A smooth operator this instructor. I've seen a video of him doing a perfect Forward Loop too. Btw I may be able to go to Lake Andrea this Wednesday with my wife, so if you have the time you are welcome to join me for a little light wind practice, weather/jobs permitting.

I'm in! I was going to hit Wolf on Wed but as long as you're heading to Andrea I'll be there. Yah that guy in the video is smooth like butter scotch! I'll send you a message regarding Wed some time later today. Can't wait, thanks!

A playlist of some sweet instructional videos. Although I'm posting them not so much for the instructions, but for the clever choice of equipment they use: an inflatable WindSUP and a simple inexpensive sail to go with it. Most major windsurfing equipment companies offer them as a package or separately and they are excellent choice to start windsurfing with and keep them for many years for light wind days or to teach family and friends. The hard SUP performs better arguably, but you can't beat the convenience of the inflatable-an awesome beach toy that you can carry in the trunk all the time.
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsPOmngE_...qzRhYixzqkCeGWmWnoIl

These are great vids, really helpful to see what's possible.

Just spent a week windsurfing in MI. Again, had nothing over 10kts of breeze but did have fun. Lessons learned:

-If you're going to bring a 7.7 sail and mast, make sure you bring a boom to match! I was all excited to try the "big" sail before realized the boom for my 6.2 is about 2" too short for the 7.7.
-If the wind is very light, and always offshore from your beach, you will acquire many skills you do not necessarily enjoy: light air pinching, autotacking, looking longingly at puffs of wind
-After day 1 I spent some time on youtube learning how to pump; it made a huge difference with the little sail and littler wind, especially for the last 100m to the beach where it was v squirelly
-Downhaul: I had internalized that the downhaul would be hard to get enough tension on, so for 6/8 days I was putting WAY too much on. Towards the end I was letting it off and sailing with a deeper sail and tighter leech, and all of a sudden found extra power.

Going to start heading to Montrose on weekdays to get a little more med-air time, as I think I've got drifting down for sure.

Hey Gary, you are doing great man! I missed to tell you that yesterday, but what I saw from you was impressive, a lot better than what I would have expected from someone at your point of progression. Your knowledge is formidable, you understand what the wind is doing and how that affects the kit's behavior. You are lacking only those little elements that no one can teach you of and you can't see in the videos and those are picked up only from TOW, the rest is only confidence and daring.
The conditions were very challenging with the little to no wind that was shifting direction on top of that, your equipment is not the easiest to handle and with the foot straps in the way you had your hands full, but you did great regardless! Now eyes on the price and very soon you'll be planing in the footstraps I'm sure about it.
I got lucky some time after you left , with a bit of S breeze so I sailed some more after my Leffe break and my wife was so kind to record the couple of moves that I posted. Another nice day at Lake Andrea that couldn't get spoiled by me leaving my paddle home.

Ady thanks for the compliment and encouragement! I'm glad you got more TOW to shoot those 2 videos and feel free to add them to this thread! if I'd known I would've hung around for more TOW instead of being stuck in traffic getting home.

The day: The wind was as anticipated with no surprises and eventually died out early afternoon as you can see Ady is blasting in to shore in the pic. I got some good pointers from the "master" on rigging, harness lines, foot position and stance. He also showed me the "Easy Uphaul" technique. It's actually very easy. Previously Andrew brought up some very good good points and concerns about the physics and leverage aspects about this after Ady explained the technique. I'll share my experience and thoughts on it.
I suggest doing this slowly so you can see how the board and sail react. I first positioned myself as you would for any uphaul. Looking down at the mast I could see that just by standing on the board I was already counter balancing the weight of the sail as the mast was already in contact with the board. I grabbed the uphaul line applying minimal tension just to get a good grip on it as you normally would. I took a small step back (not on the rail) and watched as the mast slowly started rising from water from the board out to the tip of the mast. Once the mast was clear of the water (2-3 inches off and basically parallel/level with the top of the board) I stepped back closer to the rail and put more tension on the uphaul line to start shedding water off the sail as you would for any uphaul. As it started to rise I continued to pull the uphaul line in and stepped forward to stay counter balanced with the sail so as not to fall backwards. I was using a 5.5 sail and it was effortless and can't imagine it being that difficult with a larger sail. I was actually somewhat shocked as to how easy it was. In all honesty I don't see this having a huge impact on the board since you shouldn't be riding the edge of the rail to long as it only seems to take a split second to get the sail moving, but decide for yourself.

I also want to throw a shout out to Kristian and his light wind adventure/vacation. Just curious where were you sailing? One other point I want to make about light wind that I found out yesterday is getting more bang for your buck to get back to shore. I tried something yesterday that I saw Chris (from Clinton Lake when I was there 2 years ago) do. If I recall he/we were having a bit of trouble getting back to and out from the marina. I saw Chris crouch down almost sitting like on the board with his arms extended up to the boom. So yesterday I tried this position as to not impede the wind and It powered up the sail enough and really helped me get me back to shore. I assume this is why Chris did it, but in any event, Thanks Chris, It worked!

