Wind Surfing 🏄‍♀️ & Sailing ⛵️ Camp
Over the week of July 11th, I took a wind surfing & sailing camp level 1 at Lake Shoreline. Over the week of August 1, I took the level 2 camp.
WEEK 1
On the first day, we were introduced to the fundamentals of sailing, the terminology of a sailboat (starboard — the right, port — the left, bow — front, stern — back), upwind vs. downwind, and the positioning of your boat (i.e., if you’re traveling close reach, broad reach, beam reach, or into irons). We practiced skills such as rigging, down-rigging, and de-rigging a boat through hands-on experience (insert the bottom of the mainsail into the boom, then push it out to the end of the boat, then take the other side of the sail and attach it to the mast and pull on the up-haul line to pull up the sail and make a cleat hitch knot on the bottom of the mast using the up-haul line) and how to tie several knots, such as the cleat hitch knot, daisy chains, and the barrel knot, and the purpose of each knot. We were also introduced to the process of capsizing by actually being capsized multiple times. At first, I thought that the class was moving too fast because I could not understand upwind nor could I remember all the directions/positions of our boa t she gave us. My mind kept repeating: What does she mean the mainsheet and tacking and starboard? And how could she tell where downwind was? But then, I reminded myself that this was just a beginner class and although there were kids who did look like they understood everything, I knew there were definitely other kids who were just as confused, if not even more lost, then I was. I also reminded myself that this was the very first day I was introduced to all of this — mind you, I have never gone sailing EVER. This was for sure a new experience for me and even though it was a bit difficult to understand, I definitely enjoyed the thrill of learning something new and at a fast pace too. I knew that if I surrounded myself with people who did understand what they were doing, I would learn from them — especially how to speak with the correct sailing terminology (ex: instead of “turning”, you say you are “tacking”)— and improve myself and maybe even pick up a few tricks. I also knew that just like learning anything new, everything comes with practice, so I wasn’t too hard on myself and kept an optimistic and open mind.
For windsurfing, we didn’t use the sails on the first day. We got used to the waters by just taking the boards out to the waters. We learned about self-rescuing, and our instructor made us get used to our boards by giving us several tasks to do. Once we got out into the waters and clipped our boards onto a line of buoys, she had us play a game of Simon Says. In this game, we had to walk on our boards, jump, jump 180, sit down, rock our board, and try to fit as many people as we could on one board. I actually didn’t find it too difficult. I was able to gather my balance pretty quickly and stay on the board. Because I kept an open mind, I was able to try the things that sounded difficult, such as jumping 180 degrees, with little fear because I knew that if I messed up and lost my balance and fell in, I would just get back up and try again. Maybe it has to do with mind tricks or psychology or the placebo effect because once I knew that there was no real or detrimental consequence to messing up, I gained a courage to try the different activities and actually performed them relatively well for a beginner. Now recalling back, it’s a really interesting concept how one’s mind can completely alter the success of their performance.
On the second day, we learned how to tack (which is where you turn upwind)— call out tacking (so other boats know that you’re tacking), sheet in the mainsheet, then shift to the other side of the mainsheet after the boom has passed by pivoting with your back facing the tiller. That day, I truly learned what it meant to say that we were traveling upwind. At first, I couldn’t tell the difference and where upwind was, but after practice steering and being skipper and controlling the tiller, I was able to gather a better of understanding on how to control the sailboat and the directions on a sailboat. Being on a 4-person boat, there were also able to experience sheeting in and out. For tacking, it’s important that you sheet in so that the boom and change directions after the tack. We did a figure 8 course that challenged our tacking. For me, sailing was definitely more interesting for me to pick up — not necessarily harder, but just different; for example, you have to push the tiller opposite to the direction you want to travel towards (comes the phrase “tiller towards trouble”). While I do think windsurfing is more thrilling, sailing just has so many terminology — it was almost like learning a new language for me. That’s what made sailing so interesting. Once I did pick up the language (which didn’t happen until day 3/4), I felt like I was part of a new community, since I could just spat out sentences like “we’re doing a starboard tack, so sheet in and push the tiller away from you” or “put the jib sheet away, we’re docking”, and old-me would not have understood a single thing. I guess that’s what makes learning new things so fun and exciting — you get to be a part of something new and just expand your knowledge in general.
