January bought good news to Phil and I, as we were told Bray Lake escapees – James, Phil and Laura – had booked a Neilson deal to come and windsurf with us in sunny, windy Dahab.
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
