Windhut Windsurfing and Lifestyle: Category Windsurfing Sessions

Windsurfing Manawa Le Morne Mauritius 29-02-2008

Buzz — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:17:00 +0000

Well after a slow start to the day the wind kicked in, the guests started arriving and service resumed as normal.It wasn’t so sunny today hence the bad light in the pics but still it was another great day in paradise. We did some general checking of equipmnent, sail trimming and so on while there was no wind and then after the guests were all sorted and out on the water some of the team who either had a day off or have now started their annual holiday went out on the water so I asked Matrix if he would kindly drive me out to Manawa with my camera and the video to get some footage.

The waves in Manawa were very nice again today around 1.5 to 2.5 meters in some sets, good wind direction and well perfect for a fun session. Ninja, Baba, Johnny and Alexis were out along with an Italian guest who had to turn in early due to a washing that left his sail in bits. Lots of riding going on, Alexis was really going for it as you can see from the pic of the day for today.

Alexis also landed his first front loop today in a short session in Little Reef on the way back from Manawa. Maximum respect mate nice one!

Best regards to all and happy wind and kite surfing.

Sailing Session at Manawa Le Morne Mauritius

Buzz — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:01:00 +0000

Lovely day today, very productive morning preparing some new things for the centre then during the afternoon Ninja, Baba, Johnny and myself headed out to Manawa for a little session. The wind was a little bit onshore so Manawa seemed a much better bet than heading off downwind to One Eye which was not so big today and breaking very very close to the reef.

After the usual slog upwind to the break we arrived to find it working very well. Waves between 1.5 - 3.5 meters very smooth and a real treat as its generally low season here so we were the only people there. Very regular sets rolling in and plenty of waves for everyone. The only thing wrong with my session was my technique hehehe I seem to have a habit of bending my front arm instead of straightening it! oh well practice practice practice.

The wind was pretty constant outside and the Duke 5.4 I had plus the new Mistral Wave Rd 86 were just perfect.

Thats it for today take care everyone best wishes and happy sailing.

Buzz's Day Off Today

Buzz — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:43:00 +0000

Well not much to report on today. I woke up this morning poured some very nice vanilla flavor coffee then sat down and did some work on a few new pages for Windhut.

Around lunchtime I checked the Club Mistral Mauritius webcam saw there was a bit of wind and a few of our guests were out on the water so called a taxi and hot footed it down there.

There was not so much wind so I decided to try the new Mistral 2008 SL RD 95 out with a Natural 6.6. It all seemed to work find and I blasted out through the channel to cruise around a a little bit. First time I have taken any slalom kit since I left Dahab but it was all good appart from the fact that I was not jibing it well pffft this is the problem when you start using wave boards and the like, needs a little bit of time to get used to a slalom board again but all the problems I encountered were my own fault, the board was great fun to ride and I am looking forward to trying it with a 5.5 or 6.0 I think this will be a lot of fun.

After my blast around on the slalom kit I went back to the centre and decided to have another go at kite surfing. So i had a drink of (water) hehe took a Rebel 10 and a twin tip and off I went . Today i got on much better than yesturday and actually managed to leave the beach, sail around for an hour and come back to the same place. Its only the 6th session for me but now I can ride, go up wind and make small jumps (even if i do land toe side sometimes and get a good washing). I cant say kites surfing will draw me away from windsurfing but when the wind is not so strong for me as a windsurfer its a great alternative. Its also good to be a student again hehe.

Anyways no pics from today spent my time sailing and not with the cam sorry for that hehe but i have included a couple of scenery shots i took before.

Best regards to all and happy wind and kite surfing.

Quick Update From Dahab 22-05-2007

Buzz — Tue, 22 May 2007 19:19:00 +0100

Well after 30 days of either no wind or wind around 3-4 bft for 2 hours in the morning it seems the wind has finaly returned. Yesturday was a steady force 6bft and today 6-7bft.

Didn’t have much opportunity to sail yesturday but did manage 40 minutes at 8:00am with a Mistral SL 105 and a 6.6 R-Type (maxed)

Previous days have been taken up with frisbee and snorkling (took some video will post some Red Sea underwater delights tomorrow night). Its quite amazing here the landscape is very dry and barron but under the water is beautiful and alive so its worth checking it out.

Hopefuly the wind will stay for a few days so we can get some more video done and posted up for your enjoyment.

Take care and happy windsurfing.

Club Mistral Visits Essouria Morocco

Buzz — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 09:33:00 +0100

Sadly I haven’t much time to sit and write a lot about Morocco, but I can tell you that its a place that I felt very at home in. Friendly open minded people still in touch with their roots. Amazing Atlantic coastline offering fantastic year round surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing. Can’t wait to get back there in the summer !!!!

You can view a selection of the pics I took from a trip to a local market, oasis and windsurfing session in Moulay (Fab wave spot cross off from the right) HERE!.

Big thanks to Club Mistral for the invitation to the meeting there and also a huge thanks to Marie and Seb from Ocean Vagabond for their hospitality. I’ll post up some pictures of the Ocean Vagabond Hotel when I get back to Dahab.

WINDSURFING PICTURES FROM MOROCCO.

Windsurfing Dahab 03-03-2007

Buzz — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 06:43:00 +0000

Good wind today.. Rigged a 5.7 and took the Mistral Beast 84 out to the swell with Toby and Mike (one of our guests). It was a bit of a wobble out to the speedy but once around the corner planning started straight away.

