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

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.

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

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.

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´...........

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!!!!!!!

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

Dec 09 Windsurfer International Magazine Issue 04

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

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?

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!!!!!!

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!!!!!!!!!!!

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!!!!!!!!!!!

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!!!

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

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.

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!!!!!