QUARANTINE

We are living difficult times because of the coronavirus. We have to stay at home during the confinement days. The impossibility of practice the outdoors sport is creating a big necessity to doing what we like. In this entry, I explain how I fell about the quarantine and the impossibility of practice windsurf.

In these moments I would like to get into the water with my sail and my board, but I know that I can't do that. To pass these boring days without windsurfing I can watch videos on the internet or play some windsurfing games. But this only makes me increase the necessity of practice windsurf.

To pass the quarantine we can do some things that can help you to stay less bored. The first thing is to assume that is going to be a long time without doing what you like. Another thing is to try to practice more exercise in your home. This is really important because it can help you a lot. If you do a lot of exercises and you finish it very exhausted you will like to relax for the rest of the day. This is very good because is the only thing that we can do. 

Physical training

The most important thing about this sport is the regularity that you use to train. Sometimes is really difficult to sail every week or during the weekends. I live about one hour and a half far from the beach and is difficult to sail when I want. Sometimes there's windy when I can't sail and sometimes when I can sail there's no wind.

The irregularity of this sport makes that I lose physical conditions. For this reason is really important to keep feet and have a healthy life. There are a lot of options to train your body and strength. The first one is to have another sport that you can practice when you want. For example, running or cycling are really good options because they help you to don't lose resistance. Another really good option is to go to the gym. If you do that regularly, you will increase your strength which is really important.  

In my opinion, the best option is to choose another complementary sport. The bests sports to help you in windsurfing are skateboarding, or any kind of sport that gives you balance.

Red Bull Storm Chase

In the windsurfing world, there are a lot of competitions, special events, and meetings to promote windsurf brands. But there's one event that is classified as the most extreme one. This event is called the Red Bull Storm Chase.

This event is promoted by Red Bull. This is only made for the best windsurfers of the world. The event consists in a normal wave competition with the trial and the final score. But the competition takes place only in storm conditions. Windsurfers travel to any part of the world that there's a big storm. The competition is really dangerous. The organization is very important because they use aquatic bikes to save the rider in case of an accident. The place that the competition is going to take place is never defined. It can change depending on the storms. It's not a regular competition because is only celebrated when the conditions are exceptional.

I'm a big fan of this competition because shows the real level and courage of the professional riders. In my opinion, the windsurfers that can sail in conditions like that are the best ones.

SYLT

PWA is the most important competition in the world. It takes place in a lot of countries and places. There are places with really good conditions. The wind is good, waves are big and the climate is comforting. But there are some places in which is really difficult to compete. In this entry, I will talk about Sylt, one of the most difficult places to sail.

Sylt is placed in Germany and is considered the most difficult place to compete. The climate is cold. Rainy days are the most typical thing. There are a lot of waves but not good ones. They are irregular. This kind of waves makes really difficult to sail because you never know what is going to happen with the wave. The wind in Sylt it's not really strong which is good, but it is really irregular. The combination with the irregular wind and waves creates a very big difficulty to sail here. The difficulty of Sylt makes it one of the most famous places in the world for professional windsurfers. They need to train a lot to sail here.

I think that professional riders are really good. They have an incredibly big windsurf level and it's good for him to sail in a difficult place. Places like Sylt gives a really emotional situation and makes the PWA more attractive to people.

DEFI WIND

There are a lot of windsurf events around the world. Some of these events are only for professional riders and the others are made for all kinds of levels. But there's one event called DEFI Wind that it's classified as the biggest event of the windsurf world.

This event takes place in France. It is celebrated once a year and it's really popular. People around the world come to France to participate in the event. The most important part of the event is in the water. There`s a big race with a lot of windsurfers. Here, your skills level is not too important. It's really typical to see professional windsurfers in the race. But there`s a lot of people the go to the event only for fun. The DEFI wind has a very big organization. During the day they provide you with food and basic things. They organize some lucky draws in which you can win some windsurf material like sails or boards.

 

If I have the occasion to go to the event I'm sure that I will go. It's a really big windsurf party in which people make lots of friends and they meet new people.

TRAVEL TO THE CANARY ISLANDS

When you have been sailing for a lot of time in the same place it’s really normal to feel the necessity to try new spots. In this entry I will explain the travel that I did with my dad two years ago.

In this travel, I went to Gran Canaria with my dad and some friends. The town is called Pozo Izquierdo and it’s one of the best places to sail in all Spain. There are wind and waves all the year and the temperature is really comfortable. But the most amazing thing from Pozo is the people that use to sail there. They are the best windsurfers in the world because they come from around the world to train in Pozo.

