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Learn windsurfing on older boards ?
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NOVAAN



Joined: 28 Sep 1994
Posts: 1541

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 8:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Waste of money...DO NOT BUY
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geohaye



Joined: 03 Apr 2000
Posts: 1437

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 8:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MGG, welcome to Windsurfing! You can trust the crowd on here to steer you right, great bunch! Windsurfing is not one of those sports where you buy the gear and then go about trying to learn how to use it. Instead, you will thank all of us here 100x if you simply dedicate yourself to learning on huge, correct gear from one of your local Windsurf shops / schools.

Use the money on lessons, not gear!
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geohaye



Joined: 03 Apr 2000
Posts: 1437

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 11:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There might be other schools & windsurf instructors around Montreal, but here's one at least:

http:// www.voiloka.com/


iW's full list of Windsurfing schools:
http://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=217286
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keycocker



Joined: 10 Jul 2005
Posts: 3598

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 3:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nearly all of us taught ourselves with some tips.
Nearly all of us think lessons might have been a better way to go.

I strongly agree with Mr Doggie and others. That gear is worthless and will hold you back.
Use a dedicated trainer220 plus liters, and a very small sail no matter how bad the condition of the deck pad or how stained.
A trainer boards value doesn't change much, because the design has been about the same for fifteen years.You can sell it next season for about the same money
You will be sailing around, not on a plane, on the first day and may actually turn on that day.
The gear in that picture almost surely will mean days or weeks of struggle to reach that first turn.

Some years ago windsurf magazine took some men athletes and taught them on old gear like this, and some small non athletic women and taught them on trainer boards on the same day.
Women could turn in one day. Men were far behind.
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MGG



Joined: 02 Aug 2013
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 8:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you all for the honest and quick answers !
I learned snowboarding without lessons on old gear and I can hold my own after a few seasons. I suppose that windsurfing is a bit more difficult so I totally understand the need for lessons.

I will try to find windsurf lessons instead of buying an old board unfit for beginners. Maybe there are other newbies out there and I will have someone else on the water with me.

For now you have my gratitude.
Thanks. Smile
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 8:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

MGG wrote:
I suppose that windsurfing is a bit more difficult so I totally understand the need for lessons...

You have no CLUE, Grasshopper! Smile

Seriously ... Collectively, and to some extent individually in many cases, we've tried them all, and a zillion of us across the globe agree that this is the most challenging, yet potentially rewarding, sport we have tried or will ever try.
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swchandler



Joined: 08 Nov 1993
Posts: 10588

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 2:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm going to go against the grain a bit, because I'm a guy that taught myself to sail without any lessons. That said, I'm on board with others here about starting on a large volume board with a daggerboard. While a daggerboard isn't mandatory, it makes it much easier to control your sailing direction in very light winds. How long you need this type of gear is dependent on your aptitude for the sport, and how quickly you learn by doing.

What I would do is attempt to rent a beginner rig, sans the lessons. I would give it a day or two to see how it goes. You will undoubtedly suffer the frustration and humiliation that goes along with learning any complex balancing/action sport in the water, but if you catch on like I did, it only takes a few days to make important progress. In my first day (about 2.5 hours), I was able to sail out, tack and return to my launch point reliably, but I probably fell into the water 50 times to accomplish this level of control. Believe me, climbing up on the board that many times left me sore for a week afterwards, but I never had to repeat that day. Sure, I would fall in at times learning in more challenging conditions, but each day out my confidence and abilities grew steadily.

If the challenge proves too difficult or frustrating on your own, you can opt for the lessons. Not everyone can do it on their own, but I think that it's worth giving it a go. There's a lot of satisfaction in tackling the task yourself. All you need is a lot of steely determination to overcome the odds.
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konajoe



Joined: 28 Feb 2010
Posts: 517

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MGG, the short answer is to stay away from that stuff for now.

Do you know how to sail? If not, think about this. Draw an arrow that represents where the wind is coming from. Then draw a line 90 deg across and in front of that arrow. When you start your windsurfing day, you will be on that line. Everything on the far side of the arrow is downwind. Everything on the near side is upwind.

As you pull the sail up out of the water, you will be going downwind. When you fall, you will be going downwind. When you take a break by sitting on the board, you will be blown downwind. And when you sail downwind you will be going downwind.

The only way to get back upwind, to where you started, is to actually sail upwind. The things that will help you to do this is a great big board with a great big retractable centerboard. The centerboard in the down position provides the resistance to sliding downwind, and a big wide board will keep you from falling so much (because during the whole routine of falling, resting, and pulling the sail out of the water, you're getting blown farther downwind).

I guess I left out that you can also paddle back, or do the walk of shame.

Windsurfing does have more gear to make learning easy as compared to snowboarding. The only thing I've seen in snowboarding is the 'slightly turned up edge' thing that Burton has.

I still use the windsurfer I learned on quite a bit. So a decent one isn't a waste.

Mmmmm. When I typed routine, I started thinking abut poutine.
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

konajoe wrote:
Windsurfing does have more gear to make learning easy as compared to snowboarding.

I bought my first snowboard in 1968, and was blasting down hills on it the next day. I bought my first WSer in 1980, planed through my first jibe on its 6th successor about eight years later, and began hitting maybe 50% of them 100 boards and 12 years later, four years after retiring to WS full time.

My vote for the easier sport is snowboarding.
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dllee



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 5328
Location: East Bay

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

While I can't vouch for Isobar's "bought my first snowboard in 1968, how is that even possible, Tom Sims wasn't born then.... certainly any decent athlete can learn and progress snowboarding QUICKER than they can skiing.
We all were self taught back in the early '80's. I was planing and riding a 9' tri fin Seatend glass board less than a week after my initial outing on a Rocket99, not too successful. I took a lesson my 2nd and 3rd day, but did not get ANY pointers because it was too easy, and I was sailing around tacking and jibing, while the instructor spent her time with the other 7 students.
By the 5th day, I was "taught" to waterstart by the same instructor, by then my girlfriend who had never waterstarted before, being an ex instructor for ClubMed in PuertoVallarta.
210 liters, 5.5 sail, in winds less than 10 is best for the first 5 days for most people.
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