Stephen Gibson

Push Loop.

2012-02-15T05:27:00.000-08:00

Wow, this winter has been incredible so far- cold but windy windy windy! Check out this push loop from Punta this week. Thanks to Mick Relihan for the pics...

Wind n waves for everyone.

2012-02-07T02:21:00.000-08:00

Having been blown off the water the day before at Punta on my 4.5, and with the forecast for 15 knots more I decided to just cruise the nothshore with my dogs and video camera to get some footage of the wild conditions. Big mistake. It turned out that the wind wasn´t as strong as predicted and I could have sailed on my 4.5. As I passed Hierro on the way to drop the dogs back at home, I saw a couple of the boys heading out, so I set up my camera on the rocks and videoed for an hour. I must say it looked awesome, and I should have sailed there as it was pretty poor at Majanicho when I went in afterwards. Oh well. Here´s some footage of the morning sesh at Hierro, no editing or anything, just thrown together with some music to give you a taste of what it´s like there when it works...

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Christmas Video.

2012-01-27T09:33:00.000-08:00

As I may have mentioned, when Simon Hobbs came over at xmas he came armed with every digital media device you can dream of (check out a couple of his photos above!), the aim being to make an all-time windsurf/lifestyle movie of the 2 weeks. Well, it didn´t exactly go to plan as we had loads of sailing but not much videoing (no-one wanted to stand filming when the conditions were so good). We missed most of the good action, so imagine my surprise when Hobbsy sent me this amazing edit! He has made a fantastic job of the movie and managed to capture a little bit of everything we got up to over the xmas period (still a pity we didn´t video the jumping at Punta...) in a cracker of a movie- even Caroline said she didn´t get bored watching it so it must be good! Anyway, check it out below, round of applause for the little welshman please...

A different perspective of SUP.

2012-01-27T03:50:00.001-08:00

You definitely can´t beat water photography for a different perspective of any watersport, and these pics taken by Victor of SailboardsFuerte prove this point to the max. Taken at our favourite SUP (and windsurf) spot on the northshore two days ago, great quality, great colours, great pics- thanks Victor...

Airtime at Majanicho.

2012-01-19T06:04:00.001-08:00

I´ve put together this short video of one of the days at Majanicho earlier this month. I apologise in advance for the fact that it´s another "gopro" movie- the plan was to mix it up with some "proper" footage shot from the beach, but it has proven impossible to get any footage as nobody wants to stand on the beach and film when it´s working there! Anyway, I was left with these gopro clips and it seemed such a shame to waste them or let them get old, so I stuck them together in a short vid.
With all the current debate about quads, twins and singles etc. you may be interested to know that this day I was on my Fanatic Skate 100, a dedicated freestyle board with a 17cm freestyle fin in it. Totally not designed for shredding waves, but it just goes to show that you can´t blame everything on the "wrong" board. In fact, speed is such a crucial element in waveriding (as in so many other areas of our sport), that on a lightish wind day such as this one was, it´s often better to have a real fast board which maybe doesn´t turn as well, and I have always wholeheartedly extolled the versatility of "freestyle" boards. Everyone should have one in the van. Anyway, enough of that. The video also proved useful as an analytical tool on a recent clinic where we watched it to teach hand movements on the boom while waveriding with a great degree of success! Regular readers of the blog may also note that, due to the semi-arctic conditions at the minute (23 degrees and sunshine, ahem) I have been forced to don my full winter suit... on that note, here´s the video.

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A bit of fun (and a lot of learning).

2012-01-13T10:06:00.000-08:00

On one of the lightwind days over xmas, I took Hobbsy to the lagoons in Cotillo to teach him to tack as he was struggling on his small board. I can´t over emphasize how valuable sessions like this can be in learning shortboard manoeuvres! He quickly got to grips wuth the habd and foot movements and was soon tacking away to his heart´s content. I then decided to show him some lightwind freestyle on the big board to improve his rig handling and he learnt very quickly indeed- he can now back-wind gybe helicopter tack and sail on the lee side of the sail, excellent stuff. All of these skills are very useful when sailing our shortboards but can take ages to learn on an unforgiving 80l waveboard, so I´d like to think that we improved Hobbsy´s sailing by a fair bit in the two hours we spent there. He actually admitted that he felt he learned more there than in any other day´s windsurfing!! Oh, and it´s great fun of course- check out the video clip and feast yer eyes on Hobbsy´s new-found skills. Well done, amigo...

Big Thursday.

2012-01-09T01:59:00.000-08:00

The forecast was for strong east wind but it never materialised. The swell was still pumping, though, and it looked do-able from the shore so I ventured out on my 100l Fanatic Skate and 5.3 North Hero in what turned out to be the lightest wind I have ever wavesailed in- about 6-8kts. Getting out there was tricky to say the least and took a while. No way to waterstart so I tried my utmost to stay upright and avoid uphauling in the mast-and-a-half sets. I manged to catch a few half-decent waves but called it a day after about 40 minutes when the wind dropped even more and manged to wobble back in with my hair still dry. Phew. Got some alright video footage though, and I took these stills to give you an idea what it was like out there....

More Majanicho...

2012-01-07T07:41:00.000-08:00

No wind today, which gives me the perfect opportunity to share some more pics of the action from Majanicho this week. And what a week! Two days of calm now and then it starts again, even stronger next week! Time to chill...

Here we go....

2012-01-03T04:01:00.001-08:00

Yeah, the wind materialised yesterday for what will be the start of a perfect week of down-the-line conditions!!! Hobbsy took up where he left off at El Martillo- his waveriding is getting better with every session (pity he won´t get any more til he comes back here, haha). Check out this short clip of me teaching him from upwind on a couple of waves from the morning session, great stuff...

Happy New Year!!!!

2012-01-01T07:18:00.001-08:00

Another year gone, wow! Looks like this year is going to start with a bang if windguru is correct- the forecast is amazing for this coming week. It´s going to be going off every day at Punta then Majanicho, so I´m having a quiet day today, enjoying my hangover and recuperating ready for tomorrow. Should have loads of footage to post up as we have a big bag of camera and video equipment in the van so fingers crossed.... in the meantime, check out these pics from Punta a couple of days ago. I had an awesome little session in the late afternoon, thanks to Simon for taking the photos (he missed the wind by standing on the rocks taking them).

First time down-the-line...

2011-12-30T02:34:00.000-08:00

Got my little mate Hobbsy here for the festive season and we scored a great little sail at El Martillo yesterday. He wants to learn forwards and also get some decent frontside waveriding in as he doesn´t get the conditions much at home. Well, the conditions were ideal for his first attempt- head high in the sets and straight sideshore! He sailed excellent, nice style and will improve as the week progresses looking at the forecast- well done! Today looks like Punta for forwards, then Jim and the posse from Pura Vida get here and the forecast is amazing so fingers crossed for an unforgettable new year windsurf bonanza!!!!!!!!
Check out Hobbsy´s first waveriding experience here....

Merry Christmas...

2011-12-28T05:57:00.001-08:00

Christmas has been and gone- absolutely knackered now having been working in Rock Island Bar every night while the owners are away and SUPing every day. The swell has been small but good fun at El Martillo. Loving my new 8´10 Fanatic Allwave, starting to get the hang of turning it a bit more now, it´s so manoueverable compared to the 10ft board I had previously. Got some decent pics from yesterday and a bit of Gopro footage from Boxing Day (I´ll be making a video eventually with all the footage I get over the next couple of weeks). Check it out below. The wind is coming back big-time in the next couple of days and I´ve got a good friend over with all his "digital media devices" so we should have loads of action to post up very soon.... watch this space. Til then, Merry Christmas!!!!

Majanicho...

2011-12-22T05:08:00.001-08:00

At last some wind at Majanicho! Despite being a "legendary" spot, Majanicho is predominantly a lightwind "float n ride" type of place (better on the SUP normally!) and the last couple of years have been incredibly un-epic there due to super-light winds so I have been searching out alternative, windier places to sail in east/southeast winds. This week, however, we had a real cool session there with pretty strong wind for a change and nice clean, fun-sized waves. Not too busy either, which is quite unusual. I sailed for a good two hours straight and left the water knackered but happy to at last have scored a good blast at what can be one of Fuerte´s best waveriding spots when the wind decides to play ball. Thanks to the injured Victor for these photos...

Still windy....

2011-12-08T00:16:00.000-08:00

And it just keeps coming! The eastwind is still here for another couple of days- it´s 8am and I´m just heading out the door to hopefully score El Martillo again. Swell is perfect 3m, and the wind should be picking up as we speak. Swinging NE on Saturday morning so back to Punta. Wow! I´ve had my new SUP for almost 3 weeks now and haven´t been able to use it as it´s been too windy every day- oh, well....

Pic Of The Bunch- Air Chacho.

2011-12-05T05:57:00.000-08:00

We got the wind which was promised on Saturday and got a pretty decent sail in at Punta with mast high waves and 5m sail. Again, we took to the water with the camera (1 hour shifts, me and Victor), and got some cool photos which I am sifting through as we speak- so far, this is my favourite shot, an air chacho, would have been perfect if the sky hadn´t been so grey. Still a great photo though...

Those easterly breezes...

2011-12-03T08:59:00.000-08:00

We got our first run of easterlies yesterday and the day before, which meant that everyone and their dog scrambled to Majanicho. The first day was too light for me so I went SUPing instead, but yesterday was windy so I managed a short session. I had stuff to do in the morning so arrived at 12, just in time to get 20 minutes in the dying wind. Majanicho is pretty much a lightwind riding-only spot (it gets nice and windy there maybe twice every winter), and it tends to blow from early morning til mid-day so I wasn´t too surprised to miss it. Oh, well, good fun nevertheless. Sailed at Punta today on 5m, messy but good crack, and it looks as though the wind is turning east again tomorrow for the rest of the week so it´ll be back to Majanicho or, most likely, out with the SUP again- wicked. Here´s a couple of pics taken from the beach yesterday...

Fancy some warm water????

2011-11-29T05:13:00.000-08:00

If you fancy getting away from it all (with or without the family), I am once again running my hugely successful Easter Clinic in conjunction with Puravida from March 31st 2012. The last two trips have been awesome and places are limited, so if you are interested I suggest you get in touch with Jim at http://www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk/ asap. You can see reports on the previous clinics in older posts in this here blog of mine. In the meantime, check out the promo vid- the windsurfing part was shot a few days ago at Punta. Shorts in November- this could be you at Easter!!!!!

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GoPro taka.

2011-11-26T08:16:00.000-08:00

Got some half-decent footage from the last couple of days at Punta, the wind was fairly light but great fun on my Fanatic Skate. Check out this taka...

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A Little Bit Of Action...

2011-11-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Don´t confuse my lack of posting for a lack of activity, I´ve been pretty busy this last while. Had a couple of guys over for tuition and been full-on SUP and windsurfing inbetween. This past week has been windy, although I must admit the forecast has failed to deliver every day and I have been on my 99 Skate and 5.3 at Punta in pretty big waves and lightish winds. Nevertheless, we got a couple of photos, and with wind forecast for the next couple of days I´m
still hoping to get some better ones....

