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My instructor was a young, pimply teenager (he cant have been more than 16), but a qualified instructor and actually very professional. We started off on a simulator on dry land, then went out and tried on the water. Its actually a lot harder than it looks. It was really windy and quite gusty and I came off a number of times, having my first swim of the year. It was actually quite warm in a full length wetsuit. The warm weather certainly helped too (about 25 degrees).

The windsurfing took place in the Poole Park Lake, which is an inland salt water lake adjacent to the harbour. In most places I could touch the ground through about 2 feet of sludge. Other places in the lake there were great craters, where I couldnt touch the ground, and consequently went completely under when I fell off. Lets hope there’s no blue green algae.

It was a great feeling when you get up and are sailing, and its quite easy to keep going in a straight line. Its when you have to turn around that is the hard bit. Turning around involved dropping the sail, jumping in the water, facing your board in the new direction, moving the sail to the other side of the board, and getting back up again. Obviously this was not how it was taught, but the way I ended up doing things 90% of the time.

I was just starting to get the hang of it when the lesson ended. This is their strategy to get you interest up just enough that you need another lesson.

Windsurfing is definitely a challenging sport and very physical, which is what I am after. I will wear my heart rate monitor next time to check out the number of calories burned, so I can incorporate it into my exercise routine. I dont wanna have to keep going to the smelly gym when they weather is so great.