James’ brother and friend, Andrew and Rich were not sure whether to do much windsurfing, but when the only female in the Neilson team announced she was to be teaching the Start windsurfers this week they quickly decided to give it more of a go!  After a good first morning with Kat, they told her not to be offended but beer and a sunbed would be their afternoon plan, also not to worry for they’d definitely be back for more tomorrow!!

Ollie and Emma were lucky to have Hasan to themselves and got out to work on using the harness, improving those tacks and most importantly to the whole group it seems, learn to go faster!!! Both really enjoyed their lessons and very excited for more to come.  Mark and Tom were pleased to have Ben as an instructor and had a brilliant day blasting around, finding the footstraps for the first times and arguing over who was fastest.  David and James got Kamal to themselves for the morning, and then in the afternoon James and I took the tandem out to speedy for a play!  It was really great fun with plenty of wind to get us flying around and surprisingly we managed some rather smooth turns too!!

In the evening we enjoyed a meal in town with some delicious food and a few drinks, the banter was hilarious, the group, who mostly met each other on the flight over, seemed to get on like they have been friends for years! A good night was had by all and no complaints of any sore heads after those first couple of evenings!

Wednesday was a lighter day for wind but the guys got out and made them most of what wind there was, with a windier forecast ahead.  More dinner plans in town for tonight and a trip to Tree Bar for some pool and dancing is in the plan for afters.

Contributed by: Danielle @ www.getwindsurfing.com

This was then followed up by even more good news that Simon and Lindsay had booked the following couple of week,  with the addition of Rich and Lyn, who were coming to play too!

So, what did the ‘escapees’ get up to.  The fortnight with James and co was great fun!  We even saw the party animal in James come out to play – more than I have seen in the 4 years I have known him.

Not only that he fully threw himself into his windsurfing, trying freestyle moves with some epic outcomes…and no I don’t mean he mastered any, but we did enjoy the comic (if a little painful looking) crashes, usually right next to me as James definitely likes the camera!!

Phil and Laura took advantage of their stay, and put in a huge effort on the water, enjoying all the unusually good wind at a less than predictable time of year for Egypt (so lucky!).  In fact on some days Phil was so illusive, once he was gone on the water he didn’t like to come off, must be something in the name?!

During this visit, the political situation in Egypt took a worrying turn making the remainder of stay somewhat interesting!  Highlight of the week for James was our (top-secret) ride home in an Egyptian police van, during the peak of the riots in Cairo and problems in Egypt, after many a gin, vodka and tequila.  But don’t panic, it was in fun, not because we were in trouble!!

We took a photo of us in the back of the policevan afer we’d enjoyed a glass or two, this was a big mistake as the officer in charge panicked and made us delete the shot immediately… He obviously would have had a slapped wrist for being a  taxi driver for some inebriated tourists.  James was so excited by all this he insisted on phoning Frostie at 2am, luckily we saved Simon from this only to find James still managed a text to tell him all about it.  All in all, a really good time had by all.

The following 2 weeks when Simon, Lindsay, Rich and Lyn joined us, were equally fun. During the evenings, we managed to replace the dancing till 4 am and shots of tequila, with many a night on local gin, shisha and enjoying the fantastic range of local restaurants.

During the day we all played hard on the water and a good time was had by all. Simon was seen working on his aerial moves with Phil, while Linz and I messed around with old skool tricks and, of course, Linz got the Isonics out to play too.  Richard found a love for the Serenity after a first week of planing around on the Futuras when the second week brought less wind. The Serenity was perfect for keeping him flying across the bay.

Lyn had a great week of coaching with Neilson’s Heather and Jamie and impressed us all by getting comfortable in the harness and achieving footstraps at some points too, and most importantly enjoying the experience. The second week was much more chilled, with an opportunity to do a bit of SUPing and snorkelling to keep busy in the lighter moments.

Things in Egypt at this time were troubled, and we want to thank all our friends for sticking to their plans and coming out.  As they found out the situation in Dahab was ‘business as usual’, except a fraction of the other nationalities here and so the water was blissfully quiet.  The local businesses all appreciated the British not being put off by the volative situation in Egypt and still supporting the local tourism industry during such a difficult time for them all.

For Phil and I, we are working hard now catching up on sleep, detoxing a little, and of course working hard coaching,  photographing guests and training, in the lead-up to our next clinic, starting on March 5th in Moon Beach.

This should be a great week, we still have spaces too so if anyone is interested in a last minute deal please be in touch, flights are cheap and, the water is quiet, warm and the wind is up! Take advantage of a Moon Beach trip

Contributed by: Danielle Lucas

In the evening a group of 10 of us headed into the local town for something to eat and the odd beer / glass of rum as well.  After a very nice meal at Funny Mummy’s we wondered to a local bar where the Neilson staff tried and failed to get Frostie up on the karoke – it was left to Andy C and Andy (Neilson instructor) to hold the forte with a redition of “Blue Suede Shoes” which sounded more like cats being strangled!!

Day Four

On Thursday we were given the day off from instruction and if we wanted, could try new things.   Some took the opportunity to out for a sail in the morning however the wind dropped off by the afternoon – for me (Fiona) I took the opportunity to visit the pool and finish my book saving my hands as already have blisters.