Pura Vida!!!!

2011-10-26T05:25:00.000-07:00

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...

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Six and a half weeks...

2011-10-24T04:42:00.001-07:00

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.....

Freestyle Heros?

2011-09-20T01:57:00.000-07:00

I got down to Punta early doors yesterday morning, to catch low-tide and try out my new North Heros and Fanatic Skate 100 before anyone else arrived. I´ve struggled to enlist anybody to do photos or video of my new kit up until now so decided to try and video myself.... I wedged my camcorder in the rocks upwind of the flat water section on the inside and tried to guess more or less where I´d be coming in, set it rolling and hoped for the best. Conditions were fantastic- superflat water on the inside (it´s about a foot deep where I´m sailing there) and perfectly powered up on my new 5.3. The sails are really light in the hands yet much more powerful bottom-end to get me up and running, I think I´m going to enjoy these babies this year.
I videoed for 40 minutes then the battery ran out, but I managed to get a few things on there (note: I may have new kit, but I don´t have new tricks, haha)- check out the suicidal snorkellers in the footage; 25 miles of unspoilt coastline along the northshore and they decide the only place to catch octopus is exactly where the one, lone windsurfer is. Funnily enough, they decided to try their luck further downwind after I´d slalomed through them a couple of times....
When I finished with the video camera, I changed boards to my 93 Twin and had an epic sail in the waves. Great for jumping, I landed some nice backies which is good after a pretty bad summer patch where I seemed to have lost most of my jumps, and nice for riding, too, got my takas dialled again- wicked. All in all, a good solid day´s sailing, 4 hours in the water, no injuries and some nice stunts in the bag- mustn´t grumble.
Anyway, here´s the best of the footage I got, enjoy, and check out the swimmers- crazy!!!!

Is it 2012 already?

2011-09-07T04:44:00.000-07:00

It is for me! After almost a month of travelling around and mainly partying (naughty), I finally arrived back on Fuerte with my new 2012 kit. It looks amazing and sails even better. I did a four-day clinic in Sotavento with Mark and Sidoney and put the new 100 Skate through it´s paces and was superhappy with it- very quick and, with more volume in the tail and under the straps than its predecessor, very forgiving in freestyle manouevres, making those double rotations that bit easier. It was also my first time out on the new four-batten North Heros. As promised they are much more powerful bottom-end than the Ices I used last year and incredibly light in the hands, perfect for a heavier sailor like myself who sails alot in marginal conditions. All in all, I couldn´t be happier with my new kit and the clinic was a massive success with both Mark and Sidoney planing around in both straps for the first time ever! Well done to you both, there´s a whole new world of fun waiting for you now...
Yesterday I got my new 93 Twin out at Punta for the first time and am equally happy with that new toy. The extra volume is ideal for me (last year I had the 86 which was great when the wind was up but I struggled a bit in lighter winds and often reverted to my freestyle board), and it still turns great on the wave. These new multi-fin boards really do sail like smaller boards than their volume suggests and make it possible to have a floatier board which can still be thrown around in waves- I can´t wait to get it out at El Martillo this autumn....

Accidental Video.

2011-08-08T01:26:00.000-07:00

Just so you know, I´m now selling all my 2011 kit. If anyone is interested, drop me an email and I´ll give you the prices.I have: Fanatic 100 Skate TE.Fanatic 86 Twin TE.North Sails Ice 5.7/5.3/4.7.

Had a great day teaching forwards at Flag yesterday- first time I´ve sailed there for ages as I normally steer clear now due to the number of out-of-control k***surfers who have pretty much ruined the spot for everyone, themselves included. Anyway, managed to slalom through the eedjits and get a few decent jumps and got my mate Paul looping onto his back (albeit without the board!)- one more session and he´ll be sailing away, no sweat.

Also, check out this random bit of video from my last day at Punta, caught by accident on Oisin´s GoPro as he was getting in the water...isn´t Punta beautiful, I love it.

Low-tide...

2011-08-06T00:57:00.000-07:00

At last, I scored a low-tide freestyle/wave session at Punta! After a windy, but busy summer, Ifinally had time to roll down the northtrack and arrive at Punta alone to coincide with my favourite tide-time. Magical- the wind seemed to freshen as I put my toe in the water, and after a few runs alone to "warm up" (it´s 25 degrees), I was joined by two friends and had probably my most fun session of the entire summer so far.

My sailing finally seems to be coming back together after my long lay-off due to injury and a full summer spent coaching- I nailed some pretty high shakas, nice backloops, forwards, double flakas, flakas on the wave, and a couple of takas amongst other things. I had a bit of a smile on my face afterwards as I have had a disappointing summer from a sailing-level point of view (I have been sailing pretty average to poor mostly). It was nice to sail a bit more like I was last year again, pity it took all summer, haha.

Anyway, off to Flag today to teach port-tack forwards with someone who has an axe to grind with the forward loop from last year- I´ll keep you posted...

Still Windy...

2011-08-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

I´ve had alot of sailing this summer, albeit mainly in a teaching role, so it was good to get out the last few days and just freesail for a bit. Sunday was especially good- it´s been a long time since I´ve sailed at Glass with so much wind, and there was a small wave to ride aswell which made it doubly fun. A bit hairy out there, especially for myself, Oisin and Will, who were looking for ramps to jump on the way out (awesome ponch conditions!) and had to dodge the out-of-control hordes who were congregating at the corner of the reef. Great fun, thanks to Jerry Bligh for these couple of shots taken from the point...

Taka and Vulcan sequences.

2011-07-31T03:35:00.000-07:00

My good friend Chuckster took about 5000 photos during a recent clinic (report to follow very soon, as soon as Phil has written it, hint hint), and he spent hours and hours photoshopping these two sequences for me while he really should have been working. Check out his backloop sequence at the bottom. Thanks Chucky...

Get High Or Die II- The Sequel!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-27T02:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, it´s been a hectic month! I´ve had clinics every day since the start of July so haven´t had any time at all to post on my blog- I apologise sincerely(ish). Over the next week or so, I will try to catch up on all the stuff I´ve been up to in July with pics etc, but first let me tell you about my comp in Punta- the Get High Or Die II.

After last year´s success everyone was psyched to do another one so we organised it last May and have been waiting for a windy weekend ever since!!!!! After the longest waiting period in competition history, the wind finally arrived on a Saturday and it was a goer!!!! With a full complement of 30 plus riders, this year´s event took on a truly international flavour when Irish windsurfing champion/legend Oisin Van Gelderen booked a last minute flight to join in the festivities.

Arriving at Punta early in the morning, conditions looked pretty awesome already as Oisin and myself set up the competiton area and when the first heat hit the water it was immediately obvious that the level at Punta has improved dramatically from the last event with everyone boosting huge airs. It turned into a stalled forward frenzy as friends faced each other in heats determined to out-stall each other. Notable performers were Machel, Jaume, Ilya and, of course Yannick with his clean doubles. Others who impressed were diminutive Victor Moncloa who wowed the spectators with a huge variety of cleanly-landed aerial moves, Paul O´Loughlin who sails twice a year but always goes BIG, Oisin with some pretty close double attempts and Ben (captain cannonball) with huge pushies and. of course, fantastic crashes.

The wind stayed with us all day and we manged to complete a full round of competition plus three expression sessions. The idea of the Get High is to bring together all the "local" riders and get them to push their own personal limits and also, and perhaps even more importantly, to have a real fun day together and I think we achieved this once again- the atmosphere was fantastic all day (and night) long.
When we finally wrapped up the flags at 6.30 it was off to the U Turn for the BBQ and prizegiving where the carnival atmosphere continued.... the winners were as follows:
WAVE COMP.

1st place Yannick Anton

2nd place Ilya Escario

3rd place Jaume Coll

EXPRESSION SESSION.

Most radical air Yannick Anton (double forward)

Highest air Victor Moncloa (back loop)

Sickest wipeout Ben Oliver (double pushloop to backsplat to semi-unconsciousness)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made this event possible; Extreme Animals for the amazing event T Shirts (and their patience). Wilagre Clothing for their prize donations. Gilbert Bara for the photography. Big Pieter for the car stickers that I see everywhere on the island now. The legendary Eric Gibson for the unique trophies. Bouke and Peggy for the use of the U Turn for the prizegiving. Captain Cannonball for motivating the lazy locals, and everyone who took part and made it what it was supposed to be- a fun day with friends....thank you all, til next year.

I struggled a little for decent video footage, most of the best sfuff (doubles, Ben´s wipeout etc) were missed but I stuck it all together anyway so you can get an idea of the good times we had that day. Enjoy...

Get High Or Die II!!!!!!!!

2011-07-12T05:29:00.000-07:00

Well, it all happened on Saturday- we finally (after a record-breaking wait of 18 months) ran the "2010" Get High Or Die comp in Punta! It went off!!!! I will write a report when I get the video done, in the meantime you can check out the photos of the event here... www.picasaweb.google.com/100420044561704498288 .

And so it begins...

2011-07-06T04:28:00.001-07:00

Summer is officially here! The wind has kicked in properly, we´ve had some outstanding sailing this last week all over the north of the island and it looks set to continue for the foreseeable future. Good news for Patricia, who is here for a few weeks and is spending a week with me for an "introduction to wavesailing"! It´s been quite an introduction so far, logo-high Punta on 4.7 and mast-high Puerto Lajas down-the-line heaven on 4.2! She has dealt with everything the conditions have thrown at her so far (taking a day off today because of bleeding hands, though) and her confidence in big waves has improved no end. No pictures, I´m afraid, as I´ve been right by her side the whole time, but I´ll try and get some in the next few days.
With the forecast looking pretty epic for Punta at the weekend, there´s a good chance I may hold the Get High Or Die II on Saturday or Sunday, so be prepared for the carnage which will certainly ensue... check out the vid of last year´s event and watch this space.

Rest n Recuperation.

2011-05-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

It´s been fairly windless since my last post (there were a couple of half-decent days), which is good news for my ongoing shoulder injury. The past week has been glorious weather, calm and hot, and there has been a great swell, quite unusual for this time of year. I´ve been out on the SUP every day this week in some fanatastic conditions at Majanicho and Rocky Point. The wind is supposed to pick up now so I think it´s time to hang up the SUP for summer. On the last day of no wind, I tried to do some video by balancing the camera on the dashboard while I was out and hoping it caught some of the rides- the results were not too bad, although the quality is poor as we were quite far out and I had to zoom on maximum and guess where I´d be. It was probably the worst day of the week, pretty choppy and a bit of wind, and I felt a bit out of control but here´s the footage...

.....wicked fun. Looks like I should be getting some windsurfing again soon, pray the shoulder holds out...

Vulcanville!

2011-05-20T01:28:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago (yeah, two weeks before I got the chance to sit down and write it up on my computer, what a slacker) I spent a few days with Ville from sunny Finland! He can only sail there for 6 months of the year, due to the ice and lack of sunlight, so he came over to our warmer climes to try and crack the vulcan and open the door to more freestyle moves. He has struggled with the manouevre for quite a while now so the challenge was to re-program him, get rid of his old (bad)habits, and send him on his way to vulcan-success!