It was a nice constant wind which kept the three of us outside for a good 2 hours or so. Not such big swell at the moment as the wind has been light the last few weeks but huzzzah it looks like its back for a while now.

Today I start a few weeks of moving around, leaving for the UK this afternoon for a few days of work and to see my Mum for her Birthday. Then off to Germany to the Club Mistral HQ for a quick meeting and on the Monday off to Morroco for the Manager Meeting so updates may be a bit few and far between, sorry about that.

I am hoping to get an hour or two on the water before I have to rush off to Sharm to catch the flight Inshallah the wind will play ball.

Best wishes and happy windsurfing.

Windsurfing Dahab 05-02-2007

Buzz — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 19:32:00 +0000

Well today was very strange. No wind this morning and not really any wind forecast until tomorrow so none of us were expecting to get out on the water. As you can see it didn’t stay like this all day with a force 4 South wind blowing in.

South wind always sends everyon crazy here as it always feels stronger than it actually is, but as you can see it did create quite a nice shore break. Hmmm just like being at home on thge South Coast.

After a quick sail with a Mistral Syncro 115 and a Duke 6.9 (Which i was quite pleased to almost land a loop with hehe) I had some lunch and then took out a Duke 6.4 and a “Mistral Syncro 102. Both the Syncro were great fun I absolutly love all them the 92, 102and 115. They are all fast and easy to Gybe and plane early they are GREAT!!!

Other happenings today. It seemed that someone had stolen Svetlanas bike so a whole saga unfolded which invloved a trip to the Tourist Police with pictures etc. After much unhappiness Said had a call from the Police to say they had found the bike dumped in the bus station so we can only assume it was kids mucking about with it. Still it was quite a shock to find something missing the crime rate here is almost zero.

Thats about it for today. This evening we enjoyed some curry thanks to Simon from Planet Windsurf who was kind enough to bring us over some Pataks Curry Sauce…big thumbs up Simon thanks for those.

Take care everyone and happy windsurfing

Windsurfing Dahab 31-01-2007

Buzz — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 06:55:00 +0000

WINDY AGAIN!!

Pretty much the same format as the last 2 days. Did some admin in the morning, chatting with the guests and then in the afternoon managed to get out for an hour or two on a Beast with a 4.7 big smiles.

Extra treat today was the very nice waves running down alongside the reef, really smooth and some quite big 3 - 4 meters.

Same forecast for tomorrow yipeee

Best wishes from Dahab and Happy Sailing

Windsurfing Dahab 29-01-07 and 30-01-07

Buzz — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:05:00 +0000

WINDY IN DAHAB AT LAST !!!!!

Well what can i say yesturday the 29th it was blowing like hell between 25 and 35 knots very windy. In the morning I had a quick sail with a guest on a Mistral Syncro 92 and an Ice 5.3 which very quickly became very overpowered as yu can imagine. Still it was nice to get that blasting feeling after poncing around just powered up on freestyle boards for the last few sessions.

In the afternoon I went out for a look at the swells on my Beast 84 with a 4.7 and this too was quite a handful I reckon it was probably 4.2 weather but you always need a bit extra to get back inside the lagoon still I had a little too much extra and it was an absolute no style session but still fun.

Today 30th of Jan sailed for a couple of hours on my Beast 84 again with a 4.7 and this was absolutly perfect today. In the gusts it was a bit big but mostly it was great. I also had an extra treat in that the swells were moving in the right direction for me to be jumping right hand forward hmmm which was great. I made quite a few nice forwards today a few table tops and had some nice rides on the big swells PERFECT and the forecast is looking the same for the next few days big smiles.

Tonight a dinner in Nesima with some of our guests, so signing off for today I’m off to meet the guys in the bar for a wel earned beer. Sorry there are no pics but been windsurfing.

Best wishes from Dahab and happy windsurfing wherever you are.

Vulcan Progress

Buzz — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:49:00 +0000

Sliding backwards today yipeeeee

Ok so here is a quick progress report on my Vulcan attempts.

Day 1. Getting used to sailing in a new way. Freestyle board with giant foot straps, and i mean giant straps so big you could wear a pair of moon boots inside. First things that was happening was everytime I wanted to jump i was actually jumping off the board so made some interesting transitions with only the sail.

Day2. Getting more used to big straps and started throwing myself into the move. Ok this was the first attempt so all was going horribly wrong and as I wrote before quickly settled into the jump 90 degrees fly off the back of the board. Or jump 180 degrees land fin in the water and fly backwards off the board.

Day 3. Make some progress mostly crashing but a couple of slides

Day 4. First half of the session same old jump around and crash but then suddenly after a quick tip to look at the mast foot from Manolis i started sliding. End of the session getting around most times and sliding backwards. Now I guess if I don’t somehow forget how to do this the next time there is wind the next step now is to learn how to deal with the sail i guess.

Total time spent on Vulcan tries so far 5 hours.

Result sliding now, back aching, knees aching, ankles a bit stiff. This is all from the sideways landings in the beginning, I did notice today that when you start to get around and slide its actually not too much stress on the joints so hopefuly not too many sideways landings left to go.

Tomorrow if there is wind I will take the video camera with a guest and try to get some nice crashes filmed for everyone to laugh at .

Happy Sailing