It was a great day for me, especially meeting Ady! He's truly the cornucopia of windsurfing knowledge! I really enjoyed the light wind session and plan to have more. It's nice not to feel as if everything you do has to be fast and spot on and IMO I think to much wind can be counter productive for learning, even thou we always think we need a lot of it.

Got any sailing the last 3 days? How was it?

Yes, made it out to Wolf on Fri. I thought the wind might be a bit to easterly but figured any TOW is good at this point. I brought 6.0, 6.5 & 7.3 and only brought larger boom in case I rigged 7.3. OTW before 11 with 165l/6.0 - back and forth across the lake a few times to check conditions. Swirly/squirrelly and grabby to say the least with a side of helter skelter. I figured this was the reason no one else was there (yep that boy ther is bout as sharp as a bowling ball!). This was the first time I used the larger boom and didn't expect it to feel a whole lot different but it did take some getting used to vs. smaller (pic). Hooked in a few times but no consistency due to conditions so I opted to work on tack n Gybe. Took a short lunch break 12:30ish and ditched the harness. I was surprised the wind was somewhat favorable for gybing. I was getting/feeling a little of that carving action I've been looking for. The tack didn't fair as well. Ady, as you coached on Wednesday, "Use less steps to get around the mast". I really had to focus on that and keeping myself more centerline on the board due to the wind getting kind of grabby with the sail (rockin the board). The wider boom also has a slight learning curve for tacking. It was hard to read the wind/board position at times so I was either stepping to soon or to late for most of my tacks. Although some came off fairly well but not the majority. Foots straps were also a bit of an issue but once their location is imbedded in my subconscious and my steps are consistent this problem should go away. A good session overall on smaller board for tack and Gybe in somewhat challenging wind conditions, Off TW 2:30ish.

I wish you had used the 7.3 instead, I suspect there might have been strong enough gusts for planing attempts with that size. Your confidence doesn't match your skills still, but it is the safer way for sure. If only some of the experienced regulars were sailing Friday on Wolf aswell that would have been enough to give you the necessary morale boost to challenge yourself. Next time
Thursday and Friday look like potential wind creators, will see what happens as the week progresses.

Next time I'll rig up the 7.3. It's just that when I got there I walked down to check out the lake and there was barely a ripple in site, more like a reflective pool but a few gusty looking swirls/ripples much further out in the lake. I almost turned around and headed home but told myself any practice is better than nothing. Lake Andrea looked better when I first got there last Wednesday. Anyway my litmus test was venturing out and back a few times and was met with a few short gusts now and then but nothing sustainable after that to keep the board from dragging @ss. I didn't look and forgot to check the boat ramp area as you mentioned on Wed. maybe that would've been better for the wind direction or hitting Cal Park to check it out.

The wind picked up late, the best of it came after 2 PM and was NNW, so the Wolf boat ramp launch would have been best indeed. I don't know what the guys at the 87th were sailing with, but I was very happy with my 5.7 down and outhauled to the max. The N wind is stronger and more dense over the big lake, but the stronger gusts reach Wolf too usually, you just have to use a bigger board and sail then someone on Lake Michigan.

Made it out to Wolf on Friday, some tough sledding (6.0/165l) early trying to get comfortable with wind conditions as well as some trouble hooking in (harness line issues). Early on I think I had my boom a little to high and Ady noticed in my stance I had my back foot to far back (also noted by Ady at Lake Andrea) tending to sink the tail a bit to much. Ady provided some good instruction on deeper water beach starts that I need to continue working on which In turn will help future water starting. I also somehow managed to get my left foot (front at the time) pinned between the mast and board once as I was getting pulled over. Sorry I can't repeat my comment at the time of the incident but could wiggle the toes so figured nothing was broke. That was a good time to take a break and grab some grub. Second half of the day went much better. Boom lowered, shorter upright stance and better harness/sail balance. I had a few decent runs/speed and felt close to getting up on plane but not. Completed a few tacky tacks and gybes. Take always: Not the best day on the water (good amount in it!) but more good experience in different wind/water conditions. Focus on stance!!!! Learning more from Ady, we discussed the required mast length for sail shape/down haul as well as harness lines. New harness lines are in order as well as getting a 430 mast. Took booty off and had egg size lump on top of foot between ankle and big toe. Top of foot is still somewhat swollen today exhibiting typical colors from the bruise spectrum. From what I could see Ady had some nice gybes and a very impressive helitack (with the wind as it was) that I was just lucky enough to catch.