The event was organized by Chris Lewis, of Pryde Group UK and Team 15 South Zone CO, who did a fantastic job as usual. The junior windsurfers had a super 2 days of ‘master blaster’ racing off the beach in demanding conditions. There was a great setting with a big crowd of spectators, a run to the finishing tunnel and post-race interviews – so the young sailors had a real taste of the event! With 5 races on Day 1 and 2 more plus coaching on Day 2 it was a very busy weekend. Alexei did well, competing against larger sails in the over 4m group and received some great prizes for his efforts.

There was a special Team 15 Clinic on Sunday where the tutors were Boujmaa Guilloul and George Shillito – so the juniors were rubbing shoulders with the pros! They were introduced to the starting point for learning loops by being taught how to catapult on demand (!!!)…and were joined on the water by the pros for practical coaching.

It was a super event – huge numbers in the senior races and some great freestyle competition too. A really tremendous experience for the Junior Turbos!

Contributed by:  Noel Murphy

Candice’s round robin emails to get coastal (contact her if you want to get on the distribution list) provided the right opportunity. Hamworthy F5 forecast on windguru, grassy rigging area and cafe close by seemed to be perfect.

A terrible three hour holiday traffic drive later I arrived in Hamworthy Park (Poole) where it was chucking down rain and looking very gloomy indeed. I was wondering if this really had been such a good idea, but there was no denying it was very windy.

As the first to arrive I rigged up my 6.1 and got some tips from a friendly local, a windsurfer gone over to the dark side (kite surfer) and after a few tentative runs realised that even in the rain UK coastal sailing is definitely worth the effort. The sailing is straight off the beach, the first bit fairly flat, more chop further out. The day bought a consistent strong wind and great blasting.

As the rain disappeared the rest of the Bray contingent (Candice, Claire, Gavin and Lynn) turned into the car park and rigged up. Everybody got some pretty good runs in throughout the day, all having a good sail. Lynn not having done a beach start for a while, also got some practice in with a helping hand from Candice. Claire sought to perfect that jibe and Gavin went for a blast between messing about with his harness lines. My new board felt faster than I’ve ever been, thanks for the advice Simon and James, the new toy is great!

I left a little before the rest. Gavin I hear was last off the water as usual at dusk. Despite the slightly longer journey, I think all had a good sail. I certainly did and hope for more wind soon, in the mean time I’m off to Turkey for some sunny windsurfing.

September diary busy with the National Windsurfing Festival and the Club Trip to Dale, West Wales, so I understand Candice is planning the next trip for 16/17 October, hopefully I’ll see you there.

Contributed by: Jeremy

Last weekend we had a little disagreement with the Dakhla attitude kite center over the position of our tent. They were running a beach safety day for the local kids, our tent stood proud in the middle of the beach with Bray Lake stickers in full view so expect some orders to Western Sahara. Jack was not such a pushover this time and managed to argue our way out of moving the tent which was a massive relief.

The wind conditions have been 50/50 over the last week with it either blowing not at all or nuking everyone on the water. There seems to be a direct correlation between our dental hygiene and the quantity of time out on the water. Jack – who is fastidious about brushing his teeth spends as much time out as possible, Ricky on the other hand has brushed his teeth, once, twice, YES, three times, your talking bollocks! My teeth brushing isn’t the best but I do have an excuse for not being on the water although I have earned the nick name of “rest-day Gold”.

The wind wasn’t about this morning but it should be back this afternoon. The low tide is in the morning so Jack has been sailing in the chop in the afternoons and been doing some huge flakkas. When it is blowing full 3.7 it can be pretty gnarly out there. Ricky hurt his elbow yesterday but fingers crossed it is not too serious.

Looking forward to good tides and wind this week.

Thanks for reading

Contributed by: Tom

Wednesday was OTT windy. Only clew-first moves and forwards were possible as far as I was concerned but Tom and Ricky kept trying Spocks and have some berr grim bruises to show for it. We have got some pretty good overpowered footage for our video now.

Yesterday was still 3.7 full power but not quite so mental. I windsurfed rather badly but it will forever be remembered for Tom’s over reaction to a couple of small dolphins. I was on the bank and saw the dolphins about 15yards from tom and shouted shark! Tom, when he saw the fins, entered serious crisis mode, quickly and efficiently up hauled and sailed as fast as he could to the bank. Apparently he was scared of his board being mistaken for a seal.  Ricky and I tried to go and windsurf with them but Ricky was incapacitated by laughter at Gold’s gullabillity.

Ricky is happy because our generator is back online with a new spark plug so our evenings of lounging can start again.

