Archive for March, 2010

• A new windsurfing movie, called 'Children of the Wind' needs your help to finish the movie & tell the amazing story… http://bit.ly/cmVBne #
• Photos behind the story of Children of the Wind:
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/47276140@N02 #
• The latest windsurfing movie, Children of the Wind. http://www.childrenofthewindmovie.com/ #

Once in a while I am going to run a little bio on some of the worlds windsurfing legends. To kick things off there really is only one person to start with…Robby Naish.

Pictures paint a thousand words & one of the all time classic windsurfing films, RIP sums up just how good Robby Naish was & still is!

One of the greatest windsurfers of all time…

A quick Wiki search brings up the some interesting facts about this windsurfing legend:
Robert Staunton Naish (born April 23, 1963 in La Jolla, San Diego, California) is one of the first athletes to have gained long-lasting international fame in the sport of windsurfing. At a young age, his father, competitive surfer and surfboard shaper Rick Naish, moved the family from California to Kailua, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It was there, at the age of 11, that Robby took up the fledgling new sport of windsurfing. Shortly thereafter, in 1976, he won his first overall World Championship title, at the age of 13, beating many adult competitors whose experience and maturity were no match for his exceptional talent.

Competing as an amateur, he went on to win successive World Championship titles from 1977 to 1979. After the emergence of the Professional Boardsailors’ Association (PBA) — later to become the Professional Windsurfing Association (PWA) —

Naish won the Overall World Champion title from 1983 to 1987, and the Wave World Champion title in 1988, 1989, and 1991. He was renowned for his ‘Table Top’ and ‘Forward Loop’ moves. Adding to his fame was his ‘Longboard Loop’, where he forward looped the 3.72m long Mistral Equipe.

As an international sports celebrity, Naish has been featured in numerous films, videos, news reports, and articles. As of 2006, thirty years after his first World Champion title, he now has his own Naish brand of windsurfing equipment marketed worldwide.

Basically, Robby Naish IS windsurfing!

• I favorited a YouTube video — PWA Gran Canaria – Victor Fernandez http://youtu.be/8Bh6deN9bkw?a #
• Super clean double forward! (YouTube http://youtu.be/8Bh6deN9bkw?a) #
• Windsurfing Lessons – Everything you need to know to take you through the learning stages http://tinyurl.com/yl8vjve #

Although these Boardseeker awards are actually from 2007 they are still pretty damn impressive & totally worthy of a mention here on Top Windsurfing Tips & News.

Sailor of The Year

This went hands down to Kauli Seadi, the Brazilian windsurfer who can do it all & with tons of style! He was the 1st competitor to pull off a push loop forward, helping him cruise to winning the PWA Wave World title in October.

Best PWA Event Of The Year

Everyone agrees Cape Verde was the best event of that year & probably the best windsurfing event there has ever been! Here is a sample of the amazing conditions & riding from the event:

Photo Of The Year

Windsurfing Waves: Kauli Seadi at the PWA Cape Verde event in February.
Photo by PWA/Carter.

Windsurfing Freestyle: Tonky Frans at the PWA Fuerteventura event in July.
Photo by PWA/Carter.

Windsurfing Overall: Oisin Van Gelderen avoiding getting trashed by a massive wave at Big Bay, Cape Town in February.
Photo by Simon Crowther.

London, our capital city. Home to tons of people with great shopping & night life but what do you do if you are into your windsurfing? Resign to the fact that London & windsurfing just don’t mix? No, its not that bad.

Well, there are a few options for windsurfing in or near London. Queen Mary Reservoir would be the 1st (& maybe only real) option that is right there in London but the problem with this windsurfing location & others like it is that they are inland reservoirs. This creates a few problems for those looking the take beginners windsurfing lessons. Inland reservoirs are usually surrounded by trees or buildings that shadow the wind making conditions gusty & the depth of water drops away very quickly, making it much harder when you have to climb back on your windsurf board. Not to mention the fact that the water temperature is usually freezing in a deep water reservoir!

So, what is the alternative?
A little know secret is that there is actually one of, if not the best windsurfing locations in the UK only 1 hour 20 minutes away from south London!

The place, Poole Harbour….

For years I have been teaching people how to windsurf in some of the best learning conditions in the UK. When people do come down from London they are amazed, one at how quick & easy it is to get to Poole Harbour & two just how stunning a windsurfing location it is!

