88 COACHING FUNDAMENTALS
Things are being kept super-basic here. If you’re not careful, a number of rather more academic factors can creep in
such as wind shear, inverse cosines and quadrant ambiguity which are not generally at the forefront of people’s
minds when the sun is out and the wind is blowing!
What is important, however, is that the rider in the real world needs to pull the sail in closer to the centre line of the
board as the speed increases and the wind is felt from further ahead. Sailing on the apparent wind maintains the
smooth flow of air over the sail,
allows the board to be sailed faster
than the wind and the world is a
happy place.
The challenges come when we are
windsurfing through the buffer
zone between non-planing and
planing as our equipment is fought
over by the rival forces attempting
to dominate it. What we do with
our rig and with our weight on the
board needs to change fluidly to
meet the needs of these rules of
physics at this time.
So there it is – a simplistic version of how a rider,
successfully harnessing stronger winds, can enable
planing by transferring the rig’s energy through their
body and board to reduce the board’s drag in favour of
vertical lift and, hence, greater forward speed. Once
planing occurs and the fun intensifies, the only thing left
to worry about is dodging those moored yachts - so join
us next time for a 101 article on steering…
Simon Winkley is a RYA Advanced Windsurfing Instructor
and a RYA Windsurfing Trainer running instructor courses
across the UK and overseas. He is supported by
Starboard, Severne and Bray Lake Watersports and
provides windsurfing coaching holidays through Ocean
Elements in Vassiliki
uk
WIND
SURFING