WindDoll

Windsurfing today, the wind stranded me and I had to be towed back to the dock! I wasn’t very far out and I could have swum, but Peter came by with the skiff and I couldn’t refuse. Actually, I got lucky. I came to the inside to adjust my booms (I thought I’d raise them and see if I could steady out my ride with my higher-hook harness) and when I got up, What? The wind was GONE. Peter cruised around to make rescues.

My new windsurfing harness is a Dakine Wahini Seat re-engineered with a sliding bar. I blamed the “no control” feeling I had in my powered session on the fact that it was pretty windy for a 5.1. I realize now after a second session with the harness (Saturday July 5) that the steering I normally do with my hips was gone–that is the problem. (My regular harness is a Visual Comp with a super-low sliding bar that belts around the bottom.)
I didn’t want to chance a bad session with the new harness today, Friday, so I used the Visual Comp. I also didn’t want to chance spinning out with the Fin Works FS so I put up a Recreational Composites Flipper. I don’t know why Jason Voss thinks Fin Works are good fins. They do go upwind, but at what price? (MY FS 14 spins out like crazy! Worse than the 13.) The Flipper, although it’s smaller, did not spin out once. I came home and ordered a new fin from Real Wind. I chose them because they bought Yacko’s Meritex designs, although they haven’t made any of his fin shapes. (Yacko’s VS was the best for a bump&jump-get-upwind tradeoff.)
Saturday I tried the higher-hook harness again. It doesn’t slide far enough and the strap Ben used folds over in the Dakine bar ends. Not good. (I was able to tighten the strap so that I could jump out of it.)
Sunday I started out with heli’s, progressed to tacks, then when it got windy jibes. Then I though, try something! I made one of one duck jibes and failed three of three planing 360’s. Made some upwind 360’s but I’m having a hard time doing them all in one move—instead I sail backwinded first, then if there’s any power, I have a hard time going off the wind to initiate the trick.

After the session, Anton gave me some tips. He said to
1) keep the back hand close (same as Damis said, except this time it was in the context of getting the board to turn downwind), which makes sense because it sheets the sail out so you don’t get pushed off the board
and 2) really weight the back foot (I’ve been trying to weight the front foot to get the board to turn down a la Cribby’s upwind 360 instructions–maybe I hold onto that stance too long).