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.
Friday, 30 July 2010
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.
Thursday, 29 July 2010
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..........
Sunday, 25 July 2010
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.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Monday, 5 July 2010
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................
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