Windsurfing

This article will talk about such a sport as windsurfing. This phenomenon has come to the CIS countries relatively recently, but it is already enjoying great success among Russian sports fans. Mostly for those who are already engaged in simple surfing.

general description

So, windsurfing is a kind of sailing. It is based on the ability to control a small light board on the water surface. a sail is installed on the board, which is a vertically located wing. The lift force of the wing directly affects the driving force. To make your windsurfer more durable, Kevlar mesh is sometimes used in the manufacture of the wing. Also, sails are made of polyester film, polyester fabric (for example, nylon, lavsan, dacron) or mylar. The shape of the sail is usually triangular. The sides of the sail are called luffs. On the luff of the sail, any windsurfer has a mast pocket where the mast is threaded. Rigid plates that run perpendicular to the mast are called "battens". They are needed in order to give the sail a special rigidity and shape.

The lower corner of the sail (tack angle) is a mount, which is a sewn-in ring, eyelet or block of rollers. If your windsurfer has only one ring or only one eyelet on the sail, then you will also need to install a roller hook with which you can move the sail around the mast. Also, the roller system can be located at the base of the mast, in the so-called "glass". Through these rollers a rope (guy) passes, forming a chain hoist, which makes windsurfing much easier to control the sail. The corner that is farthest from the mast is called the rear or clew. With the help of a rope (braces), this corner is fastened to the boom. If the boom covers the sail from two sides, it is called Wishbone.

Windsurfing has a top that sits on the top corner of the sail. The top may have a stop for attaching the top of the mast or a belt with a stopper (varitop). In racing sails, the top usually contains a built-in bearing, which is needed to make it easier to turn the sail on the mast. Sails, which are usually installed on windsurfing, are fundamentally divided into stubborn (camber) and simple. Cambers have armor in their design, on which from one to five plastic stops (cambers) are installed. They allow you to keep the shape of the sail. Camber sails have much better traction, but are heavier and more complex than regular sails. On windsurfing used for racing, they prefer to put camber sails. Such sails traditionally have a much larger area than conventional ones. On average, the sail area ranges from 1 sq.m (for children) to 13 sq.m. m.

It is the sail area for windsurfing that is its main characteristic.

Windsurfing is unthinkable without special equipment. Such equipment includes:

trapezoid loops (fixed on the boom, to which the trapezoid circles cling); the trapezoid itself (it is a wide belt or vest with a special hook that serves to reduce the load on the hands while windsurfing), which can be seated, waist and top; wetsuit (made of neoprene material that retains heat while in the water); life jacket (increases the buoyancy of the athlete). When purchasing windsurfing equipment, you need to choose the best option that meets your needs.

Currently, there are a huge number of brands that produce such equipment. So the choice can be quite difficult.

Windsurf board

In fact, this is a sailing ship without a rudder. The board should be streamlined, approximately 2-4.7 meters in length. You can make such a board with your own hands. There is nothing complicated about this if you read the instructions on the Internet in advance. A windsurfing board is made from floating material. You need to control the board by tilting the mast with a sail, and if you move by planing, then the board needs to be tilted from side to side. The board can move regardless of the strength and direction of the wind. When steering the board, you need to balance all the time, when changing course, control the spars. Note that the windsurfing board reacts both to the position of the athlete's torso and to the position of his top. In order to learn how to maneuver on the water as quickly as possible, you first need to learn the dynamic characteristics of your board. Unroll the board carefully, but at the same time confidently.

The windsurfboard has its own history. It is believed that the ancient tribes of Polynesia began to swim on the board for the first time, and that it was thanks to them that surfing appeared on the Hawaiian Islands, and by the time Captain Cook appeared there in 1778, it was already widespread. However, by the 1880s, it gradually began to fade away. In those times

the best "windsurf board" was called "olo" reached 14-18 feet (4.2-5.5 meters) in length and weighed about 150 feet (68 kg). It was made from wili-wili wood, which is a fairly rare Hawaiian variety of balsa wood, distinguished by its lightness. Lower grade boards were made from heavier Koa wood. The board for "windsurfing", as various sources say, was owned by the Hawaiian prince David Kavonanaokoa. He rode it in 1885.

Boards in the form in which we are used to seeing them today began to appear in the 1960s in the United States. Then, they began to try to attach a sail to the board. At first, the designs came out clumsy and cumbersome. The windsurfboard was patented by two Southern Californian sailors Jim Drake and surfer Hoyle Schweitzer. However, Newman and Naomi Darby are considered the first inventors of the sailboard. In 1965, Newman Darby published his layout in the August issue of Popular Science. However, Darby's surfboard was not very popular, although he even organized a company called Darby Industries, which was supposed to manufacture such boards.

