Back to Basics

No song for today, sorry.

Yes, I am back to windsurfing. I first went on Friday afternoon, June 25. It was a nice day,
fairly light winds. I was zooming around on my Pacer with the 7.5 sail. At first I had to have the c/b down
to plane, but then the wind came up just a bit and I was able to plane w/o centerboard. A very nice and mellow re-introduction to windsurfing. Made all my tacks (they were dreadfully slow) and just about all jibes (even though they were flares). I felt good and figured I was back.

Then, I went windsurfing again on Saturday. Bit more wind. Went back out on Pacer/7.5. Horrible day, didn't feel balanced at all. Later on I went to sail the Z-Ride 133 with the 7.5 and couldn't find a fin screw for it. Luckily, another guy let me borrow one. (I just recieved a shipment of new fin screws this morning.) So, I sailed that for awhile, I felt like I did make a little progress as I was able to get the board turned through the wind on a plane on one jibe. Otherwise, I felt really bad and unsteady. Plus, I was really physically tired from the day before.

Took  a break Sunday.

Monday was a great wind day. Quite a few other people were sailing and looking like they were having a great time......I didn't. Although, I was able to sail the FSW 102 with first 5.5 and then 4.7 when I get even more tired and wind came up a bit. Straight line sailing is not a problem. I even was keeping up with Mike Burns and sailing similar (a couple times a bit higher even, but don't know how much he was trying to sail upwind) angles to windward. The problem is still with the jibes. Tried to switch sail before feet for a while. (I have been trying the step jibe). The sail came around but wasn't able to grab boom. Went back to step jibe attempts near the end. Had one made, grabbed boom then fell. Well, almost made it, not quite on plane at the end of it, however. But a faint glimmer of hope, perhaps.

Problems I am having (again, or still - at some points over the last couple of years I thought I had gotten over these and feel like 2 or 3 years ago at ABK I was actually doing better, but that is in the flat water at Napeague, a wholly different deal in the chop at Heck):

1. not getting forward on jibes. I don't know why, but I am afraid to commit to going into the jibe and am hauling back on rig and not flowing into the jibe.
2. worried that I am not going to make jibe (see above about not flowing)
3. not taking the time to re-establish speed after unhooking from harness
4. Overall, just not feeling strong and confident.
5. Need to find a way to sail later into fall, into winter, and much, much earlier in spring. Need to stay healthy.

I guess it will take some time to re-build confidence and build strength. It's been a long and harrowing winter. So, I took the Pacer out of the van and put the Go in. Time to somewhat start over (again, arrgghhhh!), get back to basics and re-learn muscle memory, strength, stamina, and slowly go step by step to, maybe, finally getting this planing jibe thing work. Once I do, on to the short board tack which I am sure will help me speed up my Pacer tacks.

Hope the wind comes up again soon!!