Windsurfing A Way Of Life

Finaly the Dahab winter has produced a bit of half decent wind. After a few weeks of variable condtions 2-3bft with th odd hour of 4bft and a lot of time spent infront of the computer it was finaly time to head off to the beach to sail with some sensible sized kit. Woke up this morning to see no wind but had a good breakfast in anticipation of the forecast being correct and huzzah.

I went down to the center around 10 this morning and the wind had just kicked in. Took one of the new Mistral Syncro 92's 2007 and a new North ICE 5.7 which we have rigged on 100% carbon skinny masts stuck my wetsuit on and headed off out.

Took a bit of a wobble accross the lagoon but once in the speedy it was planing all the way. Headed out through the keyhole in the Napolian reef and out into the Gulf of Aquaba. I always have to smile when i get out in the open sea its a marvelous experience. Even this time of year the flying fish are in abundance. You have to take a little bit of care with the flying fish as they don't seem to have any kind of flight control if you sail through a large group of them they fly out of the water and just seem to go everywhere gliding on the wind, its quite an experience. We are not lucky enough to get dolphins here which is a great shame I guess its just too busy on the water for them to feel comfortable.

Anyway 5.7 was a good size with the 92 the swells were very small but I had some very self satisfying rides on the the small ones that were there. There has not been so much wind here the last few weeks so the sea is quite flat. Tomorrow the forecast looks quite good, the best site for the wind here in Dahab I have found is wetteronline.de In the summer you can add about 1bft to what it says to allow for the thermal effect, anyway as long as the wind is coming from the North everything is good. If the wind swings to the South generaly it cancels out the prevailing North air flow coming down the Gulf and you end up with Lake Dahab good for frisbee, snorkling trips and general messing about on the water but appart from that its a wash out.

Anyway after a 4 hour session headed back to the center packed everything up and set off to the beach bar in the Hilton. So I grab the menu and asked for fresh orange juice, not a problem I hear you cry but hey ho they didn't have any pre squeezed juice the normal kind of 5 litre plastic conatiner so they took 20 minutes pressing fresh oranges. I have to say it was definatly worth the wait my glass of fresh orange juice was definatly as fresh as it could have been. Ordered a chicken and veg pizza washed it all down with a double cherry soda and headed back home to sit and jot down a few notes in here.

Nothing fantastic to note on my session I had a lot of fun, still struggling with shove its on flat water I have no idea how bubble, Simon and Colin pull out such high ones on flat water its all a mysteryanyway keep practicing is probably one way so I guess if its windy tomorrow I will give it all another go and try not to break my balls in the process.

Happy sailing to all

By the way if anyone is interested here is the weather for tomorrow

Region Dahab

Mo, 11.12.

Morning NO 1-2

After Mid Day NO 4 ? (Böen 60 km/h)

Evening N 3

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