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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
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 Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:05 am Post subject: |
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| Darbonne wrote: | | Thanks for the encouragement guys. I have still not been in both straps after five years. I am going to BIB in November. Konajoe and I discussed many aspects of windsurfing on my visit. There are a few things holding me back, but the most prominent one is having no one to watch and copy. I also had some minor rigging issues on the Kona. At 54 years of age fitness and stamina are definitely and issue. |
What I glean from this post are these implications:
1. You need to be more aggressive in your sailing. It's only water, man; you should have been in the harness your first month and both straps your first season, presuming anything near planing wind.
2 You need to be more aggressive in the gym. At 74 I still outlast most people of ANY age on the water ... many of them even while I'm on chemotherapy. Getting in excellent shape requires effort, but not a lot of time.
3. Maybe your nutrition is not up to the challenge. Which eating paradigm you choose (burning carbs vs burning fat) determines your diet and strongly affects your stamina.
4. If you learn from watching others, I hear you on that one. I don't, so I had to rely instead on lessons, tutorials, logic, physics, and experimentation (see #1). The first of those were a joke when I needed them, and by now I've written as many of the second and third as I've read.
5. Don't just "go to BIB" and wait for wind. Think bigger. Go to North Padre Island/Corpus Christi), watch the forecasts and current conditions, and be ready to drive 20-30 miles if necessary for wind. The difference in wind between venues just 5-10 miles apart can be very significant, as the land and wind direction often strongly affect it. Besides, variety is a key to learning and wind at ANY site beats NO WIND anywhere else.
6. You're in for a BIG surprise and treat when you get in the strap that counts. It's like dropping an engine in that sports car chassis you bought. There was a reason -- actually several -- that the first strap I bolted onto my strapless longboard 37 years ago was a back strap, and it hasn't changed to this day. If I was allowed only one strap location on any board today, it would still be the back strap, for several reasons. |
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wynsurfer
Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 940
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| Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:49 am Post subject: |
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| Ya, the back strap for sure! |
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nw30
Joined: 21 Dec 2008
Posts: 6485
Location: The eye of the universe, Cen. Cal. coast
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| Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 11:03 am Post subject: |
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Think of the front foot strap as a seat belt, and the back strap as the gas pedal, why use the seatbelt when you're only going to drive about 10 miles per hour?
Step on the gas, man! There is nothing like controlled speed, it's why we all do it. |
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boardsurfr
Joined: 23 Aug 2001
Posts: 1266
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| Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 11:13 am Post subject: |
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| isobars wrote: |
5. Don't just "go to BIB" and wait for wind. Think bigger. Go to North Padre Island/Corpus Christi), watch the forecasts and current conditions, and be ready to drive 20-30 miles if necessary for wind. The difference in wind between venues just 5-10 miles apart can be very significant, as the land and wind direction often strongly affect it. |
Texas ain't the Gorge. I have spend about 7 month in Corpus Christi, always sailing at BIB. Never once did I see substantially more wind "5 or 10 miles" away. It's flat there. |
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NOVAAN
Joined: 28 Sep 1994
Posts: 1548
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| Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 11:30 am Post subject: |
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| Get aggressive. Get wet, its fun... |
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lturkevich
Joined: 11 May 2000
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Darbonne wrote: | | At 54 years of age fitness and stamina are definitely and issue. |
I'm there with you. Develop a regular fitness routine doing the things you ENJOY doing (see Matt Pritchard's blog post), that way your forearms, abs, legs, lungs, heart, etc., are better prepared for those precious moments on the water. (Knowing I'm getting in shape for windsurfing is a great motivator for me). |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
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| Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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| lturkevich wrote: | | (Knowing I'm getting in shape for windsurfing is a great motivator for me). |
That was the ONLY reason I began working out. I bought a Bowflex system at 57 after moving to a location where year-round sailing wasn't feasible, then began going to the gym in my early 60s. The next, very slow but ultimately very effective, changes were learning how to double the benefit while reducing the workout time by 95% and changing my nutrition dramatically from government-based Agribusiness BS to research-based science. Before long the motivation expanded to include very obvious health and fitness improvements. My endurance is declining, but not NEARLY as rapidly or as much as the literature and my peers indicated it would.
A middle-aged kiter was encouraging me last summer to get into kiting because it's so much easier on the body at "our" age. "You'll appreciate that when you reach my age", he said. He rambled on, then asked how old I am. His jaw literally dropped a bit and he didn't say another word when I told him. That and his appearance implied he might be around 60.
That alone justified quite a few Tabatas and Superslow circuits. Many more are justified by the comments I get from doctors, other windsurfers, and gym patrons and trainers. Unless we can WS aggressively in strong winds a few days every week, our best path to another two decades of hard play is a properly-used gym (or some equivalent). |
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J64TWB
Joined: 24 Dec 2013
Posts: 1685
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| Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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| My learning curve is going the opposite direction. At 55 I'm definitely getting better in this sport. Been doing this for 24 years at a leisurely pace so every session out is an improvement with little TOW each Summer. What really changed the game for me was wanting to learn and studying stuff. Knowing equipment, setups, conditions, as well as technique. For many Summers I just didn't care to improve or learn or invest in new equipment. As long as I could blast around in the straps at high speed nothing mattered. It really makes each session valuable knowing you have to work on stuff. Other sports I peaked about 10 years ago. |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
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| Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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| boardsurfr wrote: | | Texas ain't the Gorge. I have spend about 7 month in Corpus Christi, always sailing at BIB. Never once did I see substantially more wind "5 or 10 miles" away. It's flat there. |
Then you missed a lot of wind and a wide variety of sailing conditions. "CC" wind is highly dependent on microfactors such as localized sand and water temperatures. Its gradients often differ significantly over just thousands of yards, both in coastal wind dynamics textbooks and in real life. Just as in the Gorge, those microgradients matter. There are entire books devoted to significant and consistent wind variations over just tens of yards, let alone thousands. Driving those few miles very often meant the difference between slogging vs planing, flat vs waist high, and/or chop vs breaking waves. |
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Goodwind
Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 323
Location: On water
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| Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 8:09 pm Post subject: Re: Two steps forward one step back |
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| Darbonne wrote: | | ... I have blasted along with the front foot in... |
Most likely you've been planning rather than blasting. To go really fast without both feet in straps won't be comfortable for most people, especially in rough water. Here is my two cents:
1) Choose the strap setting so that both front and back straps are as close to the centerline of your board as possible.
2) Widen the back strap. This would allow you to get in and out much easier. Freestyle sailors have both front and back straps set pretty loose for that purpose.
3) With your front foot in and planning along, shift the sail and your body forward just a little bit to facilitate entering your back foot into the back strap. |
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