Later on, we went to actually windsurf. First, the instructor gave us a lecture about intro to windsurfing, such as how to hoist up your sail (your back is facing upwind, your sail is downwind, and your centerboard is down), control position, power position, how to tack (go into control position, point “back to tack”, sheeting in (point & sheeting out, feet positioning, and changing direction (point clew to back of board to turn upwind (left), point clamp to front of board to turn downwind (right)). Then, we all went on on-land simulators to try it ourselves. Again, it was like learning a new language. Although there weren’t as many words, there were more actions. Also, it was definitely a weird feeling when you had to feel and understand the wind. (After practicing some more, I realized that windsurfing was definitely easier when you learned how to use the wind and smarter to try not to go beyond mother nature and create your own path). Then, it was actually our turn to practice in the water. After grabbing a size 2.0 sail, I excitedly and somewhat confidently strutted out to my board. I mean, besides the wind being stubborn at times, the land simulator wasn’t that hard, right? I mean, how different will the actual surfing be? Boy was I wrong. As soon as I attached the sail and attempted to self rescue myself into the deeper parts of the lake, I could already feel the trying to fly away from the board. No worries though, right? this was just the beginning part. And boy was I wrong again. When I stood up on the board and tried to pick up the sail through the up-haul line, holy moly was the sail heavy. Either the sail just felt more heavy or the wind was altering my ability to access an object’s weight. I had to let it go and attempt at picking it up again. I shook off my shoulders and head, made sure I followed the three rules before picking up the up-haul line (face downwind, etc.) and this time, I was able to successfully get into control position. The wind certainly wasn’t doing any favors, but I didn't stay in control position for long before I attempted power position. I was too eager to get out and catch the wind and windsurf! At first, I could not understand the direction of the wind. Whenever I attempted to move somewhere, I would always stay still. After calling out to my instructor asking her why that was the case (she was on a motor boat), she said that I was stuck in irons, which is why I wasn’t moving forward. Also . It was weird because windsurfing does look somewhat like a relatively easy sport
I had to call out to my instructor and ask her why I wasn’t moving, and it turns out that my mast wasn’t straight, which is why I was losing control. I learned that in order to control tack successfully, you had to have both arms out straight, otherwise, you wouldn’t have enough control over the sail and the wind would just push your sail whichever way. Overall, I was stuck in irons. While windsurfing, I was tested to an even greater degree by the wind. I learned to go back into control to further feel the wind. Not to brag, but I thought that I was one of the few who did pick up windsurfing pretty quick. For windsurfing, there was a good amount of time dedicated to practicing on land through simulators, and we stepped on them with counselors teaching.
On the third day, we learned about jibing and we also had the opportunity to put out the jib. I also learned about what it meant if we were luffing.We also practiced docking with buoys. Then, at the end of our sailing session, I actually docked our boat. It was successful.
For windsurfing, when the counselor called time to head in, I was too far down the lake to hear. After a while, I saw that there were no windsurfers left in the water, and I actually got pretty scared. I was the only one out, and I was heading too much towards bird island. Conquering my fear, I tacked as well as I could and did zig zags to head to shore.
On the fourth day, we learned about right of way and jibing. I got a bigger sail, and at first, I kept getting pushed back by the wind and my sail was actually turned inwards (similar to luffing). I fell in because my feet (compromised the bigger sail and weight by standing too far back, needed to adjust to more surfing position) were too side-ways on the board.
For right of way, I learned about starboard tacks and port tacks, then leeward, etc.
We also played capture the flag. The counselors windsurfed with us, and tied several ribbons to their clews. You had to chase them and try and rip one off. I got 4 flags.
For windsurfing, It actually felt like I was flying at times. Literally. One time, with my bigger sail, my feet felt lifted up when I attempted to go faster. Like I said, I needed to learn how to work WITH the wind, not against it or attempt to control it. It was evident that no matter how much you try to go upwind directly, you were bound to get stuck in irons, so it was more smart to travel in a zig-zag formation with constant changes to your direction or tacks and jibes.
On the fifth day, we practiced sailing once more with a game of tag. Whoever team was hit with a bouncy ball was considered it, and they would go after others.
Reflection
I learned the importance of patience. Learning to windsurf was so challenging because at first, it was hard to understand where the wind was coming so I kept getting stuck in irons — which I didn’t even know what it meant in the beginning. However, it was super fun.
WEEK 2
The second week, I was in the sailing & windsurfing level 2 group. Everything was much more fast-paced, and while the instructors taught us different moves beginning of class, they left most of the learning to us through practicing over and over again and trial and error. I learned quickly through this technique.
Windsurfing
The first day, we learned how to fast tack. In order to do a fast tack, you go upwind as much as you can by pushing the clew to the back of the board, and then over sheet, and then switch your body to the other side of the board (hands, feet, feet, hand), and then push the clamp to the front of the board to get out of irons and to travel downwind.
The second day, we learned about racing gybes. In order to do a racing gybe, you push the clamp to the front of the board to travel downwind as much as you can, then you immediately over sheet, and let go of the back hand to grab the other side of the boom. Then both hands are on the other side of the sale and you push the clew to the back of the board to get out of downwind and to travel upwind.
