In the search for the ‘Holy Grail’ of winter winter windsurfing glove, an out-of-the-box solution has presented itself to widening the scope of winter action in cold water. Sadists sitting and reading this in warm weather locations - we hope you feel suitably snug and smug as you continue reading - which you should, as hypnosis might also be the solution you need to nail that elusive forward loop - or next level of performance.

In a desperate bid to avoid the dreaded ‘hot-aches’, or ‘re-heats’, the intense pain that can send grown men to their knees as circulation returns to their hands after sailing in cold water, many hardy windsurfers turn to palmless mitts and various angling or dinghy sailing gloves for agony prevention. Surfing gloves can be too thick and cramp your forearms – especially those sailors prone to a ‘death grip’ or that require a strong hold when riding waves or jumping. While the palms of neoprene gloves are not resistant enough to the abrasion from the boom, material with a better grip is not warm enough – hence palmless neoprene mitts being a popular solution. But until the magic glove is discovered, and we're working on that, what about another solution?

Kitesurfers already benefit from a softer grip mind set and happily wear thick winter neoprene surfing gloves as they use only fingertip pressure on the bar. Something that UK Windsurfing coach Andy Steer believes we can all benefit from, with a new attitude that we can take on-board during hypnosis. Who better than a scientist based on the chilly coast of New England to put the theory to the test than Marine Biologist James 'Jimbo' Douglas, who managed a few minutes out of the water from his aquatic work and leisure schedule to report?

JAMES DOUGLAS: Windsurfers in New England refer to the early fall as “Rocktober” and consider it the most exciting time of year to sail. Frontal winds are strong and frequent, Atlantic storms and Hurricanes provide surf, and the moderate air and water temperatures can be handled well enough by a typical wetsuit.

Towards the end of Rocktober though, things get tough. Chillier winds confront sailors with the stoke-killing dilemma of, “Do I go barehanded and freeze my fingers, or do I wear gloves that sap my strength, cramp my forearms, and cripple my skills?”

On top of the discomfort of the cold itself is the agony of the “re-heats;” the itching, burning, shooting pains of blood returning to one’s hands following a numbing exposure. After a few frustrating sessions in the November cold I usually decide I’m done for the season, though the howling winds and beautiful waves continue to taunt me until spring.

It seemed that Rocktober 2011 was going to fizzle out for me in the same, sad way, until I found a strange and enticing email offer from the Windsurfer International Editor:


Hi James,

I happened upon your cold weather Nahant Blog post and pondered if you'd be up for an 'experiment' to document in the mag? 

For several years I've sought the Holy Grail of windsurfing gloves. But this week an alternative possibility presented itself - a windsurfing coach in the UK, advertising his services of Hypnotherapy to solve the problem of cramps.

What do you think? Shall we both try?

Thanks in advance,

Brian


As a scientist, I’m generally not eager to jump on the bandwagon of alternative therapies. With regards to hypnosis, however, my curiosity outweighed my skepticism. I had seen a number of impressive hypnotist acts at State Fairs and such, and the technique seemed to have real and powerful effects for some people.

I couldn’t turn down this opportunity to try it for free- especially given the prospect of it being a permanent fix for my gloves problem. Also, I had heard it discussed that the fatigue associated with glove use was due largely to reduced sensory feedback causing one to subconsciously grip the boom too hard. If perception and the subconscious response were indeed major causes of glove fatigue, then some kind of mental re-training could be a very effective way to address them.

So I signed up for Brian’s “experiment.” (Ed. Eventually Brian did not sign up for 'the experment'. Err, of course he couldn't be hypnotised anyway, but actually mis-read the info and thought it was a cure for the re-heats but more importantly dislocted his finger and couldn't even fit into a pair of gloves so just sailed without. When it comes to gloves he doesn't cramp up too badly though and is actively testing a couple of new solutions that, if successful, will be reviewed in these very pages.)

To be valid, a scientific study needs a “control treatment,” which resembles the experimental treatment in all respects except that it lacks the thing being tested; in this case, the hypnosis. My control treatment was going for a session with my DaKine cold-water mitts BEFORE listening to the hypnosis recordings. For the session I used a 6.8 sail on my 106-liter Exocet Cross freestyle-wave board.

It’s gear that I’m comfortable on without gloves, but with the mitts I was exhausted after only about 45 minutes. At my launch site in Nahant, Massachusetts there’s a long way to the water’s edge at low tide. With my forearms shot it was murder just hanging on to my gear for the walk back to the parking lot. Believe me, I was READY for that hypnosis.

Due to a busy work schedule and unusually fickle winds, it was a while before I had a chance for another session. But the perfect day came in early December, and I planned to leave work early. Over lunch hour I closed the office door, plugged my earphones into the computer, and loaded up the UK Windsurfing Coach’s cold hands hypnotherapy mp3.

I was kind of worried that I wouldn’t be able to relax enough for the hypnosis to be effective, being that I had just been stressing out trying to get things done at work. I was also nervous that my boss or someone would knock on the door and interrupt my session. But the coach’s soothing, British-accented baritone assuaged my worries with a long introduction explaining the process and how perfect silence wasn’t necessary.

I liked that he described exactly what he was going to do and the rationale behind everything. I.e., he reiterated the theory of glove fatigue being psychosomatic, and he promised that if I could rid myself of the subconscious compulsion to grip the boom overly-hard that I would be able to windsurf even with the thickest, warmest gloves.

The hypnosis itself didn’t feel mystical or magical in any way, and I never felt like I was knocked out or unconscious. Yet, it was very relaxing and soothing- more like what I would expect meditation to feel like than my stereotype of hypnosis. It didn’t remove ALL of my skepticism, but I had a good feeling that it would work, at least to some extent.

When the, approximately 20-minute, recording was over, I opened my eyes, stretched, and checked the weather. The wind was dropping a bit, but still in the good 15 knots range. I decided to give the local PWA superstar, Josh Angulo, a call to ask if I could borrow a light wind slalom board for the afternoon. Josh said, “Sure thing,” so I stopped over at his garage and grabbed an 84 cm wide, 130 liter “Magnum.”

At my own house I put on my bag-style drysuit and got my usual DaKine mitts ready. I had an 8.0 camless freeride sail in the van, so I rigged that up on the lawn at Nahant beach. I tried to do everything as I normally would with the way I carried the rig to the beach and walked out past the small breaking waves before beach starting.

A few pumps and I was off, well-powered on the big slalom setup. It took a while to get dialed, and a few little breaks to adjust footstraps tighter and harness lines more forward. The wind also got spotty, and I had to do some pumping coming out of jibes. The combination of big gear, gusty wind, and imperfect tuning usually frustrates and tires me out pretty fast, but I seemed to be in good spirits and holding up well physically this time. The sunlight and wind waned before my forearms did, and only during the long gear-carry back to the parking lot did I start to feel the burn.

Based on my results for the slalom session, and similar results for a subsequent 6.8 / Freestyle Wave session, I have concluded that the hypnosis works pretty well, though I can’t say for sure whether there is really some special subconscious thing going on, or if mellow British baritones just help me relax and de-stress before a session.

Years ago when I lived in Virginia and sailed all winter in gloves, I would slowly and painfully get adjusted over the course of the winter season. I would say that the hypnosis effect got me to about the same level of comfort, but much more quickly and less painfully, so it was totally worth it. Next I plan to try it with really thick dive gloves to see if I can get the comfort and some extra warmth, too, to really extend my New England season. JD