Today I have mostly been lowering the level of the Med

Depends on your definition of "fun". I seem to recall spending an
hour falling in the water, getting on the board, standing up and
falling in again, again and again and again. It got old very quickly
for me.

 

By swallowing about a quarter of it in my first windsurfing lesson.

Note for those who Know How To Do It: Rhodees is effing windy. 16-18
knot wind, apparently. After an hour and 45 euros I'd managed to stay on
board for about 15 seconds and move a couple of metres.

My, but it's fun, though, innit?

 

Did that very thing in Majorca and managed to stay on the board long
enough to turn it round once before I fell off.

I am still convinced the engine had fallen off my board and would have
performed much better with it reattached.

 

For the first lesson it must have been interesting to try it in that
wind to say the least, specially if it was gusty.

 

My daughter, who's done it successfully in still water in the UK, said
it was *totally* different. The instructor did say that if you could
learn to windsurf in Rhodes' winds and waves, you could windsurf
anywhere....

 

That was my excuse too - I tried it on the Atlantic coast of Senegal.
Pretty choppy so didn't really make it easy for myself.

 

The Older Gentleman wrote:

He's not far wrong. I used to teach and when we had those conditions it
was chaos, spent most of the time rescuing people while wishing I could
get out there and just play instead. Still, the look on peoples faces
when they got the board onto the plane for the first time was worth it.

 

Foot position is 75% of it, the other 25% is commitment. Once the thing
is moving it's fairly easy, until you come to turn around of course.

I was at Dahab last year, first time on a board in about 8. Modern
boards are very different from my day, but funny enough, rigs haven't
changed at all, although no one seems to use camber inducers anymore.
Was a great laugh though, and took a quad bike into the desert on a day
off (Delhi belly).

 

I've gotta give it another go. No time this holiday, but maybe next.

And learning in the UK just doesn't appeal.

Where did you teach, then?

 

>,
says...

Went lower still when you got out

 

You ****. Made me laugh, though.

 

The Older Gentleman secured a place in history by writing:

<Fnaar>

 

The Older Gentleman wrote:

Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). When "la bise" wind kicks in from the north
east the chop at the Geneva end of the lake can get quite interesting.
Combined with a Force 5+ and its either lots of fun or a nightmare
depending on your experience.

 

Ferger wrote

Phew ... I was driving through Cinderford this evening, and larking½¾
about in town were a couple of very skimpily clad girls who were
absolutely covered with dried mud.
Pondering how they got in that state ... flippy neck ..

(½¾ Turnpike spellchecker did not recognise "larking" and suggested
"wanking" or "gurning".)

 

Whinging Courier wrote

.... and then (prepares to take cover), the indignity of, while
sunbathing, having the Whale Rescue Squad turn up and trying to entice
one back into the Ocean.

 

In message

Are you down the bottom corner where the two seas meet ?

Yeah - a tad breezy ...

I first tried off the south coast of Crete - spent an hour digging sea
urchin spikes out of my feet

 

hand on the mast, both arms pretty much straight, angle the mast such
that the centre of effort is in front of you, and slightly towards the
front of the board from you (the mast will be leaning a bit towards the
front of the board at this point), then gradually pull in with your back
hand to increase the power, and off you go.

That'll work but the best bet is to actually grab the mast with the back
hand after uphauling (front hand at the top of the uphaul) and swing
boom/mast across body to grab boom with front hand. The mast is not a
good grab point and should not be used for long. Pull in with the back
hand while the front is on the mast and the sail will may be ripped from
you.

 

Good luck wif ze boarding.

Not at all easy but is very rewarding once you get going.

It's the toughest thing I have ever done (Including
becoming a ski instructor at the age of 4x which was in itself
not at all easy).

I managed to get to the waterstarting bit, but never
mastered turning round in the sea. That is unless
of course the sea was pretending to be a lake for
a while.

Keep at it and it will come - as the actress......
may say to you one day.

 

Yeah, I was told all that. Much good it did me....

 

It's not the weight. The sail still has a CofE even completely
feathered. Angling if forward or back will steer the board. I used to
advise getting it a bit off the wind as beginners tend to luff badly at
the next stage.

If you can, grabbing the boom instead of the mast makes lfe easier.

Your a bit confused, the board steers off the plane by a combination of
board weighting and by the CofE wrt to the centre of lateral resistance
of the board. Again, at the point you try to get the sail working, a
lot of beginners step back, adding to the tendency to luff up.

This bit is the crucial bit, move from the safe[1] position to sailing
in one, smooth, commited movement. I always used to say if you pull the
sail in on top of you I'm happy, let go of it to leeward and beatings
with lanyards will result.

My tuppence worth, from someone sat in the middle of a bay thinking 'I
hope I can remember how this waterstart works'. Fortunately yes, it
*is* easier than uphauling!

[1] Who dreamed up that name? Do they still use it of have they renamed
it 'the unstable' position?