Hammered Again!

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!

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...

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...

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.

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!

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...

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!

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.

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.

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.

PWA Freestyle.

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

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

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...

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

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

Blast From The Past!

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