As usual, the wind didn´t want to play along with our finely-laid plans and we ended up having only one real good vulcan-training session from the four days we had together (very atypical for the time of year, especially down in Sotavento). However, we made great progress in that one day and he gave it 110% all day so that, by twilight, his technique had changed drastically and he was starting to slide instead of the magnificent head-plants he was wooing us with earlier.

He got better and better as the day went on until fatigue stopped play, and we headed home safe in the knowledge that he would be sailing out of his first vulcan the very next day........
.....unless, of course we arrived at Centre 2 and there were head-high waves rolling in along the entire length of the beach, which is (obviously) precisely what happened. Yep, conditions were totally un-ideal for vulcans, but, fortunately, they proved perfect for an introduction to wavesailing- perfect for learning to bottom turn and cutback, something which Ville admits he was leaving for the distant future. In the end, despite the disappointment of not finishing our vulcan project, he had a great sail as we blasted along waves together, and probably learnt as much on this day as any other. He was grinning like a cheshire cat when we finally trudged back to the centre to give his gear back after a four-hour waveathon!

He has since reported (from tropical Finland) that he is now right on the verge of sailing away from his first vulcan!

I managed to get a couple of stunts in myself on the last day, before my shoulder pain made sailing impossible again. I´m now planning to take a total break until my next classes in June to give the arm a chance to recover properly, instead of sailing around injured and under- achieving big-time. Hopefully, a few weeks of rest (and SUP) will sort it out and I may still be able to salvage something from this year freesailing-wise. Here are a couple of pics from the Sunday, taken by the lovely Kati...

The Puravidaboardriders Fuerte Windsurf Clinic.

2011-04-28T05:11:00.000-07:00

I´ve finally got enough time to sit down and tell you about the Easter Clinic! On Saturday 16th April, 10 keen windsurfers and their entourage of windsurfing widows, friends and kids all converged on our little island for a week of windsurfing hedonism. After arriving at the airport with 10 tonnes of kit, we whisked them off to their luxury villa in Corralejo, soon to be dubbed "the big brother house". Luckily this year, arrival day was greeted by light winds so the frantic chase around the island in search of wind of last year was not repeated and instead everyone settled into their new pad, enjoying the pool and jacuzzi, and tucking into a BBQ later that evening.
DAY 1.
With the wind forecast to pick up from the SW later that afternoon, the troops headed to Punta where we spent the day at the lagoon on beginners boards and SUPing in scorching sunshine and very little wind. By 5pm most of the gang were burnt enough, so headed back into town, but a few of the diehards, swayed by my unflagging optimism that the wind would eventually come in, hung around for another half hour and were rewarded with a glorious evening session at Punta, 5.3 wind from the left......the stage was set for the following day when the real wind was supposed to arrive!
DAY 2.
As forecast, day 2 dawned with the wind shaking the rooftops and we all headed off to Punta again for an introduction to waves. By the time we got out on the water, the wind had turned a little too west and was very gusty- not ideal, but it was a great day for everyone to have a go in good-sized waves. Everyone coped remarkably well in the 3m+ waves. Today belonged totally to Simon who stepped up to the plate and gave it 100% in his quest to crack the forward loop. His rotation was excellent and he was getting round onto his back straight away, which means he pretty much has it nailed. Well done mate!
With the wind still flukey and the waves getting uglier, an executive decision was taken (by me) to shoot over to Glass for a carve gybe session, something that everyone wanted to improve on. ( A couple of the lads went with Jim to La Caleta where they scored perfect down-the-line wavesailing). We were greeted by mirror flat water and strong cross-off wind- perfect, and everyone got into it and there were some great improvements made by everyone during this session. Tom proved to be a real dark horse here, proving that he didn´t actually need any tuition as his gybes were already better than mine, haha. Ryan also proved to be a smooth model of consistency, effortlessly cranking out gybe after perfect gybe. Check out the bit of video from that session....

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DAY 3.
Day 3, as predicted, dawned windless, and many people opted to spend this "free day" with their families or partners. Not me and Hobbs, though, no siree. I took Si out for his first ever SUP session (see previous posts). Nuff said, one of the highlights of the whole trip for both of us. Here´s the vid again in case you missed it...

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DAY 4.
Day 4 and the wind was still fairly light so I decided to work on tacking with everyone. Many people don´t appreciate how much can be learnt on a big board in light winds, and everybody´s tacking improved tons in this session. Mark and Emmet were tacking like champions, Jim discarded his old hand and foot habits to turn into one of the smoothest tackers I´ve seen, and Chris, too, sorted out his sail change/hand movements and also wooed us with an impressive array of freestyle moves. Wicked! Emily spent the entire session flying along, and showing the boys how it´s done, tacking with style. Even young H was seen blasting back and forth along the beachline, and Sarah pulled off her first heli-tack (on the first attempt). You may notice that our forward-loop king Si Hobbs is absent in this video. This was not because he deemed conditions unworthy, rather that he overindulged the night before, as is usual at least once during his Fuerte trips, and was still asleep fully-clothed at the time....

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DAY 5.
We all had high hopes for day 5, with great waves at Flag and the wind forecast strong NW. Unfortunately, the wind never quite made it as strong as it should have been so most of us were slightly underpowered for most of the time- a real shame as it was bump n jump paradise, with waves up to 2m on all the reefs at Flag. The lighter sailors had a great sail again, though, and Mark (who had never been anywhere near waves like that before) had his best day of the clinic, quickly getting to grips with the conditions and sailing the bigger stuff on the outside reefs with myself. I was buzzing as much as he was to see him out in stuff he never believed he was capable of sailing in. His attitude will get him a long way in this sport, he´s already learning very quickly indeed. Today´s other notable performance was Alan, for his bottom turn on a logo-high wave straight onto the dry rock stacks on the right-hand reef at Flag, and his ensuing escape, through all the barreling waves and lava rocks to be spat out on the beach at the other side. When I got there to help, he was still smiling, though. Hats off to señor Blanco!
In the afternoon, we headed over to Glass for some flat water action, where Emily once again showed everyone how to plane non-stop in light to moderate winds. She pretty much never stopped planing the whole holiday, and is getting closer and closer to her carve gybes now. Keep up the good work, Em.
Jim and Rob went over to Lobos when we headed off to Glass and got a half-decent starboard down-the-line session in the legendary right-hander there which only works a few times a year. Good call.
DAY 6.
With the wind forecast to drop on Friday, another executive decision was made, this time to head down to Sotavento. This paid dividends as the wind increased throughout the day and it turned into a perfect day to finish off those carve gybes. Steve´s gybes became mega-consistent today, Simon cracked one-handed duck gybes (he learnt duck gybes on the last clinic), and Sarah finally bid adieu to her footstrap-phobia- a great accomplishment and a definite milestone in her sailing.
Sailing-wise, that was it for most of the group as they were heading back early Saturday morning. Imagine the mood as we drove them past Flag Beach then, with 2m waves and wind howling for 4.7! Hobbsy almost bailed at the airport to come back with me (I was winding him up a bit though). At 12, the stragglers- Rod, Alan, Sarah and myself were all at Flag, ready for some jumping action. Alan had his best sail ever, I reckon, we cruised together through the sets, out the back and surfed back in on the same waves. What a pleasure for me to sail in "proper" conditions with a friend who I taught to get into footstraps less than two years previously. Rod also made good progress with his port-tack forwards (he has them fully dialled on starboard), until he had to retire injured......
Anyway, check out Al, Rod and myself on this last video snippet (the airport posse may want to look away at this point). A massive thanks to Sarah for sitting on the windswept beach videoing for two hours.

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Well, that was it sailing-wise. Couple all that with 2 BBQs, 2 meals out, a birthday party and video night and loads of other stuff, and you have a pretty action-packed week. I, for one, was exhausted by the end but I suppose I am getting on a bit now......
Once again, I´d like to thank everyone who took part and also congratulate them all for their achievements during our week together. Also a massive thanks to Jim from puravida (http://www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk/ ), and his fantastic wife Tanya, for organising their end and for their invaluable help at this end aswell. Looking forward to the next one already, looking like the end of August.

Clinic Update.

2011-04-26T06:51:00.001-07:00

Well, it´s all over, everyone shipped out on Saturday morning, leaving me to sift through the 5000 photos and hours of video. Once again, the Puravidaboardriders Fuerte Windsurf Clinic was a huge success, despite below-par conditions for April. I will hopefully get a full report on with videos and pics in the next couple of days so watch this space. Thanks to everyone who came along, once again we had a fantastic bunch of people and I can only hope you all enjoyed as much as I did.

Easter Clinic Update...

2011-04-21T11:58:00.001-07:00

So far, so good. Despite a pretty poor forecast, we´ve managed to sail every day but one so far. I´m going to have tons of photos and video to look through before I write up a proper report, so in the meantime check out this short vid of me and Si Hobbs SUPing on the free (windless) day. Si´s first ever go on a SUP so he´s understandably chuffed (and hooked, I reckon).

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Back In Action (then back out again).

2011-04-07T04:36:00.000-07:00

Well, after a 5 week lay off with the shoulder injury (and an ear and chest infection), I finally got back out on the water this week with the boys from SX Watersports www.sxwatersports.com , who came over to spend a week in the warm. Despite the mixed ability levels of the group we managed to score great conditions for everyone, ranging from lightish wind at Waikiki (ideal for Pete and Mo´s tacking classes), to 35 knots at Sotavento where the advanced sailors, Chris and Mike, got to grips with vulcans and 360s, and Mo overcame that formidable hurdle the waterstart. In the wide range of conditions, everyone´s sailing improved noticeably over the week and I think they were a pretty happy bunch as they dragged themselves onto that aeroplane yesterday- shattered! We even managed to get two sessions of SUPing in on day 3 at Majanicho and Rocky Point, in case they weren´t going to be tired enough as it was... The only downside to a fantastic week of good sailing and great craic was that my shoulder tore again on the last day and it´s agony again, so it´s back to the drawing board- physio and rest to try and be OKish for the Easter Clinic next starting weekend, gonna be a close one. A huge well-done to the four lads who literally gave it their all for six consecutive days and I hope they all enjoyed it as much as I did (except for the shoulder bit, obviously)- hope you get some wind soon so you can bust out your new stunts....

Ouch.

2011-03-06T05:57:00.000-08:00

This is what my arm looks like 10 days after my shaka crash. I actually only hit my elbow, so don´t know why the rest of the arm hurts so much. The swelling and bruising have gone down a bit now, and I can lift my arm again. I´m off for an x-ray tomorrow morning but it feels like it´s starting to get better (or it could be the jumbo painkillers), so hopefully I´ll be back in action again in a week or so.

Crocked.

