Peter Hart Masterclass - Staying Upwind-the Ultimate Balancing Act

The nagging doubt that you may not make it back upwind is the windsurfer’s most primeval concern. By popular request Harty offers technical and tactical upwind advice.

- Peter Hart

Freeride sports are governed by the same maxim. You first have to deal with any psychological issues before you have any chance of tackling new tricks and techniques. Windsurfing is especially special in that regard. Sailors of all standards need a psychiatrist’s couch more than an instruction manual.

If you see someone delaying their launch while staring forlornly at the ocean, you can be sure they’re contemplating their immediate future. At the darkest end they may be tormented by a litany of ‘what happens if …’ thoughts - the commonest of which is ‘What happens if I end up downwind?’ At remote wave locations it might mean having to clamber back in over urchin infested rocks. At the milder end, it may just mean an upwind walk of shame in front of jeering peers. But in both cases, the effect is to pour treacle on technical ambition. On clinics, whether people are learning to plane, gybe or sail waves, the simple equation is that those having the most success are staying upwind. All that’s good in windsurfing, planing, gybing, jumping, wave riding – and even upwind moves – are better executed when you bear off to accelerate. If you doubt your upwind competence, you don’t have that freedom. So what’s the problem?

A TECHNIQUE FINESSE TEST

Upwind sailing is harder technically. Try this analogy. Planing off the wind is like waterskiing behind a powerful speedboat, hanging onto a thick, unbreakable rope. You can be as unsubtle as you like and the boat has plenty of torque to cover for your imprecision. But as you turn upwind, two things happen. Firstly the motor loses horsepower; and secondly, that thick rope turns into a thin and easily breakable filament of cotton. If through heavy feet you cause sudden drag, the motor doesn’t have the guts to keep you gliding. And if you heave back violently on the handle, the filament breaks.