Flat water cruising..

After a few good days of waves at Glass it went flat but remained windy so I had a day on my freestyle kit, filming some old school freestyle moves for the DVD. Some of those tricks I haven't tried in about 10 years but I wanted to stick them on the DVD as they are great fun (and pretty easy) to learn compared to the new school freestyle stuff. I had great fun cruising around and busting out willy skippers, push tacks and backwind gybes and I made a little edit of some of the stuff I don't need for my video. Check it out...

Ponch (video)

I knew I wouldn't be able to resist! All that ponch footage lying around from my session at Glass filming for my instructional DVD, it seemed such a shame to waste it. I'd said to Lucy I wanted to get two decent ones on camera for my video but it ended up being so perfect for ponches (and air flakas and forwards) that I just kept going and, after landing a couple of nice one-handers, eventually started trying them no-handed. CRASH!!!!!! Great fun though, and great to share a session like that with Will Ward and Oisin Van Gelderen, spurring each other on like the good ol' days...enjoy.

Summer's here...

It certainly does feel like summer has truly arrived with the first true strong northerlies and great conditions at Glass for the last few days. The waves were good for the first couple of days, although not particularly big, but they have dwindled to nothing now so I'm looking forward to the wind turning NE tomorrow and heading back to Punta for some starboard. On the downside, crowding was an issue which is a bad sign this early in the season and it also seems that Glass Beach has become an en vogue k***surfing spot- I counted 38 windsurfers and 10 kites out on Friday while I was videoing Lucy. When it gets that busy I just grab my freestyle board and go jumping on the point and let the masses fight with each other (see previous post). Here are a few pics from the wave session before it got mega-crowded...

Poncharelli.

No, I'm not about to write a post about the cheeky Mexican traffic cop from the 70s series C.H.I.P.S, it was jus a lame attempt at a title regarding the ponch session I had at Glass yesterday. Awesomwe fun. I had my good friend Oisin over for the first time in way too long and we had a wavesailing session in the morning then an hour of jumping- ponches and air flakas mainly, when it got too busy on the point. I'm still busy collecting video footage for my instructional DVD so was lucky enough to get some on camera which I may make into a short vid in the near future and stick on here. It was great fun blasting out to the point and smacking the perfect ramps. I got some really nice one-handers so decided to try them no-handed- took a couple of attempts to get the courage to get both hands off mid-ponch but when I did I was surprised to land very close to the boom! I didn't claim any yesterday but I got one when I took off my back hand then my front hand but subconsciously grabbed the boom again with the back hand so it was never truly one-handed. I reckon it's doable though. God bless my titanium hip....In the meantime, I took some frame grabs from the video footage and three's a couple of nice pics of Oisin ponching

, check them out...

Cape Town.

It's been a long time since I saw a real interesting, different windsurfing video but this latest webisode from the Fanatic Team in SA was most enjoyable- loads of action, beautifully filmed and good to see some self-deprecation from the incredibly talented sailors, definitely worth a watch from start to finish. Check it out...

FROM CAPE TOWN WITH LOVE from Fanatic International on Vimeo.

Pics from Punta last week.

The wind has pretty much gone and left us with only beautiful sunshine, pah! Time to chill and recharge the batteries before the next front comes through, hopefully for Easter when I have a full week off. No group clinic this year so just tons of freesailing for me, yeeha!
There's a bit of wind forecast for this afternoon so I'm off to Punta to try and get some more video for my instructional DVD, bit of freestyle and tacks and gybes today hopefully- the jumping and riding section is all but done now so the last bits should be quick and easy to get...
Anyway, I sorted through the photos from Victor of last week's jump sessions
and now have loads of great shots to post up. Here are a few of my favourites...

 

 

Action! (with video)

Loads of action this past week. The wind has continued blowing non-stop and we've been sailing Punta almost every day- mornings before work and gloriously long sessions at the weekend! The first bit of news is that I won't be posting any more GoPro pics on here for a while as we lost it at Punta last week. Bummer. It mustn't have been clipped into the flymount properly and feel off the mast after a forward crash from Lucy. I went snorkelling the very next low-tide (in mast-high waves, interesting) but obviously there was no sign of it. I didn't find that missing jumbo jet either. I did see a lot of fish however.

