It goes without saying that every sailor, whether it be racer, freestyler or recreational sailor, wants to get the most out of their equipment. Racers in particular will continuously be tuning and tweaking their race set-ups for optimum performance, but anything over and above this is strictly prohibited.

Previously this rule had been adhered to, however now we are led to believe that some sailors and brands are taking the next step and making physical changes to their equipment. Should this be allowed? Is it giving riders that are altering their equipment an unfair advantage? Where should the PWA draw the line? Where does careful tuning, become unfair adjustment?

Have adjustments been made to the bottom of Arnon’s board?

As new equipment is put into production and the top racers get their new quivers dialled in, many would like to change aspects of their boards and sails but who is actually doing it? As you can see below, it appears that Arnon Dagan has made adjustments to the bottom of his board – rumour has it that the double concaves used to plant the board on the water are in fact hindering the performance; riders are chosing to fill in and then sand the bottom of their boards to loosen it up and give it a slightly livelier feel.

Should this be allowed? What do you think? Answer our poll and share your thoughts in the comments below…

Tommy takes us on a whistle stop tour of Maui, with some unbelievable images, but first lets find out a little more about the man behind the camera:

When my new wife and long-suffering windsurfing widow, Jo, left me in charge of organising our honeymoon destination there was only one place on my mind: Maui. We’ve been lucky enough to have several trips to Maui before, chasing perfect wind and waves. Here’s a few photos that we’ve taken on our trips….

Thanks to www.K4fins.com for the fins and www.Bluesmiths.com who make The Kula Hoodie, the ultimate beach hoodie for the great British Summer!

Check out some more of Tommy shots at www.flickr.com/tommyperkins

Name: Sam Bittner

Occupation: Director of American Windsurfing Tour

Country of residence: USA

You’ve just come across to Europe for Defi Wind, how was it and what made you decide to enter?  

The Defi Wind was an experience of a lifetime! I heard about and ready about the event in mags over the past years and was always intrigued to see so many people on the water at one time.  Now that I organise events myself, I wanted to see what it took to get that many windsurfers organised for one event all together! When I booked my flight to go, I wasnt really sure I would race myself, I just wanted to be there and experience it.  Lucky for me, fellow Naish teammate, Sarah Herbert offered me a kit and I was able to participate as well!

What was the atmosphere like? Was it scary/exciting/amazing windsurfing with so many others?

You would have to use all those words to describe the Defi Wind. It was scary, exciting and amazing to be a part of 800 windsurfers in the same race.  I was incredibly challenged to finish the race in 40 knots of wind.  Normally I wouldn’t even go out in that much wind, but instead I went 40 km in 40 knots with 805 windsurfers.  People were crashing and some were giving up and being rescued by the safety boats.  I am happy to report that I finished every race that I started!  Happy to have been apart of the event and looking forward to going back for sure!!

Where are you heading next?

I just got into Ireland last night and will cruise the west coast with the spectacular Katie McAnena this week before heading to Wales and back to Ireland for the BWA events.

Why are you competing in the BWA tour this year?

I have a lot of friends to do the BWA events.  I was inspired from their stories of how the events are run with “family style”.  When I organised the AWT I wanted it to have the same feeling for everyone to be welcome.  Now, I actually get to attend and see for myself what everyone is talking about.

What are you expecting from the events? And what are you looking forward too?

I am looking forward to sailing in new places and meeting the organisers. I am also looking forward to helping out at an event that I am not in charge of! Loads of people help me a lot on the AWT and now I want to give back some helping hands to another tour.

You have a packed AWT tour this year…what events are you most looking forward to and why?

Shoot. That is really like asking me what child I like best! They are all my favorite or I wouldn’t organise them.  But they are all special for their own reasons.  First up is Santa Cruz and I am happy to announce that I have pulled together $6500 for prize money! Everyone is welcome! Email me if you would like tips on traveling to any of the AWT events!

What sailors will be the ones to watch out for?

Sam Bittner!  Haha, just joking.  That is another hard question because I love all the riders and they are all working so hard and improving like crazy along the way.  Fiona Wylde just spent 2 months on Maui training for AWT so for sure the girls are going to have to watch out for her! On the men’s side, Levi Siver won 3 events in a row last year but Bernd Roediger is the up and coming youth on the pro side, so keep your eye on him too!

