Just out of curiosity I was wondering how long it took you guys to get to some reasonable standard of sailing.

I went out today (probably not the best conditions for a beginner as I am sure it was gusting around 15-20knots and was pretty choppy) and after an hour or so was completely exhausted.

I found uphauling in the choppy conditions was pretty dificult as once I had the mast upright I was struggling to keep my balance in the chop. I was also a bit careful about not going out too far as I was on my own and although I am not scared of being in deep water I was worried about not being able to get my new gear back to shore lol.

Maybe I am just impatient but is it reasonable to expect that within a month or so I should be able to actually sail properly and maybe even get into footstraps and harness? I figure I will try to get a sail in at least 2 or 3 times a week if the weather allows.

I would say maybe a season to learn all the basics, waterstarting, basic gybes, blasting in straps and harness etc, enough to have you blasting back and forth all day without too many stacks. I might be overestimating here when I say a season because I started sailing at the beginning of summer (early december) last year and was pretty happy to sail around by myself by the end of summer.

Thats how long its taken me, I started november last year, and have sailed fairly often I guess, I'm a student, so I don't have to worry about holding down a fulltime job etc, go sailing whenever I want.

Hopefully will get gybes down pat by the end of this summer. I've been practising chop hops as well, so hopefully that will lead me into trying vulcans and forwards before the end of summer, and a bit of wavesailing when the conditions are a bit easier.

To be honest thou, if you are finding yourself beginning to getting worse over a session, then you are probably too tired even if you don't know it yet. If your not spending most of your time sailing in the harness, I would say most people would be knackered in decent wind in less then an hour, even less then 30mins, so take a break before then. Sounds like you got good beginner gear, so find a friend and get them to learn how to sail as well and take turns hehe, until you get good enough, that you don't wanna get off then you can tell them to sod off and buy their own gear :) I shared my gear with my brother in the beginning thou he isn't anywhere near as interested in sailing as me.

But I think you will find windsurfing very enjoyable as theres lots of little hurdles along the way and its a great feeling everytime you get over one. At your stage, I think its probably a good time to start learning beachstarts, and moving onto waterstarts. And getting serious about using the harness more, as that will increase your sailing time exponentially. In flatter conditions, I'll often sail happily for 4-5 hours. Thou lots of chop usually ends up in me giving up after like 3. I don't have the most suitable board for choppy bump and jump conditions. Without a harness, I would be lucky to last 30minutes.

Oh and try sailing with other people, its much more fun, you have people who are usually more then happy to give you advice, and its good to have people to watch so you can copy their technique.

Anyway, thats my experience since starting windsurfing last season.

OceanBlue64 said...

Just out of curiosity I was wondering how long it took you guys to get to some reasonable standard of sailing.

depends on how old and keen you are, younger definitely learns a lot faster!!!

and after an hour or so was completely exhausted.

if you weren't in a harness that's not bad going in those conditions, once you get in a harness that does 95% of the work, makes a lot of difference!!!!!

I found uphauling in the choppy conditions was pretty dificult

If you really want to speed things up, forget about uphauling learn to beach and water start first. It's harder and more frustrating as you don't actually get to sail until you can do it, but it does get you to the hooked in blasting phase quicker

Maybe I am just impatient but is it reasonable to expect that within a month or so I should be able to actually sail properly and maybe even get into footstraps and harness? I figure I will try to get a sail in at least 2 or 3 times a week if the weather allows.

It's possible, I've seen youngish people do it, but they had instruction (yes I gave a bit of advice to one of them) and good conditions. But there's plenty of sailors that have taken longer, me for instance I started when I was 40, 20 years ago and learnt on crappy gear from a book. Probably took me about 3 months to get in the harness where as one of the young guys I taught was in the harness in a few weeks.

I'm about the same level as you except I'm just water starting and getting into the harness (Although still pretty ordinary and very inconsistent). I'll give you a hoy next time I'm down your way for a sail or if your keen, head up to Warrnambool or Port Fairy.
Good luck and keep at it.

Looks like I will have to start to try waterstarting. I have been watching that 'Beginner to Winner' dvd and trying to pick up pointers from that.

Red: With the wind blowing a little from the wsw I figured that Pt Henry would be too much of an onshore wind for me so I was at Pt Richards where it was a little more of a cross wind.

McMahon: Will definitely catch up if you are in this area, although I am I dont think I am anywhere near harness stage yet.

After getting some decent gear I was planing in the harness on my 3rd of 4th 2 hour session. IMO its all about just spending time on the water and getting used to balancing on the board, which will take different times for everyone.

One mistake I made was being way underpowered. I was under the impression that using a smaller sail would be easier to learn on. Which I guess for the bare basics is true, but once you are able to stand up and move around I'd suggest you make sure you have a large enough sail. I went from a 6.0 to a 7.0 which made my life a whole lot easier. (just keep an eye on the weather, I got stuck trying to uphaul my 7.0 in 25kts in some decent chop, its not very fun)

Once you are nice and powered and can turn around and come back, start wearing a harness and practice hooking in and out. You may not think you are ready for the harness ( I didnt think I was) but its not that bad. You will get catapulted a LOT for the first few times. If you feel you are going to go over the front (you will know when) dont let go of the boom and sheet in. If you do that you wont normally hit anything, but there are ofcourse exceptions . After you get the feel for it you will know what to do so minimize catapulsation (yes that is a word).

From my limited experience if you want to learn quick the motto "Just do It" pretty much sums it up. I found personally thinking about it, reading and watching videos was no substitute to actually getting out on the water and getting some bruises.

Hope some of that helps.