Forget the World Cup its still windy!

The wind continues to blow here in Bahrain. My feet were not as sore as I thought they would be so got out on the water for half an hour after work before the wind dropped down and I decided to watch the 2nd half of the England Vs Germany game (BIG mistake!)

It was great to get in the water after another hot day here at the edge of the desert. Strange at the end of the session I was sailing along and hit something underwater, I was in deep water and didn't see anything but heard a ripping like sound, it was rather strange and not sure what I hit.

The wind seems to be on a downward trend but still blowing. I am hopeful that I will get a couple more days, 4 in a row now and counting (and 5 in the last week). Still working hard on the flakas but I was a little disapointed yesterday and today, I think that I need to throw the rig more. I will watch some more videos think that will help and get some video taken so I can analyse my error(s). 

More to follow...

Still windy

Saturday could well have been the best of the bunch. The wind was a steady 17-21 knots and it was hot and sunny AGAIN!

Not much in the way of freestyle today, spent a large portion of the day helping a friend with his waterstarts. Had some fun blasting in the bay as not much in the way of waves. Sumo and 5.3 was perfect although at times a 5.0 would have been better, especially for freestyle as I was finding myself a little overpowered when trying moves.

No pics today as camera is on the blink! Arrhhh don't want to buy a new one!

Windy again today but may have to sit out as my feet are a little cut up and I want to get them healed, not sure I will be able to resist but we will see.

More to follow...

More wind, more freestyle.

It didn't look to good when I woke up on Friday morning with think dust and only 10-15 knots but as the day passed the conditions improved. By 2pm it was windy and sunny again.

I am getting lots of freestyle practice which is good and some what pleased with the results. I can certainly say that I am falling of alot but also that I am starting to feel more comfortable, I have not broken my anckles yet so that is a bonus!

Flaka progress - watching the videos has helped, I am feeling good in the set up and getting rotaton but killing it by leaning back on landing, I need to get my weight over the board. At the moment I am going down wind, popping the board, rotating upwind but finishing off with the later stages of a board/sail 360 so at the moment it is rather a hybrid but something I can work on. Much better than a few days ago.

The wind was best betweem 3 and 4pm and I was pleased to see so many people at the beach, there must have been 20-25 kites and 4 windsurfers, add to that families etc. it was quite busy on the beach and on the water, luckily the kiters still to a small area so I get the rest.

Not much wind so far this Saturday morning but it looks like it will pick up later and it is already sunny so that should help.

Less than 2 weeks till the 60 Days of Summer now... must look for cars on http://www.craigslist.com/ today. Yesterday I got my boardbag off the roof... a year of dust, think it will need a rather good srub before being packed!

The wind still looks good for the next week.

More to follow...

Weekend warmup...

The charts have been bang on all week but I have had various work commitments which have meant that I have not been able to get out the last few days but I knew that I would get back early today so was pleased to see the sasnd flying about this morning when I woke up. The wind persisted throughout the day and when I got home it was perfect for more freestyle training.

15-20 knots, 38C airtemp, 34C water and sunny, not bad! I continued to work on lots of board / sail 360s and heli tacks. I was finding it rather harder to get the final part of the board/sail 360s today, guess that was due to more wind?

I tried a flaka on just about every run, ok so they may not look much like the flakas you see on youtube or at your local beach but I do feel that I am making progress. Today I was getting better pop and getting the nose jammed into the water, not getting far enough forward. I seem to almost get it then lean back and not commit fully. I had a few fun crashes but everything is still in one piece!

Tonight I will watch some more video so that I can analyse my progress a little better. With the wind set to continue for a number of days (actually looks to me like the longest period of wind I have seen in 3 years!) I wonder if I can get these flakas ticked off before we leave for Hawaii?

Great video, nice to see an old HSM SO, these ones with the cammo luff hold a special place in my heart...

The 2 week countdown has started, we'll be negotiating excess baggage charges with BA in 14 days time.

More to follow...  

Monday night flaka freestyle

Great to get home and see some wind, not tons but was perfect for some light wind freestyle practice (5.3 Fire and 105 Sumo). Trying to work on flakas, I am getting better but need to commit further forward. Wind was rather on and off so spent some time improving heli tacks and board/sail 360's.

Water was really hot and salty but the breeze was enough to make it bearable

After sailing I had a fun swim at the beach club as the sun went down it was a great way to relax.

Looks like the forecast is holding, in fact it looks great for the rest of the week and the start of next.

More to follow...

Wind on the way!

Well looking at the forecasts it seems as though the tail end of June will deliver some good conditions.

Windfinder.com

Windguru.com

Will be good to get some action in before leaving and starting The 60 Days of Summer!

More to follow...

60 Days of Summer - Freestyle Target # 1: THE FLAKA

One thing I really will be working on this summer is some freestyle moves, the motivation is two fold, firstly wanting to bring these into the waves and also back to Bahrain for flat water fun.

I have already been working on Flakas and non-planning upwind 360s here and I have made some progress and have been watching videos and reading for tips but will be aim to have these dialled in the first week back in Maui.

Windsurfing Mag just ran a great article which was really useful.  

Watch this space for some video in a few weeks.

More sailing targets to follow...

