Kauli Seadi and I travelled through the night the day before so we were pretty tired, but after six hours of freestyle sailing/teaching we were pretty broken! Kauli spent the whole day on the beach and in the shallows teaching and giving tips to the kids.

The thing that amazed me most about the week is that the kids just don’t stop; they never got tired. Most of them sailed for more than six hours every day and were so motivated all the time - it was awesome! Once the kids had tuned in to the kit and the conditions they improved so fast; each day we would teach them lots of different moves including old school ones too.

During the evenings there were special socials organised such as a trip to the nearby town Lindos for some ice cream and souvenir shopping. One night Kauli and I presented the 2009 freestyle and wave range from JP and Neil Pryde to over 250 people. Also in the evenings the video diary from the day was shown on the big screen in the lighthouse Taverna. Anja Waldhör and Martin Schalk from www.sofa-movielab.com produced some great little clips from the day with some action and the daily interviews which involved Kauli interviewing a few of the kids at the end of each day to find out how it was going for them.

By the end of the week all the kids that were learning the moves they set out to do on the first day had done it. One-handed gybes, downwind 360s, duck gybes, chop hops, switch stance sailing, vulcans, spocks, forwards, flakas and switch stance vulcans were all completed by the end of the week. But here are some of the stand outs:

Young Gun who improved the most:

Name Janik Kukball Age 19yrs Nationality German Favorite sailing location Prasonisi, South of France Favorite move spin loop Moves learnt spin loop, spock

Young Gun who learnt the hardest move:

Name Adrian Krainer Age 15yrs Nationality Austrian Favorite sailing location Prasonisi, Lake Garda, Brennsee Favorite move flaka Moves learnt flaka, puneta

Youngest Young Gun and Young Gun who traveled the furthest:

Name Kostya Smirnoff Age 10yrs Nationality Russian Favorite sailing location Capetown Favorite move gecko

Fastest Young Gun:

Name Malte Von Rudolff Age 16yrs Nationality German Hobbies: Surfing, handball, volleyball, guitar Favorite sailing location Fehman, Elbe, Heilgehafen Favorite move vulcan

Young Gun with the best crashes:

Name Georg Schober Age 17yrs Nationality Austrian Favorite sailing location Prasonisi Favorite move vulcan

Best Young Gun Girl:

Name Charlene Barberet Age 19yrs Nationality French Favorite sailing location Prasonisi Favorite move vulcan

Oldest Young Gun!

Name Dragan Rakocevic Age 52yrs (!) Nationality Serbian Favorite sailing location Dahab, Prasonisi, River Durban Favorite move switch stance beach start!

Big thanks go out to JP, NeilPryde, Christof Kirschner, Sofa Movielab, the Lighthouse Taverna, Surf Magazine and their coaches; Kauli for being a total legend and helping all day everyday even though he couldn’t sail and also the kids for being so motivated all the time and really showing what windsurfing is all about – having fun!!

If you would like to find out more about the 2009 Young Gun Camps keep
an eye on www.jp-australia.com.

PHOTOS courtesy of www.sofa-movielab.com