Wednesday 26 October 2011

Pura Vida!!!!

I recently came across this wicked video of Jim from http://www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk/ sailing a reef break near his home in Wales. Jim is basically the mastermind and driving force behind my Easter Windsurf Clinics, one of the most enthusiastic windsurfers I´ve ever met (and I´ve met quite a few!), and a real nice guy to boot. The passion he has injected into his local windsurfing scene has rekindled the sailing community around there, and is now spreading further afield due to his involvement in many of Britain´s top windsurfing competitions and events.
Anyway, enough trumpet-blowing. I wanted to put his video on here as it encapsulates everything I believe to be the very essence of our beloved sport- a guy out on the ocean, having the time of his life! That to me, is what it´s all about, check out his video- awesome...




More Windsurfing Videos

Monday 24 October 2011

Six and a half weeks...




No, that´s not the title of a remake movie starring Kim Basinger, it´s the amount of time that has passed pretty much windless over here! Okay, I may have had a couple of days at Punta in September (can´t really remember!), but, basically, while the UK has been being battered by strong winds for the past couple of months, we´ve been becalmed over here. That´s the reason my blog has been awfully quiet (not laziness), I´m always reluctant to post up without pics or video, and even more so when I have nothing to tell.....

Anyway, although there´s been no wind to speak of, it has been epic SUP weather most days and I´ve been out almost every day at different spots along the northshore and scored two incredible sessions at Rocky Point in the biggest waves I´ve been out in to date (on my SUP). Two days ago, I woke up to total glass (again) and headed off along the northtrack to Majanicho. It being a weekend, it was jampacked with paddlers and surfers, so my mate Wieberen and myself went to a spot we´ve looked at a few times but never tried. With some good 3m+ sets coming through, it looked great from the rocks so we decided to have a look. When we paddled out, it was bigger than it looked from the shore (always the case) and there were some semi-dry rocks popping their little heads out in front of the breaking section, despite the reef being about 500m offshore (you can just about make them out behind me in the last photo!). After the first couple of tentative waves, we got into the swing of the place and had an awesome session. Wieberen´s girlfriend is pregnant and could go into labour at any time, so he took his telephone out with him in a waterproof bag, and we used it to take a few pics on the peak. The quality´s not the best as they were taken through the plastic, but you get an idea of what it was like out there in our "secret spot"........

Anyway, looks like there might be some wind on the way so I may be getting the windsurf kit back out in the next couple of days. In the meantime, check out the SUP pics.....






















Welcome to the site!
Aswell as regular features and news updates from Fuerte, I am going to be using this site to promote my windsurfing clinics.
After 15 years on the island,having competed in the PWA freestyle world cup and now representing Fanatic Boards and North Sails, I have decided to give something back to the sport which has given me so much over the years.
My aim is to provide clinics "tailor-made"for each individual, with a strong emphasis on practical in-the-water instruction, backed up by on-the-beach tuition and video analysis. The consistent conditions here in Fuerte make learning so much easier and, perhaps equally important, more fun than the typically inconsistent, cold UK - why not come over for a week and improve your windsurfing by a year!!!

I can help with any manoeuvres from carve-gybe through to advanced jumping and freestyle, just email me with your wish list and we'll take it from there! Over the next few months, I am going to be video-chronicling manoeuvres which you can check out on the right in my tricktionary sections. This will give you some idea of the things we can work on, or, if you can't make it over here, you may find them useful to help understand and break down a manoeuvre you would like to learn (hopefully, the slow-mo will help in this respect!).Just click on the trick and scroll down..........
Anyway, keep checking it out as I have loads more in my bag of tricks and will be updating as and when I get the footage.
If you're interested, e-mail me on gibboinfuerte@yahoo.co.uk
See ya in Fuerte?
Stephen.............