2011-03-03T01:11:00.000-08:00

As I sit here writng this with one finger of my left hand, I am left to ponder the wisdom of sailing with a slight injury. Last Friday, the wind kicked in for Punta and, although I was struggling a bit with ligament damage in the top of my foot, I was determined to get out there. Topped up with painkillers I hit the water where, after only a few minutes, it was obvious that my foot was too painful to sail properly. Instead of just returning to the beach and heading home like a normal person, I carried on, falling on every move as my foot wouldn´t go in the strap enough then BOOM- I crashed a big shaka, landed on my sail with my elbow and destroyed my shoulder! After almost a week (of constant 4.7 weather at Punta, I must add) of continuous pain and discomfort, the blackness and swelling have just started to subside enough today for me to actually get on with stuff. Still can´t lift my arm though.
Anyway, I´ve been using my time to do some videoing at Punta (torture watching from the beach), so should be able to put together some clips of this week at the weekend. I´ll leave you, in the meantime, with a few shots (thanks Tom/Paula) from the last few days at Punta before my "accident". Please send all grapes, chocolates and flowers to the normal address ...

A bit of everything...

2011-02-20T04:17:00.000-08:00

I´ve just got back from a week (in the freezing cold) in the UK visiting friends and family, which was great as always, and while I was away the Fuerteventura Wave Classic was on over here. It looks like once again they had big, big waves but no real wind (pretty typical for February I have to say), which is a shame. They did get some pretty decent video footage though, particularly from Puertito again- it seems as though Yannick was the man of the moment, flying the flag for the local posse. He is definitely the man in waves over here (although you probably haven´t seen much of him as he´s not big into self-promotion and tends to just get out there and do it)- you´ll always find him out wherever the waves are biggest and gnarliest, often alone, and always making it look so easy. Check him out in this short vid...

Fuerte Wave Classic 2011 - Day 10 from ROX Production on Vimeo.

Just before I left for the UK I got my new SUP- a Fanatic Fly 10´, and I had some awesome sessions getting to grips with it. It´s so much fun to be a total beginner at something again. I struggled a little on the first two days due to the wind (I now realise that even the smallest bit of offshore breeze makes it difficult to catch waves on an SUP!), and also due to the fact that I misjudged the size of the waves before going in- 4m is too big for learning, I now know. The last day before I left was amazing though, only me out on the outer reef at Rocky Point, breathless, 25 degrees in shorts, and 2.5m waves. Probably the best surfing I have ever had (not including on a windsurfer obvoiusly!). I am looking forward to more days like this, I would recommend it to everyone.

While I was back, I heard about an indoor wave machine in nearby Gateshead leisure centre and quickly convinced my brother and his kids to book a session together on my last day. What a laugh! We were part of a group of 8 so only really got about 10 minutes each, most of it on a bodyboard in the beginning, but we all got it reasonably dialled in this short space of time (although none of us mastered turning it). My niece, nephew and brother have booked their next one already and will be popping airs and 360s with ease by the time I take my next shaky steps on it, haha. My pa made this short video of our wipeouts, hope you enjoy it...

Looks like some wind is coming for this week so it´s back in the footstraps again, yeehaw. All you people who have been in touch about clinics will be getting emails in the next couple of days, now that I´m back in action so sit tight.
And a last reminder that there are still a couple of places left in our luxury villa for the Puravida Clinic in April which promises to be the best yet. Grab ´em while they´re there....

PuraVida Windsurf Clinic in April!!!!!!!!

2011-01-29T04:51:00.000-08:00

It´s been a while since I posted anything on here, not because of a lack of wind (although we did have a 2 week wind drought over xmas and new year), but mainly because I have been laid low for almost the whole of January with an extreme case of "grippe del hombre" (or man-flu). I´ve felt pretty shitty for the entire month, but am starting to feel better now, and with an epic forecast for next week hopefully I´ll be back and get some pics, news and video back on here again.....
Anyway, the real reason for this post is to let everyone know that the Puravida Windsurf Clinic is now on for April!!! Any regular visitors to the island will know that it is one of our best kept local "secrets" that April is normally the best month of the year here for sailing. It´s not uncommon to sail every single day of the month on sails of 5m and less. For that reason we have organised a clinic for intermediates and above from the 16th-23rd April, 2011. If conditions are typical, we should get everything from flatwater blasting in Waikiki, bump n jump/freestyle at Flag Beach, to full-on wavesailing on the northshore- we´ll just pick our spot for the day depending on abilities and personal goals.
The clinic will be run in very much the same way as the September Clinic
http://gibboinfuerte.blogspot.com/2010/09/puravidaboardriders-fuerte-windsurf.html , with the emphasis on sailing, tuition and FUN with BBQs, meals out and a Saturday night party! The accomodation is in two luxury villas
http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/canaries/c1619.htm . For more details on this not-to-be-missed event, get in touch with myself or Jim at www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk , places are going fast, (one of the villas is full already!), you will most certainly not be disappointed.

Epic Session...

2010-12-27T02:43:00.000-08:00

To top off what has been one of the best Autumn/Winter periods I can remember I scored an epic session at Hierro a few days ago. Trundling along the northtrack on my way to Punta I passed by Hierro to be greeted by the awesome sight of mast-high, perfect sets rolling into this inhospitable spot, with the added bonus in the shape of a flat channel in the middle due to the extra high tide. A couple of friends were rigging and convinced me that it was "doable", so I rigged my 4.7 and, with more than a little trepidation, ventured out for my first ever session here. All I can say is WOW!!!!! The channel made getting out fairly easy (I only had to chicken gybe once!), and you could get some decent ponches and forwards if you timed it well. Once out the back, the sets were lining up constantly and, with only myself and three friends in the water, it was non-stop- wave after perfect wave, fully over powered on 4.7 on the wave but definitely my best sail so far this winter. You can´t beat the thrill of sailing a new spot for the first time, especially when you score it so perfect and with just your friends. A day to remember, thanks to Bob for the photos...

Well, the wind has died off now perfectly coinciding with the arrival of my "xmas friends" who can only look at the photos of the last couple of weeks and pray that the wind-gods send us some similar conditions over the next couple of weeks! The forecast is for some south wind tomorrow so we may get a wee blast at Flag, then I´m hoping we´ll score La Caleta on Wednesday. Let´s hope...

Port Taka...

2010-12-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has been following my blog will know that this summer I became moderately obsessed with learning the taka at Punta. I managed to get some level of consistency in the end on starboard tack and was looking forward to trying them out with wind from the left. Anyway, I´m pleased to report that I´ve had a fair degree of success! I´d love to say that I´ve got takas on both tacks but that would imply some sort of consistency/control, so I´ll just say that I have done takas on both tacks now, haha. Still quite chuffed, though. Anyway, check out this one below caught by the camera of Emmanuelle at Punta, you may have to click on it to see it properly.

This morning I scored a super good fun session at my favourite spot again- small waves, shoulder-to-head high, but great fun starboard tack riding with just two others in the water! Epic. The "real" wind is due on Friday so that was just a wee bonus before the proper wind and waves arrive...

A Few More Pics of Last Week´s Action...

2010-12-15T00:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got the rest of the pics from last week´s sailing at Punta in the southwesterly "storm". The wind has dropped off now, giving me time to heal a broken toe, and is forecast to return with a vengeance on Friday, from the southwest again, so it´ll be back to Punta and/or La Caleta at the weekend. Enjoy the pics...

Windy,windy,windy!

2010-12-12T04:02:00.000-08:00

It´s been a while since I posted anything so you may suspect that there has been a bit of a wind drought over here- au contraire mes amis, we´ve had one of our best winter spells so far and it´s still blowing as I write! Last week we had a bit of a SW storm which brought 35kt winds and a good size swell. La Caleta, Hierro and Punta were the places to be with a couple of decent sessions to be had at Shooting Gallery thrown in for good measure. Photos are filtering in, here are a couple from a day at Punta on my 4.7 Ice and 86 Twin- small waves on this day but great fun with only three in the water and plenty of little ramps about. I should have some more pics up in the next couple of days so watch this space. Oh, and for those of you reading this in the snowbound UK or spanish mainland, it was a cool 30 degrees. Sorry.

Hammered Again!

2010-11-09T06:02:00.000-08:00

Well, got two more days at El Martillo, great sessions indeed although the wave got smaller every day. On day 2 we managed to get a few photos so you can get an idea of the fun to be had at this great spot... no pics of Paul unfortunately, as he trashed (and lost) his sail this day and then missed the last day altogether...

Hammer-Time!

2010-11-04T07:02:00.001-07:00

What a week! I´ve been out for the last five days solid- all on my 86 twin, joy! The first three days were at Punta with 6m waves making it a bit messy to say the least. I used my "local knowledge" to the max and got there early on the last two days to catch high tide when the wave reforms on the inside and cleans up (the first day was a bit hardcore at low tide when the wave tends to barrel when it reaches the outer reef!), making it a great session for jumping and riding. Check out the couple of pics that were emailed to me by an innocent bystander...

Yesterday the wind swung due east and I had an epic session in the morning at Majanicho- three people in the water, 5.3, logo-high waves and straight sideshore. Down-the-line perfection. Today the wind swung more southeast and, after watching all the monkeys trying to catch waves at Majanicho for an hour in flukey offshore wind, I was persuaded by my mate Wieberen to try a new spot called El Martillo (the hammer). Well, I was in for one of the best down-the-line waveriding sessions I´ve ever had- logo to mast-high glassy sets breaking in the middle of nowhere with peaks for aerials (if you had the balls), 25knots and beautiful sunshine. The only downside was the fact that every now and then I´d see almost dry rock in front of my wave when I dropped in on the set ones, a bit hairy but what a buzz! Typically, there was no-one taking photos so you´ll just have to take my word for it. Or you could ask Paul, who broke his UJ on his first wave and spent the best part of an hour getting aquainted with the rock formations on the inside before reaching the safety of terra firma, haha. The forecast is similar for tomorrow so we´ll be back and Paul will be armed with a new mast-foot, ready for revenge...

2010-10-02T01:53:00.000-07:00

This was the beautiful sight which greeted me on my arrival at Punta yesterday (well, obviously my kit wasn´t rigged ready, that was staged....). It was the day I´ve been waiting for all summer, and now I had a brand new Fanatic Twin 86 burning a hole in my van aswell so I was chomping at the bit to get amongst it. A swift phone call to Caroline and she agreed to come along with the trusty video camera to document my first session on my new wave stick! Excellent! She videoed for 40 minutes and I´m pretty stoked with what we got in such a short time...
What can I say, the board surpassed all my (high) expectations- fast and loose, great control on the wave but loose enough to slide around for takas, I LOVE it! Anyone who has been following my blog this year will know that I have been fairly obsessed by learning takas this summer. Yesterday I got more than ever before, even a couple on video, although on small waves- the best one I got, though, I disappeared behind a friend´s sail, aw shucks (check out the vid at the end). Three sails in the water and that happens, oh well, hopefully I´ll get some more video done in the near future and be able to show off my new-found taka skills, haha. For now, I leave you with this short video of Punta yesterday- my first day on my new waveboard. Enjoy....

Christening the 2011 Twin 86l at Punta. from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

First run out...