But the windsurfboard of Jim Drake and Hoyle Schweitzer, on the contrary, was a success. They even managed to commercialize the boards thanks to a Seattle dealer who decided to sell their products. The first boards they made were called Baja Boards. In 1973, Schweitzer introduced a new windsurf board, more advanced technically. By this time, he had split from Drake and started his own board business. He bought the rights to Drake's patented invention in 1968 from Drake, but he could not find anyone in the United States who would be interested in mass-producing windsurfing equipment, and moved to Europe, where he achieved much more commercial success than Jim Drake.

Winter windsurfing.

You can ride a board not only on the water, but also on smooth, clean ice (this is called an “iceboard”), dense or loose snow, as well as snow mounds. All over the world, this sport is quite well developed, championships are held in it. Winter windsurfing differs from water surfing in that you only have to control the sail, which you tilt in the direction you need. True, it is necessary that the wind blows strongly enough (recall that the board can move on water at any wind speed). Races held in light winds are usually voided.

In other words, winter windsurfing is directly dependent on weather conditions. Competitors, of course, are offended when they have to leave them not because you are a bad athlete, but because the wind was too weak.

Designs for this sport can be very diverse. Traditionally, winter windsurfing is a skating or skiing apparatus. Skate devices can be four ridge and three ridge.

Four skating machines are made like a skateboard, they use the same suspension, only instead of wheels they have small skates attached. If you use this type of winter windsurfing, then you better make the board more authentic than a regular skateboard. The suspension itself should be tightened to the limit so that the board does not turn so sharply, but goes faster. Vibration can be dampened by lengthening the skates, as well as by any other means, however, a buer effect is possible. Three-skate winter windsurfing has recently become used in races much more often than before. Only one pair of skates needs to be set for “parallelism”, which gives three skating devices an advantage over four skating ones. So, at the World Championship in 1997, three skating machines won.

Winter windsurfing may include the use of not only skates, but also skis as a support. Two ski structures are mainly used. They are in particular demand in Finland. We can say that there such a design is brought to perfection. When skiing in dense snow, they have an advantage.

Winter windsurfing can be three ski. In my opinion, this design is not very reliable, since the skis can move apart, and the device itself can slow down a lot. Carved turns on three ski structures can only be performed with a platform extended beyond the skis. However, some Finnish athletes perform them using three-ski winter windsurfing. In general, we can say that skiing on three ski machines can cause conflicting sensations in an athlete.

There are even mono-ski devices. This is a Russian-Estonian invention. The device of such devices is quite simple. An athlete who uses mono-ski winter windsurfing can easily become a virtuoso in world competitions very soon, since mono-type skiing is still practiced in few places. The advantages of this design include a fairly fast sliding on completely different snow surfaces. It can move even in very light winds. The winter windsurf monoski structure is also very cheap to manufacture and easy to transport. However, it requires a relatively high control technique and the level of training of the athlete. Especially on slippery surfaces and in strong winds. Monoskis are divided into jump and cant.

Where can you buy windsurfing.

Currently, there are many different companies that produce sports boards and sails. They are sold both on the Internet and in ordinary sports stores, such as Povolzhye Sport, Sportmaster, Sportlandia and many others. There you can freely buy windsurfing, both water and winter. However, before making a purchase, I recommend that you read as much literature about this sport as possible. You can easily find it on the Internet. Carefully study all kinds of designs and equipment, because without this it will be quite difficult for you to decide what kind of windsurfing you want to buy. To get started, just go shopping, ask the price, inspect the designs and equipment, if necessary, consult with sales assistants. I am sure they will answer all your questions in sufficient detail and help you in choosing products.

If you decide to buy windsurfing in an online store, then let me recommend you a few sites. First of all, I would like to mention the Windschool! online store, as it is a direct dealer of the popular CST sports company that produces sails, boards and sports equipment.

In this online store you can directly buy windsurfing, as well as trapezes, spars, sails, boards, covers, trapeze sheets, starter sheets, hinge protection and boom protection, leg loops and trunk pads, sail fillers, as well as flyers. In the online store "Windschool!" leading brands are represented.

Here you can buy windsurfing from companies such as NAUTIX, DAKINE, GS SPORT GROUP, POINT-7, TAKOON, JP, TABOU, EWA MARINE and many others.

The second place is occupied by the funwind online store. Basically, they offer products for kitesurfing, skimboards, mountainboards, snowboards. But you can also buy windsurfing, as well as masts, sails, fins, sheets, protectors, mast cups, start sheets, extension cords, hinges, covers, materiel (including used ones) for it. Always in the presence of such related products as screws, screws, nuts, ropes, dactron, glue, waterproof cases, trunk covers.

If you decide to buy windsurfing from the funwind online store, then you will need to fill out a special order form in which you must indicate your name, phone number, postal code, preferred delivery service from the proposed list and the desired payment method. You can provide any additional information.

