Christmas Video.

As I may have mentioned, when Simon Hobbs came over at xmas he came armed with every digital media device you can dream of (check out a couple of his photos above!), the aim being to make an all-time windsurf/lifestyle movie of the 2 weeks. Well, it didn´t exactly go to plan as we had loads of sailing but not much videoing (no-one wanted to stand filming when the conditions were so good). We missed most of the good action, so imagine my surprise when Hobbsy sent me this amazing edit! He has made a fantastic job of the movie and managed to capture a little bit of everything we got up to over the xmas period (still a pity we didn´t video the jumping at Punta...) in a cracker of a movie- even Caroline said she didn´t get bored watching it so it must be good! Anyway, check it out below, round of applause for the little welshman please...

A different perspective of SUP.

You definitely can´t beat water photography for a different perspective of any watersport, and these pics taken by Victor of SailboardsFuerte prove this point to the max. Taken at our favourite SUP (and windsurf) spot on the northshore two days ago, great quality, great colours, great pics- thanks Victor...

Airtime at Majanicho.

I´ve put together this short video of one of the days at Majanicho earlier this month. I apologise in advance for the fact that it´s another "gopro" movie- the plan was to mix it up with some "proper" footage shot from the beach, but it has proven impossible to get any footage as nobody wants to stand on the beach and film when it´s working there! Anyway, I was left with these gopro clips and it seemed such a shame to waste them or let them get old, so I stuck them together in a short vid.
With all the current debate about quads, twins and singles etc. you may be interested to know that this day I was on my Fanatic Skate 100, a dedicated freestyle board with a 17cm freestyle fin in it. Totally not designed for shredding waves, but it just goes to show that you can´t blame everything on the "wrong" board. In fact, speed is such a crucial element in waveriding (as in so many other areas of our sport), that on a lightish wind day such as this one was, it´s often better to have a real fast board which maybe doesn´t turn as well, and I have always wholeheartedly extolled the versatility of "freestyle" boards. Everyone should have one in the van. Anyway, enough of that. The video also proved useful as an analytical tool on a recent clinic where we watched it to teach hand movements on the boom while waveriding with a great degree of success! Regular readers of the blog may also note that, due to the semi-arctic conditions at the minute (23 degrees and sunshine, ahem) I have been forced to don my full winter suit... on that note, here´s the video.



More Windsurfing Videos

A bit of fun (and a lot of learning).

On one of the lightwind days over xmas, I took Hobbsy to the lagoons in Cotillo to teach him to tack as he was struggling on his small board. I can´t over emphasize how valuable sessions like this can be in learning shortboard manoeuvres! He quickly got to grips wuth the habd and foot movements and was soon tacking away to his heart´s content. I then decided to show him some lightwind freestyle on the big board to improve his rig handling and he learnt very quickly indeed- he can now back-wind gybe helicopter tack and sail on the lee side of the sail, excellent stuff. All of these skills are very useful when sailing our shortboards but can take ages to learn on an unforgiving 80l waveboard, so I´d like to think that we improved Hobbsy´s sailing by a fair bit in the two hours we spent there. He actually admitted that he felt he learned more there than in any other day´s windsurfing!! Oh, and it´s great fun of course- check out the video clip and feast yer eyes on Hobbsy´s new-found skills. Well done, amigo...

Big Thursday.

The forecast was for strong east wind but it never materialised. The swell was still pumping, though, and it looked do-able from the shore so I ventured out on my 100l Fanatic Skate and 5.3 North Hero in what turned out to be the lightest wind I have ever wavesailed in- about 6-8kts. Getting out there was tricky to say the least and took a while. No way to waterstart so I tried my utmost to stay upright and avoid uphauling in the mast-and-a-half sets. I manged to catch a few half-decent waves but called it a day after about 40 minutes when the wind dropped even more and manged to wobble back in with my hair still dry. Phew. Got some alright video footage though, and I took these stills to give you an idea what it was like out there....

More Majanicho...

No wind today, which gives me the perfect opportunity to share some more pics of the action from Majanicho this week. And what a week! Two days of calm now and then it starts again, even stronger next week! Time to chill...

Here we go....

Yeah, the wind materialised yesterday for what will be the start of a perfect week of down-the-line conditions!!! Hobbsy took up where he left off at El Martillo- his waveriding is getting better with every session (pity he won´t get any more til he comes back here, haha). Check out this short clip of me teaching him from upwind on a couple of waves from the morning session, great stuff...

Happy New Year!!!!

Another year gone, wow! Looks like this year is going to start with a bang if windguru is correct- the forecast is amazing for this coming week. It´s going to be going off every day at Punta then Majanicho, so I´m having a quiet day today, enjoying my hangover and recuperating ready for tomorrow. Should have loads of footage to post up as we have a big bag of camera and video equipment in the van so fingers crossed.... in the meantime, check out these pics from Punta a couple of days ago. I had an awesome little session in the late afternoon, thanks to Simon for taking the photos (he missed the wind by standing on the rocks taking them).