Safe adrenaline: Surfing, yachts and kite for those who are bored on land
Text: Daria Suharchuk
Sailing combines many different directions., from classic yachting to kitesurfing, where the role of the sail is played by a huge kite. We talked with four women involved in sailing sports, and they told how to find what you like, what dangers such a sport holds and whether serious physical training is needed.
Windsurfing
It originated in the sixties, when American inventor Newman Darby set a small sail on the surfboard. Since then, high technology has come to this sport, bringing with it ultra-light boards and transparent sails, and surfers have learned how to perform tricks like flip-flops. Windsurfing differs from sailing on a yacht in that the mast is attached to the board with a hinge, and the athlete controls the board by tilting the sail.
Sveta Scherbakova
Windsurfing instructor
The first time I got on the board about twelve years ago, when I went to rest in Alacati, to Turkey, with my sister. A lot of people, fun - we immediately liked windsurfing. Then I wanted to ride even more, there was already a little vacation, and then I decided to quit my job and become an instructor - then it seemed to me that the instructor was riding all day. Ten years ago, I moved to Egypt, to Dahab, and started working. It immediately became clear that I was mistaken, thinking that I could skate as much as I wanted: in fact, there was very little time for independent skating and my personal progress was very small, although I developed as a teacher.
Windsurfing is a sport that requires certain conditions: you need a stable wind and a station where you can store equipment. Windsurfing involves traveling - and for that I love him even more. At the station, there is always a get-together and something to talk about.
Now I work on freelancing - I come to the station only when there are students there, and I do not sit all day. My day depends on the wind: if it is (it’s necessary to figure it out every time, because the forecast is often inaccurate), then in the morning I ride one and a half to two hours. The best wind is usually in the morning, and windsurfing usually ends before lunch. Earlier, before the various attacks, a lot of people from Russia traveled to Egypt, but now they have become much less. For those who ride, it's good - a lot of space, although the station, of course, would be happy to see more customers.
There are three main disciplines in windsurfing - however, the division into them is relevant only for those who have already mastered the basic skills and know how to ride the board in loops and with a trapezium, which are needed to control the board at high speed. There is a wave ride - wave-ride, such a mixture of classic surfing with windsurfing, the most difficult of all disciplines. There is still freestyle, that is, tricks on smooth water or on waves. The third is the slalom, that is, the race on smooth water. Of course, the water can only conditionally be called smooth, because with a strong wind strong ripples rise on it, which noticeably hits the bottom of the board. Riders always have very big heavy sails, and athletes, as a rule, are quite tall and heavy themselves.
When riding the load goes almost all the body: those who windsurfing seriously, should actively train in the gym. In addition, freestyle requires considerable persistence, riding on the waves - the courage to not be frightened, to hear the wave falling behind you, or not to quit classes after it unsuccessfully covered you. There is always a risk. At the same time, it is impossible to say that windsurfing is a very traumatic sport: if you practice with an instructor and soberly assess your abilities and wind power, then you should not be afraid of serious injuries, although there will be bruises and abrasions, of course. There will be many drops in the water. Even those who go barefoot often hurt their feet on stones or sea urchins - but you can step on a hedgehog without windsurfing.
Kitesurfing
Kitesurfing is skating on light plastic boards a little larger than a skateboard, where the role of the sail is played by a huge (up to twenty-five square meters) kite, which is controlled by a horizontal bar. The kiter is fastened to it with the help of a trapezium, a wide tight belt. The size of the kite allows you to develop high speed during low winds and perform spectacular stunts, rising several meters into the air.
Yana-Tatyana Denisova
Kitesurfing instructor
I first got on the board in 2009 - when, on the advice of a doctor, I moved from raw Peter to Hurghada. Among my new acquaintances, there were kite instructors who showed me a beautiful video with Aaron Hadlow, the then world champion - I also wanted to try. Since I already lived in Egypt, and did not come a couple of times a year, I quickly mastered the basics and after a few months I started jumping a few meters above the water. The first time I had no luck with the instructors: they did not pay enough attention to safety, so I injured myself several times. Fortunately, then I found my ideal coach - and it went.
Very different people can be engaged in kite, special training is not required here: I taught both children and elderly people. The only thing that can interfere is a very big weight and serious health problems, for example, if a person is hard to even walk. Anyone can learn, just different people will do it at different speeds. It all depends on muscle memory and reaction: one, to remember the movement, you need to repeat it ten times, and the other - a hundred.