It is also possible to buy windsurfing by hand through advertisements in newspapers or Internet sites. In this case, do not forget to ask how long the goods offered by the seller have been in use. Check the correctness of the goods. If it's a sail, see if it's torn. The board itself must strictly comply with its standard dimensions. If you are going to buy windsurfing that has already been in use, then check the strength of the sail to the board, the board itself, for cracks. Look carefully at the mast. Perhaps it has traces of fractures or welding. Move the sail along the mast, it should slide easily and freely. Try the rope for strength. In general, I would not recommend buying you a windsurfer by hand, as it will be much more difficult to customize for you than a new one bought from an online or regular sports store. But, of course, it's up to you to decide.

Video windsurfing.

If you are going to join any of the water or winter sports, then for a start I would advise you to watch the relevant videos on the Internet. There are quite a lot of them like on well-known video sites, such as YouTube and the like. But it is better to look at the "windsurfing video" section on sites dedicated directly to this sport. Let's consider the most interesting of them. There is quite a lot of video material of a sports nature on the infocafe website. There are sections devoted to water, mountain, air sports, and there is also a separate section “on land”. There are both educational and general videos. But we are interested in the "video windsurfing" section. It is this section that will be discussed next. As in other sections, it contains a fairly large number of videos.

The content of these videos is very different. Some of them are purely introductory, others talk about specific elements and subtleties of board or sail control. Also, the “video windsurfing” section of the “infocafe” site contains videos from which you can learn the secrets of speed when riding on water and other secrets of professional athletes. For those new to the sport, it will be helpful to look at the "how to start moving" roles. For those who already have some experience in this, I recommend the video "passing the surf", which can also be found in the "video windsurfing" section of the "infocafe" website. Very interesting video showing the process of setting world records, videos of high-speed races. From the training video, you can select a video on how to apply salt to the board so that it slips less.

The next site that I would like to talk about is called “anywater”. It, like the aforementioned site, has a section "video windsurfing". This section includes the eleven most popular videos about this sport. Among them: a video demonstrating the benefits of tau-in surfing by the notorious Dani Bruch; video showing the most favorable places for water sports.

There is also a video in the “video windsurfing” section of the “anywater” website that tells how the athlete did not calculate the speed and crashed into the pier. Of particular note is Peter Svensson's Minds Wide Open, which claims to be the best in its category. The geography of the places shown in the film is quite extensive. You can watch the film in the "windsurfing video" section of the "anywater" website.

Well, one more site that I would recommend to both those involved in water sports and those just interested. This is the "pashasurf" site. The site contains a list of tutorials and videos. The only downside is that the "video windsurfing" section of the site is predominantly in English. For example, in this section there is a table divided into two columns - "what to watch" and "field of study". So, only the names of the columns are written in Russian. But I don't think it's that important. You can understand the main idea. Moreover, in general terms, the description of the educational films recommended in the “video windsurfing” section is still given in Russian. There are not so many links to the video, there is more a simple DVD review. On the site you can also find a list of books that you should read if you are going to start playing water sports.

windsurfing photo

If you are not into water sports, but you like to watch how others do it or just keep abreast of all the events in this area, you are probably looking at photos in addition to videos. It is for fans of such photos that I will list several sites that have a “windsurfing photo” section.

First of all, this is the “windsurf” site. The photo section here is just huge!!! More than 100 pages with photo albums!!! There is an album with photographs of surf stations ("Malina" Dolzhanka), the most common venues for competitions (again, Dolzhanka). In the "windsurfing photos" section of the "windsurf" site, you can find some very funny photos. For example, one of these photos shows how, during the skiing of athletes, a huge catfish jumped out of the water and almost ate them alive.

Many albums on the windsurf site do not have specific names, in this case the name of the photo album in the "windsurf photos" section simply indicates the username of the user who sent the corresponding photos. If you are interested in the process of repairing structures, then we offer you a photo album called "sail repair". If you want to see the process of sports competitions, take a look at the album "Pleshcheyevo May 12" in the "windsurfing photo" section of the site

windsurf. There are several such albums on the site and some of them are simply called "Pleshcheika". If you are interested in the places themselves, where it is theoretically possible to ride, I advise the album with the name “Holy Lake from the side of Andreevsky settlements”, which is all contained in the same “windsurfing photo” section of the “windsurf” website

The photographs taken during a thunderstorm are very impressive. Oddly enough, in the photo we can see how several people joyfully ride, despite the strong wind and rain. These photos were taken during the competition for the Baltic Cup. There are a lot of photos in the “windsurfing photo” section of the “windsurf” site, capturing various moments of sportsmen's rest. For example, how they light a hookah or cook barbecue. Those who are interested in certain moments of controlling sports structures have the opportunity to see the processes of entering the water and acceleration frame by frame in the “windsurfing photos” section of the “windsurf” website. There are also photo albums of individual sports teams (for example, the Vodnik team). In addition to photos of the participants of the competitions, on the site you can find photos of ordinary spectators.