2010-09-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

I stuck together some footage from the first afternoon of the clinic down in the lagoon in Sotavento to make this short movie of my first session on my new Fanatic Skate 100TE- I´m gonna have some fun on this board this coming year, yes indeedy! It´s not often you immediately feel so at home on a new board, this board feels like it was designed for me- chunky in the tail for endless sliding, flat n fast, I love it already......

PuraVidaBoardriders Fuerte Windsurf Clinic Sept 2010 from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

The PuraVidaBoardriders Fuerte Windsurf Clinic.

2010-09-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

Well, as I mentioned, the PuraVidaBoardriders Windsurf Clinic has just come to an end and what a week we had! It really was an honour and a pleasure to have been involved in this venture with such a great group of people.

I picked everyone up at 12 on Wednesday and, after a brief freshen-up at the apartments, it was straight to the beach for an introductory freesailing session. We sailed at Cotillo for an hour or so, which was probably just right as some of the hardy travellers had been on the go since 4am. The wind was quite gusty but it proved a great introduction to waves for Emily and Chris who had never been in waves before and dealt with the infamously gnarly Cotillo shorebreak with ease. Back to the apartment for a bit of BBQ action and that was that. Day one and smiles all round!

Day 2, the first "proper" day of the clinic, dawned and with the forecast for lighter winds in the north, an executive decision was taken (by me!) to head south to Sotavento and we struck gold! Not only was the wind blowing a steady 20-25kts, the full moon meant that the legendary lagoon was at it´s fullest of the year, meaning we could all sail in thigh-deep warm, flat water together and work on all the different things we wanted in the same place! Imagine a 5 mile long flatwater lagoon where you can touch the bottom everywhere with a force 5-6 blowing across it, oh and 27 degrees! It´s an instructor´s paradise and we spent the next three days making the most of this incredible venue working on everything from waterstarts, short board tacks, planing carve gybes, duck gybes and even a little forward loop preparation (for later), most nights not getting back to the north til after 9pm! We only just made it back in time on the first day for our superb indian platter at Citrus, constantly ringing John on the way back to move our booking back! Cheers John. Check out the lagoon on this clip, beautiful...

With three days´ hard sailing under our belts, it was time to unwind a bit and Saturday night was the perfect tonic. A slap-up meal was followed by some fairly hardcore alcohol abuse, with a couple of the guys getting back at 7am. Check out some of the photos in the slide at the end...needless to say, Sunday was a bit of a wash-out for windsurfing but everyone needed a break anyway. A special mention must go out to Simon at this point for taking hangovers to the next level, being so ill he even missed out on the free meal at La Mamma on Sunday night, cool.

The following day, Monday, and it was back down south again, this time to be greeted by rainclouds and no wind! Undaunted, we set about getting Robin and James, our two "learners" (although I think they are now way past this level...) back out on the water (they´d already mastered cruising the lagoon in force 5+, James even finding time to pose in front of the local beach beauties- check out his photo!) and, while Simon dozed off the remnants of his man-size hangover, we went through heli-tack techniques while the wind was light. The wind picked up a smidgeon in the afternoon and we hit the lagoon again (Simon had roused himself by this point) to practice our new-found heli-tacking skills for an hour or so before hitting the road back. Before we knew it, the last day had dawned and we decided to stay in the north to see if we could score some wave action. After a leisurely afternoon of sun-worshipping, snorkelling and "car-park windsurfing" the wind kicked in right at the death and we scored an hour of jumping at my favourite spot. Everybody raised the bar on this last day- Emily (who had never sailed in waves before) got straight out in good-sized waves and surfed a beauty back to the beach, which we obviously missed with the camera! Chris also was a newcomer to waves and was dealing with Punta like a seasoned veteran, we even squeezed in an impromptu forward loop session at the end- balls of steel that man! The hangover boy Simon was sailing Punta like a local- great, big floaty jumps off the inside ramps, he was ready for our much-talked-about end-of-clinic forward loop lesson when he landed in shallow water and took a big chunk out of his kneecap and his session ended there! He was the unluckiest man on the trip- he was chafed, poisoned (admittedly by alcohol consumption!), had his kit run over,and now injured, just before he was about to nail his first forward, but we still laughed all the way to the airport together the next day. Top man! Anyway, next time he´s out he´ll sail out of a forward no probs.

Well, all that remained was the last night BBQ and prizegiving (thanks to Exreme Animals Fuerteventura for the prizes) and we could almost hear the fat lady singing already- it was all over in the blink of an eye and a fantastic time was had by all. I would definitely say that everyone´s sailing had visibly improved by the end of the week and, perhaps equally importantly, we had a great time doing it.

A massive special thanks goes out to Jim and Tanya of Puravidaboardriders (http://www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk/)( http://thewaveriderswidow.wordpress.com/) for organising the whole episode- you are stars! Also, a huge thanks to the unsung hero Ian Ross of RB Sails (www.rbsails.com/ross-windsurf) , who did as much, if not more, instruction than I did and was invaluble both on and off the water (as always)- you know where I live, pass by for a cuppa anytime, mate....and of course, a great big thank you to my new sponsors Fanatic/North and Nik Baker for providing me with the pimpest and best kit on the beach, awesome.

Hopefully, this is going to be a regular occurence. I for one would love to do this a couple of times per year so watch this space, it´s gonna be much harder to book in time for the next one.....

Rising Star!

2010-09-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, about 18 months or so, I had the pleasure of teaching a wee youngster by the name of Alex Mitchell for a week (mainly forwards as I recall). The post is still on my blog in the archive. Not long after, Alex returned, staying in my house with myself and Caroline and I helped push him on towards much more advanced manouevres (flaka, ponch, spock 540 etc). Well, this year I met up with Alex in July down in Sotavento and sailed with him inbetween classes, and was very impressed with his progress since we had last sailed together. He was down there for a full month training and had wind pretty much every day. Anyway, the end result is that he went back to the UK and kicked ass in the freestyle nationals! Well done, Alex. I wish him every success for the future- you´ll never meet a more grounded, friendly young lad and he deserves to be hugely successful.
Check him out here http://www.boardseekermag.com/features/windsurfers/alex-mitchell-144.html

New Beginnings...

2010-09-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not have noticed by the new background on the blog, I am glad to announce that I have now joined the Fanatic/ North/Ion team! I unveiled the new kit (and christened it) during the PuraVidaBoardriders group clinic which finished yesterday and was a huge success. I am absolutely delighted to be a part of the Fanatic set-up and am looking forward very much to the coming year, after having had the most amazing week with my new kit and some of the best students ever. I will be writng more about the clinic (and my new kit) when I have sifted through the million photos we took during last week... for now, check out the new toys, mmmm.

September Clinic!

2010-08-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

Yeah, there´s just over a week to go til the rescheduled windsurf clinic (bloody ash cloud- remember that?) and there are still a couple of places left. It´s gonna be great fun- windsurfing all day then BBQs, nights out, pool comps and tons more going on. If you need any more info check out the details here
http://www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk/homenew/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118:fuerteventura-windsurf-clinic-21st-april-2010&catid=1:latest-news .

Kit For Sale.

2010-08-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

Neil Pryde Combat Wave 2010:

5.6m - 250 euros

5.om - 280 euros

4.5m - 280 euros

Neil Pryde The Fly 2009:

4.5m - 180 euros

Neil Pryde X-Combat RDM mast:

400 - 220 euros

370 - 220 euros

Oisin, the wind machine.

2010-08-13T11:28:00.001-07:00

Yeah, it´s that time again, my good friend Oisin Van Gelderen came to stay for his annual dose of Fuerte magic last week and, despite an iffy forecast, we managed to sail every day of his stay, every day bar one at his fave spot Punta! It seems that whenever the big guy upstairs spots the name Van Gelderen on the Ryanair passenger list he sends a bit more wind our way.

I always look forward to his visit, it´s pretty much the highlight of my windsurfing year as we motivate each other on the water and devote the entire week to nothing except windsurfing- joy! This year was no exception and Oisin was ripping as usual (from dawn til dusk), making the most of every minute of daylight and consuming outrageous amounts of bocadillos and Red Bull in the process. A fantastic week of pure windsurfing hedonism, looking forward to next year´s visit already!

One-Handed Shaka.

2010-08-12T01:31:00.000-07:00

PWA Freestyle.

2010-07-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

As usual I headed down south to watch the freestyle world cup in Sotavento this week. I went down on Thursday, caught up with a few friends, and caught the first round of competition and a few of the guys warming up for their heats. Like always the windsurfing was super-impressive, even though the wind was a bit on the light side- I had actually been down the week before and sailed with some of the guys and seen what they are capable of in strong winds! Nevertheless the action was tiptop, and it was also noticeable that the number of spectators seemed to be up from previous years, so maybe the organisers will think twice about complaining of a lack of funding and cancelling the womens´event next year...........................
Anyway, here´s some of the action from that day caught on my shaky camcorder with my friend Stefan trying to put me off as much as possible. I apologise for the quality but you get the gist, hope you enjoy it.

PWA Freestyle Sotavento Day 1 from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

All work and no play......................

2010-07-30T05:06:00.001-07:00

........ makes Jack a dull boy. Yeah, despite being real busy this whole summer I´ve still managed to find some time in between training sessions to bust out a couple of moves of my own. Check out the pics below snapped while Pablo and Carlos were having a wee breather on the beach.

Be Happy...........

2010-07-29T14:35:00.001-07:00

Next up were Pablo and Carlos. Tired of blasting back and forth in their native Mallorca they basically wanted to learn anything that would open the door to the next level..........

We spent three days together and I put the boys through hell, haha, we sailed for 5 hours a session and both guys never stopped smiling for one second! They are two of the happiest, easy-going guys I have ever had the pleasure of sailing with- we spent a full session in Sotavento learning vulcans, and they both emerged after some pretty impressive crashes with big grins on their faces. the same at Punta on our last day when we did a forward loop clinic, smiles all round as they got to grips with a real serious manoeuvre! Fantastic!

Well, the good news is they are both well on their way now to the next level of sailing- forwards will be no problem now when they get some decent conditions back in Mallorca in autumn (brrrr, freezin, though) and they have taken their first steps towards freestyle moves with the vulcan. Well done guys. Wish I had a photo of Pablo´s forward loop from Saturday but hey..........

One year on...

2010-07-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the pleasure of spending four days with Pat O´Brien from Cork who I taught to windsurf from scratch pretty much 1 year ago today. Pat has been in touch with myself from time to time and I was aware that he was improving very, very quickly, despite sailing only weekends and whatever freetime he could wangle. The fact is that Pat has come along amazingly in only one year, he taught himself to waterstart and is now starting to get going on a 104 ltr board, excellent stuff!

Well, he came back to me wanting to iron out some stance issues and make headway towards that Holy Grail of shortboard sailing, the carve gybe. We had some pretty challenging conditions while he was here (20-40 kts in Sotavento) but Pat dealt with it admirably and was blasting along down there with the best of them. His stance issues are gone now (see pic) and I´m pleased to report that he sailed out of a great carve gybe on his last day at Cotillo (nasty little shore break aswell), so he´s a happy man and, therefore, so am I.

It´s fantastic to see someone improve so much in such a short space of time- I´m full of admiration, it just shows what you can achieve with a little time and alot of determination. I´m absolutely certain that this time next year we´ll be looping together at Punta! Well done Pat.