Maui coundown

So far June (the windiest month according to the stats) has not delivered any action, although from watching the daily updates it does seem to have been windy enough during many days for BIG slalom gear, but by three it has all been gone. The air temp has risen alot recently with overnight lows of 32C and daytime highs of 47C.

Looks like we might get a little something tomorrow and it looks really good for next weekend, fingers crossed!

3 WEEKS TILL MAUI - yes the countdown has really started now. With the lack of wind and scorching temps not much we can do but work out in the gym, but I am confident that we will both be fully ready for what looks like a rather windy summer. We are counting the hours before we get to fly back home for 2 months.

Time for some old Maui pics - 15 years and counting!

Camp One, Spring 1996, 5.0 Bugler Wave and Hotworks 250

Camp One, Spring 1997, 4.2m Bugler Wave and K-Bay 8'4"

Hookipa Beach Park, 1997, Chris and Phil

Hookipa, Winter 2001-2, Naish 5.0 and 8'2" F2 Custom 

Hookipa, Summer 2002, Naish 5.0 and Mistral Score 250

Hookipa, Spring 2005, 8'2" SOS and 5.0 YES Wave

Kahana (West Maui), December 2005, 8'2" SOS and 5.0 HSM SO

Hookipa, Spring 2006, 8'2" SOS and 5.0 HSM SO

Hookipa, Summer 2007, No need for straps!

Kanaha, Summer 2008, Liz, 3.7m HSM Fire and 105 Angulo Sumo 

Sprecks, 28th Dec 2008, Chris & Liz

Molokai, Summer 2009, 5.3 HSM Fire and Tabou DaCurve 73

What is funny is that all these pictures are very fresh in my mind, as my 15 year Maui Anniversary approaches (1st Sept 1995 to 1st Sept 2010)  it is a great time to reflect on days gone by and look forward to what lies ahead.

More to follow...

The wind is back...

I woke up to some wind this morning. I am hearing reports that there was a kiter out this morning at 5am, but I had to go to work (not for much longer!). According to windfinder.com is does seem to be building throughout the day, it wasn't really forecasted so fingers crossed it will hold until later when I get back on Amwaj. Unfortunately it is rather dusty, hope that clears abit later.

You can see just how hot it is and today is a cooler than normal one!

More to follow...

Maui Race Series 2010

After watching Tom and everyone last year I really want to give the Maui Race Series a go this summer. Hoping to get a slalom board and rig, but if not it will have to be a trusty wave board. It should be fun.

I will not be in Maui until the 9th July so guess its the 17th and 31st that I will be aiming for.

More to follow...

No wind, very hot and very humid in Bahrain but looking ahead

None of this promised June wind has arrived and in the last week it seems to got alot hotter and more humid. The temps are now upto 40C for most of the day with the the overnight low 32C. We have tried to keep up our normal training but fear that it is time to work more indoors, even the sea is super hot now which doesn't make swimmining too easy.

Fingers crossed that some wind will materialise...

The calm waters of Amwaj Islands

Time for some more paddling

The 60 Days of Summer are around the corner so that is keepin me motivated at the moment, inspired by JP's summer mission last year to document all his waves while in Oahu I plan to work hard and write as many interesting posts as possible and at least update everyday. I have lots of things planned, knowing that I will have committed myself to daily posts means that I will have to keep active so that I have something good to write.

Our trusted Olympus waterproof, shock proof, freeze proof camera has broken! Looking for replacements at the moment but no new pictures until we sort out a new one.

More to follow...

New Bolts, HSM FB Comp and Old Gear

I am eagerly awaiting my new HSM Bolts now, just waiting to pick them up. Finally ordered my first carbon boom yesterday too, was hard to part with the cash (although when I convert into Bahraini Dinars it seems cheap!), but based on the conclusions from my earlier post I am sure that I will be pleased with the result.

The Bolts will be very differnent from what I used too, I have been using the HSM Fire since their introdcution in 2008 and before that I used the SO (which was a similar set up) for 3 years. I am looking forward to the lightness which I think will be great for wave riding and aerials, I think that it will be like a shot in the arm for my sailing (and I have needed it recently!)

I am really trying to work out a board quiver at the moment, finding it hard because the conditions in Bahrain and Maui are so differnet and I want to get out of my comfort zone to push my sailing forward. I really want a decent freestyle board, a couple of slalom boards and a couple of waveboards but with no current board deal that is rather expensive. I have loved my Tabou DaCurve and would love to stay with them but I am kinda limited to used gear at the moment and I can't find any. That takes me to Starboard, they have a great range so maybe that is the way forward. I have had great fun looking at old gear on ebay.co.uk which seems to dig up the best of the early 80's and 90's gear, really takes me back, I wish that I had the space to collect some of it and I would love to see how the old boards feel in comparison.

What an 80's classic!

I was pleased to read the HSM Facebook page this morning and see that my slogan had made it into the shortlist for the winners of their comp. I liked my "HSM: Hardcore Sailing Machines" but I think that some of the other slogan were great too, guess could be good as you could change for HotSurfMaui to "Harcore Surfing Machines" and have some brand symmetry.

BTW: Still no wind here!

More to follow...

No wind but it looks good for June

Not much wind forecast for this week although it seems to have been blowing abit (while I have been at work that is). Statistically June is the windiest months with 62% of days over Force 4 so fingers are crossed.

http://www.windfinder.com/windstats/windstatistic_bahrain.htm

More to follow...