The "windsurfing photos" section of the "windsurf" site contains photos taken in winter. There are especially many photographs of such a "winter" design as the "Estonian two-ski". Separately, it is worth mentioning the photo album with an interesting and seemingly in no way related to sports title "Cow". But it turns out that this is just the name of the device, the photos of which are posted in the "windsurfing photos" section of the "windsurf" website. But despite such a strange name, in the photographs we can see that even the most difficult sports tricks can be performed on this design. For example, turning through the fordak. Two skis are presented in two angles - from above and from the side.

Therefore, photos of biskis are contained in the "windsurfing photos" section in two separate albums.

28.03.2018 06:40:00

Winter is in full swing, the water is securely frozen, the fields are covered with a blanket of snow. This is a favorite time for winter windsurfers: any space becomes a huge stadium, any surface can be a track for training and competition. Above the white veil, sails are swiftly rushing, as if over water in summer ... In a snowdrift, sometimes you can’t even distinguish what the athletes are standing on, what equipment is used for winter windsurfing, how does it all work together?

Nowadays, in addition to the many options for amateurs, there are three main types of racing equipment. This is a sleigh on two long skis - a “two-ski”, then a “mono-ski” - a single ski with a sail, and an iceboard - a board on skates. All three types are classified as "sailing sleds". Any apparatus may participate in all competitions of the class, at the choice of the athlete. However, riders, with rare exceptions, get used to one type and rarely change their preference. It just so happened (mainly because of the climate) that iceboards and narrow sailing sleds are popular abroad. In our country, racers have long won on monoskis. In recent years, Arkhangelsk athletes have developed and introduced into the practice of racing special sleds - two-ski, but of considerable width, about a meter. This wide "two-ski" goes well both on hard surfaces and on loose snow. Thanks to the increased footprint, it became possible to set sails of large sizes, cope with strong gusts, without losing speed. At the recent championships of Russia and the world, this projectile was in the forefront.

In addition to racing shells, there are many options for amateurs, and among them the most interesting is the "snowboard". The projectile is also popular for amateur racing, and participated in the last championship.

Monoski, or more precisely, a sailing ski is exclusively our projectile, domestic. Few people outside the USSR used a mono-ski in its classic form. The projectile looks simple outwardly - a small platform is installed on a long wide ski on several supports distributed along the center line. The platform, as a rule, rises above the ski by 8-12 cm. The ski is taken as long and wide as possible. Skis are well suited for ski jumping, longer than 240 cm, and wider than 10 cm. Despite the fact that such skis do not have steel edges, the projectile goes well even on dense crust. Sometimes small skates are placed on the sides of a jump ski for stability in icy areas. For bare ice, they take a ski for downhill skiing (Speedski), 230 centimeters or more long, with sharp steel edges. A hinge from windsurfing is installed on the site, approximately above the geometric center of the ski or slightly in front.

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They try to make the platform supports in such a way as to ensure the freedom of the flexible ski, which as a result “licks” the microrelief, changes the deflection with pressure and thus works as efficiently as possible. Sailing was invented in Tallinn in the mid-1970s by the Tallinn yachtsman Yuri Pliznik (KiYa No. 75, 1978). In the Soviet Union, for a long time it was a monotype for racing. The monoski sail was limited in races to 7.5m2 - a larger sail on a monoski is difficult to control. The launch of the projectile often occurs with a running start, since it is quite difficult to stay on a relatively narrow support while standing still and at low speed. On the tack, the athlete moves in a special stance - one foot is in front of the mast, the other is slightly behind - heeling both the sail and the monoski. As you slide, the edge angle is intuitively selected, optimal for a given surface, wind strength, heading and speed. The rider, therefore, balances "on the edge", achieving maximum return. A mono-ski, in suitable conditions, due to its efficiency, even with a small sail, is quite capable of bypassing other shells that carry large areas. The projectile is capable of carrying sails and more than seven and a half "squares", however, the comfortable sail range on a monoski is small.

When the wind intensifies, it becomes more difficult to drive a narrow ski in gusts, breakdowns and falls begin, you have to take a smaller sail into the race, which affects the result. In sufficient wind, the ski also goes on loose snow - due to the openwork of the supports and the high platform, as if floating up from acceleration. It is possible to use the projectile on ice if the ski is equipped with edges or skates. It is not easy to make turns on a monoski. Dashing tacks without a foot on the snow are available only to masters, but in winter this has only a spectacular meaning. Deploying a projectile with a quick transfer is often more effective, although this also takes practice.