Last Sunday I did a one-to-one forward clinic with Domenico from Italy at Punta and am pleased to report that it was a resounding success and he was sailing away from forwards after only two hours of tuition! Fantastic! Check out his photo here..

Not bad, eh? Check out his face by the end of the day...

The clinics are on a bit of a roll actually, as I had Michele, another Italian, on Friday morning for three hours and he learnt vulcans from scratch in that short time! He was a very quick learner, super sporty, a bit gung-ho and a good listener which I think were the 'secrets' to his rapid success. Looking at the forecast we could have another similar day on Wednesday, it was incredible for jumping that day at Flag Beach- slightly overpowered on 5s with perfect ramps between 1 and 3m on the reef to the left. Perfection. If we get that again, I am going to teach Michele forwards on Wednesday I think, reckon he could be sailing out of them in a couple of hours.

On the last day at Punta, my little mate Victor jumped in the water with his camera and took a load of photos which I will share very soon once I've had a look through myself. They look incredible though, well done Victor for swimming around in 30 knots and waves and current! At the same time, Lucy had cricked her neck the day before and wasn't able to sail so I managed to convince her to video me for an hour (she sill owes me looooaaaads from when I was injured, hehe). I am busy compiling an instructional DVD for my upcoming clinics at the moment and I needed a couple of push loops and some tacks and gybes for it so Lucy videoed the first hour of my session and I got quite a lot of footage which I made into the short video below. I still need quite a few more clips for my tuition DVD (not push loops obviously) so hopefully I'll be able to twist her arm again in the very near future. In the meantime, check out the action from last Wednesday...



Push loop practice, 25th March 2014 from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

Stepping up.

    I had some cool sessions at Punta last week. The wind has dropped now after blowing constantly for ages- it might actually be quite nice to have a breather, dust the cobwebs off the SUP and just cruise for a bit. I have been getting more and more comfortable jumping over the last month or so, last week I attempted (and landed, I hasten to add!) my first push loops since the operation, and probably since a good 8 months or so before that as I had been too injured to sail/jump since before Christmas 2012 really. Pretty happy to be back on the water at all, never mind doing all the stuff I could do before and I feel now as though I am getting back to the level I was at a couple of years ago, although I still have a way to go.

   On the last windy morning at Punta we hit the tide just right and there were great ramps on just about every run so I decided to try all my jumps one-handed for half an hour to see how it went. I had the GoPro on the mast and got some great snapshots but it seemed a shame to throw all the footage away so I chucked it together into a short video for the blog. I must say it was nice to feel that familiar nervous feeling you get before you try a new manoeuvre for the first time (even though I've done these in the past, it was a very long time ago and I never really practiced either move), reminded me of when I learnt air chachos many moons ago! The back loops went surprisingly well but I really struggled with nailing the landings from the one-handed forwards as you can see in the video, although they are kind of landed so I maybe shouldn't be too disconsolate. Video footage is a fantastic tool for learning which is why I use it on all my clinics, and I think I have sussed my shortcomings from watching my GoPro footage back and am fairly certain I'll be landing them cleanly next time out, watch this space...

Back to full strength?

The wind has kept on blowing here, been sailing every single day for as long as I can remember now! We've been mainly sailing at Punta and it's been generally pretty good although the swell has been a bit on the large side so it's been mostly messy whitewater sailing. Yesterday morning was perfect though, we caught the tide just right and had a wicked jumping session. My hip feels great and I'm starting to feel more comfortable jumping now- did my first push loops a few days ago, pretty high, and also started relearning one-handed forwards and back loops! Another great piece of news is that Lucy landed her first ever dry forward a couple of days ago so she is ecstatic! Her sailing is improving daily and she's looking forward to kicking some serious ass at the upcoming UK comps (check out her GoPro pics below)! All good...

A few things actually...

First up, and most importantly, is news of Lucy's upcoming 'all girl' SUP camps this summer! Loads on offer and they're filling up very quickly (I believe there may be a group of 10 Californian girls coming over for one of the dates!), so check them out here http://www.supboardermag.com/2014/02/18/girls-sup-lucy-robson/ and get booked if you haven't already. And if you're a girl. She has more dates available now so drop her an email for more info...

