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How to Practice Windsurfing Safely

Windsurfing is an amazing sport. It is also a dangerous one if done without thinking ahead, inspection and good choices in terms of when and where to do it. I would say that most dangerous situation come to be due to broken kit in the wrong place. This can easily be mitigated by following the simple tips below.

Inspect your equipment

All things that are used will experience wear and tear. This is especially true in an environment in which there is salt water, sand and sun. This means that over time our boards and sails (and the components that make the up) will fail at some point if not repaired or replaced when necessary. Here is a list of the most important things you should check and how:

  • Mast-foot: bend the rubber joint to check for any cracks
  • Boom: make sure the holm doesn’t move relative to the head
  • Harness lines: Check for wear in the areas where the hook will be rubbing
  • Sail: inspect for any rips or dents in the foil
  • Out-haul and down-haul lines: ensure the fibers aren’t fuzzy or even worse, the inner fibers are showing
  • Fin: it shouldn’t wobble in the slot
  • Board: make sure there are no holes or dings in the board as this will let water in and cause it to delaminate

Smart Decision Making

As mentioned earlier, most of the dangerous situations occur due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and this usually is something that can be avoided.

First off, make sure that if something does happen, you are not dependent on yourself only. In other words, never hit the water alone. Make sure that there is always someone on the water with you or at least on the beach keeping an eye on you. The worst thing that can happen is that you get into trouble and no one notices until several hours later when it might be too late.

Secondly, never go out in directly offshore winds. This is a good rule of thumb as with offshore wind comes a current that goes out to sea and any problem that impedes you from keeping on sailing will end in you being blown off to sea. Not a pleasant situation.

Another aspect to check is the weather. It should go without saying that you should stay on land in stormy conditions or in unreliable winds.

Be fully aware. By this I mean: don’t decide to go windsurfing drunk or intoxicated with whatever substance. Anything that might hinder sound judgement should be avoided in windsurfing as the consequences can be pretty dire and you want to be able to react properly in an emergency.

Lastly, emergency services. Make sure they are available. In most cases, it yo have a problem, you will not be able to get back to shore just by a friend pulling you back to the beach with this windsurfer and it may be quite a long swim back to the beach. On top of that, you make get injured so that you cannot move towards the shore safely. I repeat, make sure that there is a rescue service that can be called upon if the worst case scenario should occur.

That being said, always act as if it were not available to be on the safe side. You never know when the life guards’ jet ski has broken down or has to go out on another rescue.

Life Saving Accessories

There are a number of accessories that can reduce the likelihood of you injuring yourself and another few that can make the consequences of an accident be less grave.

For protection you can wear a helmet and a life vest which both mitigate any impacts on the water. The vest will also help you save energy if you have to wait for rescue or keep your head over water if you get knocked out.

Aside from these there are inflatable devices that take up little space which can be taken on the water with us. These serve not only for flotation but also to be seen easier by rescue teams. Another artefact for this purpose are flares which may be extremely useful if it should be dark (not that you should be windsurfing when it is close to getting dark).

Last of all I recommend to carry a 2 metre pice of rope with you, rolled on the bar of your harness hook or wherever it gets in the way the least. This can come in really handy should the out-haul or the down-haul lines break.

Arne Gahmig

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