One-Handed Flaka Diablo.

This week I did a beginner course with Nick from the UK, which went amazingly. Once again we were blessed with perfect learning conditions and he soon progressed from uphauling and falling to planing around Waikiki tacking and gybing! Amazing progress. To be fair to Nick he was very determined and refused to give up no matter how difficult the next step seemed, and therefore progressed very, very quickly indeed. He is coming back again and we will have him in a harness and footstraps by the end of his next week which is not bad going at all for someone who will have, by then, been windsurfing for a grand total of 2 weeks! Bring it on..............
For now, I leave you with another addition to my "tricktionary"- the one-handed flaka diablo! Watch the vid, I will post a how-to very soon.................

One-Handed Flaka Diablo from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

Commitment!

Just in case you were thinking it all looks too easy, I have made a short video of Alex learning flakas during the week long clinic we did together. I have called the video "Commitment" as that is what is required when learning any manoeuvre but, perhaps even more so with the flaka! This was shot over two days at Glass Beach and is only a handful of the attempts made during this time as most of the time I was on the water spurring him on! If you can apply yourself as wholeheartedly as Alex does in this video, maybe you too can enjoy the success that he does at the end of the vid!!!!! Watch and learn..................

Commitment-journey to the flaka!!!!!!!!!! from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

Fuerte Windsurf Clinic April 2009

As I mentioned in the last post, the clinic with Alex last week was a huge success. Here is a short diary of how it all panned out over the week he was here. I have also put together a video diary using the footage I took to use for analysis..........
DAY 1.
Fairly light NE winds and it's off to Punta for the first day. A great chance for Alex to settle into the conditions with 3m waves breaking in the bay. We focus on waveriding and Alex attempts a couple of forwards as the wind freshens.
DAY 2.
The wind has picked up considerably and it's back to Punta, this time fully powered up on 5.0s. Alex has great succes with his forwards today, his rotation is smooth now and he sails away from quite a few perfect ones. Happy days!
DAY 3.
Despite the forecast for superstrong northeasterlies, the wind has turned due east and we score perfect conditions at the legendary Majanicho, normally a winter spot. Wind strong (4.5m sail) and small to medium waves. Alex sails for five hours and his waveriding improves immensely during his sessions here today. Possibly his best ever day of windsurfing, according to Alex!
DAY 4.
The wind has come back round NE and is still very strong, 4.5s being the order of the day. Today is perfect for fowards and Alex is getting one on every run now. As the wind gets even stronger, he starts to over-rotate a little as he has his technique so dialled so I teach him to stall them a little to remedy the problem. What a day! Alex' hands, however, are in tatters due to the hours he is sailing!
DAYS 5 and 6.
The wind swings into north and it's off to Glass to learn flakas! Over these two days Alex throws himself off every wave and piece of chop, showing incredible commitment and eventually reaping the rewards for his considerable efforts when he starts sailing out of flakas on the second day! An amazing achievement when you consider that flakas took me the best part of a year to master! Well done that young man!
The clinic really could not have gone any better- Alex was a model student, taking in every piece of advice and immediately putting it into practice on the water. His sailing improved dramatically in only one week and he left a very happy boy!
Check out the video of the action to see the incredible range of conditions we scored over the week. That could be you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Fuerte windsurf clinics,April 2009 from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

Clinic success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well,that's the last day of my first real windsurf clinic and young Alex is on the plane headed for the green and pleasant(and cold) land! This week was an overwhelming success with wind every single day of his stay and all sorts of conditions. I will write a bit more about it in the next couple of days, congratulations to Alex, though, on his flaka and forward loop success!!!!!!!!!!!
For now, I leave you with the next move for my tricktionary- the flaka diablo. Full how-to coming soon, for now just watch the video....................................
Flaka diablo from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

Helmet cam trial run from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

Here it is - the moment we've all been waiting for!Well, me anyway........As promised, here is a bit of footage using the latest in modern technology- the home-made helmet cam!!!! Comprising of a combination of a video camera, a helmet, some roofrack straps and a lot of little fiddly bits, the home-made helmet cam may look a little awkward to manipulate but it surpassed even our expectations- it is also heavy, unpredictable and, almost certainly, dangerous! That said, however, we got some pretty nice stuff on there in the 30 minutes we had before Victor's(cameraman) neck swelled up. Enjoy the video....................Stephen.

One-handed flaka from Stephen Gibson on Vimeo.

Had a couple of decent sessions at Punta over the last couple of days and managed to persuade my amigo Victor to video for 20 minutes. I concentrated on flaka variations this time, so I can add to my ever-expanding tricktionary! Here is the first variation- the one-hander. I will do a step-by step very soon, and post the other two variations I got on video over the next couple of days.

We also did some filming with a "revolutionary"(i.e home-made) helmet cam yesterday morning, the video is almost finished and I will post it up very,very soon. Watch this space............