In the 1990s, our athletes won world championships more than once on mono-skiing. The Murmansk club has established tailoring of special sails for mono-skis, with a specific geometry.

two-ski, as the name suggests, it resembles a sled with two runners. The runners are most often jump skis, sometimes skis for downhill skiing. A platform of a complex design is installed on the skis, usually on four supports. Skis are used very long, 250-270 cm. The hinge on two-skis is placed slightly in front of the middle of the skis. The skis are initially aligned strictly parallel, with a noticeable outward slope - as they say, "edged". Thus, the skis constantly slide only on the outer edges. The design of the supports provides for the possibility of changing the edging of the skis, which allows you to adjust the projectile to different snow and ice conditions, other adjustments are also possible. Two types of two-skis can be distinguished - narrow "Finnish" and wide "Arkhangelsk".

Finnish two-skiing has been known since ancient times. A characteristic feature is a narrow platform and closely spaced skis. The comfort of the projectile is higher than that of a monoski, and the range of sails is slightly wider. A narrow two-ski runs both on ice and on snow, but in virgin lands it can get stuck due to a low platform, rake up snow due to a complex structure, and slide to one side due to a narrow arrangement of skis. It is possible to jibe on dense pavement, both at speed and almost on the spot. Other turns can be stepped over, but not as abruptly as on a monoski. The projectile is suitable for both amateurs and racers. There have been attempts to mass-produce narrow two-ski sleds, but at present they are not mass-produced.

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Wide two-skiing began to be developed in Arkhangelsk in the mid-2000s. This is a development of a two-ski design, but a very radical one. Long skis carry a convex platform about a meter wide. Due to the special design of the supports, it is possible to adjust not only the edging, but also the adjustment of the parallelism of the skis, “toe-camber”.

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The projectile resembles a water windsurfing board in its stance and driving style: the rider stands with both feet behind the mast, tilts the sail not only into the wind, but also back, standing closer to the edge of a wide area. If you need to keep the impulse, it shifts the center of gravity of the body to the wind and back along the board: as windsurfers say, it “goes” to the stern. Thanks to the optimal placement of wide skis, the projectile goes well even in deep snow, without falling through or heeling. A wide two-ski allows you to move on loose snow even in a light wind, for which the athlete stands closer to the center of the wide area of ​​\u200b\u200bsupport, leading the two-ski as smoothly as possible. In this case, the edging, as a rule, is set up more… A high-speed gybe is possible on any surface, and it is given to beginner winter windsurfers without long training. The projectile can carry large sails, 10 squares or more, not only with even thrust, but also in difficult wind conditions. Even with a large sail, you can keep gusts at speed, confidently go in both weak and strong winds. In terms of style, the projectile is a winter analogue of the well-known "windsurfing formula" - a wide water board. In 2011, a serious success was achieved in wide two-skiing - the victory of our athletes in the World Championship after a long break. Since then, the Arkhangelsk projectile has won prizes both at the world level and, of course, in Russia. Leading athletes of the world are trying to copy the Arkhangelsk design, making their own changes as well. In Arkhangelsk, meanwhile, serial production of two-skis under the MUST brand has been launched. The optimal scheme has been worked out: the convex platform rests on light, strong supports, they are also nodes that allow for quick assembly and disassembly of the projectile. All supports are unified, and this makes it possible to disassemble the projectile for transportation, quickly replace skis and even change skis in the race.

The design is being improved and has not yet reached its "ceiling". Recently, MUST manufacturers have added optional steel skating edges by cutting metal strips along the outer, working edges of the skis. They increase the reliability of projectile guidance on ice, practically without weighing down the structure. Also, domestic craftsmen have developed special skis, exclusively for winter windsurfing, where a thin edge is cut along the entire length of the skis initially, as well as on branded alpine skis. The design of the platform for racing two-skis is also being improved: both abroad and in our country, “decks” of a multilayer structure are increasingly being made, with a fair amount of carbon fibers. These bi-skis are noticeably lighter with increased strength and optimal elasticity, which allows you to count on a high result.

Iceboard leads the pedigree directly from the buer. It is arranged similarly: sharp movable skates are attached to a solid platform from below. For racing, relatively long blades are used, 30 centimeters or more. The most popular scheme with four movable skates among amateurs and athletes is called a highboard (Hiboard). Implemented on a small oblong board. According to the principle of operation of the suspension, a highboard resembles a skateboard: the skates are parallel in pairs, and each pair can also turn in a horizontal plane. A change in the direction of movement is made by rolling the platform in the right direction, which is ensured simply by pressing the feet on the edge of the board. Since at the same time the athlete must also tilt the sail, the motor skills of the movement are rather intricate. But the projectile turns out to be surprisingly maneuverable and at the same time high-speed. The highboard is used for both freestyle and slalom racing. Turns on a highboard can be laid more abruptly than in summer on water boards, moreover, without disruption of the projectile, namely “cut”. Even on a small skating rink, skilled freestylers manage to draw dashing figure eights and graceful spirals, entertaining the audience.

