How do I choose a windsurfing board?
Beginners often start windsurfing with heavier, wider boards until they’ve gained experience. Otherwise, wave and speed windsurfers tend to choose lighter boards made of carbon sandwich. Speed windsurfing requires short, lightweight windsurf boards which are more difficult to sail on. Better Cardiovascular Endurance You’re never stagnant while windsurfing because you’re constantly using your muscles to help you surf through the water. This type of exercise effectively increases your heart rate, which will improve your cardiovascular endurance and allow you to participate in the sport a lot longer.Nowadays, windsurfing is thriving at a few places around the world: San Francisco, the Gorge, Tarifa in Spain, the Canary Islands. But in the US, there are virtually no sailing hotspots in the countless beach towns where the sport once thrived.From a safety standpoint, windsurfing is generally seen as the safer of the two. Kitesurfing is a more adventurous, albeit more extreme, sport, sometimes lifting riders dozens of feet into the air.Going out in stronger winds and testing your ability is what makes windsurfing hard. Windsurfing can be a very difficult sport at different stages of the learning process.You should never windsurf alone. Even if the wind is blowing favorably sideshore or onshore, if your equipment fails or you hurt yourself, you could get swept off course. And without a buddy to keep an eye on you and help you to safety, this can be extremely dangerous.
How do I choose a windsurf?
If you’re just starting to windsurf, we advise you to choose a wide, big volume board with a daggerboard, which will help you to make your first runs and then progress to the next level. The wider and bigger volume the board, the more stable it will be. Beach range boards are the best adapted for beginners. How to choose the best windsurf board for you? It is mainly the weight and level of the practitioner that determine the volume of the adequate float. The heavier a person is, the more they will need a bulky board to be able to float. Likewise, in low wind conditions, a windsurf board with good volume will float better.In very powerful faster waves, generally, you’ll want more rocker in your wave board. Conversely, in slower, smaller waves and in tricky gusty onshore conditions, a faster (flatter rockered) wave board makes a big difference. Wave Board Set Up: Open straps, lower boom (Than Freeride) and slightly longer harness lines.If you’re riding a lot of bigger waves, a heavier board can really help punching through those choppy conditions. Which are almost always there, because when the wind is strong the waves are big. But there’s also some texture on the face of the wave. A heavier board can really help push through that.
How many litres should my windsurf board be?
To figure out how much volume you need in your windsurf board you also need to add up your weight, the boards weight and a small addition for wetsuit and harness. An 85 kilo windsurfer in wetsuit, on a windsurf board weighing 15 kilos will need 100 litres of volume just to stay afloat. With windsurfing, you’ll never run out of things to do or learn. Once you get the hang of sailing, you can learn how to jump, and then you can learn how to perform increasingly more advanced tricks. There are also various disciplines to experiment with, including freeride, radical freestyle, waves, and slalom.As long as you have some kind of fitness and your balance is ok, the short answer to ‘is windsurfing hard’, is no. If you plan to have a lesson with a good instructor you will be able to stand up, windsurf, turn around and come back within the first 2 hours of your lesson.You need some wind to make windsurfing happen, at least 5 mph or so. Beginners will want wind speeds of 5-10 mph, but more advanced windsurfers get excited when they see a weather forecast that includes small craft warning.Contrary to popular belief, windsurfing does not require upper body strength. The modern day equipment is light weight and easy to use. The boards are wide and stable, and the sails are light and nimble. All you need is balance, finesse and a good lesson from a certified school on modern equipment.
Why is windsurfing not popular anymore?
Where did windsurfing go wrong? Much of the blame can be assigned to those who marketed the sport after its initial surge in popularity. Instead of promoting windsurfing as physically challenging, environmentally sound and accessible to practitioners at all levels, “wind snobs” played up the extreme element. What are the risks? Ankle and foot injuries, or being hit in the head by the mast (which doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen). And out on the water, there’s always the risk of colliding with a boat (or another windsurfer). That’s why some windsurfers wear helmets.Most windsurfers don’t wear them, because sometimes you need to be able to dive and swim under the surface of the water (that’s why swimming skills are so crucial! But for beginners and kids, you can play it safe and start out with a life jacket!Windsurfing has been one of the Olympic sailing events at the Summer Olympics since 1984 for men and 1992 for women. All sailors use the same One Design boards, daggerboards, fins and sails.Common injuries in windsurfers occur to the head and neck, shoulder, trunk, toes, feet, and exposed skin. Shoulder dislocation and muscle sprain or strain are common injuries in windsurfing. Collision with equipment or the ocean floor, riverbed or lakebed can result in blows to the head.