There is a kite-surfing competition being run from our beach this weekend. They are trying to make us move our tent but we are standing our ground against the spread of teabaggers.

Thats all for now. Keeping it Real!

Contributed by: Tom

As far as windsurfing goes it has been an unsuccessful couple of days…the tides have meant that the freestyle spot is not working at the moment.

On Friday myself and Ricky arrived back at the beach late in the evening due to the slow slog back, Ricky had also managed to put a large hole in the bottom of his foot during a impressive catapult on the sandbar!

On Sunday we tried a wave spot down the road.  Whilst unpacking the car Tom’s board decided to blow across the car park, making a nice new hole to join the others! Jack and Ricky bobbed out, both coming in again after ten minutes due to a complete lack of wind, Ricky’s fin having also been a victim of a large rock beneath the water line.  Since then we have had no wind and have slowly been driven crazy by our flapping marquee!

Windguru is predicting a good week but we have learnt from experience that any prediction made by them is completely worthless so fingers crossed for tomorrow.  In preparation for the especially windy day tomorrow we have brought some camel for tonight – our first bit of real meat since the trip began.

More soon!

Contributed by: Tom

An early arrival just after nine ensured we had space. At £4.80 for 4 hours, or £9.00 for the day it’s not one of your better value locations, but it’s pretty and offers a nice grassy bank for rigging. No reason to get your mast stuck with sand (yes – you know who you are). Becki being fairly new to windsurfing found the harbour area shallows offered confidence building security, and a degree of energy conservation on mount and dismount she informs me.

With Craig standing in the water with hint’s and tips and quick changes for demo’s it was easy for him too between paddle boarding. Having hired a RRD155 with its standard fit 46 fin, the shallows presented a different experience for me! A bit of a walk out, a little sailing backwards on the nose whilst testing my navigation of the moorings later and I was then happily pottering up and down the front of Avon beach playing amongst the many Pico’s!

The conditions were almost on the verge of planing at times, but sadly, didn’t quite come up so between gusts it was a light wind skills day for me. Dave and Sue dropped by (recently relocated) for a social, and hopefully once they’ve settled in they’ll have James kit them out to play on our next visit too. A good morning was had – Becki got some good practice in for the next part of her improvers course this week. I’d like to head back again on a slightly windier day, but as the gatecrasher it was good to check out a location I’d not been to before. On arrival at Bray to drop off the board, I hear they were planing all morning – typical, but I guess that’s windsurfing for you…

Contributed by : Candice

We have had awesome conditions since we last blogged. 3.7 or 4.2m sails have been getting some good use. Tom has been having an eventful time. Today he landed his first Vulcan which he was happy about however his inability to sail upwind meant he walked home and cut his feet so he is back his standard winging. Two days ago he managed to bag us a 400 Dihram speeding fine aswell so he may be sent home early.

Ricky has been clocking up loads of spocks and Jack has been getting along with his switch stance freestyle.

The forecast is looking great for the next few days so hopefully we will all have learnt new moves by the time we next blog!

Keep it REAL!

Contributed by: Tom (4th June 2010)

And again!

Weve been having some more great winds and with low tide in the middle of the afternoon its been super flat. The sand bars work best for freetsyle at low tide so we try to windsurf then. Ive been getting on well with switch and can occasionally get the board out of the water when trying shakas. Tom and Ricky are racing to learn flakkas. Tom is also hoping for his fist spock soon.

Our tent is holding its own in the 40 knot winds although we are slightly concearned what the brutal flapping is doing to our mental state. We now have use of a toilet which is very luxorious. This will spell the end of being chased around the rocky sand dune (our previous toilet) by hoards of Moroccan school kids (Me).

In other news Rickys elbow is holding up well and everyone is reasonably healthy apart from the odd ear plug getting stuck in ears (Ricky)

Keep it REAL!

Contributed by: Jack (8th July 2010)

We arrived in Ceuta, where Tom managed to get confused between coke and beer buying two cans of the latter for the driver and map reader. At the border we enlisted the help of a local Morroccan to get us through which was fortunate as Jack was feeling particularly special that day being unable to fill out a simple form.

We made light work of the drive to Essouira, camping in Moulay on the way through, hoping to catch some wind but ended up disappointed. We did however manage to get hold of some fiberglass from bouj windsurfing.  Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Carl Pilkington made excellent company on the drive down with banter flowing especially when Jack decided to have a mini lash session by himself in the backseat. The drive through the Atlas mountains was spectacular but the road surface made it slightly stressful for all.  A tagine in Agadir to refuel and then a unanimous vote to drive straight through the night meant we arrived in Dakhla early Sunday morning – surely a record breaking drive!