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Iceboards usually have small sails. In Europe, where snow has been scarce in recent decades, and clear ice is not uncommon, iceboards of various types are very popular. In addition, mass production has been launched - the Latvian highboard under the Hiberna brand is widely used both for competitions and for amateur skiing.

In addition to the iceboard on an elastic suspension, a skating projectile called "three-skating" has long been known. It is closer to the ice rink in design, the rear pair of skates is rigidly mounted, the front skate is steered by a special lever. Other variants of iceboards are also known, for example, special shells for setting speed records. It was on the iceboard that the speed record was set in 2012 - Jeffrey Brown from the USA reached 97 km / h at a distance of 500m.

snow board arose as a logical development of the idea of ​​​​a summer monolithic, inflexible board, without any moving elements. Despite the apparent simplicity of the design, the creators had to rack their brains over both the shape of the board and its design. Loads on snow and ice are greater than on water, the surface is very insidious and heterogeneous. For ice, for example, such a board needs sharply sharpened skates, and in order for the projectile to turn, these skates need a special shape, as well as the tricky geometry of the entire bottom (the so-called “rocker”). Overseas, such a board is known as a snowboard. In our country, DSD has recently been mass-produced - a projectile developed by the Samara athlete and inventor Dmitry Skobelev. The board goes well both on loose snow and on crust, making it possible to perform a dashing gybe and even tack. This projectile is closest in geometry and driving style to water boards. Beginning winter windsurfers, as practice shows, immediately become in loops and without fear are hooked by a trapezoid to the sail. It is possible to put special skates that are sharper and higher than regular ones - then the board is cut confidently on ice.

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This design is popular among amateurs, as well as in surf clubs for rental in the winter and for training. Now the second, improved board is being produced, suitable for amateur racing, called "DSD Ultra". It is planned to create a new version soon, using the latest technologies - carbon fiber, a special sliding surface and similar innovations. The board is mass-produced, based on domestic materials, and is available to almost everyone. Last season in Tolyatti, DSD Ultra boards took part in the WISSA-2017 World Championship for the first time.

*the previous article on this topic is “Winter windsurfing: from the past to the future”, KYA No. 2 (254) for 2015.

Article text: Alexey Levin. Illustrations: Marina Turusinova, Svetlana Drobyshevskaya

Today it seems to many that winter windsurfing appeared as a continuation of a similar summer sport. At first glance, this is logical: it seems that those who surf the sea in the summer, in order not to lose shape, go skiing and sailing in their homeland in the winter. However, the appearance of the winter version in time preceded the summer windsurfing.

How winter windsurfing appeared

The first awkward attempts at windsurfing in winter are made in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. Both today and then, the winter season for a city dweller offers a very limited set of ways to spend time. Everyone, in his own way and adequately to the available opportunities, tries to diversify the monotonous course of life. The Europeans of that time were not in the habit of traveling to tropical resorts. But in the cities such a winter pastime as skating has spread. History has not preserved who had the idea to pick up the sail.

However, the idea fully fit into the trend of that time, which consisted in the conquest of all possible natural forces and in the comprehensive realization of human potential. It was at this time that a person masters flying in the air on airships, paragliders and airplanes, carries out the first transcontinental travel, makes landmark discoveries and inventions. Ordinary city dwellers tried to keep up with the general trend. Simple skating seemed boring to some. The wind blowing in open spaces prompted the idea that its power could be used for one's own movement.

The sails that were used at the beginning were a wooden frame of a trapezoidal shape with a wide bottom and a narrowed top. Fabric was stretched over the frame. The design was not attached to anything and was held by the hands of the rider by the crossbar. In areas where there was little open ice, and it was mostly covered with snow, skates were not suitable. Skis were originally used here for skiing. The presence of a wooden plane prompted to fix the sail on it. At the same time, the mount allowed the sail to rotate around its axis and move in a plane perpendicular to the ski. The quadrangular shape of the sail in this design interfered with the movement: it was replaced by a triangular one. The sail was held by the crossbar with one hand, and the second - with the help of a rope tied to the upper corner, maneuvering was carried out.

By the middle of the twentieth century. not the best times are coming in Europe: the war and post-war reconstruction have impoverished the life and leisure of people: there is no time for skis with sails. However, in the early 1970s. winter windsurfing is flourishing again, quickly acquiring the status of a separate sport. At the same time, it appeared in Russia (in the Leningrad and Arkhangelsk regions), as well as in Estonia. The constantly blowing wind, the presence of large open spaces on the site of the freezing waters of the Gulf of Finland, Onega and Ladoga lakes, as well as the White Sea made this area the center of European winter windsurfing.

Competition

Under the auspices of the International Ice and Snow Sailing Association (WISSA) and the International Winter Windsurfing Association (IWWA), annual world championships are held. The venue, by analogy with other competitions, is changing.