Marcilio Browne, Sam’s tip for the top in 2013!

Do you know who from the AWT is also heading to the PWA? Who do you think could and should cause a stir on the tour?

I was just with Antoine Martin at the Defi who is doing the PWA this year. He has been training hard in Maui this winter and is an incredible sailor.  Not sure what Marcilio Browne’s plans are this year but he is an incredible athlete and has potential to take home the gold on the AWT and PWA in my opinion

Head on over to our sister site Boards.co.uk for heat by heat coverage of the BWA events, starting this Friday the 18th May. Here on Boardseeker we will have a brand new podcast or two from the events courtesy of Alfie Hart too.

One event down on the PWA slalom tour and already we have a new face to watch out for: Point7’s Alberto Menegatti. We say new face, but is he really? Surely someone cannot come in and land straight at the top of the rankings? Of course not. Alberto is a very talented racer that has taken youth world titles and been in the top ten for over 10 years, so what has changed? How did 28 year old Alberto (or Bambi as he is, or maybe now was, known on tour) go from top 10 to leading from start to finish in Korea?

As you can see here it’s all about the winter training. 

Like many other competitors Alberto is a natural on the water, always known for his incredible early planing and smart tactics, plus at 194cm tall he’s built to race. This alone maybe enough to win a race, but taking an event win is a whole other matter. Alberto obviously decided at the end of the 2012 season to re-evaluate his training and take an even more serious look at exactly what he needed to do to win. In came more dedicated off water training, whilst on the water El Medano bay became THE slalom training ground with bouys, starts and many, many races held in all manner of conditions.

This wasn’t just some equipment tuning with a training partner, this was day in, day out, fully focussed racing on the water complimented with a completely structured, functional training programme off the water.

In short, putting the hours into a structured, focussed training plan has clearly worked wonders.

This begs the question, if more racers adopted an increasingly serious attitude to all aspects of their training could we see some further new faces at the top of the rankings? 

Just windsurfing isn’t enough anymore to win you need to be a true athlete, which obviously Alberto has come to realise. Who else could be at the top if they followed in his footsteps? Did the lighter winds of Korea play into Alberto’s hands, or was it a fluke win? Will Antoine and Bjorn reign supreme as the season continues?

Who do you think has the talent and determination to make it onto the podium in 2013?

And which riders have the potential but need to take a closer look at exactly how to make it to the top?

Share your views in the comments below!

Next time Boardseeker will take a look at how the 2013 PWA Wave tour is shaping up and how a whole host of new events could really shake things up at the top. 

Image credit Michael Burgermeister.

Full Name:  Holly Catherine Kennedy

Hmmm… I’m not sure! I have had nice things said about my eyes and my ass so possibly them !?

I’m from a lovely little seaside town called Troon on the West Coast of Scotland.

Kitesurfing and delivering sports presentations in schools, and I am actually a student too.

Kitesurfing is my main watersport, although I also know how to surf, windsurf, sail and wakeboard Love them all to be honest.

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What is your most memorable achievement in watersports?

So far my most memorable achievement in watersports was gaining 2nd Place in a World Cup Freestyle Competition in Kitesurfing, I started at the bottom of the heats ladder and worked my way up passing 10 heats to get to the final. During that experience I felt my heart racing, I was pacing and the end result was amazing

This is actually a tough question for me! I would say make me laugh or smile but I do that all the time anyway so I guess they would need to do something extremely rad so I got the shivers or the butterflies. Ha Ha.

You can travel together and have great fun. Also if they are better than you then they could possibly teach you a thing or two :

Holly Kennedy Holly Kennedy Holly Kennedy Holly Kennedy

What qualities would your perfect man have?

Nothing too serious, just like the outdoors, sporty and have a bubbly personality.

Love it ! The guys are so friendly and always keen to help you improve. Ha Ha but not for long…here come the girls:)

Not anything majorly crazy in my opinion…well…yet. But so far it could involve a VERY VERY high cliff surrounded by water, a trampoline, a jump with various flips and spins in it, me in a bikini and some rocks. Can you work it out? Was a close call I tell ya

Photo score: 4/5

Overall BSB score: 80%

You can check out more about Holly on her website and Facebook page. 