I have written an earlier post Our local windsurfing spot – Poole Harbour describing in great detail what makes Poole Harbour & the surrounding area such a great place to learn to windsurf and progress on to intermediate & advanced windsurfing. To sum it up for you, Poole Harbour has predominately on-shore winds (meaning you won’t get blown out to sea!), gently shelving, shallow water to make it easy to get back on when you fall & with us at Poole Windsurfing, great windsurfing equipment, windsurfing lessons & windsurf hire for all levels of ability! You can read more about Poole Windsurfing & the windsurfing location of Poole Harbour on this page ‘About our Windsurf School’

Windsurfing near London has never been so easy, after a hard weeks work you can come down on Friday night, take your beginners windsurfing lessons on Saturday & Sunday (half day each day), enjoy the amazing surrounding scenery & make it back to London refreshed but not tired with only 1 or 2 hours drive!

Windsurfing lessons in London or windsurf hire in London really isn’t that big a deal when you have somewhere like Poole Harbour & a school like Poole Windsurfing practically on your doorstep.

Try it & you will wonder why you haven’t thought about it before!

Happy windsurfing

Before you book any windsurfing lessons, there are definitely some essential tips that can be passed on to make things go a lot smoother. Having seen people learn to windsurf in just about any which way possible, I thought it would be a good idea to give all of you looking to get into the sport a few pointers and get your windsurfing off to a great start!

Windsurfing lessons and Progression
As with learning any sport, windsurfing lessons need to be structured in the right way to make it both an enjoyable process & at the same time encourage progression.

As with everything there is a quick way & a slow way to learn to windsurf, a right way & a wrong way to progress with your windsurfing skills…


5 Steps To Learn How To Windsurf
1. Don’t learn from a loved one or friend – Being shown the basics by a loved one or friend never works well. The equipment is usually either too old or too advanced for learning how to windsurf and although they mean well they don’t necessarily know ‘how’ to teach. A good windsurfer is not automatically a good teacher & learning from someone you know often ends up in frustration on both sides!

2. Take Beginners Windsurfing Lessons – This is essential to your learning & enjoyment. Choose your beginners windsurfing lessons wisely as there are many different locations & courses out there. Safe, shallow water is the best place to learn, such as the Poole Harbour location used at the Poole Windsurfing School, which is known for being the No 1 place to learn & progress with windsurfing.

When it comes to choosing the best course type there really are only 2 options worth considering:
a. Full Beginners Windsurfing Course – best run over two separate 3 hour lessons. This will give you all the essentials to be confident enough to then practice on your own for a while.
b. Beginners Windsurfing Taster Session – a single 3 hour lesson. This will cover all the basics needed to get you up & windsurfing. If you enjoy it then just tag on to the second part of a full beginners windsurfing course to learn the full set of skills needed to move on to the next stage in your learning process, which is….

3. Consolidate your skills with windsurfing hire time – well run beginners windsurfing lessons will give you everything you need to know for now, in theory but you must hire windsurfing equipment & spend some time practicing on your own. There is no point paying money for an improver windsurfing course if you have not had at least 10 if not 20 hours out there on the water practicing what you have been shown on the beginners windsurfing course. Any good windsurfing school or windsurf instructor knows this and will actively encourage your self practice time, rather than push you into an improvers windsurfing lesson.

Make sure you hire the latest windsurfing equipment possible. New windsurfing equipment really does make a huge difference to your learning curve, modern board & sail shapes and lightweight components (masts & booms) all help to make your progression in the sport of windsurfing as smooth as possible.

4. Take Intermediate Windsurfing Lessons – OK, so you have practiced the basics but how do you know if you are ready for some more lessons?

An easy way to assess If you are ready for the next level of windsurfing lessons is to ask yourself ‘Can I consistently sail from any given point out on the water to any other reference point’. This little exercise will test your ability to understand the wind, stop drifting & make sure you have good control of the equipment. Once you can sail out from & back to the exact same spot you can turn your attention to learning new skill modules rather than just spending all your time trying to return to where you started from!

Improver lessons are best taken in modules. Learning faster tacks & gybes, how to beachstart, using the footstraps & planing windsurfing techniques all require a specific set of skills to be learnt. The best way to learn is to take 2 hour improver windsurfing lessons that focus on just one of these skill modules.

5. More windsurfing hire time – In between each of your improver windsurfing lessons you should hire windsurfing equipment to consolidate your learning. Hiring windsurfing equipment also gives you a great opportunity to test out different size boards & sails, so that should you want to buy your own windsurfing kit at some point, you will have a fair idea of what suits your size & current ability level.

That’s it!
5 Simple Steps To Learn How To Windsurf. After step 5 you just repeat taking new windsurfing skill modules followed by windsurf equipment hire time to practice what you are being shown. This applies all the way through to advanced windsurfing lessons including such skills as carve gybes, waterstarts and even the latest windsurf freestyle moves!