On another subject, we've had loads of wind here lately, some of it superstrong, and big surf. We've pretty much sailed every day for the last couple of weeks. I have to go early because of work so have never been around when the photographers turn up but here's a couple of snaps of some amigos to give you an idea of how good Puerto Lajas was (although I was horribly overpowered on 4.0!).

As for me, well, I've sailed the last few mornings at Punta with just Lucy for company- fantastic! Check out a couple of gopro snapshots from yesterday morning's session...

And lastly, a snippet from the video I took that day. There's a prize if you can tell me the name of this transition onto the wave, answers on  postcard please addressed to Stephen Gibson, the rock...

 

The sun is shining...

The sun has re-emerged after a few weeks of changeable, stormy weather and, with it, the wind has dropped so it's back out with the Fanatic Prowave and SUP time again. It seems like the rest of the universe has the same idea however, and rocky point was crammed today, making it very difficult to get in the right spot and take off unhindered. Hopefully the swell might drop a touch in the next day or so and open up a few other less well-known spots along the northshore. Or maybe they'll all jet off back to France. Fingers crossed. I. Hate. Crowds.

 

Go on, get editing!

   I just got an email from a friend in France this week about a video competition she is organising, check out the trailer above. There are loads of prizes to be won, plus a fair old wedge of cash so click on the following link, get yourself onto the facebook page now, and get editing! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Inseec-Rider-Movie-Challenge-IRMC/661463673898902

  On a slightly more self-indulgent note, here are some more nice pics of this week's action 'down the coast' and at Punta for your perusal. It's howling again here for the next few days (with showers, though :( ) so it looks like I could get a lot more much-needed practice in! To be absolutely honest, I'm actually pretty happy with the way I'm sailing now, it's all starting to come back together quite nicely, both fitness and technique. I'm starting to jump again and my riding is improving with each session, getting lots of  fluid turns and nice airs. It's great to be back...

Mucho viento!!!!

That amazing forecast we had came through pretty much spot on! I had a couple of days at Punta, then went down to Puerto Lajas for the next few days, stacked on 4.5 every day until yesterday when I foolishly rigged 5.3 and was overpowered all day again! They've all been really fun sessions with decent waves and I've started jumping a little more now, still with no hip-related repercussions so I guess it's onwards and upwards from now...
Today is windy again, but with the swell gone on the east coast I'm heading off to Punta for some starboard jumping for a little change. Hard life. Check out these couple of snaps from Puerto Lajas...

More action.

I've had plenty water-time over the past couple of weeks, a nice mix of windsurfing and SUP. Windsurfing-wise I had a nice session at Punta, did my first forward loop, backy and taka since the operation and my hip held up just dandy so I'm going to start pushing myself a bit more now, both on and off the water! I should be back up to full tilt by the Puravida Easter Clinic (dates to be announced soon!). We also scored a session at Lobos, just myself, Lucy and two good friends, which was very nice, although I missed the epic session the next day with flu (soft b*****d) and the next day at Flag. Oh well. The forecast is incredible for the next week, we are about to get hammered by wind and waves from Thursday onwards so I'll try to get some pics or video to post up if at all possible.

SUP-wise, the swell eventually dropped after New Year's enormity and I scored some nice days at Majanicho on my Fanatic Prowave- I bought myself some small fins to try and I'm getting some nice, semi-controlled slide in my top turns now, going to try to learn 360s next... check out the pics below of a session at Majanicho and the most awesome SUP pic I have ever had above, of myself, Lucy and Marina sharing a true 'family wave' at Rocky Point last week! Marina says to remind everyone that she's only thwee...

Carnage.

The side-effects of hurricane Hercules hit us yesterday with a mammoth swell hitting the northshore and making Rocky Point the only surfable spot here (again!). Check out these pics of the harbour and Rocky from Jerry Bligh!

I ventured out to the outer reef at Rocky Point and it was absolutely packed with surfers and SUPers, total madness. It was super difficult to paddle into the big, barrelling waves without running someone over. Check out this short clip of the chaos, people dropping in on me, hold-downs, slalom through the surfers, and without a doubt my dirtiest ever drop-in on someone- my apologies to the surfer in question (I tried to pull off as soon as I could but still almost killed him with my flying board, he wasn't happy), but to be fair this guy has dropped in on me windsurfing at Majanicho in almost every windsurf session we've had there over the past 20 years so I don't feel too bad. Karma...

 

 

Rocky Point mayhem from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.