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The questions of ‘What level am I at windsurfing’ or ‘Which windsurfing clinic shall I join’ are easy to answer when you’re a beginner. But whether you’ve been doing it for years, or just a couple of months, being asked what your current sailing level is can feel complicated to answer.
Windsurfing is a sport that people learn at different speeds. For the lucky few, it can take a couple of weeks to get from beginner to intermediate, for others, this can be a gruelling process of years.
To get out windsurfing, you need a whole trifecta: wind, equipment and safe water. Depending on where you are, this may mean getting out once a week or once a year; making it impossible to measure someone’s windsurfing ability based on the amount of time they’ve been doing the sport.
To help get an accurate understanding of your ability, what’s next and what UK clinics or windsurf holidays you should book, we’ve broken down the stages of windsurfing so you have an accurate understanding.
Start Right
It’s so worth getting the basics right at the start and being taught the core skills correctly as they will then stay with you forever. At Windwise these include our overriding principles of Vision / Opposition / Stance Ranges / Warrior, plus some vital Windwise Touch Points and skills training exercises that link into every aspect of the sport.
Breaking Bad Habits
When someone has been self taught for long periods of time, it’s easy to develop poor habits that may enable you to survive, but actually prevent you from thriving and really progressing. At Windwise we can help you use your strengths and give you supported guidance to avoid bad habits and get you focusing on skills that enable you to truly improve.
Beginner Windsurfers
This is the easiest group to work out you belong to. If you’ve never windsurfed before, you’re a beginner.
What conditions does a beginner windsurfer need?
To start windsurfing and get familiar with the basics, beginner windsurfers need light winds and flat safe water; this can be found across the world, from the Mediterranean Sea to inland bodies of water like Chichester harbour. However, to feel the most confident and independent, we recommend learning somewhere with an onshore breeze or shallow water where you can reach the bottom. This is why we run our overseas beginner sessions in Windwise locations like Alacati.
What do beginner windsurfers learn?
On a beginner windsurfing course, you’re laying the foundations for windsurfing by learning the essential skills in the sport. You start with familiarising with the equipment, before heading out to the water to learn the basic techniques of balancing on the board, standing up, uphauling and holding the sail.
Beginners then learn to sail in a straight line, steering and turning the board using basic tacking and gybing manoeuvres. You’ll be taught some core Windwise skills through hands-on practice and guided instruction – we specialise in skills that will fast track your first steps and also keep with you through your whole windsurfing career
- Good Locations: Bonaire / Alacati
- UK Course: Any Beginner-Improver Courses
Beginner friendly
AlacatiHarnessing and Footstraps
All within reach for improvers
Improver Windsurfers
If you’ve already had some windsurf lessons, haven’t been for years or want to lock down the basics, you might be an ‘improver’ (also referred to as lower intermediate or intermediate non-planing).
To be an improver, you’ve been out in light winds and can sail in a straight line. You may do some basic turns (tacking or gybing) or have done them previously. Your goals might be to head out in stronger winds and beach starting.
What conditions does an improver windsurfer need?
As an improver windsurfer, you will see progression every time you get out on the water. From refining light wind turning to your first beach start in stronger planing winds, the variety of skills you learn by just getting out there is exciting. At this stage, you still want flat water, and may even feel more confident in shallow water. For the wind, you want a range of light wind, to light planning winds (15-20 knots).What do improver windsurfers learn?
On improver courses, you may learn to turn more efficiently, refine your stance for windier conditions, try smaller boards, sail upwind without a daggerboard, get into the harness and footstraps for the first time and even beach starts. With so much to learn, the improver classes are a great place to relearn and acquire new skills.
At Windwise, our coaches assist you through the beginning and early stages of the sport using a very specific proven Windwise windsurfing coaching techniques to speed up your learning curve. We have 1 to 2-day windsurfing courses for improvers and we host very popular overseas windsurfing holidays.
Simon Bornhoft wrote the RYA national teaching system and has had his Windwise articles published all over the world, so you’re learning with the very best.
