Learn It From Swifty

Here’s your chance to learn from one of the best, with the all new Robby Swift Clinics on Maui this winter.

Robby tells us: “This winter on Maui, I’m going to start offering advanced-level clinics aimed at sailors who are already very competent but who would like specific help with certain aspects of their sailing. The lessons could range anywhere from jumps, all the way from the forward to the double, to freestyle or waveriding and tricks on the wave like 360s and takas.

There are a lot of people who come to Maui in the winter and end up getting a bit lost and not learning what they had promised themselves to master during their trip. I was one of them when I came here for the first time. There were just so many places to go and so many good sailors around that I ended up not knowing where to sail. Also, when I got there the conditions were often a little harder than I had imagined and I ended up just having a good time sailing around watching the pros, and not really pushing myself like I had promised I would when I was back at home.

What I am proposing to do is to offer a full day of on and off the water coaching. You are not allowed to start sailing in Maui until 11, so we would meet at my house at around 10:00am to do some homework first of all. I have a whole terabyte of footage from all the JP sailors doing what they love best on my computer, so whatever it is you want to learn, I am certain to have plenty of examples of that trick from all different angles. We will analyse the move over and over so that you get an idea of exactly how you should be doing it and get inspired to go for it once you get on the water.

Then we will check on the wind and decide where to go depending on the conditions. Everywhere is pretty close together, so if you want to learn jumps first and then waveriding later, we can do a couple of spots in one day, making the most of the different spots.

One of the best ways to make sure that you are progressing in the right direction is to watch yourself on film. I would encourage anyone wanting to book a lesson to book filming as well. This is an optional extra, so if you don’t want it, you don’t have to have it, but whenever I want to learn something, I watch myself on video to see what I am doing wrong and it makes the learning curve so much faster.

The other benefit of that is that I can also then put together a short clip from the whole day, putting you alongside whichever JP rider you have studied to learn your new moves from, and give you a memorable DVD to take home with you, and to study on your own to perfect your new techniques.”

To enquire about courses you can contact Robby on robby_swift@mac.com.

PWA / Andrew Buchanan