Good times, this move. One of my favorite nonplaning transitions, taught to me by ABK's Andy Brandt back in 2000. I saw the move, pointed, and said "teach me that!" He told me I wasn't ready, that I needed to learn the building blocks first. "Teach me all of them right now!" Within a few months I had it. What's particularly fun about it is you can not only use it as an exotic tack, but you can also use it to spin from nose first to clew first, so if you're coming into shallows on your way to shore it's a showy way to get to fin first for the finbuster shallows.
In short, from regular sailing you step to the nose with your back foot, then execute a fin-first backwinded pivot jibe. Once the board has turned 180 degrees flip the sail to head on your new tack, or sail clew first on your new tack, or step to the nose (pulling the mast hand in and letting the clew hand out) to sail in your original direction fin first. It feels great! Shot in Bonaire during an ABK clinic by Tom Lepak.
My wife loves windsurfing in Bonaire. She’s the one who suggests the vacation each year. I say (I really say this) “we could take a non-windsurfing vacation.” I swear I actually say that. And she always replies “I want to windsurf in Bonaire.”
What’s not to like? We rent a casita right next to the windsurfing beach, take a waterfront yoga class before breakfast, then drift on over to the ABK clinic to see old friends, make new ones, and get better at windsurfing in 80 degree crystal clear thigh deep water. It’s sweet.
The wind was uncharacteristically light…three seven meter days, one six (or mad pump to a plane on a five), but with ABK they have more sailing exercises for you to do nonplaning than you can shake a stick at, so we were on the water every day. Between the guided windsurfing (which you can bail on and freesail, or take a rest and go snorkeling or shopping or get a massage) and the friend making (we have new buds in Vancouver, San Francisco, and ten blocks away in NYC amongst others) we’ve resolved to always ABK it in the future. It’s just too good not to.
How did we sail? Where did we eat? How were the digs? How were the instructors? Does Caesar really take the sail off his board, throw it into the air and catch it? Read on, pilgrim:
Windsurfing
Sally worked on her planing jibes when the wind was up. Nonplaning she was also a jibe machine, with pivots, switchstance exits, clew first jibes, and linked them all together in some tricky S turns. Also refining her short board tack, and she learned a trick beach start dubbed “The Mallin”, named for Long Island windsurfer Robert Mallin. There is an aerial component!
Me planing I worked on duck tacks (never got close to hitting one, but progressed from “not a prayer” to “it may happen.” Wildly optimistic, I think this is the year. Also did some stay-in-the-straps duckjibes and duck 360’s (thank you Derek Rijff).
Nonplaning…did you know that there are eight (EIGHT!) nonplaning upwind 360’s? There are! For the uninitiated, an upwind 360 starts out as a helitack entry (rounding up to backwinded) followed by a backwinded pivot jibe. Here are the eight versions:
Regular (nose first, mast first)
Duck
Fin first
Fin first duck
Clew first
Clew first duck
Clew first Fin First
Clew first fin first duck
Andy Brandt says there may be a ninth…I believe with a double duck at the end of one of the clew first versions, but I was so dizzy after the eight that I called it a day. Also got some tips on donkey jibes from Radar Tom, and some seditious duck tack advice from Brendan (not in 100% alignment with Guru Brandt. I love it when this happens, like back when Andy and Dasher would dispute the placement of molecules for a planing jibe. Miniscule yet helpful.) We are grateful for all of the instructors’ advice.
Digs (aka Accomodations)
We stayed at Sorobon, right on Lac Bay, and next to the windsurfing beach. It’s rustic (very rustic) but oh so convenient. If you require lux (ie a door to the bathroom) stay at the Bellafonte, an easy eight minute drive from the beach.)
Windsurfing equipment rental
ABK partners with Jibe City so we went with them (lovely Fanatic, JP and F2 boards, Severne sails. ) Great service, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mentioned Windsurf Place just down the beach, which in our experience has been just as good. There’s no mistake to make booking gear in Bonaire other than to not book in advance.
Caesar Finies
This never gets old. The video below is not a select from a bunch of failed attempts. I was down the beach when I saw a rig 20 feet in the air, which he caught. Ran down with my phone just in time to shoot him doing it again. It’s impossible to be consistent at this, right? It must be. But he’s consistent. Caesar has a whole raft of sail handling tricks, but this one is always the show stopper.
Restaurants
There’s a new star on Bonaire: La Cantina. For foodies. The menu is a little complicated, but the help helps and the meal is worth it. It’s where Appetite used to be. Will go there twice on our next trip! We also hit Cappricio…still outstanding, still with the great wines at whatever price you want to pay. Oh yes, seriously good food. We skipped two of our usual favorites…At Sea and Mona Lisa…in favor of being lazy and eating at Sorobon (in retrospect we should have gone out, though Sorobon’s food is decent) and the ABK group barbeque.
It was our tenth trip there. We’re already looking forward to next year.
(Top: Sally displays her trademark form. Bottom: Hail Caesar.)
This is GREAT! Note how the little girl holds on to her phone with one hand whilst riding that door like a pro. Catapults will mean nothing to her. #futurechampion.
There he is, wearing a shorty, hovering over the water as he windsurfs a foil on the Pamlico Sound. Mike Burns does it all, with a smaller sail and in warmer conditions that I ever do/rig/get. To quote Frank Messina: We all hate him.
This is worse than when he learned the leopard loop.
From the new-to-the-Puffin blog Hit the Wave comes this tremendous post… a fantastic collection of windsurfing board catalogs, not only from brands I know (F2, Fanatic, Mistral, Bic, Tiga, RRD etc) but from over a dozen I’ve never or only barely heard of (Windspeed, Ten Cate, Star Surf, Sainval, Pacific, Oceanite, HiWings, Magnum, Klepper etc…too many for me to list.) A must to check out. The post isn't new (originally published 2011) but it's new to us!
Recent Comments