WARNING

This video contains NO beautiful scenic shots, NO arty stuff, some rude words and lots of Head Shaking!

So watch on and enjoy the action as we get to see Mr Proffitt and friends having the time of their life in WA this last winter.

“For the movie we really wanted to produce something that showed a bit of emotion to a usual summer here, not just the action, hopefully we achieved this. I’ve wanted to do this lifestyle/windsurf video of W.A. for years but just needed the right positive people to join in so at the start of summer Peter, Ben Proffitt and Justyna were really keen so we decided to do it this summer.

“It was logistically a little tricky, with Gnaraloo being the main issue. It took 5 years of planning including working out how to get fuel for the helicopter there but it all went very smoothly and we will go back there for sure. I run an aerial photography/filming business in W.A. so know all the pilots and helicopter companies quite well and they all help us out. Justyna has been joining us on heli shoots for years and is a natural so it was an obvious choice for her to help out, especially considering she was injured and couldn’t really sail that much at the start of summer.

“But Gnaraloo was a favourite place to film too, so it made it all worth while. The whole Gnaraloo trip was crazy, taking the Avgas up there was an experience, rigging up with a helicopter in the rigging area was “strange”. I also have a new favourite place to shoot ‘The Left’ (Ed – check out the feature about Volwater and Proffitt at this spot here) but it was too tricky to film at this year, hopefully next time though.

“It’s too hard to pick a favourite rider, but Peter’s an exceptional photoshoot rider, he can always deliver the shot in the least amount of time and of course Justyna, she’s a lot of fun and has endless enthusiasm.

“For anyone looking to come down under it’s a great escape from the northern winter, and even though it has become quite expensive to live here, if you know where to go and know the right people you can live here at a reasonable cost.

Next in the Boardseeker wave technique series, we are joined by Ben Proffitt to talk through the importance of Wave Selection. Image credit PWA/JC.

Check out more from Boardseeker on wave technique here. 

Colin Leonhardt: “There are very few quality sailing spots on this planet that haven’t been explored, so with a forecast that suits this certain offshore reef in Western Australia Ben Proffitt and Peter Volwater decided to make the overnight drive to this location last weekend.  With a jet ski in tow to get us out there we hit the water late morning and spent the rest of the day enjoying some of the best waves this state offers. This is the first time this location has been photographed so here’s a selection of images from that day courtesy of Windsurfaustralia.com.”

The left The left The left The left The left

Peter Volwater: Continuing the challenge to find West Australia’s best surf/windsurf destinations, we ventured to a break on the south coast which we call “the left”. I had heard about this place before, about 10 years ago and in the three times I have visited it has been going off each and every time. As long as there is an easterly sea breeze on the south coast and even just a small 2 meter swell, it’s on.

Mix the roaring 40′s in the southern hemisphere and hot Australian summer weather, and you have the perfect ingredients to fire up some epic wavesailing.

When we woke up there were still a couple hours more to drive, 50kms before arrival we fueled up and took breakfast on the road; we were in a hurry as the swell would be dropping, so there was no time to waste. Driving through town straight to the jetty and the view was just amazing! We could see nice big lumps breaking on the outer reefs and the wind was already honking. We dropped the ski in the water for Col and quickly rigged up and headed out there.

“The left” was peeling and soon Ben joined me to ride one wave after the other, perfect lefts!

We ventured further out to sea, to the next patch of reef where there was a ledge with super hollow waves breaking. When Ben cut back on one he was still very deep and didn’t quite make it around the section and I saw him wipe out right in front of me, which worried me for a bit but when he came up and nothing was broken and he smiled we were just laughing! It was real funny to see as he didn’t get hurt. I did warn him before that this wasn’t really a wave just a dry reef with water sucking off it, a real shallow ledge!

Whilst it was hard to ride this one we went back to “the left” and caught many more waves and good jumping, I saw Ben bust some big airs and even Justyna came sailing out through the reef.

I told her the wave was going to be waist to shoulder high but the swell had amazed me, it was actually quite a lot bigger than expected! Also, it normally looks a lot smaller from the shore until you actually get out there. One thing we never discussed though was that this place is renowned for the big white sharks and at the local pub there are photos of a six meter one that they had caught in the past and had brought in. That’s not something you want to have on your mind when swimming out there!

We saw out on the rocks a massive sea lion resting and apparently it had a calf too. Also, a stingray whilst snorkelling and a brown snake on the road on the way back to Perth.

After taking the photos our happy snapper Col went out there for some waves of his own and enjoyed some of the best WA waves today. It was a fun and adventurous trip getting familiar with the wildlife out here and epic epic waves. And there is many more just waiting to be explored with that much coastline, will it ever get crowded?

Taking into account the abundant sea life, it being a very unpopulated area with only few surfers who even know of these waves, the long paddle out and not ever seeing any windsurfers here, many waves will probably stay unridden…..meanwhile we’ll keep searching for different waves!

It was shortly after this trip the Ben Proffitt injured his shoulder, Boardseeker wishes Ben a speedy recovery and will have more from him very soon. 

