teaching beginners

Cathal Kavanagh · 29th July 2009, 05:31 AM

Just like to know if any of you want to share teaching tips and what was your best day

we operate a school on the west coast of ireland and wind conditions vary a lot

love to hear all your good and not so good experiences and hope to share teaching tips and exercises

Our top tip is
Do not do a demo of the turn - it only confuses your student

teach sailing on one tack on a board on the shore and then have your students paddle out in the self rescue position or walk if it is shallow

so this 2 or 3 times and then teach the turn once all the stance and hand foot issues are sorted

Your students stay close to you and we have had huge success with this method

Thanks
Cathal

Roger · 29th July 2009, 08:16 AM

Hi Cathal,
I'll past in your comments here and see if I can find some similarities and perhaps we can learn a bit from each other here.

"Just like to know if any of you want to share teaching tips and what was your best day ?"
Be glad to share our methods with anyone who is interested!
What exactly do you mean by "your best day"?
Number of successful students....?
Most fun for both the students and instructors....?
What....?

"we operate a school on the west coast of ireland and wind conditions vary a lot"

The "A Taste of Windsurfing" tour has taught at US Windsurfing sanctioned regattas in:
Florida; California; Oregon; Ohio; Massachusetts; Virginia; Texas; Minnesota.
We have done smaller "club" and "shop" events in:
Florida, California, Oregon, Ohio, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington,
Virginia, Maryland, Wisconisn, and a few I can't remember.
In essence, we've had zero wind conditions in some places (it's not fun to teach in < 5 knots of wind), to exteremely windy conditions in San Francisco, the Gorge and Hatteras, North Carolina (It's also not fun to try to teach in 16 knots and more).

love to hear all your good and not so good experiences and hope to share teaching tips and exercises

We've pretty much only had good experiences (as far as the students are concerned) but there have been times when both instructors were totally exhausted at the end of the day, but it was satisfying because the students pretty much had a good time.

Our top tip is
Do not do a demo of the turn - it only confuses your student

This I must disagree with.
If you teach it correctly 90% of the students can do it pretty well on their first or 2nd attempt, and it gets easier for them from that point on. All of our students get this training on the simulator, and then a few minutes later on a nice wide Start board with an appropriately sized rig for their size and the conditions, out on the water.

teach sailing on one tack on a board on the shore and then have your students paddle out in the self rescue position or walk if it is shallow
Our students normally do not walk anywhere (except at really shallow venues where we have them walk out to an assembly point for their turn on the board). We have them immediately sail out on one tack, tack the board and rig, and sail back on the other tack.
At first, they are right behind the instructor on a tether, but the tether usually comes off after the 3rd or 4th tack. The instructor (on a similar sized rig and board) then sails alongside them for an additional couple of tacks and then they are on their own to practice their newly developed for another 20 minutes.
We have one board on the simulator and 3 boards on the water.

so this 2 or 3 times and then teach the turn once all the stance and hand foot issues are sorted
In our system, they have the stance and stepping back behind the mast techniques mastered before they come off the simulator.

Your students stay close to you and we have had huge success with this method
I agree, having an instructor close at hand to give some guidance when they experience difficulties is one of the big keys to student success.

Hope this helps,

29th July 2009, 05:31 AM	#1
Cathal Kavanagh New Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 2	teaching beginners Just like to know if any of you want to share teaching tips and what was your best day we operate a school on the west coast of ireland and wind conditions vary a lot love to hear all your good and not so good experiences and hope to share teaching tips and exercises Our top tip is Do not do a demo of the turn - it only confuses your student teach sailing on one tack on a board on the shore and then have your students paddle out in the self rescue position or walk if it is shallow so this 2 or 3 times and then teach the turn once all the stance and hand foot issues are sorted Your students stay close to you and we have had huge success with this method Thanks Cathal

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29th July 2009, 08:16 AM	#2
Roger Dream Team - School Guru Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 2,064	Hi Cathal, I'll past in your comments here and see if I can find some similarities and perhaps we can learn a bit from each other here. "Just like to know if any of you want to share teaching tips and what was your best day ?" Be glad to share our methods with anyone who is interested! What exactly do you mean by "your best day"? Number of successful students....? Most fun for both the students and instructors....? What....? "we operate a school on the west coast of ireland and wind conditions vary a lot" The "A Taste of Windsurfing" tour has taught at US Windsurfing sanctioned regattas in: Florida; California; Oregon; Ohio; Massachusetts; Virginia; Texas; Minnesota. We have done smaller "club" and "shop" events in: Florida, California, Oregon, Ohio, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Virginia, Maryland, Wisconisn, and a few I can't remember. In essence, we've had zero wind conditions in some places (it's not fun to teach in < 5 knots of wind), to exteremely windy conditions in San Francisco, the Gorge and Hatteras, North Carolina (It's also not fun to try to teach in 16 knots and more). love to hear all your good and not so good experiences and hope to share teaching tips and exercises We've pretty much only had good experiences (as far as the students are concerned) but there have been times when both instructors were totally exhausted at the end of the day, but it was satisfying because the students pretty much had a good time. Our top tip is Do not do a demo of the turn - it only confuses your student This I must disagree with. If you teach it correctly 90% of the students can do it pretty well on their first or 2nd attempt, and it gets easier for them from that point on. All of our students get this training on the simulator, and then a few minutes later on a nice wide Start board with an appropriately sized rig for their size and the conditions, out on the water. teach sailing on one tack on a board on the shore and then have your students paddle out in the self rescue position or walk if it is shallow Our students normally do not walk anywhere (except at really shallow venues where we have them walk out to an assembly point for their turn on the board). We have them immediately sail out on one tack, tack the board and rig, and sail back on the other tack. At first, they are right behind the instructor on a tether, but the tether usually comes off after the 3rd or 4th tack. The instructor (on a similar sized rig and board) then sails alongside them for an additional couple of tacks and then they are on their own to practice their newly developed for another 20 minutes. We have one board on the simulator and 3 boards on the water. so this 2 or 3 times and then teach the turn once all the stance and hand foot issues are sorted In our system, they have the stance and stepping back behind the mast techniques mastered before they come off the simulator. Your students stay close to you and we have had huge success with this method I agree, having an instructor close at hand to give some guidance when they experience difficulties is one of the big keys to student success. Hope this helps,