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3f4ff2ac

2010-07-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3f4ff2ac

Blast From The Past!

2010-07-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

This week I got an unexpected visit from a good friend of mine, Scotty McDowall from Troon. We sailed together alot when I lived back in the UK- I´d check the forecast and drive the 2 1/2 hours up to the west coast of Scotland to sail (and party)with Scotty and his mates. Great folk, always making me feel welcome up there and showing me where to sail (and teaching me to jump properly, Scott). Anyway, I saw Scotty´s excellent video of his stay in SA http://www.boardseekermag.com/features/windsurfers/scott-mcdowall-122.html , and was well chuffed when he emailed a couple of weeks later telling me he´d booked to come over with the family. I missed half his stay as I was back in the UK but we still managed to sail together on the last couple of days at Glass. I hadn´t seen Scotty for 15 years + and it was magic to get back on the water with him and see that he´s still ripping as much as ever (and still jumping smoother than me). Conditions were very average- pretty flat and flukey wind but we had a blast, just like old times but without the 5/3 winter suits! My friend Bob sent me a couple of shots of the second day, none of Scott though. Oh well, he´s famous enough anyway................

Forward loop part 2- the second coming!

2010-06-23T02:16:00.000-07:00

My friend Thomas from Belgium has just paid a return visit to our little island, his main aim this time being to crack forward loops on starboard. You may remember he came over in April and was a total star, nailing forwards on his more comfortable port tack in record time, eventually sailing away from some big, stalled ones. Awesome.
Well, we got some great wind but, unfortunately, at the start of the week it was all northerlies so we sailed Glass and Sotavento with wind from the left. On these days we worked on carving 360s(and one-handed 360s!), heli tacks and spin loops off chop, all of which he typically learnt with ease (although I´m sure he´ll have scars on his shins forever now from the 500 360s on the first day at Glass!).
For the last two days the wind turned northeast and we headed over to Punta for the much-awaited forward sessions. Despite being fairly doubtful as to his chance of success due to never having even jumped on starboard before, we built up to it and eventually did two hours on the last day of full-on forward looping, resulting in Thomas waterstarting out of four decent forwards and sailing away dry from a fantastic one right towards the end of the day! Once again, incredible progress in such a short space of time and proof that commitment is the key to learning any manoeuvre-we sailed for an average of four hours every day and Thomas never wilted at any time, always listening and giving 100%. It was great to sit on the beach at Punta on the last day and watch Thomas cruise out, pop a forward then carve a planing 360 on the face of a wave then head out back to helicopter tack, smiles all round......... hopefully I´ll have some pics and maybe even some video to put up soon but the forward loop, especially the last, perfect one will have to remain as a memory as we weren´t filming at all that day. Good times.
I´ll leave you now with a short vid that Thomas put together of his second day in April, remember two days earlier this guy had never tried a forward in his life, enjoy...........

Final preparations..........

2010-06-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a friend´s wedding on the mainland, still recovering from the excesses of a week´s partying! Still, managed to get a nice little sesh in at Glass this afternoon- 25kts, logo high sets, it certainly helped to wash away the post-hol blues!

The day before I left we got some pretty good sailing at Punta and it was evident that the boys are gearing themselves up for the upcoming Get High Or Die Sequel. Everyone was going big and trying new stunts, good to watch. I sailed rubbish so took to the rocks with my camera and got some good pics of Willis punishing himself with repeated double attempts, check out the sequence below.....

Hats off to that man! We are keeping an eye on the forecast now and the competition is imminent, hopefully in the next couple of weeks so watch this space.................

Ash Cloud Sessions.

2010-05-21T04:07:00.000-07:00

Well, the wind has been good to us over the past week, even if the dreaded ash cloud has been busy keeping everyone away from our shores (it´s certainly been quieter on the water, which is not bad news for the locals!). A few days of good strong northeasterlies saw some good days at Punta with some epic evening sessions to be had at Cotillo with the falling tide. Young Willis was ripping there last week, landing goiters back on the wave (at last) and pulling off effortless takas on the clean head-high waves. My takas at Punta are getting more consistent now I´m pleased to report- it´s taken a while but I´m pretty much there.

For the last few days the wind turned north so we had some nice sessions at Glass in small waves. I think I mentioned in a previous post the versatility of the modern freestyle boards and to prove it I enlisted Gibson senior, who is here on his hols, to shoot some pics of me sailing my JP 98l Freestyle in the waves at Glass yesterday. These boards really are great fun to sail in almost any conditions, and are a very handy tool indeed for those small wave days when you just want to get out there and do a bit of everything- I really can´t recommend them enough!

The wind has finally dropped off a bit now so it´s time for some much needed R n R with the parents....................

Better late than never.

2010-05-02T03:45:00.000-07:00

Well, at last the wind has arrived! One of the worst Aprils I can remember has been partially saved by a week of wind. Strong N-NE means Punta, Cotillo and Glass have all been working great. I spent 3 days with Dave, Barry and Paul fron the emerald isle, who were lucky enough to arrive at the same time as the wind (and just after the dispersal of the dreaded volcanic ash!).

We got some great sessions in, two at Punta as an intro to wavesailing, one at Flag and a full day down south to tweak those carve gybes. It was great to see the boys progress as the week went on, both in technique and confidence in the big stuff at Punta. Conditions there were fairly challenging with 20+ kts and 3m waves, but the lads got to grips with it and were all comfortably flying with the rest of us by the end of the last day.

The wind is still blowing as I write this so I´m off to Punta to (hopefully) finally crack the taka. I´ve been getting much closer to getting them consistently and yesterday was my best day yet, sailing out of 6 clean ones so I´ve got high hopes for today (just cursed it right there, I reckon). Maybe I can get someone to hold of the camera for a bit, hint hint. I´ll leave you with a few pics I took of Machel and Jaume from yesterday while I was having a much-need time-out...........

Forwards, forwards...............

2010-04-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

Just had a fantastic few days with the two Thomases from Belgium, who came over with the intention of mastering that old devil, the forward loop! Despite being probably the worst April I can remember on the island for wind, we scored three good days at Punta with SW wind (port tack, which proved ideal for the Thomases as that´s what they mainly sail at home). The boys had a good level of sailing already and were incredibly motivated to learn forwards. Their motivation and commitment meant that they both cracked it in record time, despite having never even attempted one before. Within an hour of the start of their first sessions, they had pulled it off and waterstarted away from their first ever forwards, opening a whole new avenue of pleasure to their windsurfing! I had one extra session with Thomas 1 (the other one went kitesurfing, grrrrrr), and he was pulling them high and clean by the end of day 3. As a coup de grace at the end of the day, he nailed an ankle-dry, mast-high stalled forward right in front of me, awesome. I reckon he´s still grinning now.

Well done to both the boys, proof that it can be mastered in no time at all with the right attitude! I´ll leave you with a clip of Thomas 1 on his first run on day 2...........

Epic Sessions

2010-03-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

I love this time of year over here! In the past week I have had some amazing sailing. La Caleta (shared with Bill, on a clinic) a great down-the-line sesh and super lucky to get out at just the right time for the wind and waves- I think Bill will remember that one for quite some time. Port-tack and logo high with perfect wind for 5.2, wicked. Then on Sunday I watched the Fuerte Wave Classic at Bristol, some great waveriding going down, check out their pics on the web www.fuertewaveclassic.com/2010/ . At 4pm, with the wind still NNW I decided to have a sail myself and went over to Lobos where I scored one of the best starboard tack riding sessions I´ve had in years- and only 4 other people out! Today was Flag, perfect head to logo sets for jumping and riding on the reef, loads of stunts from some very talented local boys, another incredible day to rememeber. I love this place! This weekend looks like Punta will be the place with strong NE and medium swell, but I´ll miss it as I´m back in the UK for my birthday bash. Oh well, you´re only 21 once..............................

The Storm Before The Calm..............

2010-02-24T01:46:00.000-08:00

Well, the storm has passed completely now, and we are left with clear blue skies and total calm again, time for a wee breather. I reckon the northeasterlies will be along pretty soon to signal the start of spring (probably the best season here for wind and waves) so I´m going to rest this aching old body now (at the beach, haha) in preparation! In the meantime, check out some pics I got from the last day of SW wind at Punta.......

Air Flaka.

2010-02-21T15:57:00.001-08:00

I´ll huff n I´ll puff......................

2010-02-21T05:50:00.000-08:00

Check this out- on Wednesday night the storm we´d been expecting built to almost hurricane level (the second time in two years that this has happened, definitely feeling the climate change!). During the night, the wind got so strong it blew the roof of our apartment block and deposited big chunks of it through the shop windows and on top of the parked cars in the front street! The town was pretty well flooded on Thursday morning and there was a lot of storm damage around, and the wind was still howlin´! A few people managed to get out sailing at Rocky Point again later in the day when the wind dropped, but they were still pretty overpowered on 3.7s and 4.2s by the looks of things, more survival than classic sailing. I was kept busy at emergency community meetings etc, trying to sort out the slight waterproofing problem that some of my neighbours are now faced with!
Anyway,looks like the wind will drop a bit and should get a good session in at Punta or La Caleta before it disappears for good, watch this space, hopefully I´ll get some pics...........................

Stormy Waters.

2010-02-16T02:53:00.000-08:00

The storm is upon us! Sunday was great port-tack Punta with smallish waves (see pics), great fun for both jumping AND riding. The pics are of my wee mate Victor who was rippin that day. Hopefully it´s his turn to hold the camera for a while today.................

Yesterday the wind swung more true west so the action shifted to Rocky Point, with logo high sets and winds gusting up to 35 knots. A bit chaotic but good stuff nevertheless, the bigger sets were a bit choppy on the face but the smaller ones cleaned up nicely on the inside for some sweet down-the-line riding. No pics unfortunately as the action was a bit far away.

Today is looking windy again and could be good at Punta or La Caleta if this bloody rain ever stops! Watch this space...........

Pumpin´...........

2010-02-06T05:22:00.000-08:00

It´s been a great week here on Fuerte- last Friday and Saturday saw strong SSW winds, perfect jumping and port tack riding at Punta Blanca in head-high waves- bliss! Punta is sooo good with wind from the left, it´s so clean and well-spaced, total joy. On the way back home after my session there I passed by "german right" and I have to say it was going off there with some of the local wave rippers getting some great rides and big aerials in mast-high perfection! Great to watch............

Yesterday was absolute perfection (for me) in Majanicho- head to logo-high sets and perfectly sideshore eastwind. So many times here the wind has too much south in it and is too offshore but yesterday was primetime Majanicho. The wind was pretty fickle on the inside so I took my 5.6m Combat Wave and the 98l Freestyle and had an epic session! Don´t be mislead by the name "freestyle", these boards are just incredible fun to sail in just about any conditions, NOT just for freestyling! With a 19cm fin in it turns just great and for aerials it´s probably even easier than with the waveboard as it keeps up speed and has more surface area to launch off the lip. Everyone should have one of these boards in their van!