So what happened? Well just the usual training for Ben Proffitt, double forwards, pushloop forwards and more, then this…

For the real detail check out the x-ray and feel free to leave you comments and suggestions about it at the end of this post.

Last but not least, one unhappy Mr Proffitt. We wish him a speedy recovery here at boardseeker.com and totally feel for him as we all know he was training extremely hard!

photo – windsurfaustralia.com

For those that don’t know, Jersey is part of the United Kingdom but sits just off the coast of France. Picking up huge swells that roll in from the Atlantic it appears that these guys score a lot of sessions throughout the year. Interestingly it has never been a stop on the British Wavesailing Tour but perhaps the Channel Islands could be in contention soon as the tour grows year on year. A brief look back in to its windsurfing history does produce a small story on Ben Proffitt and the legend that is John Hibbard, who both once made the trip over for the annual LibJam event which saw a race between the two Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey, some classic quotes to look back on here.

All the latest action below and there facebook page here – facebook.com/JerseyWindsurfing

The Clew First Beachstart / Waterstart Now that you are a waterstart master, it is time to take it to the next level and address getting up and away in a clew first style. This technique gives you another starting option and is very useful should you happen to fall mid gybe and manage to keep the rig flying.

FOUNDATION

It is a good idea to build up to clew first waterstarts by starting with deep water clew first beachstarts.

For the purposes of practicing clew first beachstarts, you will need to position your equipment into a clew first position.  One method for doing this is the DRY GYBE and is demonstrated in this video clip.

You can see that in waist deep water, the board is turned to the new tack whilst you walk around the back of the board and gain control clew first. Through steering with the rig in the beachstart position, the board can be taken through 180 degrees.

Once into the clew first position, the move can be broken into 3 key stages:

• Positioning – Keep the board off the wind
• Up and away – Getting on the board and continuing clew first
• Controlled exit – Sailing away clew first

PRACTICE

• Try controlling your sail in a clew first position on the beach before trying it on the water.
• Be competent in sailing in the clew first position before trying clew first beachstarts and waterstarts.  (We will be covering this technique in detail in a future issue but in the meantime, checkout FUNDAMENTALS for some pointers)

FUNDAMENTALS

Look where you want to go – As in the waterstart we are moving forward and in doing so, we look at the mast foot to get up and away.  In order to have a smooth controlled exit you will then be looking forward.

Rig away – In order to exit the water with a relatively less efficient rig (due to the clew first position) it is paramount to extend the arms.  The rig will continue being kept away in the controlled clew first exit. This will enable us to control its power in the unstable position, whilst clew first.

		POSITIONING
		With a wide hand spread the board is held downwind on a broad reach (keeping the board pointing downwind allows the sail to be controlled more easily). You are at the back of the board BUT well upwind of it.
		With your front foot on the bottom, your back foot is placed on the board. It is positioned between the straps,  just behind the front foot strap. The heel is placed to windward of the centreline in readiness for the foot straddling the centreline upon sailing away.
		UP AND AWAY
		Note the subtle shift of the back hand towards the mast in order to get the rig more upright. The board is pulled in with a bent back leg as the heel moves towards your bottom, whilst simultaneously extending the arms. To help you do this look at (and crouch towards) the mastfoot.
		Your clew hand will be extending and you can pull in with the mast hand for more power. Added upward propulsion comes from kicking with the extended front leg.
		The front foot will land on the board close to the mastfoot and pointing forwards.
		CONTROLLED EXIT
		Clew first control comes from sliding the back hand towards the clew, check out how far! You will be looking forwards and balancing the rigs power by keeping the rig away and sinking down.
		Looking to gain more control as the wind increases; body sinks lower and clew hand sheets in more. After sailing a moderate distance the rig is flipped whilst you keep looking forwards.  Check out the helicopter tackfor rig flip visuals and tips.
HOT TIPS Point board downwind to increase sail control Back hand moves towards the clew for control and towards the mast to get up and away Back leg to bum as arms extend Look at (and crouch towards) that mastfoot to get out of the water Once up, look forwards and keep the rig away Get low to control the power Flip rig and keep looking forwards

Terry Luxton K-688“The windier it gets, the more I put my back hand down the boom (towards the clew) to help me control the rig.”
Phil Horrocks K-303“Make sure that you learn this technique on both tacks.  A lot of people are very one-sided but this is a technique that is definitely worth learning on both tacks!”
Ben Proffitt K-800“Learning to clew first waterstart is a must for anyone learning to carve gybe!  When a gybe goes wrong, the rig often remains flying and a clew first waterstart gets you up and going again in no time!”

]]> http://www.boardseekermag.com/features/clew-first-beach-start-with-jem-hall/feed/ 0 http://www.boardseekermag.com/features/wave-tips-with-ben-proffitt/ http://www.boardseekermag.com/features/wave-tips-with-ben-proffitt/#comments Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000 boardseeker ?p=1

The Boardseeker technique series continues with Ben Proffitt showing you exactly how to save your gear, when worst comes to worst.

Check out the previous technique videos on Boardseeker:

• On shore bottom turn with Phil Horrocks
• Getting out in waves with John Skye
• Forward loops