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...