Holly is sponsored by North Kiteboarding, ION, Vexed and Airbound.  

The Shaka is a combination of a Shove-it and a Flaka – it is not one of the newest moves but is still one of the nicest to watch but also one of the most difficult to learn.  It was invented by Ricardo Campello back in 2002, it was and still is used in the freestyle arena today.  However, as with a lot of the freestyle moves the Shaka has made it in to the wave sailing arena in the form of a backside 360.

• The most important requirement for a good Shaka, especially without a piece of chop or small wave is a lot of speed.
• Then to start the rotation, carve hard and fast to windward by putting the weight is on your heels. Make sure you sheet in hard with your backhand by pulling the boom in and upwards (this is the Shuv It part).
• As you carve up in to wind turn your back hip into the sail and push your back foot down, this will allow you to pop the board (this is where a small wave or piece of chop will help). Your front heel should stay down to keep the board turning in the right direction to windward.
• Once in the air you can push downwards on your back arm to backwind the sail to give you some lift and help float you around the rotation.  It’s very important that you keep turning your head in the direction of the rotation, also try to think about turning your shoulders and body in this direction as well.
• Hold this position in the air as you rotate.
• As you come down you should land with the front of the board first providing you held that same position and kept your front arm straight.
• This part is much like the end of a Flaka providing you got the fist steps right! The end of rotation will happen naturally and you will just spin round!

Andy ‘Bubble’ Chambers K540 Multiple British Freestyle Champion with over 10 years coaching experience.  A regular on the World Tour and a well travelled windsurfer; Bubble has the knowledge and experience to teach all aspects of windsurfing from beginner to the most advanced freestyle moves on the planet.  Follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/bubblek540

Francisco Goya

“In the past we used to make the boards super small and gunny in the tail to make them controllable with all the lift from a single fin. Now with the majority of boards being multi fin, there is not one single fin giving a large amount of lift. This means the rocker shape and the bottom of the board becomes a lot more critical, this also allows the boards to be a little bit bigger too as the board is more planted in the water. The single fins in the past were almost hydro foiling, which now doesn’t happen with multi fins.

Turning an old style single fin is a lot more technical, you have to sink the tail first, then come forward, then weight the rails, it was only the most advanced that could ride really well.

The quads brought the direct link between what you want to do and actually being able to do it, they have made waveriding a lot more accessible; the boards actually go where ever you want! And even for the most advanced riders the quads work, they can just push the boards even more and take their riding even further.

Marcillio Browne

Now equipment does a lot more for you; you can have one board fairly big, which gives you enough volume for the light wind days, but is still controllable in the high winds. This previously was just not possible. To us, it’s about simplifying the range and the products. We all look for the same thing from a board, whatever the level. We want it to ride well, go upwind, have some speed; it doesn’t matter how well you can wave ride. So now, with how the multi fin boards work, producing a lot less lift we can combine all of the best aspects of boards into one, instead of having separate boards for different conditions.

Obviously, a bigger board is easier to ride around and makes it easier to catch a wave, the drawbacks used to be that on the wave they would then be uncontrollable, but now by carefully tweaking the board shape (along with the multi fin set-up) a bigger board will stay in control.

It is really incredible how much boards have progressed, we are always trying to achieve a real surfy feel with our boards, something we are always working on, but I think we achieve and again the multi fins help this. We now produce sizes like the 92 Goya Quad, which before would have been seen as so big for a wave board, but with everything I have explained is a great all round size of board. We want everyone to get the most possible from their windsurfing and really enjoy the sport, having a ‘big’ quad wave board just means that the enjoyment should be more and more!”

This forecast was pretty well predicted a fair way in advance, in fact it came off the back of a few windy days before so i had been sailing a fair bit and was into the groove.  But I didn’t expect it to come through that strong!

Normally when it blows strong in Rhossy it gets to 3.7m weather, but it is still quite manageable, this day it was at a whole other level; the wind was so strong it was chopping up the waves and making it super hard to keep the thing on the water.

