may the force be with you,
good luck

My brother taught his wife to sail up at Geraldton last November(very interesting) and believe it or not we were up there for the month and only got 4-5 good days so good for learning i guess but she was using anything from a 4.4-5.2 wave sail and he got her into the harness as soon as possible in the lighter days to start with and i must admit there was some frustration on bro's behalf as she did'nt feel comfortable using it but as everything the more you do it the more comfortable it becomes, so from what i've seen i would say when theres enough wind for her to leaning back slightly on the boom introduce the harness.
My sister inlaw now to my brothers dicussed she is now sailing around on his brand new Quatro 85ltr freestyle wave. A great effort i think

I'm kind of on the other side jethrow- i've been learning from my boyfreind (yeah- i know, bad idea right?) and reckon that once she can control the sail and board long enough to determine when she wants to come off, then a harness is a good idea. I haven't learnt it yet but think i should cos my ares are getting mightty sore!!

I would try it asap.

Rig up on the beach and let her have a go there so she gets a feel of what its like.

My advice would be to forget about the harness and get her used to sailing the board. I (and probably many others ) were windsufing back in the good old days when there were no harnesses or footstraps, and then came "chest" harnesses and really bad footstraps. Even then I used to sail without a harness. It was only in 2000 when I got a modern board that I saw the light and cannot express how good it was to get hooked in and feet firmly planted. But my point is that once you can control the board and rig well enough in any conditions without these "aids" then starting to use them is really easy. Get the fundamentals down pat, then go the harness. (and her arms will get really toned).

Yay .... more chick sailors!!!!! Here's a question, how many of us are there???? In SA there is Michelle, Marianne, Andrea, Kym, and I have met a couple more but thats about it. I am sure there is more in WA. ENCOURAGE them guys.!!!!!! You will get more time on the water instead of having to race home whilst its still windy. Your holidays will be where you want to be (ie where its windy) and she will have a great figure. Re the harness, I think she will know when. And if she is planing and both feet in the straps she may[/i]be less likely to catapault [i]as often. Maybe a helmet?
Susie

quote:

---

Originally posted by grumplestiltskin

quote:

---

but think i should cos my ares are getting mightty sore!!

---

just a query, is that arse or arms

ha ha ha- well, at first it WAS arse (from all the stacking) but yeah, now it's arms :)



sorry, will grow up now

---

God where have all you women been hiding?... I can see we need more threads about harnesses.

What, like in Peter Pan? Dont ya get elephant skin?