Wingfoil coaching session with Dasher

Over 30 years ago Charles Dasher helped me get better at jibing. He gave Jen and me instruction in Aruba out of Sailboard Vacations back when that was THE hotspot to have a windsurfing vacation. He took one look at my windsurfing jibe and said “what are you doing with your hands - it’s boom boom boom boom.” And it worked - my jibes instantly got better - like in this video from back then.

So I was very excited to reconnect with Dasher in Bonaire where he is now teaching the 4 year new sport of wing foiling. I wanted some foiling tips but also wanted to learn how he is teaching wing foiling so I can get better as a teacher too.

We had a Sunday 8am morning session where we talked gear and he was excited to help me understand the best and most current ways to teach students to foil. He has a great wing simulator that I’m going to copy!

Dasher with his wing simulator

Against his advice and because I wanted to try different gear I took out a Vayu Fly 5.2 110L board with 1000 CM high aspect foil. I really couldn’t get going even with a 6m wing. I did finally get it going but it wasn’t going to be the right equipment for learning. Looking at the board back on the beach it had a bottom shaped like an upside down spoon - definitely the wrong shape for getting going. Amazing how board design has developed in just a few years.

Struggling to get going on the wrong gear!

Dasher luckily had some BBtalking headsets so we could communicate. They work very well and Jen got a headset too so she could hear while being on shore and taking a few photos! I went back to shore and got the 97 L Tabou board from yesterday with a 1750 foil so that I would be able to get up virtually every run. That way I would be able to work on jibes and tacks. 

I have to note that I’m spoiled by having most of Georgian Bay to myself and forgot to look over my shoulder on one of my first jibes and nearly ran into Frank. Luckily Dasher on the BBtalking headset alerted me to the pending collision and Frank wasn’t upset. But a good learning moment for me.

Enjoying my time on the water!

Dasher was patient and had already noticed from the pictures posted a few days ago that I have a major issue with my jibes in that I don’t turn my hand over when I’m entering. He suggested going into the jibe underhanded. Boom! He fixed my wingfoil jibe just as he fixed my windsurfing jibe over 30 years ago. Amazing coaching!

A nice little Dasher improved underhanded jibe!

We then started working on tacks and my first couple were actually pretty good with his next tip to give a little back hand tap out on the wing as you go upwind into the tack. Andy Brandt would call it sail chi as you tap with the back hand so that flips over your head and you don’t need to reach across as much with the front hand.  A couple of those went well and then I took a break on the sandbar and watched him do a whole bunch of tricks. 

One of my favourites things of his to practice I’d already seen two days ago. Dasher stands in a SUP stance with his legs very close together to feel the very subtle control and that is also a great practice for eventually riding switch stance. Switchstance toeside is a goal I still need to learn. He also had a great tip on initiating a foot switch, which is to bring that back foot on the centreline - toes pointed forward so that you’re much more balanced on the foil for your eventual hop or dual foot switch. 

We continued on the water with me, trying a few more tricks, including one where you go into jibe like a duck jibe but then bringing the wing back over your head and that will eventually lead to better 360s. Pleased to actually get one of those. Curious to see whether it’s on Dasher’s video?

BBtalking headsets work very well for treaching

As the session was ending I was getting sloppy on my tacks and overthinking it. I did eventually get a couple more nice jibes and slogged back up to the beach. We wound up talking a lot more about the wingfoil coaching techniques and my excitement for teaching, 

Part of the coaching session and back to shore

A few failed tacks and then some nice jibes at the end

I’ll be posting similar information on my www.LaunchPadWindsurfAcademy.ca page when I start gearing up for the teaching season in Canada.

Lunch at Jibe City

My mom’s license plate from years ago

The scene at the Hangout Bar

In the afternoon, after a nice visit to Jibe City for lunch, I went out for another hour on the same gear and sailed much farther out. I got a lot of jibes in a row and felt great about that session.

Lots of fun sailing upwind on the wing foil

Lots of nice jibes in the 1st 3rd of the session!

Hands are now officially done!

My fingers now have 3 exposed blisters and I think it is time to take a longer break from 6 straight days on the water in Bonaire. On our way back to the hotel we drove the long way around the island and took some photos.

Cruise ship is in town!

Exposed NE shore!

Panorama

Kite beach

Salt piles

Salt pier

Nice house design

Iguanas

Great resort

54 km wing & wind foil in Bonaire

I decided I should make the most of the last fully windy day predicted here in Bonaire. It was nice and steady, but lighter than the last few days in the morning. I was happy to be at the Frans Paradise again where they have the deep water plus wing and wind foiling options.

I went out wing foiling first. They didn’t have any Duotone gear available so I was using a 5.4 Vayu wing. And another 97 L Tabou pocket air foilboard with a GA 1450 foil and footstraps this time. I found it pretty easy to get going but it did take a while to figure out my taxiing.

Ready to wing foil

Thanks Jen for the photos

Little video of me getting going…

Great morning session

The 1450 foil

Rental gear details -97 litres

Morning wingfoil session GPS track

A series of nice jibes in the first 1/3 of the session!