The kite can be traumatic, but if the instructor at the beginning of training paid sufficient attention to safety, and the student reacted to this responsibly, then there would be no serious injuries, except shabby knees and a burned nose. The problem is that among instructors there are many uncertified self-taught people who do not provide the necessary knowledge. According to IKO (International Kiteboarding Organization) standards, 50% of training is a constant repetition of the basics of safety: how to properly assemble equipment, to avoid problems on the water, what to do in critical situations and how to save yourself, how not to run into water with other skaters . It is simpler than the SDA: there are only five basic rules of discrepancy, and the technique of self-rescue is very simple.
Wind, even weak - unpredictable element that always wins
In general, beginners rarely get into critical situations, because they are afraid of everything and act cautiously. Problems begin later, when a person feels that he is getting everything, and begins to consider himself the lord of the wind. Then he can neglect, for example, a thorough inspection of the equipment before going out to the water. The wind, even weak, is an unpredictable element that always wins. I will definitely give this to my students - for example, I show that even a two-meter training kite can drag a person along the ground so that they have to put their feet on it.
At the same time on the kite you can easily start jumping - any good kiter can do this. Now, by the way, it is fashionable to ride with special devices that measure the height of the jump, all this is broadcast on the Internet and is reduced to the tables by countries and continents.
In kitesurfing there are several disciplines: freestyle with stunts, jumping (Big Air), riding the waves - wave ride, racing. I myself did not participate in competitions, but I jump, do tricks and ride a little on the waves. In addition, some get up in the winter with a kite on a snowboard or ski. There are even those who have tried to combine it with skates, but this is too dangerous.
Yachting
Yachts are small vessels with oblique sails, which allows them to sail not only with the wind, but also at an acute angle to it. There are dozens of classes of yachts, depending on the size: from single-class "laser" to multi-meter ocean. Despite the fact that there are always motors on yachts that are designed for long voyages, it is strictly prohibited to use them in competitions.
Masha Mishchenko
Yachtswoman, participant of the Cup of Russia in races on micro class yachts
I go on a yacht for the third season. My friend and colleague who has been sailing since childhood has led me to this sport. Then, three years ago, he showed me what sailing is, and when I liked it, I found a crew for me, where sailors were just needed (they, as a rule, become beginners, who may well be over thirty). My class, micro, is absolutely small yachts two and a half meters wide, designed for short distances, with a crew of three to five people. The crew consists of the helmsman - the most experienced person who sits on the steering wheel and controls the process, and the sailors who control the sails. After walking on the yacht as a sailor, I realized that it was more interesting for me to steer. I also rented yachts together with my friends, and then I bought mine.
There are three sails on our yacht: the main one, standing in the center, which is called the grotto, the staysail - a smaller sail, which is needed for tacking, and a spinnaker, a thin, light sail in front, which is needed to quickly go downwind. The ability to work with three sails is enough to learn how to manage any type of sail on any yacht. Having learned at the microclass, I gladly join friends who go on larger ships.
I'm racing now. On such yachts, they are short, for twenty to forty minutes, several visits a day, and it is important not the time during which you covered the distance, but the occupied place. The winner is calculated at the end by the number of points scored. We drive on the Pirogov and Klyazminsk reservoirs and participate in the Russian Cup races. To take a prize, you must participate in races throughout the season and show stable results.
Racing on yachts with a crew is a team sport, coherence is very important here: when cornering you need to make a lot of movements with a huge number of ropes in just a few seconds. In addition, the crew attitude is important - we support each other very much. Since the beginning of the season there are usually no free days off. The season starts in mid-April, when the temperature rises to ten degrees, and on May 1st we already have the first races. From the beginning of April, we are also preparing the yacht for races: we paint, skin and clean.
Yacht races with crew is a team sport, and knowledge of tactics and rules is much more important than physical fitness.
The difference between sailing and tourism is that you constantly think about how to achieve maximum speed with this wave and this wind. It is very interesting. In addition to the purely technical aspects of sailing, there are still interesting rules for the interaction of yachts during races, because when a large fleet comes out to the water, you cannot go where you want. True, in racing, breaking the rules is not punished by disqualification, but only by a “penalty”: the guilty yacht must make one turn 360 or 720 degrees. While she is spinning in place, other boats usually manage to overtake her. I like this, because sometimes the crews break the rules simply because of ignorance or not managing, and disqualification would be too harsh a punishment. Since several races usually take place on the same day, a penalty is not a tragedy, it is important not to get upset, but to get courage and continue to participate.
I can not say that for racing, if we are not talking about the Olympic Games requires a serious sports uniform. Of course, endurance is important in order to spend the whole day on a yacht and not lose enthusiasm. We need strong enough arms and muscles of the chest and abs to pull the ropes and hang out overboard. But at first, knowledge of tactics and rules is much more important than physical form.
