Take a Look at yourself!

Today the conditions looked solid for 30-40mph SSW winds at Hunstanton so I set the team bus to rock up at Hunny Sailing Club car park at 12.00pm. After a chat with Paul Perry discussing the injury he incurred yesterday whilst Christening his new RRD Firemove 140 – a very insignificant incident which seems to have left him with a not very happy back!.

Rigging my    Severne 4.2 Blade 2013 (its lovely!) and my Fanatic Triwave 86 (more about that another day……but lovely too!) I was having a ball enjoying flat chat sailing with gusty winds which the rig dealt with admirably!. Steve joined me on his Severne Gator 4.7 ( How big!! – I was flat out on my 4.2!) and his delectable Fanatic Freewave 85. Don’t under estimate this board – its still the best allround range of boards in the world!.

I noticed a guy coming out on what looked like intermediate kit and a buoyancy aid and helmet. I casualy watched him as he struggled out into the channel when a solid 10 minute gust hit wiping him out. For 10 minutes he tried to waterstart without success and, getting tired, resorted to uphauling in 40mph winds……….. with rather unflattering results!

I sailed to him to check he was OK and he confirmed he was tired and out of his depth as far as sailing these conditions. I said I’d watch him and assured him he was close to being in body depth of the beach soon. he finally left the water adding ” I thought I could mange these conditions but I’m not good enough – I’ll leave it to you Pro’s”

I thought to myself ‘Why did he bother to come out when the conditions were too hardcore for him?’……………….. then it dawned on me.

The only way to get better at dealing with stronger winds is to ‘buckle up’ and get out there. I too was battered many times at Hunstanton and remember vividly the time I was ‘out there’ being bettered, tired and starting to panic when a sailor just plopped in next to me to reassure me I was OK. That simple gesture gave me the belief to sail back in successfully.

So who am I to judge whether a sailor, who has clearly geared himself up sensibly for the conditions, shouldn’t get out there to learn those high wind skills. So fairplay to you the un-named sailor at Hunstanton. You may not feel it now but you learned a lot today which will help you the next time you take on conditions like we had today.

So in conclusion, sometimes we should look back at our own windsurfing learning curves ( and the days that battered us!) before we make premature judgements as to why any enthusiastic windsurfer who equips himself sensibly for the conditions should be there!………..

Categorised in: News

This post was written by James Connor