When Spring Comes

Winter Windsurfing will soon be over.

Not that I mind winter windsurfing…give me 40 degrees (36 if it’s sunny) and I’ll hop on a 4.7 or 4.2 any day! No high winds in the summer!

But these are not the days for working on moves.   I’m not trying to hit duck tacks or trick jibes when falling means an ice cream headache!   No thank you.   With longer days and the prospect of putting away the drysuit and gloves, I’m thinking about the coming season.                       

What do I want? What do I need?

A new boom…that’s for sure.   My best is 14 years old…not exactly what I have in mind for windsurfing in the ocean or Gardiners Bay.

A planing duck tack. I’ve been wanting this move for a long time, but finding the right practice conditions (flat water, 5 meter winds with a cheater board) and then focusing (crashing) for a few hours, well…that’s what I’ve got to do! Crack open Trictionary, memorize the steps and channel Andy Brandt.   I can hit them in light wind but planing have never come close.   What gets me are all the freestyle moves that BEGIN with ducking the sail to backwinded while planing.  When I started windsurfing that was officially impossible!   I must find my planing duck!   And I think I’ll throw in donkey jibes for fun (I’ve hit them but never planed out.)

Foiling.   Do I take the plunge?   It’s out there.

Spring is four days away.   The mind wanders…

(Photo:  Duck jibes are a piece of cake.  Yet the duck tack eludes me.)

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[Kode]

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