21
Upwind off the plane: Straight 7 stance, dig the
windward rail in, chin on shoulder and head up-
wind trying 10-20 tacks, helis, switched stance
or even duck tacks. Get into the habit of always
sailing upwind trying your chosen move.
Mission 1: varying your runs
Beginner-improver-intermediates
Q. Looking to master footstraps, harness and blast?
A. Make your runs longer.
You’d think less experienced sailors should do short runs
and more experienced sailors should blast to the horizon.
Well, it doesn’t really work like that. Early intermediate
sailors looking to get to grips with harnessing and
especially foot straps often do far too shorter runs. It’s
quite common to sail out ‘trying’ the harness and straps,
fall in quite quickly and then immediately head back to
shore. So try continuing your run further out, even after
falling in. If it takes two or three goes to get a reasonable
distance away from the shore (Always aim upwind), it’s
worth it to then get a decent run coming back in. So if
this is your level, keep increasing the distance of your
runs and your technique will correspondingly improve.
Improver-intermediate-advanced level
Q. Looking to crack those corners, nail those
transitions or ride waves?
A. Make your runs shorter.
In the case of more experienced sailors learning how to
gybe, do tricks or venture into waves, your best bet is to
limit the distance of your runs, do short, sharp, more
intense runs. This doesn’t have to be every run, but when
you’re focusing on a transitions, get your numbers up. A
gybe lasts 7-8-9-10 seconds, so if you try 30 in a day,
you’re only learning to gybe for 5 minutes! Halve your run
length and you’ll double your learning time!
uk
WIND
SURFING