Learning to jump at Lanzarote

There were three basic manoeuvres that I needed to learn how to do while at the Windsurf Clinic at Lanzarote:

• tacks,
• gybes,
• jumps.

Apart from that I really wanted to learn how to get to planning earlier and improve my stance on the board.

Although I was a bit unlucky with the wind (Lanzarote usually has good wind in June) I still managed to practice and improve (immensely) all those aspects of windsurfing.

Forgive me for the bad video editing... it is my first ever attempt at doing it.

I really glad to see me going at around minute 2 of the video. There was almost no wind and with a push of a small wave the board just picked up speed and then I managed to keep it going always planning. Actually Tom Brendt (the teacher/trainer) is the one that has to take the merit of it. His teachings were great.

One nice side effect of being able to plan earlier is that now instead of going with a 6.9m² sail I'm going with 5.4m² and I'm still planning a lot earlier and going a lot faster, specially when going upwind.

For the jumps... well... I'm a heavy guy and there's a bit of ballast around my belly that doesn't help much (shame on me). Still I'm starting to pull it off. I'mm have to go more into waves so that I can train better. Maybe I'll get comfortable enough to get another boost in my windsurf skill by joining the Moulay clinic...

As a side note... You know all those "loose weight" programs that never work? Well... In one week at the windsurf clinic, eating as much as I wanted (every meal ended with ice-cream and cake), I lost 3 kg of the mentioned ballast. So, having fun, eating as much as you want, get to know people and still slim down a bit. Not bad at all.