One of the pilots from the neighboring RAF valley gave a phone call through to the weather tower where they were reading a steady 58 knots whilst we were sailing.  That’s pretty scary windy!  It’s not like the Canaries where it’s warmer and some how softer, this was a full blown cold wind storm!

Because the day before had been a classic 4.7 day, wall to wall sunshine, and would have been great for filming, I decided that today, with the odd ray of sunshine at my house 30 minutes away would be the same.  I somehow managed to talk my girlfriend Maike into coming with me, I said, it’ll be just like Cape Town (!!!) where she’s done sterling jobs behind the lens on many occasions before. I advised her to wrap warm as you never know with British weather and so on….. Knowing full well there was a front pushing nearly 60 knots ahead of it!!  Add to that the fact that she is six and a half months pregnant and has a stomach like a bowling ball, needs a bathroom every 10 minutes and had to negotiate my way out of antenatal classes for that evening, I thought I did a pretty good job to get any footage at all!!

The sailing was hard work, you know it’s strong when the seaweed is blowing along the beach.  I rigged my Gaastra Manic 3.7 and my Tabou Pocket Wave 75, that was the smallest gear I had; the sail felt pretty good in the hands despite the fact that I was getting my arms pulled off! I could always point it where I wanted it to go, I just couldn’t always sheet in with it! It’s rare but days like this is when I need a 3.3! Every jump and piece of white water I found myself unhooking and quickly my forearms got pumped, add to that a few bottom turns and I had arms like Popeye in no time!

I couldn’t really do too much, there were some big backloops but even they are super tricky, you pass through the apex of the wind and there is still bags of pressure in the sail, so you accelerate down towards the water and the landing has to be spot on or it’s an explosion!

I managed to squeeze in a few pushloop tables but the thought of going over the front into a forward was too much; no way!!  I think if you go for it like that everything has to be perfect, otherwise you sheet in and anything could happen!

If nothing else it was good practise ahead of the first rounds of the UK tour in May, it’s unlikely but you never know we may get something like that for the event here, how crazy would that be!  After Rhosneigr it’s Ireland and as we’ve seen before anything can happen there.

See you all there! Phil

As always Boardseeker will be providing you with podcasts from all of the BWA events, thanks to our film maker Alfie Hart, so stay tuned to Boardseeker for all the latest footage. You can also keep up to date with more info on the BWA on our sister site www.boards.co.uk and the BWA website here. 

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Arthur…

Yes, it was my first trip in Chile and I really appreciated the trip, it’s one of my best trips for sure!

It was amazing to sail with two of the best riders in the world, Klaas and Victor, that permitted me to progress a lot, the condition were not so easy but when we were wave sailing it was incredible!

I’ve learnt a lot of things, there are a lot of things you need to know to be a good windsurfer.

Unfortunately, I got injured on the last day of the trip and I had to be operated on so I haven’t really been on the water since then, but I look forward to being on the water again soon.

I’m really happy to be on the Fanatic team, I feel really good with everybody like Victor, Klaas or Alessio

This year I want to progress as much as possible, have fun with my friends on the water and hope to go on the water everyday!

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Klaas…

We always go to Matanzas, one of the windiest places in the area. There are a few really good spots in a short driving distance. It’s also the closest spot to Santiago, so it’s the place where most of the locals come for sailing.

I’ve been there from middle of December and during my first two weeks i’ve had some good wind and waves. Then it calmed down for over a month and then we scored some good sailing towards tzhe end of the trip. It wasn’t the best year for wind, but we still had some good days. Also a lot of surfing. I had an annoying sinus infection that finally had to get operated in february, so i also missed a few days out of that reason.

I’m workiong on getting more and more safe in my wave moves and then there is another project coming up. I’ve been trying doubles for several years, but never really got them dialled – so that one needs some attention before the first event.

It’s great to finally see something new happening. Cape Town and Chile are both my winter training grounds, so i’m pretty happy about it. If we manage to still get Maui back on the calendar, we’re almost having a complete tour. Unfortunately all stops are port tack (except Sylt – can be both), so i don’t think the new addition will change much in the results, but at least we’ll have a chance to some great down the line sailing in Chile.

