ABK Windsurfing Camp at Sherman Island

Although I have been windsurfing since 1991, I have never taken formal lessons. I learned by watching other sailors, first in Houston, Texas, then later in the Gorge.

Since I had problems with my jibes, I enrolled in the ABK Windsurfing Camp on Sherman Island for 4 days: Thursday, July 26 - Sunday, July 29.

On Thursday, July 26, I woke up early (loaded my van with all the gear the night before) and stopped by the House of Bagels in Almaden Plaza. The drive to Sherman Island was reasonably uneventful, and I arrived at around 8:15. There were already many windsurfers sailing on the delta.

I parked my van in the "Access" next to Sherman Island County Park. I rigged my Ezzy Elite 5.0m and Elite 5.7m sails (anticipating needing multiple sails). I unpacked my Mistral Flow 276 and put on a slalom fin.

The clinic started by introducing the staff (Andy Brandt, Brandon, David) and all the attendees. There were 18 of us with varying levels of ability. Some were just learning to water-start, while others were doing "Spocks."

From 10:30 to 14:00, we had a free sailing session where the instructors observed our sailing skills and provided helpful pointers. I also ate lunch during this time, including a turkey bagel sandwich, a croissant, an apple, and a peach. I was starving!

Here is a GoPro Hero6 video recording of my first day of sailing:

At 14:00, we met up for a session focused on jibing. The main pointers are as follows:

Sailing Stance

1. Set the boom at or above the shoulder level. It allows us to get the board planing earlier (mine was set too low because I wanted to use the tail of my board to help lift up the boom during water starts)
2. When trying to get the board planing, point the front foot forward, i.e., toes to the mast foot. (I had mine always sideways)
3. When planing:
• Keep the front leg straight and knees almost locked (this will stabilize the ride)
• Try to keep the rear leg straight
• Control the board with a little bit of pressure on the toes
• Trim the sail with your shoulders (keep your arms straight)
4. In choppy conditions, push down on the boom with your hands to push the mast on the board and keep the board horizontal
5. In the front foot strap, you can point your front foot more forward to get better stability in wind gusts

Here is a GoPro Hero6 video of my first successful jibe:



Carving Jibe Pointers

1. Head: look before starting a jibe. Make a plan of where you want to jibe. Visualize it
2. Hand: move your backhand far down the boom to allow for more control (when sailing clew first later in the jibe)
3. Hang: detach from harness lines and hang back to keep the speed up (you should not slow down). Bend your knees and continue on a broad reach.
4. Hoof: take the back foot of the strap and put the toe on the rail. The back foot should be parallel to the front foot.
5. Push the front arm to initiate the turn while bending your knees. Do not put much pressure on the board with your back foot. 
6. A long jibe requires a slight push on the boom (slow, steady pressure is better than quick, sharp movements)
7. When approaching a run, move the sail back into a clew first sailing position while switching foot positions: the front foot is taken out of the foot strap and placed next to the rear foot, with the heel of the foot on the rail. The new front foot is gently placed on the rail. Keep pushing on the rail with your heel to keep the board carving.
8. Sail clew first, heading upwind.
9. To prepare for the sail flip, move the arm closer to the mast, straighten the mast, and then let go of the sail with your other hand. As the sail swings around, grab the opposite side of the boom with an underhand grab (New Jersey style)

Friday, July 27, 2018

On Friday, July 27, I woke up early and stopped by the House of Bagels in Almaden Plaza. The drive to Sherman Island was uneventful, and I arrived at around 8:20. There were already many windsurfers sailing on the delta, but the wind seemed a little lighter.

Like the day before, I rigged a 5.0m Ezzy Elite and a 5.7m. I stashed away the 5.0m as the wind was too light and started sailing on the Ezzy Elite 5.7m with my Mistral Flow 276.

Our first lesson was to learn how to perform clew-first water starts. I have never attempted to do water-start this way, and it took many tries to get even one successful. I spent a few hours failing but started to get the hang of them.

Clew First Water-starts

1. Point the board sideways to the wind.
2. Keep the clew arm far apart from the mast arm (it should be at harness straps)
3. Keep the sail very low on the water, de-powered
4. With the rear foot gently on the board, start raising the sail
5. As the sail fills up, start turning the board downwind
6. When the board is directly downwind, raise the sail gently and step on the rear of the board
7. If overpowered, lean back more
8. The board will turn left when the mast is leaned right
9. Sail for a while until an opportunity to flip the sail presents itself

During lunchtime, I got to demo a Fanatic Stubby Freestyle Wave 95-liter board. It seemed stable, but I could not get it on a plane due to light wind conditions.

