably want to put in around six months to a year of regular practice.
Honestly, though, windsurfing is like anything else in the sports and fitness world. If you really like it, then it’s going to become a passion so you won’t have to worry about the drudgery of practice since you’re going to enjoy it.
One thing that’s going to help reduce the amount of time it takes to progress is picking the right board from the get-go. Modern beginner boards are usually the best, especially if they have a wider base to give you a little more stability.
Lower volume boards usually take more skill to handle. There’s a rule of thumb that I’ve come across that claims that you should take your weight in kilograms and add 50-90 to get the total initial volume of your first board.
To make the math a little easier, divide your weight in pounds by 2 and then take 1/10 off the final answer.
How To Windsurf – The Basics In 8 Steps
- Assemble your kit and then, once it’s good and tightly put together, push the board out into water that’s deep enough to clear the fin or fins from the bottom.
- Figure out the wind direction and adjust your board so that the sail is going to be downwind from the bow of your board.
- Clamber up onto your board over the upwind side and then raise up to your feet at a steady pace until you’re stable.
- Bend your knees a bit and then hoist the sail while taking control of the mast with both hands. You’ll want to let it swing into what they call the safety position. You’re aiming for complete control with little effort.
- Steer a bit in this posture until you have a feel for the water and the wind direction.
- Start moving, but make sure you stay in control at all times – don’t let the sail pull you!
- Pull your back stern hand to accelerate or let it out to slow down as desired. You’ll want to get a feel for the rhythm of the water you’re in before you go all out.
- Get comfortable in safety position and tilt the mast slightly to turn the board. Tilting it towards the bow will turn you downwind while tilting it astern will reverse the direction.
Beginners’ Guide to Windsurfing
The coaches from GetWindsurfing do a great job of showing off the right way to get your kit together and take the right position. Take a look because they really show you how to hold the mast the correct way, which will save you a ton of time when you’re first learning.
