Day 1 - Thursday, July 25, 2019
With light traffic, I arrived at
Sherman Island at around 08:45. At first, I parked by the power lines, but then I re-parked in the County Park to enable easier foil access to the playpen area.
We met with Andy, Brandon, and Derek in the morning - the ABK windsurfing crew. After a short introduction, we split into three separate groups. I was assigned to group 1, taught by Andy. He explained to us how to do a 360. It was too much for my ability.
Since the wind was very light, I rigged an Ezzy Elite 6.4m and tried my new Exocet RF81 with the Slingshot Infinity 76 wing. At first, I could not make it fly, but it took off briefly.
With the wind being relatively light, Andy decided to have a long lunch - from 12:00 to 15:00 - so we could sail in heavier winds. After eating my bagel sandwich, I tried foiling it a few more times and was able to get flying for a bit longer.
My
Exocet RF81's footstraps were incorrectly set up, and I had to move them more inwards.
I re-rigged to an Ezzy Elite 5.7m and flew on multiple runs. I started to get the hang of it. When the board stopped making noise, I knew I was flying! It was a weird sensation. I felt out of control but found that moving forward on gusts helped.
I spent the rest of the day fooling around and getting more comfortable. I could point upwind or downwind without any issues.
Here is a GoPro Hero7 Black
video of foiling at Sherman Island:
At around 18:20, we met around Andy's trailer and watched his video recording of progress. Then, we headed home. I arrived at 21:00, really tired and hungry.
Day 2 - Friday, July 26, 2019
I arrived earlier, leaving home at 06:45 to pick up my turkey bagel sandwich and drive to Sherman Island Park.
When I arrived, I prepared my Fanatic 105 STB (attaching the long True Ames 36" fin) since the American River was flooding. It is much harder to go upwind when both the wind and the tide are heading in the same direction.
In the morning section, I spent time with Andy, who helped improve my sailing technique, water-starting skills, and pivot jibing.
Andy Brandt's Windsurfing Pointers
- Water-starts
- Only use the back leg
- In lighter winds, instead of using the sail to pick you up, stand up with your rear leg
- Sailing Technique
- Keep arms straight (not bent)
- Keep harness lines long
- The front toe is pointed in the direction of travel (not sideways)
- The front leg is straight
- The body should be straight
- Upwind technique
- Move the front foot in front of the mast track
- Don't fully power the sail; use rail pressure to sail upwind
- Pivot Jibe
- Before initiating the Jibe, move the arms far apart
- Switch your feet when starting to sail clew first
- Do not look down; look ahead
- Move the sail left (to turn the board right) or right (to turn the board left)
- When sailing clew first, the power is controlled by releasing pressure with the mast-arm
At noon, I was tired and returned to eat my turkey bagel sandwich for lunch. Since lunch was scheduled from 12:00 to 14:00, I sailed a bit from 13:00 to 14:00, practicing pivot jibes.
At 14:00, we met around Andy's Trailer and broke up into groups. I decided to work on tacks and went with Derek. He set me up on a big, comprehensive beginner windsurfing board so that I could have more tacking success.
I practiced many tacks and made quite a few, falling in many times.
Derek's Tacking Technique
- Take your feet out of the footstraps.
- Place your front foot ahead of the mast track while keeping all the weight on the rear foot.
- Keep the toe of the front foot pointing down the board
- Do not stick your butt out, keep your body straight
- Place your front hand on the mast below the boom
- Quickly step around the mast, taking a long step (as far as possible)
- If you stepped early, you might be back-winded, and in that case, you may need to push the sail forward
After two hours of tacking, the wind picked up, and I decided to try windsurfing using my Fanatic 105 STB. Even though a few people were planing, I had difficulty getting in the straps. The Fanatic felt really small after spending time on the large beginner board.
At 17:20, we reunited with Andy at his truck to watch videos of our practice sessions.
Day 3 - Saturday, July 27, 2019
Since I was exhausted and sore (and both hands had many callouses, I decided to skip). The weather was also not very favorable, with light winds in the forecast and extremely high temperatures (over 100 F) forecast.
I decided to spend the time recuperating with my family in Santa Cruz, where Alex surfed at The Hook.
Day 4 - Sunday, July 28, 2019
Even though I was tired, I wrapped band-aids around my fingers and prepared for another day of windsurfing at Sherman Island.
I picked up my usual poppy-seed bagel sandwich from the nearby House of Bagels and a blueberry muffin on my way to Sherman Island. I arrived at about 08:15 and set up all my gear to prepare for the clinic.
I removed the Fanatic 105 STB from the board bag and installed a slalom fin. I also installed the Slingshot 76cm Infinity wing into my Exocet RF81 board.
Since the wind was pretty light, I rigged my Ezzy Elite 6.4m sail and went to the ABK Tent for our morning lecture.
Derek taught the lesson on carve jibes, and I took a few essential pointers:
Derek's Carve Jibing Tips
- Before initiating a jibe, look around to make sure that the coast is clear
- Move your rear arm to the "clew" of the boom as far as possible.
- Unhook from the harness. There should be no difference in board speed.
- Take the rear foot out of the back foot strap and place it on the leeward rail.
- The foot should be pointing in the direction of sailing (not sideways)
- Bend your knees and put light pressure on your toes to initiate the downwind turn
- Do not twist your body
- Apply light pressure to your front arm.
- The Front Arm should be straight (lock the elbow)
- As the board turns more downwind, you can increase the pressure so that you are almost standing on your tiptoes.
- When the board approaches 6 o'clock (bow and arrow position), take your front foot out of the front foot strap and place it perpendicular and against your other foot (the heel of the front foot should be touching the midsection of the rearfoot)
- Be sure to keep the pressure on the heal of the rear foot
- Move your rear-most foot to the side of the mast track, being sure to exert heal pressure on both feet (To keep the board carving)
- Flip the sail so that you are sailing clew first. The mast arm can be used to modulate sail power
- Do not move the mast past you
- As the board turns to 9 o'clock, move the arm closest to the boom closer to the mast.
- Release the other arm and catch the boom underhanded with your arm.
- Sheet in
These are lovely jibing tips, and I hope to try them soon. Even though the wind was light, I took out my Exocet RF81 and tried foiling. I sailed fine but was not able to get the foil flying.
After lunch, from 12:00 to 15:00, we had another lecture where Andy demonstrated his Sail-Chi. He could control the sail with many small movements, pushing different parts of the sail.
As the wind picked up, I decided to try foiling again. I could get the foil flying immediately this time and was incredibly overpowered. I foiled many very fast reaches and eventually returned to the cove.
Andy's Foiling Tips
- Keep the body straight and upright. If leaning, lean the whole body back
- Sail size is usually 1-2 sizes smaller than regular windsurfing
General advice: I need to spend quality time practicing on a more giant board in lighter winds to get better at fast tacks and pivot jibes.
Andy also suggested that I purchase the
Tricktionairy book (in which he was photographed performing all of the windsurfing tricks). I bought the book on Amazon, and it has fantastic details on all the windsurfing techniques.