After eating lunch, we returned for more sailing (first learning about the complete jibing technique). Depending on whether the board is carving, there are three potential jibe exits.


Saturday, July 28, 2018

On Saturday, July 28, I woke up early and stopped by the House of Bagels in Almaden Plaza. The drive to Sherman Island was uneventful, and I arrived around 7:55. We were told to come extra early due to all the locals who could also come. There were already many windsurfers sailing on the delta, but the wind seemed much lighter than on Thursday or Friday.

There are two types of jibes: planing and non-planing:

• Planing jibes require a lot of speed and are controlled with the board (i.e., pushing on the rails to carve through the water)
• Non-planing jobs are primarily influenced by the movement of the sail (right or left) to turn the board (instead of using feet)

During the jibe, one must be aware of whether the jibe is turning into a non-planing jibe at any time, as the technique needs to adapt to the current situation.

After an exciting discussion of jibing, I came up with another list of jibe pointers:

• When initiating the planing jibe, keep the body looking forward, even as the knees bend
• It's essential to keep the body facing forward through the jibe (even as the knees bend and shoulders rotate either left or right)
• When flipping the sail, first slide the boom so that the mast hand is closer, but do not look at the boom. When releasing the clew hand, do not look at it, and grab the other side of the boom underneath the boom (New Jersey style)
• When releasing the clew hand, squeeze your muscles to help grab the boom

Sailing upwind planing vs non-planing:

• When planing, move your weight forward onto the front foot and your head beyond the mast (while keeping the sail in the same position). This creates a more extended edging surface for the board and helps to track upwind.
• When slogging, sheet our so that only about 25% of available wind power is used. Press on the rail to give more surface area and prevent sliding sideways. Do not use more wind power as it only facilitates more lateral drift.

Brandon also talked a bit about the proper stance and how to control direction and board speed when planing:

• To go downwind, shift more of your weight to the rear leg
• To go upwind, shift more of your weight to the front leg and move your head beyond the mast
• Jem Hall also recommends bringing your arms closer together
• Do not sheet out the sail - this is how one gets launched
• In a lull, push the front toe down
• In a gust, push the front toe up

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Ah, the last day of camp. My hands were full of blisters, and putting on gloves was even more painful.
The day began with Andy discussing Sail-Chi: how to handle the sail.

The essential lessons from the discussion:

• Always move your arms independently, push or pull on the sail one at a time.
• From the mast to the harness lines, the sail responds one way and differs utterly from harness lines to the clew end.
• With the sail back-winded, you can play boom-boxing by pushing on different parts of the boom or sail
• The center of effort on a sail is usually at the harness lines - this is the most challenging part of the move

After this discussion, we had another debate on Duck Jibes. The main points of a Duck Jibe:

• You can never begin too early. You can release the front hand as soon as the jibe starts (no need to push the sail).
• Avoid using huge sails
• Only attempt duck jibes on smooth water when everything is going smoothly
• There are two types of crashes possible:
• Easy, with the sailor falling backward
• Spectacular when the sail hits the water, stopping the board (catapulting you across)

Duck Jibe Pointers

1. Preparation
• Head: look before starting a jibe. Make a plan of where you want to jibe. Visualize it
• Hand: move your backhand far down the boom (as far as possible)
• Hang: detach from harness lines and hang back to keep the speed up
• Hoof: take the back foot of the strap and put the toe on the rail. The back foot should be parallel to the front foot
2. Execution
• Push the front arm forward to initiate the turn while bending your knees. Do not put much pressure on the board with your back foot. 
• Release the front arm and cross the back arm, grabbing onto the boom near the clew.
• Throw the boom toward you, catching the boom with both of your arms
3. Clean Up
• Switch your foot stance

After this discussion, we had another discussion on talking with Brandon. Unfortunately, I could not practice these - my board is too small. Brandon suggested a board with a volume of at least 120 liters.

Tacking Pointers

1. Preparation
• Get out of the foot straps and place one foot in front of the mast base and the other on the other side. Gently lean the sail away from you and start sweeping it around.
• Put your front hand on the mast at waist level
2. Execution
• Put your rear foot in front of your front foot while at the same time using the sail as a counter-balance
• Quickly stomp on the back of the board and continue back-winding the sail (you have not tacked yet)
3. Clean Up
• Tack my moving the sail forward 

Sherman Island Pointers

1. Sailing on the Ebb tide is much more preferable. If you get too far upwind, you can always sail downwind.
2. Floodtide has a powerful current, so going upwind against the current requires a giant sail and a fin.

I learned a lot at the ABK Windsurfing camp and plan to enroll in another one next year.