What a crazy weekend.
Saturday evening we attended a really nice party at Almere Central Clube and Sunday the wind went crazy and was blowing with gusts of 40 knots. Insane!
The party was really kool, has was to be expected from the great people in the club -- if you want to learn how to windsurf then you won't find a better place than this club. The theme of the party was "mismatch". Everyone was supposed to dress with cloths that don't fit properly or match styles. It's even funnier than a costume party.
Then after a long night a very windy day. Tough stuff, really. The wind was blowing at around 25 knots and then a gust would blow like a blast, reaching 40 knots (with water temperature of 6°C and air at 8°C).
I took my smallest sail, a 5.4m² free ride and went in the water just to be beaten by the gusts. Eventually my windsurf session was more or less saved by Tom, who lent me 4.0m² sail. It was still hard going, still lot's of power in the gusts and somewhat under-power with the normal wind. Tricky. My tiered arms weren't helping also.
The meaning of all this is clear to me: cycling around is not enough to keep your shape for windsurfing. Upper body strength need to be maintained even when the wind is light for months - when with a bit of technique a windsurfer almost doesn't need any strength at all (unless it's a race, then pumping the sail is quite the workout).
Still managed to surf the small knee high waves, do some jumps and two or three gybes. Not that any of that was very well done, although it was getting better the more time I was in the water - I guess I was starting to get used to the strong wind.
Now I have to:
- find some nice set of exercises to increase my torso and arms. Hopefully without needing to go to a gym... I'm not a fan of doing exercises inside;
- find a good 4.2m² sail for strong winds;
- find a 9.5m² sail with cambers for light winds. It'll be heavier but a lot more powerful then my 6.9m² implying more effort on my part, leading to a better workout when light air sailing.
Next time we get strong winds I'll be ready for it.
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