Arthur has been doing good and i think he has improved quite a lot. We’ve been jumping for a few days in Pupuya and he’s pretty fearless in trying things. Also he’s doing already very good on the SUP in the waves and you can see that it helps him to make quick steps in waveriding also on the windsurfboard.

There are a few young kids coming up like Alessio Stillrich, Bernd Roediger, Moritz Mauch, or Morgain from Maui – all have the ability to kick out some big names already. Bernd just won the AWT event on Maui against the Who is Who! Alessio made it into 13th place in both of the PWA events he did in 2012. It’s great to see these guys pushing.

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Victor…

We were based at Matanzas, it is small town at the coast around 2.30 hours from Santiago de Chile and we get the most windy days over there.

I´ve been 2 months. The first three weeks we were very unlucky with the wind but we had amazing surf with northwest swells in different surf spots. The last 3 weeks of the trip were really good, we sailed different spots as Matanzas, Pupuya or Topocalma. All three have completely different conditions and we just change the spots depending on the tides or wave size. If it´s very small we go a lot to Pupuya as it is more a jumping spot and it is the windiest. If the swell is bigger we do Topocalma or Matanzas.

I´m trying to get back on my level of 2012 as I felt sailing very good until I got injured on Sylt. Right now I feel much better and I want to gain the same level and do it even better.

I think all aditions are good for the Tour, specially the event in Chile, down the line wave riding which we did not have yet on the tour. Chile is one of the events that Iam really looking forward this year as it is new and I know how good the conditions can be.

Arthur is a great sailor for his age, he has good knowledge of the waves as he is very good Sup rider and you can see in his wave riding skills. We did a lot of jumping in Chile too and I think he is progressing a lot. I see other kids like Alessio Stillrich and Pablo Ramírez in Pozo, Bernd Roediger and Morgan Noireux on Maui, they are all riping and it is great to see young guys coming up.

March 2013

Full Name: Sarah Hébert

What are your best features?

My laugh it sound really special, some would say ridiculous! Life is better when you smile

4/5 How you going to make us smile then?

Where are you from?

New Caledonia, a french island in the west part of Pacific Ocean. I’m born there and then we’ve been traveling 11 years on a boat with my family.

5/5 Wow, space for a passenger or two?

What is work?

Work to me means, realise your dream. After 10 years of slalom and formula world competition, I’m now an adventurer and explorer. crossing the Atlantic with my windsurfing gear was a first step, I’m now working on a 3 year project that will take me to Amazonia with my SUP and crossing the Atlantic alone on a sailing boat taking part of the famous french race The “Route du Rhum”. Also I’ve a sport journalist for 3 years on Wapala TV.

5/5 Umm wow again! Sounds like this girl has got is sussed!

What waterspouts do you do?

Windsurfing my first love, SUPing, kitesurfing, surfing, sailing, swimming.

4/5

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What is your most memorable achievement in watersports?  Winning the European Championship in 2006 two months after my implantation was a fantastic moment. I’m living with an implantable defibrillator since 7 years, and it hasn’t change anything in my life except the fact that I take this opportunity twice!

3/5 Fingers crossed for no more medical emergencies then!

What should a guy do to impress you?

My ideal guy could be a gentleman farmer, good windsurfer, artist, funny and generous. But nobody need to impress me, I’m just curious to learn about others life.

2/5 A gentleman? That’s most of us out the window  then. 

What makes a waterspouts guy a good boyfriend?

It could not be otherwise. My passion takes the major portion of my time, my life, so if I wan’t to share it,  it’s better if the guy knows how to swim!

5/5 Swim, yes! Just about out of our arm bands now. 

What qualities would your perfect man have? To be happy and funny is for sure the most important. Positive attitude.

4/5

What do you like about being in a male dominated sport?

Relations are really simple with guys. And when you finally found a water girl, she is just like you, enjoying and keeping things simple. They is more and more girls on the water, boys are nice to us, so I don’t see any inconvenience of practicing a male dominated sport.

3/5

What’s the wildest thing you have ever done?

Windsurfing alone on the Atlantic ocean, with no land in sight, only waves… A strong sense that I will probably never feel again.

5/5 Sounds incredible and pretty damn wild too. 

