Windsurfing Diaries 1: Shifty Wind and Barnacle Cuts

So instead of the usual 3.5 sq m sails that I've been using since the start of my windsurfing days (few weeks up to date), I switched to the 4 sq m one yesterday. It's probably a tad heavier than its smaller sibling, but I probably would not have felt that much of a difference if I didn't know it's bigger.

In the seniors' words, the wind was rather shifty yesterday. In the first part of our training, I guess everyone did alright (even though the wind was kinda light) when we first got out of the bay on port tack; it was only when we reached the-middle-of-nowhere that the wind decided to die on us. 

It was so tiring trying to get back to shore! When I felt that I wasn't moving anymore, I decided to paddle back. Started paddling and instead of getting closer to the shore, the current seemed to be pushing me further away from it. In the end, the Sea Sports Centre uncle came and towed many of us back to shore on his powerboat. 

After we got ashore, we were told to stay within the bay by the SSC staff and only get out after we've mastered our tacking since most of us were not in very good control of our boards. eeks. Then headed back into the water after a short water break, and this time, a storm was brewing on the opposite end of the horizon.

The wind grew really strong and after KH and David showed us a proper tack in the waters, we tried to get our boards out and up too but I got washed onto the big barnacles-covered pipe instead. I tried to get my lodged board off but I must have been too afraid of the barnacles on the pipe and I couldn't move an inch on my board.

My daggerboard would probably have broken into 2 pieces if Ben did not come to my rescue. He pulled my board away from the pipe and we started pulling it back to shore together. Got himself some really nasty-looking barnacle cuts when he tried to help me and I feel extremely guilty over it. I hope his cuts are better today :x

We kinda stopped training after the seniors decided that it was too dangerous for us to be out there, and that was the end of the day's surfing. A short debrief session after. I thought I'd lost Doug when he got out really quickly and was nowhere to be seen. Turned out he ended up on the shore just beside.

I'm still not too sure of the wind or myself out there, so far. Hope I'll be able to keep in mind all the seniors' lessons and put them to good use. Proper tack, real soon!