- Good Locations: Bonaire / Alacati
- UK Course: Any Hayling Beginner-Improver Courses
Intermediate Windsurfers
Intermediate windsurfers are the largest bracket of windsurfers; this is the area where skills can vary the most. Intermediates use harnesses and have mastered the light wind and windsurf without daggerboards. If you’re unsure if you’re an intermediate windsurfer, take a look at what you’re learning at the moment.
Usually during the intermediate stages of windsurfing, getting planning and into the footstraps are the main goals. However, until you’ve mastered sailing upwind in the footstraps planning, you remain in this category.
What conditions does a beginner intermediate need?
As an Intermediate, you need stronger winds that get you planning to as you’ve already mastered the basic light wind skills. While intermediates may have experience in choppier water, flat water remains the best condition to learn in. This is because it’s easier to get planing and feel in control.What do intermediate windsurfers learn?
The main goal for intermediate windsurfers is to make windsurfing as easy and fun as possible. This means getting planing early as possible, developing faster tacking, waterstarting and harnessing efficiently. For intermediates in a Windwise clinic, we introduce, explain and build the essential windsurfing skills using the Windwise coaching system.Mastering blasting
in the UK and Worldwide
Make your moves
Master your gybes.
Advanced Windsurfers
Advanced windsurfing is a huge bracket, this tends to cover everything from intermediate upwards. The biggest tell-tell sign that you are starting to be an advanced windsurfer is when you are happily blasting upwind and downwind in both footstraps. You can waterstart, and you can fully planeinto your carve gybing journey, whether that’s improving consistency or seeking that elusive planing-exit.
What conditions does an advanced windsurfer need?
For advanced windsurfers, you want planning conditions. This can be anywhere between 15 – 30 knots depending on experience, kit and what you’re learning.
As confident planers, you may be interested in getting out into choppier conditions, and even thinking about venturing in to waves.
What do advanced windsurfers learn?
This is a stage where many windsurfers plateau or aren’t sure what to learn next. You can break that plateau by extending your wind range, increasing speed and consistency in those gybes and learning other achievable shortboard skills and moves.
On a Windwise Advance Clinic, we will guide you through a core range of essential advanced skills from sailing smaller boards, tacking in stronger winds/lower volume boards, cranking up those carve gybes and control-jumping over chop. We even go on to have some fun with optional feasible freestyle like flat water wave riding, duck gybes, helitacks, up and downwind 360’s etc.
- Good Locations: Tenerife / Bonaire / Alacati / FeelViana / Prasonisi / Mauritius
- UK Course: Any Hayling Intermediate – Advanced Courses
Beyond Windsurfers – Freewave, Freestyle, Wave & Loop
Once you’re here, windsurfing is in the palm of your hand. You’ll be more specific about what you want to learn, or the conditions you want to ride in. You’ve got your own kit, and may even have different boards for different conditions.
What conditions do Beyond Advanced windsurfers need?
For the windsurfers beyond advanced, you’ll be waiting for those windy forecasts as you’re looking for high winds. Flat water or waves, the sea or lakes, UK or abroad, you may have developed your favourite conditions to go out in and challenge yourself to go out places you’re less comfortable in.What does Beyond Advanced learn?
You might not be sure what you want to learn next after mastering the Gybes. This is where the fun begins and you get to find a discipline you enjoy. However, clinics don’t have to stop here.
Freewave Learning Experiences
If you want to start wave sailing or enhance your current wave skills, the Windwise Freewave & Wave courses offer the ideal environment to elevate your abilities—it’s more achievable than you expect. If you can sail and waterstart a sub 130L board you’re ready for waves – you don’t need to have perfected your gybes to sail in waves.
WindFoiling Experiences
With windsurf foiling now a possibility, joining one of the Simon Bornhoft clinics can be both challenging and exciting. Our courses cover high wind control, sailing sub-120L boards, uphauling, tacking, and balancing on semi-submerged boards.- Good Locations: Tenerife / FeelViana / Mauritius& Prasonisi (has optional wave beach)
- UK Course: Any Hayling Freewave Courses or our West Cornwall Daymer & Gwithian Experiences
Freeride Cruising
Alacati playground.