In my case, I went there to do a windsurf course with a professional windsurfer as a teacher. It was really good and I learned a lot. The conditions were strong because there was a strong wind during these days.

WINTER OR SUMMER

You can practice windsurfing every month of the year. People that are learning use to sail only in hot seasons because is more comfortable. But there's a lot of people that sail every month of the year. In this entry, I will give you some advice that will help you to decide the best season to practice this sport.

In my case, I get into the water all year. The weather is not a really big problem because there are some solutions for the most extreme conditions. In the summer is the most comfortable season because the hot temperatures make the thinks easier. You don't need to use big neoprene, globs and all these kinds of things that protect you from the cold. But there are some bad things that are involved in these seasons. In my opinion the worst thing is the people. In summer there's a lot of people into the water and it's really difficult to sail. Another bad thing is the type of wind. The hot weather produces light winds that are really good to lear. But if you want strong wind and waves you have to wait for the winter.



To sail in cold seasons like winter is really difficult for the cold. You need to use a big neoprene that's not really comfortable. The wind is really cold and you can't sail a lot of time. But in winter the wind is better. It's stronger and there is not too many people on the water. The water is really clean because there aren't any boats into the water that can pollute.

CUSTOM BOARDS

There are a lot of types of windsurf boards. Every modality has some specific shapes an peculiarities. These variations between the different boards provide it with specific characteristics. Another variation is the volume of the board. If you want to sail in light winds, the board has to be bigger. If you are going to sail in strong conditions, you have to use a smaller board to have more comfort. But all these variations are ridiculous compared with a custom board.

The custom boards are 100% personalizable. You can choose everything that you want to include in your board. You can make a single, twin, tri or quad fin board. This means that you can choose the number of fins that you want. The most important thing to customize is the shape o the board. This is a really difficult parameter because it will change the behavior of the board.

In my opinion custom boards are the best option if you have a high level of windsurfing. If you make your own board with the help of some specialists, you will have the best board for you and your level will increase. But I think that if you don't know too much about custom boards I can recommend buying a custom board because they are really specific boards.

PWA

The PWA is the most important competition in this sport. Here you can find the best windsurfers of the world. There are a lot of categories to race that I will explain one by one.

This competition is like a world tour. Professional windsurfers compete in their categories in different races around the world. The winner will be the windsurfer that has more points because in every race they can win some points.

Now let's talk about the different categories, which are divided into women and men. 

The fit one is the freestyle. In this one people get into the water and they try to do their best tricks with the board. These tricks will be evaluated by a professional trial. The windsurfer with the better score wins.

The second category is the waves one. It's really similar to the freestyle because they have a trial that will evaluate their best tricks. But in the waves they have to ride some waves and do some jumps. In this two categories they compete two windsurfers for race.

The last PWA categori is the slaloom. Here we are talking about a big race. It's really easy. The fisrt one in arrive to goal wins and passes to the next race with the other group winners.

THE SECURITY

Security is a really important aspect of windsurfing. We usually think that if you don't wear a helmet or the necessary equipment it doesn't matter but the reality is another.

The first one I have to name all the security equipment. The most important thing is the helmet. You can fall and get hurt in your head. If you wear a helmet you will prevent yourself of have really big problems.

The second thing that I can recommend is the protector vest. In this sport is really usually to fall and hit your chest. If you wear one of this you can avoid breaking some ribs. Another important use of the vest is the flowability that it can give to you. In case that you get really damaged, you will be lonely in the sea. With the vest, you will be floating.

The last thing is not any equipment part. Now I will talk about actions to prevent an accident. For exemple you can tell to your friends or family were you are going to be or just sail with more people. If you are in a lonely place it's easier to have problems.

ESSENCIAL EQIPMENT

If you are interested in windsurfing and you want to buy your first gear you have to know some important things.

The first thing that I will recommend to you is that you must have a budget and know how much money you want to spend. If you have a lot of money you can buy new things. But if you don't have it or you just don't want to spend it the second-hand gear is a really good option.

In my opinion, it's necessary to have two or three boards and a minimum of for sails with their masts and complements. I say that because the wind isn't always the same and if you want to sail in different conditions you have to be prepared. 

The second thing is neoprene. It's really necessary to have one or two. It depends on the season that you want to sail. If you are sure that you only will use it in summer you can just have one. In case that you sail in hot seasons, you can sail without it but if you have a summer neoprene it will help you