My jibes only took a few attempts and then I did a dozen in a row which was a really good start. Over time I was working on some tacks. I got a fair number of dry ones and even foiled out of one. So a bit rusty but getting the feel for riding a different foil set up every day.

Families having fun at the beach. Towing your kid…
now that is some slogging skill!

Meeting up with famous authors

And the regulars

After a delicious lunch on the beach from the fresh fish food truck at Frans we headed back so Jen could do her physio. We did stop at a wine store to pick up some wines for dinner tonight. There were cars stopped at the road by the airport so we stopped to and watched a big plane land!

Incoming!

So cool!

And our rental truck!

After getting back to the room and helping Jen treat her mild sunburn at the hotel I headed back to Franz Paradise. Luckily the 167 L wind foil board was again available for me. I took the same 7.5 Severne Turbo sail and tightened the boom a little bit. Otherwise no changes were required from yesterday. I felt WAY more comfortable on day two on the board and had a great time roaring up-and-down wind. 

GPS Windfoil trail all over Lac Bay
Some of those are almost 90 degree crossings

A lot of very slow tacks. But very few falls.

Longest km day of the Bonaire vacation

TURTLES. Wow there were so many I lost track but it was definitely over a dozen. I wonder as the wind dies down a bit that they are more visible or I was just going farther upwind from where everyone normally sails?

There was a nice little local Bonairian windsurfing race going on which I watched from a distance. Phil was competing on windfoil with a few others. Most were on fins. On their last legs I followed for a bit. Overall more kilometres than I’ve done any day here. Glad to have Windsurfed, Wingfoiled and Windfoiled so far this trip. 

We were invited to a wonderful BBQ dinner at Phil and Nicola’s house and enjoyed good company and the sunset! It was great to hear about his efforts to keep us able to foil in Lac Bay.

Lovely sunsets in Belnem

Thanks for a lovely dinner!

Will enjoy a break when the wind dies tomorrow afternoon, but hoping to get in a wingfoil coaching session with Dasher tomorrow morning…

First day at The Frans Paradise

After a couple of wonderful days at Jibe City I thought it was time to give The Frans Paradise a try. Five years ago it was basically a shack on the beach at the end of the Sorobon road but already then lot of the best sailors were already starting to practice their freestyle in the nice little flatwater bay there.

I heard that they have new buildings and their rental gear was first rate. Also, a couple of people I know were launching from there. So it was a logical place to start my day. Taty was interested to see pictures of Vanessa & Len and remembers them. He hooked me up with a Duotone Unit 5m and the smallest board I’ve ever launched on! A 97 L with a tiny looking front wing - I never took a photo! I got going up on it and realized it didn’t have footstraps. I found that a little bit of a challenge because I am used to riding with my feet in straps. It was interesting because being strapless does make switching your feet a bit easier. It does also make switching your feet seem like what you should be doing on every jibe and so I worked on foot switches a bit but didn’t feel comfortable about it.

Ready for my morning wingfoil session!

I then got a couple of jibes in a row, but the wind dropped off for the mid day lull and it got a lot harder to get going. I stopped in at the sandy point where Charles Dasher (from Aruba days 30 years ago) was teaching a lesson. He uses Bluetooth headsets to chat with students and I realized that I definitely need remote headsets like he uses for the Launch Pad Windsurf Academy when I will be teaching back in Canada this summer.

My morning GPS wing foil track

Spent some time watching Dasher coaching
And then still couldn’t get going…

Video of me doing some wing pumping

Lunch was a delicious fresh tuna wrap from the food truck there. (Without paying said the Brazilian guy: “just on account pay me when you’re getting ready to leave”).

I met up with Phil and Jenny who I haven’t seen since IWT events 6 years ago? We chatted for a while over lunch and by 1pm Canadian Phil had arrived ready to go wind foiling. Taty hooked me up with his IQ looking Starboard wind foil and huge 167 L future fly board. I was very nervous about having a catapult and smashing the nose of that board as there was no deviator or nose protection. So my first several runs were very tentative, touching down a lot getting used to the board.

Time to Windfoil

Phil is ready

The gear

Shadow selfie

Working my way around Lac Bay

Lots of time on foil - not many foiling jibes
on unique rental gear

Eventually I was getting my front foot in the straps and then spent some time fixing the back foot straps so I could use them too. I wound up going up and downwind several times And it was great to have Phillip to cheer each other when we occasionally crossed paths. If we had been smart, we would’ve tried racing each other to get a bit more practice for when will likely meet again in July in Kingston. 

Private gear storage

Fran’s rental locker
Lots of nice gear but not much demand for windfoiling?

Wingfoil then windfoil then
a walk around the hotel grounds 

I wound up doing 25 km and by the end of that was feeling tired enough that it was time to call it a day. I also had something weird happening with my right toe when I put it into the too tight footstep at one point I can’t tell whether it cramped or did something else but glad it was ok for a nice evening walk back at the hotel.

The wind looks like it’s dying over the next couple of days so I’m hoping to get an early morning session tomorrow and then we’ll see where we go from there. Oh, and I saw at least four turtles while I was wind foiling!

Jen and I enjoyed snacking on our Dutch cheese and other nibblies back at the hotel and headed off for a good sleep.