Thursday 29 September 2011

PWA Sylt day 1-5


Hello everybody

JC/PWA

I came to Sylt straight after Dahab, going from the airport straight to Rick Jendrusch to leave to Sylt, this gave us 2 days before the competition on the island. And also gave us the only 2 days with wind. The first day I missed because I was sick, probably from the traveling and going from 35°C to 13°C in Sylt in just one day so I spent the whole day in bed. The second day in Sylt was a typical day in Sylt death onshore, strong current and pretty big shore break, good time to find out how difficult it can be to be sailing in Sylt, it was around 20-25 knts but with the current there was no chance of taking a smaller sail than my 4,7. So I knew already how Sylt could be for in the future.

JC/PWA

From the day the competition started the wind dropped out, we had one day where we had a good chance of wind when you where looking to the forecast with a SSW wind from around 20 knts it should be enough for Freestyle everybody thought. So Skippers meeting at 6.45 in the morning to make use of this wind as much as possible, but in the end the wind never kicked in strong enough for us, making the PWA decide to switch to Slalom because there was just enough wind still for the big slalom gear.  But in the end also there was not enough wind to finish a whole elimination.


The rest of the days I’ve been spending my time making a wave movie from Gran Canaria which came online beginning of this week and been doing a lot of surfing as there are still some waves good enough for some fun on my surfboard. But now as the wind has totally dropped it looks like there will be no swell left anymore and the only thing still going on is our Tow-in freestyle contests where we get pulled in with a Jetski.

JC/PWA

So far we had already 2 tow-in competitions where from one I made into the final. With the first one I had an extremely difficult or rather say impossible qualifying heat being in the same heat with Golitto who scored a 30 point move and Marcilio Brown scoring 27 I was really happy with landing my Airfunnel where I got 21 points for. In the end it was a great final to see again with an unbelievable amount of spectators on the beach cheering for the guys every time they came in!

JC/PWA

The second one was yesterday in much harder conditions; it was really choppy and actually really difficult to do anything which left a lot of crashing going on for everybody. In my qualifying heat I just made it through with a perfect funnel OH just scoring 19,5 which was enough to advance into the final. In the final I went too far away from the jetski coming out of the first corner giving me no choice besides letting go of the rope and go for a move which I crashed in the end. On my second try I wanted to try something I never tried before.  As everybody was going for burners alone I wanted to go for a Skopu.  In the end it didn’t even get close as it’s way harden than I thought but it was something different to the rest. In the end it was again Golitto going away with the first price scoring again a 30 point burner 900 in his first run already making him unbeaten so far this year’s Tow-in. That was all the action so far, no competition yet and looking at the forecast it doesn’t look like anything good!

Cheers Dieter

Saturday 24 September 2011

My Blue Lagoon Trip


Hello everybody


Last week Thursday me and some friends of me made a trip to the Blue lagoon in Dahab where everything returnes back to basic and the only thing you can do is just surf and relax. Blue lagoon is a great place from the Bedouins up north of Dahab providing always a little bit more wind than in Dahab and most important no society or big resorts which can break the wind, only a few huts of wood and beautiful blue water.


After taking the boot in Asala we had a nice 1,5 hour boat trip up to the blue lagoon, with an upcoming full moon we where all already getting exciting about making a great night session as the wind was already kicking in as we arrived in the lagoon. And indeed it was a great night session, it was the first time I ever sailed at night.  So couldn’t wait to rig up my sail and hit the water to first have a nice small one hour session before our evening food would be ready, just with 3 out on the water and a camera to get all our moves on picture giving really great shots! Afterwards we just left our gear just rigged up on the beach putted on a T-shirt and got a great meal before all falling fast a sleep in our hut.


The next morning I got the best wake up ever, wind was blowing already again around a nice 25 knts making it perfect to take my sail out again from the night before just putting on a harness and 5 min after I was awake I was already throwing my first freestyle moves while the others just got up, sailing for 15 min alone till all the other rigged up there sails and join me in my session.  As it was only 6 a.m. in the morning we still could do a nice long session before breakfast was on. Everybody was having the best time since long time on the water and everybody who you past had a big smile on their face. For me it was definitely one of my best session here in Egypt ever, nice consistent wind for my S1 4.3 and Flare 91 and only 5 people on the water making it already by breakfast worth the trip. Sailing upwind to our breakfast just made it all complete.


