Friday, 5 December 2014

Ding ding, round 2.

No sooner had the last storm abated than the next one was pushing it's way towards our little island. We had 3 days of relative calm before the winds picked up to 50 mph and the rain was lashing down on us once more. This was all accompanied by monstrous surf which made the entire northshore unsailable so we headed back to Rocky Point for the second time in a week or so. The waves were huge so they cancelled all the inter-island ferries (the airport was also closed because of the gales) but on Sunday a ferry tried to make it from Lanzarote and was forced to turn back when it couldn't land at this end. Check out these crazy pics as it made its way back around the harbour wall!

Wow, wouldn't want to have been on that trip!
Meanwhile, back at Rocky Point the wind was strong but gusty and I rigged up 4.5 and headed out - super overpowered in the gusts but struggling in the lulls, not very nice to be honest. The swell was so big that it was reforming in Waikiki Bay and I sailed the two reefs there for an hour before I headed out to the big stuff just as the wind decided to go ballistic! I caught some house-sized waves out there but couldn't even attempt a bottom turn as I was so overpowered, still it was impressive to be out there and experience the fury of the ocean as enormous sets rolled through closing out the entire length of Rocky Point. We later found out that some guys had sailed Entubadera just past Flag and I saw this picture from Jules Denel there, looks awesome but I think there was a lot of broken kit there that day as they struggled to get back out through the mast high barrels...
They got some incredible shots though.
As for me, I sailed Friday on 4.5 and Saturday on 3.7 but didn't have the greatest of sessions either day as the wind was so up and down with the squalls and I struggled with sail size. I even managed to snap a mast at T**t Rock (yeah, that's right, where the beginner surfers go). Still, I got some nice photos (I like the fact that you can see the seafront of Corralejo in the background) and looking back it was pretty good to be sailing different spots instead of the usual, and also to be out in totally different conditions to what we're used to. Here are a selection of shots from the two days, Friday first then Saturday...










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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.............