In the evening four of us decided to allow Neilson to take us to the Thai resturant which was very nice, if fairly expensive for Dahab.  This was followed by the weekly quiz for about 5 of the party, the rest of us all had an early night.

Day Five (Friday)

Andy C, Vincent, Jean decided to take a morning cycle ride which I hear was rather hot work as the temp was already on the rise.

For Neilson this was coaching day which meant that those of us who wanted to work on our beach starts, including me, could do.  Unfortunately after a rather painful sail back to the beach bar for lunch the wind died completely.  We did experience causalty number 3 and our first blood as Lucy managed to kick some coral resulting in a bandaged foot for the afternoon.  The rest of the group headed off to snorkle – I didn’t join them as I had come out with a heat rash – doh!!  Everyone met up again in the early evening to watch Windsurfing II movie on the beach.

Contributed by: Fiona

The first week was all work, honest.  With 8 students on an advanced instructor course for Neilson and a good forecast Sam Ross (Neilson Dahab manager) and I knew we had our hands full. So just to make sure that I was fully acclimatised I postponed the course for a day and went sailing. After all is was 4.7 weather and it was a shame to waste it.

The course went well, once we started, with wind everyday bar one, theory day! The course was made up of Neilson staff including a couple of their Egyptians staff and Phil and Danielle (ex Bray Lake) working freelance (Get Windsurfing) check out their web site and a guy from Ardingly Reservoir.

Despite the hardship of having to talk windsurfing everyday and spend most of the day on the water we made it to the end of the week in one piece and with 8 new Advanced instructors.

While Sam and I were working hard Linz managed to keep herself amused, scaring all the freestyle sailors on their 4.5′s by buzzing them on her favourite Isonic and 7.5!

With an epic forecast for the following week we eagerly awaited the club trip (made up of members from Bray, Burfield and BTYC) with another free day on the water this time fully powered on 5.0′s. An awesome way to finish the first week and it looked good to continue for the next!

And then Crocker arrived! Since his arrival the promised wind has failed to materialise, we have managed to sail every day but it’s been very sedate. Crocker has done his best to keep us all entertained with a succession of incidents of which I’m sworn to secrecy and have promised not to say anything about the bathroom incident ending in him getting a black eye, or the attack from a sea badger that resulted in Andy having to defend himself with his fin before it was lost to the depths.

I gather you may now have more info but at least it wasn’t me that told you. And I also never told you about his karaoke debut last night! We have photos and will try and get them to you soon.

For further info on the Sea Badger type into Google!

Fingers crossed the wind will return before we leave or I may have to make a wind sacrifice!

Contributed by: Frosite

After a fairly lengthy flight with a few bumps, drunks and children screaming we arrived at the hotel to receive a warm welcome from Simon and Lindsay who were already out here.  Monday evening was a quiet affair with most of us heading straight for food and a few beers.  Unfortunately it appears Andy C might have had a few too many beers as while a group of us sat outside chatting he pointed out with great enthusiasm the goat behind us! Upon closer inspection (from the same tables it has to be said) it was discovered the goat was  a dog, maybe Andy C needs to get an eye test or we put it down to a very long day.

Day Two – The Sea Badger that took the fin!

Tuesday was our first day of sailing and after meeting at 0930 to be put into our groups for the week we all ventured out onto the Red Sea for a sail.  The wind was fairly light – 12knots – so everyone was able to have a good time on the water.  The more advanced group sailed round to Baby Bay to try their luck at a few freestyle moves.  Unfortunately the first casualty of the week was experienced here by Andy C who met a badger that attacked the board and removed the fin completely! For those who are unsure about the existence of sea badgers we think that Andy C might just have found a bit of coral to hit – still the board, sail, mast and boom were all ok…..

Day Three – Black Eye

On Wednesday we had very light winds which meant only the beginners and improvers and very keen intermediates went out in the morning and afternoon.  For those of us (Vincent, Justin and Fiona) that decided to give the sailing a miss a trip to the local island to go snorkling kept us occupied… OK island might be a little bit of a leap..but we all enjoyed the trip.  A few others also decided to take a boat out for a change.

Unfortunately the second casualty happened on this day – again to AndyC who was seen be sporting a very nice black eye – apparently obtained whilst going to the toilet!

Day Three

List of casualties….. (all of one – namely Andy C)

(1) Fin due to hitting coral – oops sorry I mean the sea badger called Bob

(2) Black Eye

Contributed by: Fiona

So at the beginning of March it was off to Egypt for two weeks work, honest. Simple job really run at Intermediate Instructor Course and a couple of Start Instructor course moderations and in between go windsurfing, simple really.

Neilsons centre in Dahab is a fantastic venue for windsurfers of all levels especially at this time of year, as you tend to get a good mix of condition to suit everyone.

With stacks of Starboards and Tushingham sails to choose from all you need is the right wind.

So after a successful Intermediate Instructor course with some great conditions and a successful out come for every one all I have to do is wait for the next bit of work and in between if I’m lucky get a sail in. Unfortunately this is were its starts to go wrong it is now my second day off and still no wind, I guess that’s how its goes. As ever though and windsurfers being the optimistic bunch that we are the forecast looks like improving in the next few days, so fingers crossed.