Bobby had mentioned a few times that he wanted to try windsurfing but he isn't up in Key Harbour that often. So when he mentioned "I want to try next year" I said why not tomorrow? The wind was forecast to be building and the weather was exceptionally warm for October.
So at 11am we headed out to the Launch Pad. With the wind coming from the south, I loaded the sail onto the 20hp aluminum boat and we headed to the point to try the simulator.
Bobby was a natural, and quickly learned how to get going in both directions and how to tack. His background in snowboarding helped his balance and form. I'm now quite confident that I can teach any snowboarder how to windsurf.
We headed up wind to where the waves would be smaller and I launched Bobby on the Fanatic HD board with the 3.2 Duotone Now sail. He uphauled carefully, spent time just holding the sail in the safety position and slowly got underway. His actions were cautions, determined, and most of all he really listened to my advice. He slowly started getting going faster by sheeting in the sail with his 2 fingers on the boom and front arm nicely extended. He kept his head up better than most first time students and as a result, never fell in! This was quite remarkable as the wind had built to 15 knots.
Bobby had many runs back and forth and he tacked wonderfully in both directions. I'm still not sure how I can get students to point their front toe more forward, but in his case it didn't matter - he sailed wonderfully. Eventually he was downwind a bit closer to the Launch Pad so I taught him to jibe. That was the ticket to have him sail right to the dock and step onto the rocks - a complete windsurf session without a single fall.
I look forward to getting Bobby out again for some more time on the water - next year!
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