Ash Cloud Sessions.

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.

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

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

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

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.......