Practicing My Basics

I think everybody (and I mean everybody, not just windsurfers) has a list of things in their life which they know they should be doing. For some people it's reading; for others, it's exercise (that's a popular one); for others, it's learning new technology. My thing I avoid is practicing basic skills. I avoid working on basic skills like jibes and waterstarts.

Why do I do such a dumb thing? There are two reasons. The first is that I don't enjoy it very much. I'm a fairly clumsy person, made more so because of my extreme myopia. I have the tendency to stay in my physical comfort zone, and my skills are enough to sail almost as much as I want. The thing which exaggerates this is that I love windsurfing no matter what the conditions. If there's a 5 mph wind, I'm happy 'cause I'm on the water.

Let's not forget how rarely i get to sail during the school year: these days it's once every two weeks. That said, I bristle at the idea of practicing skills when there's not much more sailing left this year. So WHY BOTHER!

The reason I should bother is freakin' obvious, and that's what I did recently. On a nice Sunday I went out when the wind was about 12 mph on my Kona with the 8.5 sail. I got on a plane once, briefly, then it was low-wind cruising. I decided to use the time to work on my jibes. Last time I practiced these I had a 6.5 sail. This time it would be with the Brobdignagian * 8.5.

In short, I did fine. I made most of them: not bad for a klutz like myself.

I wanted to share this video from Swamp Hole. That's Rick in the vid, just completing a waterstart in gusty winds, starting about 20 mph. As you watch, observe the jetskier trying to look impressive. Jumps are easy when you've got a 700 cc engine between your legs. Try doing it with a sail! (Not that I could do that with a sail, but I know people who can, darn it.)

* Brobdignagian: it means big in a high-falutin', English teacher way. It comes from “Gulliver's Travels”. After Gulliver sailed from the land of Lilliput, the land of the tiny people, he reached the land of Brobdignag, a land of giants.