This day was especially tough for me because I grabbed a bigger sail than usual (I got a 3.5 instead of a 3.0), and the wind was exceptionally bigger, so I kept getting stuck downwind. This day was the first day that I had to self-rescue in a long time, and even get towed. While it was a hard day, I definitely think I learned a lot more. I was able to get more attention from the instructors, and I developed my own routine for each movement. Even though the instructor did teach us the basic steps, I made each step my own and created my own interpretations of the steps that worked best for me.
The third day, we learned how to beach start. In order to do a beach start, you push the board to broad reach, and grab the mast. Then you inch down until your hands reach the boom, and your back foot is on top of the board. Then, you quickly step on the board with the other feet as well and you’re ready to go in power position.
The fourth and fifth day were mostly practice. On the fifth day, we had a race and I won 4th place. We also did capture the flag again, and I got 1 flag. We also practiced a lot of upwind sailing.
Sailing
This week, we practiced upwind sailing, man-overboard, controlled jibes (where you jibe, then go on a run, then jib a bit again until there’s a luff in the sail at which point you pull the line that’s between the mainsheet and the bottom of the boat where the mainsheet line is), and single-handing.
We also learned how to properly use the jib and to hike. Our instructor taught us in order to go fast, we need to pull out the jib and use the tiller extension. He also taught us to hold the extension close to our bodies and our hands on the top of the extension for maximum control and movement. When doing the mainsheet, hold the line close to your chest so you can extend your elbows and movement is easier and faster. Additionally, when you’re tilting the opposite way, you can hike (first) and sheet out (second). When you’re tilting your way, sheet in (if going upwind). You also want to pull the tiller close to you if you’re skipper. If it’s tilting to you, you push the tiller away from you to level it out. Overall, with more speed, we were able to travel in a straight line for a longer period of time, constantly having to adjust the tiller and mainsheet and hiking (the whole side of the tiller’s side would be hiking, including the skipper). Through this trial and error, we actually tea cupped, which was a really interesting feeling and I had to hike so much in order to not capsize.
When we went faster (through sheeting in and hiking constantly instead of losing speed through sheeting out), the rest of that day, I felt tipsy and a bit like swingy. It felt like I was on the boat (I wasn’t motion sick, but it just felt like we were still going up and down probably because of all the hiking). It was a really interesting feeling.
It was then that I actually understood single-handing. For single handing, if you want to go fast, you have to use the tiller extension, and hold it up to you like a microphone so that you can hike. I also learned how to pass the mainsheet line to the other hand with the tiller (from behind the back) for when you tack and jibe. Same thing with the mainsheet line — hold it up so you can easily extend it. Same process as with going fast. At first, before I learned about hiking, single handing was hard to understand. After watching the instructor and getting personal instructions as well as practicing with an attentive instructor, I got a lot better and actually was able to control the boat.
Additionally, we learned about the whole process of rescuing yourselves after capsizing. Our boat had 4 people and 1 instructor, so 2 people have to get onto the centerboard by standing on the shroud and climbing themselves onto the mast in order to get on the side of the boat that’s out of the water. Then those two people stand and walk down the centerboard (and grab the gib line) to push the boat back into the water while the others hold on to the hiking straps to slide themselves in while the boat is leveling itself. Then while one of the two on the boat pushes the boat into irons with the tiller, the other will grab the two in the water and slide them inside the boat.
Reflection of Week 2
Overall, this week was a lot more fun because for windsurfing, my sail was bigger and I caught more wind, hence, more speed. I also learned fast tacks and racing gybes, which were pretty difficult, which made it even more fun. It was super exciting and satisfying when you could just nail a turn and everything went to plan.
For sailing, the three things that really made this week memorable were: learning how to go faster through sheeting in and out, single handing, and hiking.
What I learned is that everything comes with practice and trial and error. For windsurfing, I just had to practice my turns over and over again before I received anything resembling progress. For sailing, it was just all about making small adjustments and seeing what worked best. There is no time to think about everything, so most things in sailing comes naturally. For example, when we tacked, sometimes, our boat wouldn’t complete it due to lack of speed, so I eventually learned that we have to heel and make sure our sail isn’t luffing for us to complete a successful tack. In my opinion, that’s what made sailing so fun. Additionally, I made a lot of really good friends there, many of which that I still am in contact now.
I got my sailing rental card and my windsurfing rental card, and my sailing card enables me to go up to 12 kts for a whole year, and my windsurfing card enables me to go up to 14 kts for a whole year. I plan to go there a lot more over the school year, and maybe even bring friends and family.
I also decided that I really want to work there next year during summer. The counselors all seemed very close and nice, and it was just a good environment in general. I also really enjoyed both windsurfing and sailing, and I think it’ll just be fun to be out on the waters the whole summer. I would love to practice my turns more and single hand more too.
