I love teaching windsurfing

My dream job is to be a windsurfing instructor. It is so rewarding to get others into our great sport. If only teaching watersports paid as well as my day job (which I do enjoy too)!

I start with the names of the board parts...

Then make sure the student knows where the wind is coming from
and where the windsurfer can go (the directions your arms can point)

Review which way the board will go when you uphaul the sail
and how to spin the board in the direction you want to go 

Set the student free.... with a hand on the mast and two fingers on the boom

And provide some on the water follow up and encouragement
Reminding the student to look where they want to go, not at their hands or feet

Enjoy the smiles that result!

I'm reflecting on another great day of reaching friends' kids to windsurf. I've been getting excellent results ‎with the "front hand on the mast" style of teaching. Somehow keeping the hand on the mast ensures that the mast is kept vertical and the two fingers on the boom keeps the student from over-sheeting (pulling in) the sail too much. That way beginners also remember to let go with the correct hand (technically fingers) when getting overpowered. 

Most of my students made it back from their first and subsequent lessons without needing to be towed back upwind. Praise to ABK and the hand on the mast school of teaching. Granted this most recent weekend the two kids were getting more of a refresher course, I had taught them both a few years ago.

What is also interesting is that I find younger students tend to do better on my sister's very old Bic Veloce with its 185 litres of volume and but very narrow outline. The "modern shape" Mistral 160 Malibu that I bought for light wind freestyle and teaching beginners just a few years ago seems to go sideways as much as forward. And my new SUP seems to work well for teaching too and is just as soft as the Malibu's orange deck...

I hope to get a few more beginners out having fun on the water in the next week or two.