Special injuries in the races of our class does not happen - most often there are dislocations in the fall, and in second place, perhaps, strikes with a geek (horizontal part the rig, to which the lower part of the sail is attached, is below the level of a person’s head and moves abruptly when cornering - in such situations all crew members must bend down low to avoid being hit. - Approx. Ed.). But they rarely lead to serious injuries - most often the case is limited to bruises.
In sailing, a lot of attention is paid to environmental friendliness: in all races, motors are strictly forbidden (if the wind is completely gone - reach the oars) and, of course, it is forbidden to discharge chemistry into the waters. If the boat is polished, then it must be pulled out of the water and done on the shore. At the same time, the yachts do not need complex infrastructure: for the summer she needs a pier, and for the winter she is simply taken out of the water and stored under the cover, placing the removed mast (I have it nine meters long) under the shed. She calmly endures our winters, snowy and cold. In my club, servicing a yacht costs a little less than fifty thousand rubles a year, including security. We do the cleaning and polishing of the yacht ourselves. For the simplest cleaning, it is not even necessary to lift the boat out of the water; it is enough to bank it and brush each side of the boat in turn. I needed serious repairs only once, after all the boats are very strong, and serious collisions occur rarely, for example, when the entire fleet enters the water (on the Pirogov reservoir it is about two hundred boats).
Catamaran racing
A catamaran is a vessel with two hulls connected by a light frame with dense matter stretched on it. This design reduces the friction force on the water and allows the catamaran to move two to three times faster than a yacht with the same sails and one hull.
Alyona Pankratova
Member of the Russian national team, coach, participant of the catamaran racing in the class Nacra17
I have been sailing since childhood, from the age of ten. Like all children, I began studying on small “single” yachts, gradually moving to higher classes. I participated in the race with the youth team of Russia, and after graduating from the institute, I took up coaching, because there was not enough time for the race itself. After that, I worked as a trainer for several years and worked a lot with children, including abroad.
A few years ago, a new class of competitions on catamarans Nacra, which involves the participation of women, appeared, and I was invited to participate in our national team as a clew (Clew - member of the crew responsible for controlling the sails with ropes - shears. - Ed.). Then I had a very experienced helmsman, with whom we immediately began to participate in international competitions. A year later, I unexpectedly became the helmsman, and my crew and I went to train in Spain.
In our catamaran class, crews always consist of two people, a man and a woman. A few years ago, women did not participate in the Olympic catamaran races at all. Before the last Olympic cycle, it was decided to change this, and the choice was on the Nacra class. It seems to me that this was a mistake, because it differs little from those catamarans, which they drove before, and all that physical activity, which had been previously carried by some men, fell on the shoulders of women. It is especially hard to be clewed - one to manage all the sails of the boat.
Racing on catamarans is different from racing on ordinary, single-hull, yachts: they are shorter in time, because the catamaran is two to three times faster, while it is difficult to deploy. When the catamaran accelerates, one hull rises above the water, due to this the speed increases, but when turning, both halves become water and therefore it is difficult to turn.
When the wind still blew, we were assigned eight races in one day - I still do not understand how I withstood it
Racing on catamarans are held in series; usually competitions last about a week, several races a day, at the end the sum of points is calculated (one for the first place, two for the second and so on), that is, the winner is the one who scored the least. It’s simply impossible to hold all the races in one day - too much depends on luck and on the weather. For example, in 2013 at the World Championships in Holland, which was supposed to last a week, there was not enough strong wind for five whole days, and all the teams just sat on the shore. When the wind still blew, we were appointed eight races in one day, because otherwise the championship would not have taken place at all - I still do not understand how I stood it.
For catamaran requires very serious physical training. During the race, you can not sit down, but you need to bend your knees in order to keep your balance, like skiing. In addition, the driver gets a very serious load on the spine: the waves strongly hit the boat from below, and if the back muscles are not strong enough, the intervertebral disks may suffer. In addition, it is a traumatic sport: during races boats can roll over, riders fall, they have fractures.
There are no very young athletes in our catamaran class: in order to manage them, considerable experience is required. According to my observations, those who are tired of "slow" races on single-hull yachts go to this class. On the other hand, in sailing there is no age limit, and, for example, a fifty-five-year-old athlete won the Rio Olympics. He already had a great experience, because earlier he participated in races on catamarans of another, but very close to our class - Tornado.
Now they want to upgrade our class and put it on hydrofoils. This reduces the area of contact with water, so that the speed will increase two times, and control will become even more difficult. Я пока плохо представляю себе такие гонки, потому что они наверняка будут опаснее нынешних.
Photo: 1 - Катерина Саванчук, 2 - Mitya Diell