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Lost
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Hi I was wondering if there are any windsurfers on this forum who could give me any useful info? I'm thinking of taking it up as a hobby! How fit/ strong do u need to be? Is it easy to learn and is there anything I can do at home to make learning easier?

 

Cheers

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Hello Lost

 

There is a windsurf club which operates from Delting Boating Club in Brae. I think the club nights are Wednesdays and they usually run from May to end August. I will try to find out details and post it on here.

 

Regarding strength etc. You don't need to be super strong as it's all about technique. You do need an element of physical fitness to cope with the demands and some determination. The club has all the equipment to get you started so you should have no problem getting into it.

 

cheers. :)

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Thanks, I knew there must be someone on here that knew more than me. I will phone the number on the directory later. Stupidly I actually looked at the community directory but looked under sailing........should have looked over the whole list....oops !!!!

 

Now anyone else brave enough to come with me? I don't want to be the only person who don't have a clue!!!

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Gazza8,

 

As mentioned - yes, the windsurfing club operates from the Delting Boating Club on Wednesday nights. We're not quite open yet this year but will hopefully be ready for new members within a fortnight.

 

The club has all the equipment necessary to instruct beginners including - boards, sails, wetsuits, bouyance aids and the like. The only thing people need bring is some foot wear to go in the water with and a towel for after, what will be a very welcome, warm shower! It's recommended that you get a pair of wetsuit boots (check eBay - there are millions!) as they'll keep you much warmer than an old pair of trainers.

 

The season generally runs from May (it's a bit too cold before that) till October when the light in the evenings disappears.

 

The level of fitness required is not high but you need to be a comfortable swimmer because you will take a fairly regular dunking to start with. The 'long arm' syndrome will blight you to start with but a bit of technique will get you past that.

 

The club is RYA approved and we offer structured 'Start' courses for those who want a learn the basics quickly.

 

Feel free to ask any questions you have through this thread or pm or email. The contact details in the community directory are up to date. There are a few videos of club members on youtube if you're interested - try a search for 'shetland windsurfing'.

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Hello everyone,

 

We're going to open the doors this week for folk to come along and have a look around, a yarn and maybe a bit of land based tuition. It's unlikely that we'll be on the water this week as there is still a couple of things to be tidied up before we do.

 

Come along to the Delting Boating club at 7pm if you're interested. We're in the smaller shed beside the main boatshed, should be easy enough to find us - we'll be the ones surrounded by windsurfing gear!

 

For those wondering what kind of foot wear we use, the following link is a decent example of the boots. 5mm neoprene or thicker will be splendid:

 

Wetsuit boots example

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  • 4 weeks later...

This is usually the best wind forecast going:

 

Windguru website

 

It's not all that accurate on the other parts of weather forecasting but the wind forecasts are usually spot on.

 

The forecast for tonight is very light until later on so it might not be the best night if you have any distance to travel to get to Brae.

 

Windsurfing can generally be a frustrating game waiting for the best conditions but luckily for us, Shetland does get those conditions more often than most of the UK. Hang in there.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

have been windsurfing for many years before but now paused for almost nine years due to a lack of time... but kept some gear... which means when I come to Fetlar I might pick it up again

 

So, how's Tresta Beach for windsurfing? Any strong or dangerous currents? Any hazardous big stones?

 

And: is there anybody on Fetlar who goes windsurfing?

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