Photo score: 4/5 4

Overall score: 81%

And so my friends, having just spent two months on Maui and a month in Barbados I decided it was time to trundle on home and catch some green Irish waves. It had been too long. Arriving back and flying over the lush, emerald fields and crisp blue sea, I looked out the window and smiled, I was home. The anticipation of seeing all my friends and family paired with the expectation of empty, clean, peeling waves had me frothing at the mouth. January was going to be a great month to be in Ireland, just magical. And as I stepped off the plane and took my first gasp of fresh Irish air a thought struck me…… what the bloody hell am I doing?! It’s FREEZING!!! Hail, snow, rain, clouds, minus wind chill factor and muggins here standing at the arrivals terminal in my shorts and flip flops…. clearly we’re not in Kansas anymore Toto!! Nope, Ireland in January equals hypothermia, frost-bite and an over-riding desire to find a warm, dark hole  to sneak into and hibernate.

And that warm, dark hole came in the shape of the southern most city in the continent of Africa. Cape Town baby! All hail Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin empire, a few clicks of the computer and a quick sprint back to the airport and I was on my way to hot, sunny, windy South Africa for three weeks of windsurfing joy. Splendid. It was so great to get away from the sub zero temps of home but to give Ireland her dues, I did miss out on some fairly epic conditions while I was gone. Not only did the biggest swell of the winter hit just after I left, it played host to some of this year’s Billabong XXL nominees as surfers from Hawaii, Europe and Ireland charged at the famous Northern break of Mullaghmore. And then to top it off, the Red Bull Storm Chase graced our shores and saw the biggest names in windsurfing tackle the might of the Atlantic super storm which we christened, Hurricane Mikey. Gutted as I was to have missed that unbelievable forecast I had to remind myself, you can’t get a tan in Ireland in January… priorities, priorities.

So, back to bronzing. Yes, I was in Cape Town, surrounded by a who’s who of UK and European windsurfers and I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to assimilate some kind of water skills after three weeks of hanging with this crew….. or at least a decent appreciation of eurotrash dance music, speedo wearing and wetsuit booties. Oh I was very excited! Cape Town is up there with Maui, West Oz and the Canaries as a “must-do” for all roving windsurfing enthusiasts. Famed for it’s port tack jumping and riding and a little hill shaped like a desk , Cape Town has become the annual winter pilgrimage for scores of up and coming names in the sport. Luckily, from all my travels, I’ve bumped into the majority of guys and girls before which tends to take all the guess work out of coming to a new country and makes fitting in that bit easier. Need a gaff?….. Sam Neal sorted me out. Need a car?……Mike Archer had it covered. Need a lift from the airport…..Muzza to the rescue. Easy peasy!

And yet despite the guesswork being taken out of so much of my trip, Cape Town still remained a bit of an enigma to me. As with so many of my windsurfing adventures I found myself slipping into the usual routine of eat, sleep, beach, sail, surf and party. I think we are so lucky to have a sport that takes us to so many diverse, beautiful corners of the World, but sometimes I feel, what it offers us in terms of travel opportunities, it takes from us in terms of a tunnel vision view of where we are.

Despite the fact that I was in one of the most culturally rich, diverse, volatile and historically important nations in the world, all I seemed to do was drive from beach to beach with the odd glimpse of Table Mountain in between and a very blinkered sense of where I was. I had to remind myself that the purpose of my trip there was to improve my sailing and push my fairly average port tack jumping skills, but there was always this niggling sense in the background that this time, more than any of my trips before, I was missing out on the bigger picture. Cape Town, in a purely non windsurfing sense, is famed for its aesthetic beauty, its cultural diversity, its role in ending apartheid and to some extent, its violence. If you had asked me what was it I knew about South Africa before going there I would have said; Table Mountain, Robin Island, Nelson Mandela, apartheid, townships, great white sharks, rugby and crime. And of course, windsurfing and surfing. Clearly a shockingly ignorant summary of a country that is so multi-dimensional and culturally conflicted.