We’ve Arrived – Dakhla Part 1

With only a few hours of sleep between us we pitched the tent and got straight out on the water. Jack managed to cut his feet within the first few minutes. After a quick lunch it was a trip into town to watch England’s lame attempt to stay in the World cup. Jack and Ricky were so disgusted with England’s performance (especially Lampard’s) we ended up leaving before full time.

The morning greeted us with perfect 3.7 weather. We set off for the speed spot. Tom and Ricky made it halfway and stopped for a little freestyle. Jack shot off upwind to have the speed spot to himself, deciding he was too good to sail with mere mortals. He thinks he’s all that, but he still can’t tack or gybe.

We set off on 3.7s again the next day. All of us were sailing really well. Ricky landed his first few spocks and Jack landed his first Flakka Diablo. Tom was also having a good session until he set off from the bank saying “I’m gonna try a flakka”. It looked nothing like a flakka more like a ponch. It now looks as though he may have broken his foot.

Jack and Ricky had a slightly underpowered session this morning and that brings us pretty much up to date. We are in town stocking up on supplies and having been to the hospital we have decided that Tom does not need an X-ray because his winging has let up a little.

Contributed by:  Tom, Jack & Ricky

And welcome to our blog! We are blogging about our summer windsurf trip to Dakhla, Western Sahara. We’ve been planning this trip for months, now we are ready to explode. We’ve spent the last few weeks rattling through our bank accounts on silly things like wedding marquees and stupid, rubbish things like Starboard Flares. Bray Lake have kitted us up to the max with shiny new gear, thanks to James and Simon. Jack has packed four items of clothing and forgot 25% of them, meaning a Uturn 2mins into the journey, thanks to a phone call from Jack’s Mummy.

We are currently on the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander and despite Frank Lampard’s best efforts to ruin our crossing, its been amusing. Tom’s stuff including this computer is covered in hippie vomit and he has not stopped winging since we left Berkshire.

We are looking forward to getting on the road. We are planning to make it to Tarifa by tonight and get across to Morocco tomorrow.

Thanks for reading, Keep it real!

Contributed by: Tom

Conditions were good, and stronger than last year. Everybody had the opportunity to get out everyday but one. A light wind day bought about a walk and a swim to the Point for some, a trip out to snorkel the wreck for Jeremy, a read, a siesta or a spot of backgammon for others. That being said we still took two teams to the water in pairs in the afternoon to amuse ourselves on random craft for a ‘Gary inspired’ relay race.

On sailable days we could go out and simply enjoy, or choose to improve our skills with a clinic. Ian B seemed to quickly get back to where he left off last year, despite suffering a lack of time on the water between trips. Phil’s gyber’s finished the week with more flair than they began, and Danielle’s “beasting” had me out of the water more often on my water starts and planing faster, albeit that back strap is still a bit of a holy grail! Ali was all smiles having clocked a new personal best on the GPS. The “Death by Water Start” award this year surely has to go to Neil and his dogged determination which was rewarded on several occasions by the close of the trip. Such determination only matched by Les for his time served on the water, and what trip wouldn’t be complete without a few blisters, bruises and Gavin’s completely shredded hands. Where would the sales of superglue be without him I wonder.

Good sailing conditions generally led to laid back evenings, mainly involving the Beach Bar and the Oceansource Centre and backgammon games for some. Danielle and Lindsey did us proud hosting a BBQ night and Phil took on the fire pit and a visiting drunken Russian, as only a man could.

For my part, it was quiz night. Unlike last years Quiz Master Kathy, I did not bound into task, but we did get everybody together and give it a go. As far as observations go, anybody who thinks that windsurfers are laid back types probably hasn’t hosted a quiz night! Questions may have been a little more taxing than I had envisaged, or maybe not articulated as well as they could have been in places, but with final veto, a lack of little blue plastic pens for ammunition or suitable will and internet connection to challenge me I eventually emerged with a respectable 44 out of 70 from my winning team of Carl, Mark & Neil. Let’s just not talk Beverages or pi (π) anytime soon eh…..

Upon receipt of our itineraries, most groaned at a late departure with an awfully unsociable arrival time back in to Gatwick, but at it would transpire Saturday conditions were great. We got in a full days sailing before heading back to Sharm with a number of people getting in their best sail of the week. We left two of our party behind beer in hand to wave us off and enjoy a second week. Claire was on her verge of cracking her carve gybe so had a mission for week two, and Darren was looking to sort that loop out over in the waves at Habibi. Maybe they’ll grace us with Blog MKII and let us know how they got on…

Contributed by: Candice Betts