Today the forecast was good but the wind was probably a bit lighter and the swell was pumpin´! A couple of the lighter guys tried their hands, wobbling out and catching some huge set waves for a while before the wind died altogether(see pics), cool to see. On the way back this morning I stopped off at Lazy´s where a couple of guys were surfin some nice, powerful head-high barrels and took some more pics, check em out in the slideshow............

Spring Clinic!!!!!!!

2010-01-16T05:54:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, happy new year and all that.
The Xmas period saw some good sailing over here, only a few days but very good when the wind was here. The best days were just after New Year at Flag Beach, with northwesterly winds and a good swell for some epic port tack jumping sessions. No pics unfortunately as the action was a bit far out to sea, but loads of decent stunting going down, total carnage, I love it!
On the clinics front, I am doing a week-long clinic the last week in April in conjunction with PuraVida Boardriders, which is going to be a blast. We will be providing accomodation, transport, tuition, entertainment and catering and, of course, LOADS of time on the water. April is traditionally one of the best times of the year over here for wind and waves, so it should be great! For the complete lowdown on the clinic check it out on the website here http://www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk/ . If anyone is interested they can get in touch with me through my email gibboinfuerte@yahoo.co.uk or Jim on the PuraVida site. Definitely one for the diary.

Dec 09 Windsurfer International Magazine Issue 04

2009-12-23T05:18:00.000-08:00

Dec 09 Windsurfer International Magazine Issue 04

2009-12-14T04:03:00.000-08:00

I´ve just finished sticking together some footage that we got during the summer when I was teaching at the lagoons, messing around on the "big stuff". Apart from meeting some great people this year, my clinics have also helped me rediscover the joy of just windsurfing, something that is easily forgotten in the quest for progression and the search for ideal conditions. Some of my best days this year were spent on big boards in light winds with good friends just having fun, exactly what windsurfing is all about.
Although the title of this video is "light-wind freestyle", the majority of it was actually shot in a force 5, a bit on the windy side for light-wind freestyling, but great fun. Thanks to Nick for the videoing (wellaye), the legendary Mick Coffey for the background sailing, and Daisy the waterbulldog for her four-legged freestyle antics, and especially thanks to everyone who came on my clinics this year- hopefully you all had as much fun as I did, see you next year!
Enjoy the video.............

Light Wind Freestyle Summer 2009 from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

It´s not windsurfing but...............

2009-12-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

Another week of light winds but I had a great week riding flatland with my two good friends from Germany, Steavy and Ollo. We always have a blast when they come over and this visit was no exception, still trying to shake off Friday´s hangover. Anyway, check out these pics of our night session, snapped by Gregor- tricky to ride in the dark but great for photos.......

Virtual Windsurfing anyone?

2009-11-27T05:58:00.000-08:00

I took the opportunity of strapping on a helmetcam (thanks, Marcus!) during last weeks storm and shot some video of the action at Punta, while I was trying out the new Twinser 82l and my new Combat Waves. This video was shot entirely with the camera "up top" to hopefully give you the same feeling I have while I´m out there having fun. Hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it...................

2010 Kit First Impressions from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

Still windy!!!!!!

2009-11-10T16:07:00.000-08:00

Yeah, the wind´s still blowin hard and Punta has had huge waves every day. Not the greatest sailing conditions as the swell gets a bit messy there at low tide when it´s so big but still great fun for jumping if you can manage to keep out of trouble! I have borrowed a helmetcam from a mate and have done a couple of hours of filming over the past couple of days. Faceshredder Kev was there yesterday and took some photos while I was stunting with the camera on and here they are. I´ll be editing the helmetcam footage over the next few days as the wind is forecast to drop for a week or so now.............................

Punta today, wind at last!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-07T08:27:00.001-08:00

At last some wind and a chance to try out he new kit! Punta was howlin northeast when I arrived at 11.30, but the wind swung east, not ideal for jumping but pretty good for riding. I have to say that the new Twinser Wave 82 rocks! Check out a couple of pics from today´s session........................

HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-03T14:51:00.000-08:00

Still no wind to speak of, which was just as well on Sunday as I was suffering with a hefty halloween hangover which would have made sailing a trifle tricky! We had a great night in Corky´s Bar, loads of people in full fancy dress as always, and too much tequila but, hey, you´re only young(ish) once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Combat time!!!

2009-10-24T07:26:00.000-07:00

The good news is my 2010 sails have arrived. The bad news is that the long wind drought on Fuerte continues. Still not a breath of wind, great for the surfers but frustrating as hell for us. The forecast is bleak with another 7 days of nada!

I did manage to get out last night at 6pm for a quick session on Lobos which was fun but certainly not epic, still, nice to get wet on something smaller than 200 litres for a change.

Can´t wait to test out the new sails, they look amazing and, by all accounts, are. They are very light but look superbly strong with tons of reinforcing in the critical zones so should last great (forever if the wind stays like this).

Finished it at last...............

2009-10-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

Yeeha, I finally finished editing the headcam movie and here it is. We shot the footage over two weeks at the beginning of August when my good friend Oisin was over. The original plan was to make a joint video but we really have been too busy (me windsurfing and him stuck in a boat/windsurfing!), so we split the honours and Oisin is busy working away on his as we speak. The footage was mainly shot in Punta with 5m sails and head-high waves, with a few days on flat water and 4.5s in Sotavento (while all the local waveheads were waiting in total calm for wind in the north! That´s 15 years of local knowledge, haha), great stuff. All in all, superb fun shooting the footage and, as always, supermotivating and inspiring to spend two weeks sailing with the Irish legend, Oisin. Also, educational as I never realised the full variety of facial expressions I pulled while sailing. Enjoy...................

Headcam action, August 2009. from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

The Isle Of Tranquility.

2009-10-18T01:49:00.000-07:00

It´s been a while since I posted anything, mainly because there has been zero wind now for 5 weeks or so! In that time, I have sailed 2 half-hour sessions at Punta and that´s it. Thankfully, I´ve been superbusy with windsurf classes and clinics and have been sailing, albeit in light winds, almost every day so at least I´m getting out there. I have been messing around on the big boards trying to learn some new lightwind freestyle tricks (inspired by young Stefan and Tuempelsurfer!) and have had some great fun days spinning and falling in, haha. I´ve even got the dog into it- Daisy loves a spin round the lagoons now.....Sometimes it´s good to remind ourselves that it´s all supposed to be pure fun and sailing in a pair of shorts in the blazing sun on a longboard with some friends is still windsurfing and really can be great fun. I will do some video soon (if the wind doesn´t pick up!) so you can have a laugh................I also have just finished editing my "summer" video, the helmet cam movie which should be on here by tomorrow or Tuesday so check it out!!!!!

2009-09-18T14:00:00.001-07:00

Who says you can´t teach an old dog new tricks?.............................

Boys n toys..............

2009-09-14T10:46:00.001-07:00

Well, they´re here at last, the 2010 JP boards have arrived!!!!!!!! This is my quiver of boards for the coming season. This year I will be using the 98 litre Freestyle Pro and the 84 litre Twinser Wave Pro. I have already had one session on the 98l and was amazed! It planes alot earlier than my freestyle board from last year (partly due to the fact that last year I was using the slightly heavier construction), even with my small (17cm) fin. The main thing I noticed when sailing was that the volume distribution seems to have been shifted slightly aft, making the tail more buoyant than last year- brilliant for heavier guys like myself. My manouevres were nice and clean and more controlled than before, even after just 15 minutes on the board! The other difference is the new deck shape, contoured to fit your feet! The ride was amazingly comfortable, and landings from big shakas, which can sometimes be a touch on the heavy side(!?), were much lighter and less of an impact! All in all, first impressions are fantastic- I was expecting to be blown away by this board as my last year´s board was the best freestyle board I had ever set foot on and I knew the Pro model would be even better, but it has already surpassed my expectations! Can´t wait to get out there again!

2009-09-09T04:50:00.000-07:00

Well, the blog has been fairly quiet but I haven´t! The summer trades are tailing off now but I´m still pretty busy with clinics, alot of beginners´courses at the lagoons in Cotillo too!
Last week was an intermediate (chophop and carve gybe) clinic with Stephen Keane from Dublin. The wind was looking flukey in the north so we (I) made the executive decision to head down to Sotavento for strong wind and flat water. When we arrived on the first day I was surprised to see perfect head-high rollers breaking all along the sandy beach with 25kts! Perfect for wavesailing (and ponches- see vid)......................

Mast tip ponch from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

.............but not so perfect for our carve gybe clinic! In the end, it worked perfectly as an introduction to wavesailing for Stephen, who quickly got to grips with the conditions (amazingly so as he had never sailed in waves before and the conditions were tricky to say the least), growing noticeably in confidence over the next few days.

To cap off a fantasic week he sailed out of his first ever planing carve gybe on the last day and did his first (pretty high) chophop! I´d say he´s still smiling now, back in rainy Ireland, haha!

A short taster............

2009-08-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

As I may have already mentioned, Oisin is busy at home now editing the hours of footage we got using the GoPro HeroCam. In the meantime, here is a short clip to give you an idea................................

2009-08-15T03:34:00.000-07:00

As promised, a few pics of the action from last week at Punta..............

The Last Two Weeks!!!!!!!

2009-08-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well, that´s it, Oisin is on his way back to Ireland and I´m knackered! We managed to sail every day except the last one and once again Oisin motivated and inspired me as he always does!
We have hours of video taken from all angles on the GoPro helmet cam and it is now up to Oisin to edit it all into a movie, good luck mate.
I will post up a load of photos over the next couple of days but for now here is a short clip of vid that was taken on one of the last days at Punta. Oisin convinced me that I could do one-handed shakas so I went out and punished myself for the camera (Will was most amused by the variety of splendid crashes that ensued!), and after a few disastrous first attempts I started to get closer and closer to landing one, which I eventually did, landing a clean, dry one when Oisin was doing a panoramic sweep of the bay with the video camera. Typical! Anyway, I got a couple of shady ones on video and the next day landed quite a few dry when we weren´t filming. Check out the bit of vid below and watch this space for when I eventually get a decent one on camera..................

First day of one handed attempts....... from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

Another week with Alex.

2009-08-05T04:48:00.000-07:00

Just had another fantastic week with young Alex Mitchell, he's been three times now and I have to say he is learning and improving at a phenomenal rate! Once again we were blessed with perfect winds- 6 days from 6 with 3 days at Punta concentrating on freestyle and jumping and then 3 days in the south for high wind freestyle.
At Punta we had great allround conditions sailing on 4.5s and 5s with 2-3m waves and Alex is getting closer and closer to that elusive first backloop! His forwards are now supersmooth (he learnt those in his first clinic!) and he's even landing planing and looking like he may even be ready to launch himself into doubles soon!
At Sotavento we wanted to clean up his spocks, make them more fluid and consistent. By the end of the third day he was getting about 4 from 5, compared to the 1 from 10 he was getting when he arrived. I then made him concentrate on one-handers and 540s which he very quickly learnt and became consistent at. Moving quickly on we switched to ponch training on the last day (he had never tried one but can flaka fairly consistently now (clinic no.2!), and he managed to pull one on his second try! He got some great ponches after that and, although he is yet to sail away cleanly, can now consider it another trick in his bag! Well done once again that lad- definitely a name to watch out for in the (very near) future............
I apologise for the lack of pics and vid but we were far too busy sailing, haha. Got my good friend and fellow JP/Neil Pryde teamrider Oisin Van Gelderen here at the moment, though and we are getting some amazing stuff on the GoPro helmetcam so watch this space..............