• In 2014, the World Championship was held in St. Petersburg, Russia.

• In 2015, it was held in American Wisconsin on Lake Winnebago in the town of Fond du Lac.

• In 2016, the competition will return to Europe again and will be held in Estonia in the town of Haapsalu on the shores of the Haapsalu-Lakht Bay on February 8-13.

In Russia, national championships are held annually in the first days of March:

• 2014 - Monchegorsk, Murmansk region.

• 2015 - Konakovo, Tver region.

• 2016 - Solnechnogorsk, Moscow region.

In addition, every winter-early spring, club and regional windsurfing competitions are organized:

• Christmas regatta (Arkhangelsk, mid-December);

• White Sea Games (Ibid., February or March);

• Regional championships of the Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Leningrad regions.

Technical equipment

The key element of windsurfing is, in sports terminology, a projectile, i.e. what the windsurfer stands on. When the sport was in its infancy, skis, a few skis bound together, snowboards, and even sleds were used. An active search for new solutions continues today. However, the market has established the main models that are mass-produced.

1. Iceboard: Iceboard "Hiberna"

Produced by a Latvian company. It is a board covered with fiberglass, approximately 1.6 m long, depending on the model. Two pairs of steel skids are fixed to it: one in front, the other in the back. Simply put, this skateboard is a modern take on the original idea of ​​a winter form of windsurfing based on the skateboard principle. The platform on which the iceboarder's legs are located, when performing maneuvers and tilts, creates a roll, deviating from the horizontal plane.

Iceboards are designed for skiing on smooth, clean ice. The device, under favorable conditions, is capable of developing a very decent speed - up to 60 km / h.

The cost is from 720 euros.

2. Windboard: Windboard "SWIFT Sport"

The Czech company produces a board for windsurfing on a snowy surface. Made of wood, covered with fiberglass. It is an improved snowboard: larger, more durable. Supplied with a mast for attaching the sail. Calculated sailing area from 3.5 to 7.5 m²; Board length - from 168 to 176 cm.

In addition to the mast, a deck with special fastenings for the surfer's legs is attached to the board. Deca, depending on the task, can be fixed in three positions. In addition, it comes unfastened, performing a protective function in the event of a fall.

The cost is from 660 euros.

Projectile of domestic design, manufactured by a group of enthusiasts "Must". It consists of two skis (2.35-2.75 m), connected by a common platform made of laminated plywood (1.2 x 1 m), covered with an anti-slip layer of polyethylene foam.

The design is bulky, but provides good stability under sail. Ideal for beginners.

The cost is from 380 euros.

For iceboard and domestic sledges, a mast and a sail are additionally required. For the Czech windboard - only a sail.

Riding features

The riding technique is generally similar to water windsurfing. Only in winter, due to the hardness of the coating under the board, the center of gravity of the surfer is shifted down, which leads to the need for a greater roll. The windsurfer is often in a position close to horizontal.

Naturally, good physical preparation is necessary: ​​sailing in the wind requires strength and dexterity. At first, falls and demolitions are not uncommon, but with the acquisition of experience, failures recede.

Now there is an interesting trend of expanding interest from funboarding to other extreme sports, such as kitesurfing, wakeboarding, snowboarding. The reasons for this phenomenon are not the subject of this article. Interest has increased not only in these, I would say, bright sports, but also in winter windsurfing, which was rather closed until that time. Articles on this topic were published not only in Boats and Yachts, but also in the Vertical World, and now even in Men's Health.

Unlike such types, where equipment can, without problems, but for money, be bought in a store, in winter windsurfing you either need to assemble a snow apparatus from existing skis, or completely design and order the manufacture of iron in the case of an ice apparatus. Moreover, there is a complete lack of information in this area. If the information is still there, then it looks like "... this is cooler than everything that was invented before - buy it from us ....". So, I won't discuss constructions like "snakes", "skimbats" and "snowers" here.

General review.

According to the rules of the WISSA (Ice and Snow Sail Association), two types of shells are raced: sleds - sleds and kites - devices with a free sail. There are no more inventory restrictions. To the proposal of the kiters to create separate rules for kite racing, the president of this association, William Tuthil, replied that this is welcome, but the text of the rules should fit on an A4 page! This attitude to the rules has its drawbacks, but it allows you to compare often completely incompatible projectiles at the same distance.

Of course, it often happens that the outcome of a wrestling match is not influenced by the skill of an athlete and not even the build quality of his projectile, but by weather conditions. Of course, you can be offended if at the next competition the type of road did not suit your device at all, and, despite the time and money spent, you have to leave them, but everyone is on an equal footing and plays this lottery. The above also applies to free riding on these shells: narrowly directed designs such as skating ones can often turn out to be completely unsuitable in “not their own” conditions, and universal ones can lose them in driving performance in some cases. For example, the Polish team (skating apparatus) left the World Championships in Estonia when it snowed, and vice versa, the French, performing on two-ski structures, left the clear ice in Poland.