Afterwards we had another 3-4 hours of sailing before everybody was getting really tiered. I had a great time as it got a bit warmer than in the morning and the wind got even a bit more stronger making me be fully powered up on my S1 4.3 and landing my best flaka shaka ever in my life. In the end everybody was only thinking again about food as the wind was dropping a bit through the end of the session and we where all really hungry. Making lunch are last Bedouins food of our trip we all could look back on a great morning, in the afternoon there wasn’t enough wind anymore so we just spend our time relaxing and playing some games of poker while waiting for the boat to bring us back to reality and get us out of the total silence of nature.


To end the trip of we got a great star heaven with so many falling stars I couldn’t count them on both my hands. By the time the boot was picking us up the wind was already there again and gave us a fast ride back surfing the waves with a massive boot! All by all one of the best trips in my life! Now I'm in Sylt for the last PWA of the year, not windy so far..


Cheers Dieter

Saturday 17 September 2011

Dahab Part 1


Hello Everybody

It’s been a while since I my last update again although there has been tons of action going on on the water with a lot of days sailing at home in some strong freestyle and wave conditions before I could leave for my Dahab trip of 10 days, which is my shortest trip ever to Dahab so far but definitely worth it.


The first 5 days where amazing every day wind for my Flare 91 and S1 4.7 or S1 4.3 just sailing with board shorts and still feeling like it was a bit too hot was great after the colder sessions at home. The first few days I spent most of my days sailing at Speedy’s which is a pretty flat place at the main part of the bay and has the best winds as the wind gets an extra kick as it comes over a flat peace of land giving it the strongest wind in the whole bay but also a lot of other surfers.


After surfing every morning till about 11-12 depending on when the wind would die off, I filled my afternoons with teaching a friend of me who joint me on this trip how to windsurf as there was always perfect light wind for that in the afternoons before dropping totally at 4 p.m. Perfect to head back home on time to relax a bit and enjoy an amazing meal in Dahab city before falling a sleep well tiered!


Last Thursday we went to Blue lagoon again which was absolutely amazing having the best sail in ages with a full moon session and 5 hours of sailing! But more about that will come in my next update as soon as I have all the pictures! So stay tuned!





Cheers Dieter

Friday 2 September 2011

The European Surfweek

Hello everybody





Last week Friday I went to the European Surfweek for people with a handicap all coming for one thing -  having a great week of fun and learn or improve windsurfing! As I first arrived I was totally surprised with how many they were expecting a group of around 20 persons there where around 40 competitors from all over the world, coming from Germany, Romania, Hungary and many more countries it was an international venue travelling to Belgium for a wonderful week.


no wheelchair for us we're windsurfing!



I arrived in the evening of Thursday and had already a chance to meet up with them and get to know them already a little bit, all speaking about how much fun they already had and looked forward to surf again the next day made me already understand they had a hell of great week so far with lots of fun. But also telling about their handicap they told me how live looks for them and what they do in their live, lots of them are studying as there were also competitors from around my age, others have their own company and others just enjoy live.





The next day there was not too much wind and with chance of thunder in the morning we decided to get an interview going about how it is on the world tour and how all the boards and sails are made. I rigged up a sail and put my board ready to give them the chance to feel and examine my gear and gave them the time to ask me any questions they wanted making the morning pas a bit faster as they were all eager to get on to the water again for their last day.





In the afternoon the clouds cleared up there was no chance anymore for thunder anymore and time to get the competition started. I missed the Freestyle competition from the day before but could see now how they were doing the small race which was planned. Helping from within the boat I got the biggest respect for all the sailors having so much fun in really light wind conditions was great to see, I saw even two of my blind friends jump of a low wind forward from their board after asking me if they had the space to do it, just great!


the forward guys!!



In the evening we had a price giving for all competitors giving them a nice medallion for their sailing the whole week making it a great end of a great day for me and a great week for them. After giving all the monitors a nice champagne shower it was time for a nice BBQ and a nice end party of the week.





Afterwards we had 2 days of good sailing at Brouwersdam making it an all perfect weekend! Yesterday I also had my last exam and will be heading of soon to Dahab for 2 weeks to have some training before the last competition in Sylt end of this month!


 never say blind people can't Freestyle!

Cheers Dieter