Jump, jump, jump, jump

I had another lesson with Matt Pritchard 2 days ago - jumping. Here's a video:


The lesson was great, my jumps definitely improved a lot during the hour on the water. It's not that Matt told me something I had not heard before - but having specific instruction on the water which thing to focus on was really helpful. Seeing his many jumps as an example was just as helpful, and cool. I loved the way he set down very gently after the jumps - I did not even know that's possible.

During the lesson, we focus on board control in the air (exposing the underside), and I definitely got a feeling for that. Next, I'll have to work on staying sheeted in. The wind was in the 30-40 mph range during the lesson, so staying sheeted in was not so easy even when just sailing along...

Yesterday, I got skunked for the first time here. Wind in the early afternoon was great, and during the past 3 weeks, the wind always stayed up until 6:30 or 7 pm. When we finally got to Kanaha (after getting new harness lines - the NP Vario lines are impossible to get into in high wind), the meter showed 32 averages, so I rigged the 4.5. But by the time I made it onto the water, the wind had dropped more than 10 mph. I ended up barely planing for 15 seconds, and schlogging for 20 minutes. No fun...