Windsurf – July 2019

WINDSURF MAGAZINE 105

Pre-knowledge

You’re heading out on a coaching week and have targeted a certain move – say

it’s the forward loop. The best possible preparation is to explore the move (for

example purchase the stunning DVD “We learnt to loop” by Peter Some-

bodyorother), to see what it actually entails and decide therefore whether it’s a

realistic proposition given your current level. Research will reveal that to have

half a chance you have to be 100% in control of all stages of a big jump. That

knowledge alone might save you a lot of time, heart and buttock ache, and

persuade you to divert your energies elsewhere.

The assumed similarity

Coaches, even the touchy-feely ones, tend to be gung-ho!, sporty types who

may assume everyone who joins a course is like them – ambitious and always

pushing for the next level. But I know from bitter experience that’s not always

the case. I’ve had clients who’ve made it very clear that a course for them is

all about the group dynamic and the joy of sailing in good company with

somebody looking over them. If they pick up a tip along the way, great, but

cracking moves is not a priority. Staying safe within their comfort zone is.

Change – but not too much?

One of the great coaching stories is of squash player Nick Matthew. He had

a trial for the national squad at the end of which the analyst Stafford Murray

and coach David Pearson told him his technique was full of flaws and that

he basically wasn’t very good! That was tough news to take for an 18 year old

who has already being training fanatically for 10 years. But they saw some-

thing in him, took him on and the teary ending is that he ended up winning

gold at the Commonwealth Games. However, the process of deconstruction

and reconstruction took 6 years. It also involved reconstructing his brain as

well so all his automated responses had to change. As a result during pressure

points he was a basket case. But his unusual persistence paid off.

The lesson for all is that you have to be realistic about what you can, or

want to, change. So you’ve been windsurfing a few decades. A buoyant young

coach sees your short lines, seat harness, tight footstraps and back foot gybing

style and tells you ‘it’s time to mend your ways Grandad.’ Of course change

is possible at any age - but only if you have the time and inclination to the

put in the endless repetition and accept that you may well get worse before

you get better.

If you haven’t, make it clear that you’re happy with your sailing style, so

thanks but no thanks to a remodelling. I just want you to help me make the

most of what I’ve got. William, who’s been sailing small boards from the 80s,

comes on my wave courses and rides with an upright style and with his back

foot out of the strap. I’m not going to change that – because he doesn’t like to

bend and stretch too much. Technique is only one slice of the windsurfing pie

so instead we work on tactics, like drawing different lines on the wave, taking

off at different spots etc. Not all change is desirable or beneficial.

“IF PEOPLE BELIEVE IN THEIR COACH THEN THEY

WILL BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES AND THE PROCESS

THEY ARE UNDERTAKING TOGETHER, AND

WHEN RECEIVING COACHING AIM TO ‘ACTIVELY’

LISTEN, I.E. REPEAT WHAT IS BEING SAID TO YOU

IN YOUR MIND.”  JEM HALL.

Early warnings

You know the situation. There’s someone you see every day for years at the

school gates, or at work or in the pub. You’ve never known their name. And

of course the longer you leave it, the more embarrassing it is to ask. Similarly

with a course, if you have any phobias (scared of water), holes in knowledge

(can’t waterstart), make them known on day one. The longer you leave it, the

harder it is to fess up – and the easier it is to be swept along by the general

‘up-and-at-‘em’ spirit.

BEING BADGERED

Most windy coaches are honourable folk who want to offer good value

for money, which in some instances can mean sticking to you like a lim-

pet and blathering constantly. In dynamic situations, words should be

used sparingly so in the nicest possible way let them know when you’ve

had enough and would like to be left alone to practice.

The omni-present

coach can be both

a blessing and a

curse – let them

know when it’s

the latter! PHOTO

Graham White.

The wish list
in search of the next generation of superstars, the talent scouts for football/
rugby/NFL clubs subject the juniors to all manner of mental and physical
testing. But the quality that turns out to be one of the most valuable and yet
is the hardest to test for, is the ability to self-analyse. It’s the guy or girl who
is acutely aware of their own shortcomings and who, with the coach, can
concoct specific drills to overcome them – rather than just follow everyone
else on a ten lap run. And because of that they reach levels way beyond their
apparent potential.
Before a course I ask everyone to reveal their past, their kit choices and their
wish lists. Any information is useful, but the more detailed their self analy-
sis the better. On a recent week a guy pinpointed his port side gybe as a
weak spot. He’d never planed out of one (his starboard ones by contrast were
whizzy). At transition time he felt cramped and blocked by the rig - to the
point where he always messed up the foot change and disrupted the board
trim.
By happy coincidence on day one we had just 10 knots of wind on flat water
with big boards. His port side non-planing gybes revealed the same discom-
fort. Before the foot change, he would push his inside hip back towards the
sail (the wrong way) rather than outboard, thereby closing the space down
between himself and the rig and leaving himself blocked over the centreline.
After a couple of light wind exercises, the problem was cured. However, with-
out that initial information, I wouldn’t have been looking for that particular
issue and we could have wasted the early opportunity to cure it.