But did I broaden my knowledge or change my impression in the 3 weeks I spent there? Probably, but not to any particularly larger extent. On its most simplistic level, I suppose my biggest concerns while I was there were crime and sharks, both of which, having been victim to hearsay and the media, I was genuinely worried about. So what of the crime? Luckily the closest encounter for me was a cheeky little lady trying to slide my iphone out of my pocket on a night out….. not exactly life threatening stuff, and I got the phone back… so pretty much just like any other standard night out anywhere really. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure whether it was luck or whether it was a refelction of where I was staying and who I was staying with, but my danger level guage never simmered up to amber or red. That may have been the crux of the issue, as I was staying in the relatively wealthier neighbourhood of Sunset Beach and my social circle was dominated by my UK and European friends. However, though my circumstances dictated a more rose-tinted glass impression of the place, it’s fair to say I had found myself a safety blanket away from the real Cape Town.

My very good friend from home was working as an Anaesthetist in the biggest trauma hospital in the city and she was exposed to treating the highest number of stab wounds in South Africa. This, paired with the shocking statistics that emerged in relation to the exponential rise of home robberies, violent attacks and the rising culture of “self-protection” following the Oscar Pistorious saga, made my little bubble experience of Cape Town seem even less relevant.

And what of the sharks? Well, I refused to take my surfboard so as to avoid dangling my legs into the sea as tasty bait and my falling in to waterstarting reaction time was lightening fast. Michael Phelps had nothing on me when it came to sprinting after my gear in the white water! And so I came away unscathed and with a speedy Gonzalez approach to getting back up on my board, which in my head was saving me from limb loss but in reality was probably just teaching me to faff around less in the water and maximise my sailing time!

And so as usual, post non-windsurfing rant, I guess I should start talking about what I’m here to really write about…. the food and drink! Hahaha….. ok and some windsurfing too! The sailing was great, but not epic. I suppose everyone has their different impression of what awesome sailing is, and for me, I’ve always loved more wave riding in cross/cross-off conditions. Cape Town delivered lots of wind, but very little swell while I was there. So even though my idea of heaven is not hanging on for dear life to my 3.0m in cross-on port tack jumping, it was still a great training experience to try to push myself in and also to watch the guys and girls shredding and jumping to incredibly high standards. We mostly sailed up and down the coast in the usual trail of Sunset Beach, to Melkbos, back down to Hakgaat and then an evening session in Big Bay. The spots were always fairly packed but there was never any tension or agro and the atmosphere was generally one of everyone pushing each other and stoke for when a new move was landed. One of the highlights of my trip without a doubt was the session I had at Hakgaat when the waves picked up to just over logo high, the wind co-operated, and I got the chance to ride my new Hot Sails! I was inaugurated onto the Hot Sails Maui International Team while I was there and I got the chance to try the Firelights and sail with my other new team members, Katrien and Jonas. I absolutely adore the sails and I am so honored to be on the team!

The wind played ball for about 5 out of 7 days a week which left just enough time to dabble in some other non-wind activities with the UK crew. The craic was unbelievable! I was introduced to the South African tradition that is the classic Braai (BBQ for the rest of us) and the local beer Castle. So after a long day on the water, whether windsurfing or SUP, we’d all congregate at Bubble, Max Rowe and Muzza’s gaff and cook up a storm on the grill. Happy days. I also got the chance to climb Table Mountain, as led by the Afghan goat herder Chris Muzza Murray. I literally put my life in his hands as he led a group of eight of us to practically SCALE the mountain on all fours and try to avoid certain death with one misplaced foot and a sheer vertical drop down. Thanks for that buddy, a real highlight…! I also ventured down south to the Cape of Good Hope to sail with my room mate and general legend, Mike Archer. He earned the nickname Simple Jack from me within about 24 hours of being exposed to his absolute lack of organisational/key finding skills. But what he lacked in common sense he made up for in great laughs and mad skills behind the camera lense and the wheel of our no-power steering tin can of a car. Cheers Mike! The rest of our time was filled with venturing to rugby matches in the city’s stadium and recounting our day’s adventures in Doodles bar, nursing an ice cold beer and watching the sun set over Table Mountain. Not a bad trip, not a bad trip at all.

I’d just like to finish this diary with a small tribute to my friend Mikey Clancy. Ar dheis De go raibh do hanam dilis. Rest in Peace my dear friend.