Photo round up of the last week's action....

2009-07-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

Grubby anyone?

2009-07-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

This past week I have had a one-on-one clinic with Markus who came to learn grubbies and polish up his forward technique. We were once again blessed with ideal conditions (although it was even a bit too windy a couple of days at Punta!). Markus made great progress with the grubby, so nearly sliding his way out of a perfect one on his second last day! He will nail it in days when he gets back to Germany, I'm sure.
He learnt forwards only recently and was landing pretty wet so wanted to get his landings better. We spent two full days working on his rotation and trying to get a more lateral spin, which worked a treat and by the end of the week he was sailing away dry with a huge grin on his face- I love this job, haha.............

A lesson to us all............

2009-07-15T03:08:00.000-07:00

Katie Mcanena just spent a week over here to learn to loop and she has chronicled her success in a short vid shot at Punta. Check it out- she was incredibly motivated and learnt very quickly after a minimum of instruction. I had to point out only the tiniest of details and she took it straight on board, ignoring the painful first few wipeouts and progressing superquickly! By the end her rotation was really sweet and she was evn stalling them- what a legend! Let this be a lesson to you all- if you can commit yourself like Katie did, you can achieve a huge amount in a very short space of time............

Katie McAnena looping in Fuerte! from Katie McAnena on Vimeo.

The same week, I had my good friend Kev Bambra over from the UK. We had some pretty good conditions for the whole week (see Katie's vid!) and Kev was in pieces by the end, haha, check out his hands in this photo!!!!!!!! Kev is a drummer with up-and-coming new hardcore band Faceshredder and garage punk legends The Coyote Men and has a busy schedule of gigs when he gets back home- ouch!!!!!!!!!

On the topic of injuries, my good friend, young shredder Stefan Ploum (Kauli), who has been on the island since February honing his skills (and improving very quickly, incidentally), broke his foot in two places a couple of days ago crashing a big forward and will now have to return home to his native Holland for an operation,cutting short his stay by six weeks or so and missing the summer trades. Bummer. He'll be back soon, though, and hopefully he'll have a video for me to post up soon (he's got alot of time on his hands now!). Best of luck, mate, see you soon.........

Punta today..........

2009-07-12T11:04:00.001-07:00

Punta rocks!!!

2009-07-12T03:08:00.000-07:00

In between my teaching I've been managing to get a bit of sailing in for myself this week. The waves have been pretty small at Punta but at low tide conditions have been awesome for jumping and freestyle. I'll have some nice photo sequences up in the next couple of days, for now check out my latest move for my "tricktionary"- the grubby diablo!

Grubby Diablo from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

Straight From The Horse's Mouth.

2009-07-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

This is what Mark had to say about his experience in Fuerte...................The challenge was to see if me, my wife Niamh and our 17 month old baby girl Kayla could have a top notch family holiday combined with a few days of proper wave sailing – surely impossible? Now we get pretty good conditions at home, so the deal was I was only going to sail if it was as good, or better, than what we get here.

On the advice of Oisin van Gelderen, on an Irish forum, I got in contact with Stephen Gibson, who is a JP/Neil Pryde sailor based in Fuerte (http://gibboinfuerte.blogspot.com/), where he also has a restaurant, to arrange some coaching/ a clinic. (He also has a thread here http://www.boards.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=25030 ). I wanted a laid back approach where I’d only go sailing on a solid forecast in the right spot, minimising time wasted driving around the place. I emailed him about two months ago and he couldn’t have been more helpful, was cool with our plans and gave advice on what to bring etc.

As you can’t get direct to Fuerte from my local airport we flew to Lanzarote, rented a car and got the ferry (Didn’t get charged for bringing my gear on the plane which was sweet.) We got a good deal on a really nice hotel at the edge of Corralejo near the big beach. My wife was able to go running out to the big hotels every morning at 7am, so she was really happy.

On Sunday 21st we called into Stephen’s restaurant in Corralejo (called Gibson’s http://www.fuerteventura.com/gibsons/index.shtml ), and discovered that he is a great chef, and one of the nicest guys you can meet. We tried a few other places other nights but kept going back to Gibson’s as it was the best we found in the town. One night we were eating in the restaurant and our little girl was acting up and Stephen came out and entertained her while we ate our dinner – totally cool guy.

Anyway, on to the important bit: windsurfing. I arrived on the 20th June and it looked like the trades were kicking in. I could have sailed three days the start of that week on 5.6 and maybe 5.0 at Glass beach. Waves were small, so I decided to hang on until it really kicked in (remember this is a family holiday so only looking for quality conditions). Big mistake. The forecast turned horrible with five days of no wind. I was getting a bit antsy and it looked like things were going to go pear shaped. I actually felt bad for Stephen as every time we called in he was apologising that the trades hadn’t kicked in. Then the forecast showed wind for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July. I decided to do a looping clinic on the 1st and the 3rd and go free sailing on the 2nd.

1st July – Warm Up at Punta Blanca

We had a nice warm up day on the 1st at Punta Blanca – 5.6 weather. I had never been there before and it is a cool place to sail – amazing for jumping. The drive from Corralejo is funny, with a fair bit of dirt track.

There is volcanic rock everywhere and a tiny patch of sand. A bit like sailing on the moon. At low tide you walk out across the volcanic rock and chuck your gear into the water and jump in. Even with little swell, the place throws up big steep ramps. There wasn’t enough wind for looping so we canned the clinic and just sailed.

2nd July – Down the line at Lajos

On the 2nd the wind looked more Northerly so Stephen made the call to head down the east side of the island. Glass beach was busy so we drove down to Lajos, a point break, close to Puerto del Rosario, about 20 mins from Corralejo. There is no way I would have found the place without the local knowledge and it rocked. Boom to head high waves, powered up on 5.0 cross, to cross off wind. All local sailors plus me. A really sweet session at a really cool place.

3rd July – Forward Friday at Punta

I really wanted to learn something so we decided to head to Punta Blanca on Friday, my last day for a clinic on forwards. Arrived to see 5.0 weather with some nice ramps. The higher tide meant we could launch from the beach, which was a bit of a novelty.

This was the day I did a clinic and it began with a quick discussion by Stephen about technique. The clinic was one to one which I found perfect for learning, particularly in a short space of time. I have been trying loops for about a year without much success – lots of back splatting.

We went out and I went for one off a small wave with him sailing really close behind me.

We then sailed back and he corrected my technique. I went for a good few more off small waves, always with him sailing close behind me. After I had crashed he’d usually do a forward correctly right in front of me (or a push or back loop). Not sure if this was by design, but I found this really motivating.

After about 45 mins of practice he reckoned my technique was good enough to go off proper ramps. We sailed out, again with him behind me and I went for it off a boom high ramp, got proper rotation. Wow, what a nice feeling. Jump. Pause. Stomach flip. Splash down with all of the gear pointing the right way.

I felt like I was making real progress, but was getting tired. Doing a loop attempt on every run takes it out of you. We free sailed for a bit and then took a break. At this point I managed to get the hire car stuck in the sand. Thanks to Paul for towing me out.

After the break we resumed but I was back at the beginning. Embarrassing attempt:

The wind had picked up and I went for several but wasn’t getting decent rotation. I started to get a bit pissed off and we had a bit of a chat. Stephen pointed out that I was sailing a bit downwind for the good ramps. I sailed out behind him and he pulled one and I did one right after him. Much better:

After that I was in the groove with perfect ramps lining up on every run. I think I pulled three big (for me!) loops in a row with the board landing right underneath me. I know there are still things to be worked on but I am way closer after just a half days instruction.

Totally stoked. This was one of the best days sailing I ever had. I actually found it hard to sleep that night.

In short probably one of the best holidays we’ve had (my wife would have given it a 10, except the baby cried the whole 3 ½ hours home on the plane) plus some really good wave sailing, with Friday the 3rd July being one of my all time sessions. If you want to have a really nice family holiday combined with learning with one to one coaching then I recommend getting in contact with Stephen Gibson and going to Fuerte. I am going back next year to learn push loops.

Pretty stoked, I reckon.................

The summer begins!!!!!!!!

2009-07-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Well, the wind is here and my summer of windsurfing clinics has begun in earnest! Last week was a forward loop clinic with Mark from Cork in Ireland and once again I have to say it was a huge success! We managed to score a couple of good days including a great waveriding session at Puerto Lajas, but the best was definitely saved for last. On his last day we rocked up to Punta and the forward loop fun began. Mark already had an idea of what he was trying to do, and, after we tweaked his technique on the water, he was spinnig like a madman, hurling himself off every available ramp. His rotation was supersmooth after about an hour and by the end of the session he was landing with the sail out of the water and soooooo nearly sailing away!! Big respect to the fella- he gave it his all and was totally fearless, reaping the rewards for his great efforts- well done, mate! All in all, we had a great laugh and I can only hope Mark enjoyed it as much as I did- I love teaching forwards- they've got to be the most rewarding clinics I do, great stuff!!!!

What a week!!!!

2009-06-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a week! I've just finished a full week of teaching with Pat O'Brien from the emerald isle and we had our fair share of action despite the fairly light winds for the week. Pat was a complete beginner and the conditions were absolutely perfect- Pat proved to be an amazing student and, despite the mishaps and accidents that befell us during the week( van smashed up by an articulated lorry, keys locked in borrowed van etc, you know, all the usual stuff, haha), progressed at an amazing rate, mastering all the basics in the first two sessions and quickly moving on to quick tacks and gybe variations, clew-first sailing, and using the harness. Well done that man! He is now back at home in Ireland with his shiny new windsurf kit watching the trees blowing through his office window and waiting for the weekend, I bet! All in all another huge success for all involved and great fun. See you next year, Pat?

Becalmed..........

2009-06-07T05:08:00.000-07:00

As is pretty typical for the start of June, the wind has been pretty light for the last couple of weeks. I scored a couple of good freestyle sessions in the south when there was no wind up here (local knowledge, haha) but, apart from that, there has been very little windsurfing action. I have been getting wet most days though, as I am teaching Caroline (again) and she is coming on in leaps and bounds now- look out world! Hopefully she'll be in tiptop shape in time for next year's Get High Or Die!
I have a free week now and then I am going to be busy for most of the summer with clinics so there should be plenty to report. For now, check out the latest move for my tricktionary, the double flaka. As usual, a full how-to will follow very shortly..........

Double Flaka from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

Carlsberg?

2009-06-01T01:40:00.000-07:00

CARLSBERG DON'T MAKE BEACH SIGNPOSTS, BUT IF THEY DID........................................

PROBABLY THE BEST SIGNPOST IN THE WORLD.