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Adventure Week 12
  • Week 1 - Adventure Racing
  • Week 2 - Serious Surfing
  • Week 3 - Orienteering
  • Week 4 - Sailing
  • Week 5 - Dixons Hollow Sklls Course
  • Week 6 - Traditional Climbing
  • Week 7 - How Stern Gorge
  • Week 8 - Power Kiting
  • Week 9 - Swale Charity Paddle
  • Week 10 - Walk the Cleveland Way National Trail
  • Week 11 - Try Gliding at Sutton Bank
  • Week 12 - Try Windsurfing
  • Week 13 - 5 Day Tou of the Dales
  • Week 14 - Go Geocaching
  • Week 15 - Scotton 100 Cycle Event
  • Week 16 - Sea Kayaking
  • Week 17 - Three Peaks Fell Race
  • Week 18 - Fishing
  • Week 19 - Trekking Centre
  • Week 20 - Etape du Dale Cyclospotive
  • Week 21 - Gaping Gill - Open week
  • Week 22 - Settle Loop
  • Week 23 - Go Ape at Dalby Forest
  • Week 24 - Ballooning
  • Week 25 - Dalby Forest Walk and Play
  • Week 26 - York to Selby Cycle Route
  • Week 27 - Try Paragliding
  • Week 28 - Thixendale Round
  • Week 29 - Ryedale Rumble Cyclosportive
  • Week 30 - Go down a showcave
  • Week 31 - Lancaster to York Cycle Ride
  • Week 32 - Wasburn Paddle
  • Week 33 - Guided Caving Trip
  • Week 34 - Malham Trailquest
  • Week 35 - Cotter Force
  • Week 36 - Moors to Sea Cycle Tour
  • Week 37 - Boots and Beer Walking Fesival
  • Week 38 - Climbing the Big Three
  • Week 39 - 3 Peaks Cyclocross
  • Week 40 - Husky Trekking
  • Week 41 - Saltergate Fell Run
  • Week 42 - Multi day horse ride at the North York Moors National Park
  • Week 43 - Whitby to Scarborough Cycle Route
  • Week 44 - Caving
  • Week 45 - Bike Trials
  • Week 46 - Tramper Route to Old Gang
  • Week 47 - Guided Walks
  • Week 48 - Mountain Biking at Dalby Forest
  • Week 49 - Open Access Walk
  • Week 50 - Bouldering
  • Week 51 - Try Surfing
  • Week 52 - Ingleton Climbing Wall
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Try Windsurfing

Try Windsurfing

An all year round activity, fun and easy to learn

Week 12 - Water Sports

SailingLevel of Fitness
Modern equipment is much lighter and so you don't need huge strength to give windsurfing a go - technique is more important.

The Experience
Windsurfing is many things to many people - escapist evenings at the local lake, summertime family fun at the beach, cruising missions to explore harbours and coastlines, weekend racing at the club, high speed thrills in stronger winds, a platform for hot-dogging and skateboard style tricks, charging around in and out of the surf at beaches around our coastline.

In 1968, there were only 12 boards in existence. Now there are millions - and the sport continues to go from strength to strength, with recent major breakthroughs in both board and sail design making it all even easier. Consequently, more and more people are discovering - or indeed rediscovering - this great outdoor activity. It's cheap compared to other watersports, easier than ever to learn, very probably the safest of all the 'adrenaline sports' out there in terms of actual risk to life and limb (but still right up there in terms of yeehaaa factor!) - and above all, great fun.

Wind SurfingBoards nowadays are much wider than their predecessors from yesteryear and consequently much more stable, while sails are also lighter and more controllable than ever. Rather than those awkward hours wobbling around on a precarious platform trying to pull the sail out of the water, the modern teaching methods see you starting off on a super-wide and stable design with which to master the basics, and then moving on to shorter, more manoeuvrable boards when you're ready for it. A few days under the guidance of a qualified Royal Yachting Association instructor will see the complete novice progress to the point where they are happily skimming back and forth in relative control, pulling off respectable turns and remaining relatively dry.

Have a go
Windsurfing can be done at any time of year - all you need is enough wind to get you going.  Obviously the best time to learn is spring through to autumn, so now is a good time to book that course.

If you want to try windsurfing for the first time you should contact one of the clubs below and arrange some instruction. All instructors should be RYA qualified.

Find out more

Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club, based at Grimwith reservoir near Grassington
01943 873 470

Filey Sailing Club
01723 513537 

Thornton Steward Sailing Club, near Bedale
01325 356 673 

Craven Sailing Club based at Embsay reservoir
01756 793649

Click here to find out about the world of competitive windsurfing.