Constructions.

I'll make a reservation right away - we will only talk about "sledges" - kites are a separate topic.

Jibe on iceboard

Skate equipment.

4-skate - repeat the principle of a skateboard: the same suspension, only skates are placed instead of wheels. It is advisable to make the board longer than that of the skateboard, and tighten the suspension to the limit, then the board will not turn so sharply and ride faster.

It is possible to improve this idea further, for example, by lengthening the skates or by providing vibration dampening in some way. But, in my opinion, this projectile has a fundamental difference from funboarding, which insidiously manifests itself with the growth of skill and speed. It is caused by a sailing effect that occurs at speed, and inevitably turns active turns through the jibe into tacks. When entering a turn at a speed faster than the wind speed and guiding without losing this speed, which is completely normal on smooth ice, the wind line will not cross with the wind, but against it! You can perfectly do a “360” with the sail lying along the surface, you can do this maneuver twice in a row, but in order to make a “duck” or a regular “jibe”, you must first slow down

3-skate (popularly nicknamed “cockroaches”) - have grown over several years of use in racing from a design with a fixed skate in front, made of a tube, to devices with a steering principle approaching a skateboard.

These designs are more speed oriented and more stable.

Here, only one pair of skates must be accurately set “to parallelism” - this greatly affects the speed. At the World Championships in 1997. the first two places were taken by guys from Canada, performing on three-skating. There was crooked and rough ice and a strong wind. No one expected such an advantage of skates in these conditions.

The Canadians had devices that I really liked. The device consists of a rather light T-shaped aluminum profile frame with a 10mm platform attached on top. plywood. The basic idea is that the platform is cut across at the back; it turns out that its front half is attached only to the longitudinal beam and when stepping on its side parts, it elastically bends. This movement is used to control the front skate. Two cables are attached to a fixed platform from both sides, and through the blocks installed on the edge of the movable platform are stretched crosswise to the steering skate. On straight courses, the athlete stands on one of the side skates - on the hard part of the site, and on turns - presses on one of the sides.

Ski equipment.

Two-ski designs are used mainly in Finland - many athletes have been chasing them for a long time, and their design has become, in my opinion, perfect. In dense and uneven snow and strong winds, “two-skis” have a clear advantage over other designs.

Two-ski

The projectile is arranged very simply: two long (240 cm) edge skis are fastened with a narrow platform, and they glide over the snow with their outer edges. The angle of inclination is adjusted by screws or lanyards - (it varies depending on the rigidity of the road and is approximately 30 degrees). The term “two-ski” is not literal, since often a short jump ski is placed between the skis instead of a plywood platform, and a “three-ski” is obtained.

My feelings about this projectile are very contradictory. On the one hand, skis placed on the snow with different edges should, due to their tightness, tend to move in different directions and the whole apparatus should slow down a lot. But when I tried to ride on skis taken from the Finns, I was surprised at the ease of gliding. Carved turns are obtained only on devices with a platform placed behind the skis, but the Finnish three-ski version, nevertheless, seems to me more effective.

Three-ski

Insert 2001. The World Championships last winter showed that Finns can really go fast on two skis. Juha Manerma won this competition in fairly light winds.

Monoskis. This is a Russian invention, more precisely an Estonian one, as they say, but all the same, a Soviet one, this does not change things. The mono-ski is very simply arranged, besides, it has become a monotype for racing for a very long time. This greatly raised the level of training of our athletes, and at world competitions they have long been considered virtuosos.

Monoski

The strengths and weaknesses of this projectile have long been determined. The mono-ski has a very high quality of gliding on very different types of snow, which means it starts moving with very light wind, it is very cheap to manufacture, easy to transport and carry. But: it requires very good handling technique, especially in strong winds and on difficult surfaces.

Here are the latest technical solutions used in mono-skiing: a quick-release platform that allows you to change skis right at the start; edge supports sliding in the longitudinal direction to improve the performance of the ski on uneven surfaces; mast joint cushioning to reduce the transfer of shock loads to the ski edge; polyurethane mast hinge.

For mono-skis, two types of skis are usually used - for snow - jumping 250cm, for ice and nasa - long (220cm) edge. Many athletes even sew special sails for racing, which differ from summer sails mainly in the shape in plan - the normal position of the sail on the move in monoskis is strongly shifted forward.

FAQ

Can foil sails be used in winter?

Film sails (like coal masts) can be used without fear in winter. Much more dangerous for sails - ultraviolet, and for masts - local heating and impacts. Geeks are the opposite. The thermoplastic fittings of branded booms become brittle already at -10 degrees.