Hi all,
Before learning to windsurf, I had never sailed a dinghy, boat, or any other craft that required a sail to generate energy. I had however surfed from an early age here on the northern beaches of Syd. This I found was an advantage when it came to stability and understanding general board control.
However as I learned to windsurf in Greece, I found that most people there, had a sailing background. (maybe due to lack of waves and surf culture in Greece)
How many guys who windsurf in Australia today have a sailing background?
How many come from a surfing background?
How many had no water based sport background?
Which is best for,, Quick improvement?,,,Safety?,,,,,and performance?
Now that i'm racing Formula I understand how far behind in understanding tactics and principals of sailing I am compared to the other guys at the highest level. But even when freeriding, isn't an understanding of basic sailing essential?
Are the basics of sailing easy to learn on low volume freeride boards with no daggerboard?
Is planing back and forward across the same stretch of water, enough to learn the fundamentals of the sailing aspects of our sport?
Thought it would be interesting to get some feedback.
I come from a background of both, though mainly sailing. I have spent a lot of time on hte northern beaches as well
I came from a sailing/racing background, and figured it would be easy to make the transition to a windsurfer... wrong.. I spent at least 12 months trying to decouple everything I'd learned about sailing and re-learning how a windsurfer works.
In hindsight if I'd gone and had a few lessons, I'd have probably accelerated through the learning curve of footstraps, harness, waterstarting and maybe even gybing... having said that, I did get some satisfaction out of being self-taught umm.. with the help of "Beginner to Winner"
Back to your question though, I don't think you really need to understand the basics of sailing for free-riding, as long as you know that the wind comes across your shoulders to make the board go...
So I'd say for:
Quick improvement, ignorance is bliss ie any other background than sailing.
Safety - surfing background for any beach-based sailing (rips, waves etc), and sailing for restricted waters (ie having to know your marine navigation rules and the like)
Performance - depends on what you call performance? but rigging a windsurfer sail is completely different to tuning sails on a yacht, skiff, or dinghy.
Never surfed, or sailed!!!
Due to always being preoccupied with work, football, work, fishing, work, and......work!
Water-ski'd a fair bit in my teens, and found that it's given me a good standing in regard to balance and speed, but the surf still feels a bit foreign. After I tasted windsurfing.......addicted for life!!!
My (main) reason for choosing w/surfing over kiting (apart from the obvious ones I now know) was that it could progress in to sailing/wind knowledge so that when I'm too old to windsurf (and win lotto) I could get out for a cruise in my yacht and know the basics.
I'm hoping to get on a SUP, or mal this summer (got a few mates that surf). With a 3 & 5yo pair of kids, I hope to encourage more outdoor/beach activities....instead of them getting the PS3 or TV bug!
Grew up booging, then sailing dinghys, then more booging and beginner standup surfing, now windsurf and trying to nail standup surfing.
Thinking surfing skills would be better for low volume boards learning, but sailing helps in the understanding of why you're doing something, but so different on windsurfer then a dinghy.
Glad have surfing as progress into ocean ws, but sailing helped heaps when doing then huge volume sailboard floating/learning thing
Surfing background - also northern beaches Sydney, mainly South Curly and North Styene.
I did a lot of surfing and wakeboarding. Surfed a lot on North Stradbroke Is as a youngster.
Surfing and skating back ground. Lived my whole life on the northern beaches (insular peninsula;-) and we used to wish for light off shores instead of those pesky nor-easters
I had absolutely no idea about sailing until I started windsurfing. It was a painful and naive beginning
But I think the balance aspect definitely helped and once I graduated to the surf at Long Reef the surfing experience kicked in.
sailing... which helped me get into the sport from a young age! if I didn't know the basics then I would have struggled to learn. But still as long as you have balance, know the principals of the sail and why it works, you'd be easily fine to get going :)
sailing from 5 yrs old (big boats and dinghy's), as said very diff to windsurfing but (as said before) does help to identify when you are doing something wrong and some insight into possible solutions (not always however).
Would reall liked to have surfed when younger as i am sure it would help with board control now.
But does windsurfing make you a better dinghy/boat/yacht sailor?
I'd say yes as you develop a better feel for what the sail is doing on a windsurfer. I can only speculate though, as I don't own a dinghy/boat/yacht.
Motorbikes.
Windsurfing is very similar.
Pushing your limits, Jumps, banking into turns, freedom, adrenaline, tuning your equipment, feeling the elements.
Great fun to do alone or with mates.
Heck, the boom even feels like handlebars if you stretch your imagination far enough 
Not putting dinghy sailing down but when you see them in strong winds get flattened every couple of minutes and guys on wind surfers are blatting along it makes you wonder what the attraction is.
Then again its gotta be better than sitting in front of the computer all weekend or down the pub getting p*****d.
Flame suit on.
I used to race Lazers at a National level in the UK. When not on a boat I was downhill mountainbiking or skateboarding which helps the adrenaline/balane side!
I windsurf with someone who didn't sail and it's obvious! Not the best knowledge of wind, clouds, tides, right of way etc..
I raced cats (Windrush 12's and 14's) from the age of eight. Got into windsurfing at 14. Persevered with the cats for a few years, but gave it away to focus solely on windsurfing at around 18.
I reckon the sailing background helped a lot, especially as I started out sailing a longboard (Windrush Clubman) and it was the full gamut of sailing....tacking, gybing, upwind, downwind etc.
I don't have a surfing background (although I got a Mal gathering dust in the shed), but I reckon surfers would definitely make better wavesailors. 25 years on and I'm still dialling in my waveriding. Blasting out getting big air came naturally enough, but catching waves is a different ball game, and surfers with good wave sense have got an advantage there.
Started with windsurfing - Dufour Wing, Bic Bebop, Tiga, Mistral...
Moved onto sailing - GP14, Impala, Albacore, Laser II...
Moved to Australia
Continued sailing other peoples boats- Sharpie, Solings, Elliotts, Mumm 36, Syd38, 11m OD, Dragon...
More sailing - on my own 49er
Back full circle to windsurfing (Formula)
I am quite inept on a surfboard.
JB
My dinghy sailing - Flying Elevens
I reckon that after the balance control skills are honed on the windsurfer, you'd almost be able to sail a moth
have sailed and surfed for the last 15 yrs (was more sailing) and i admit that the surfing has helped the waves but there arnt much wave around here so national level sailing has helped me kick ass in club racing
Sabot, laser, cats, big boat deliveries. Started windsurfing at the sabot stage, early 80s. I'm sure sailing "sense" helped learn to windsurf, I picked it up straight away. (well, if you call pottering around in 4 Knts on a OD "windsurfing"). Actually I do - was pottering around on a longboard today in 8-10 knts, catching some small swells.
I come from a big sailn background so i found it fairly easy to get the basics of windsurfing on big boards with centre boards (centre of effort, centre of resistance and all that stuff i know from sailing fairly competitively) What I had (and still having) is the planing out of gybing, just can't work it out...
I think the sailing background really helps in the beginning and I definately feel that windsurfing has had a huge effect on my Laser sailing...Boat control stuff, trying to keep the rudder straight like a fin (low drag) and steer the boat with the sail and by manipulating the boat with my feet while in the straps and while going downwind, it's amazing what a bit of force can do to the boat
lived an hours drive from wellington point, queensland all my youth and as soon as my parents took me there for outings/picnics from a young age i knew the ocean was calling.
windsurfing, sailing, kitesurfing, surfing, swimming or just hanging out in water up to your neck.
magic.
