Sunday's Electrifying Session (video)

Check out the electrifying action from Sunday’s session at Kilcrea.

Vulcan Hand Change ( Video )

Today turned out to be better than expected. It started off with dark skies and rain but ended up sunny and windy. There were people out sailing on 5 to 7 metre sails. I was on a 6 metre and overpowered at times. It was a good day for practising moves. Oisin landed a nice Flaka diablo and a one handed flaka which I caught on camera. I will try a post the clips tomorrow as I’m going to watch the match tonight. Anyway I have put together a clip showing the right and wrong way to Vulcan/ Spock. I’m the Guinea pig showing the wrong way. Watch my hand movements compared to Oisins just after take off!

Check it out

Kilcrea (video)

The wind was light today. Tom and I sailed at Kilcrea and managed to get planing some of the time. I landed four Vulcans . Still have a lot of work to do on my port tack attempts. Tom was also trying them. Its hard work trying to pop when you are sub planing!

Looks like a similar day tomorrow.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Carlos who landed a couple of spocks today for the first time. Unfortunately I couldn’t get out myself due to work. I'm sure he is buzzing after today’s session.

Well done.

Blast From The Past

Balbriggan, the Dahab of North County Dublin! My girlfriend found this picture on the Balbriggan community website. It is from 1980.

Windy Wednesday

I had a good sail today at Kilcrea. I am starting to feel how a Vulcan becomes a Spock. Carlos is getting very close to claiming one with several close attempts.

Oisin also had a good session and is now adding diablos (ducking the sail) to his Spocks and Flakas.
With a bit of luck we will get more of the same tomorrow.

See ya there!

How do you train?

Now there is a question. Taty Frans from Bonaire says, "Just do it" on one of my dvds. He goes on to say imagine a move over and over in you head and then "just do it". Taty doesn’t seem to have a problem executing all sorts of freestyle manoeuvres.

Most of us windsurfers in the real world have a different subconscious message that plays when we are blasting at full tilt. "Abort, abort! don’t do it, not the right time" etc. Like space exploration, the launch is the most important time of the mission. So next time you want to learn something prepare beforehand by going through the move on land and watching the move over and over until you can imagine it clearly.

On the day, get you mind on Taty's wavelength. Turn off worry. Turn off panic. Turn on relax, smile and just do it! And remember the secret to success is to double your rate of failure so don’t be afraid to dip your head more often.

Wish i could do that (video)

Here is a move i would love to be able to do. On Sunday at Kilcrea, Oisin landed a planing Flaka and continued on to try a clew first, switch stance spock. Check out the clip. There is also a nice foward loop at the end.

National Head Dipping Competition (video)

We will all sleep well tonight after a hard day of battling the elements. Plenty of people on the water getting blown around like rag dolls. Did anyone know that the N.H.D.C took place today?
Check it out

A Mid Summer Spock (video)

Today was the longest day of the year, or should I say the wettest day of the year. I arrived at Kilcrea with my exhaust held in place with a cloths hanger. That guy at Wind Guru had stuck three stars up so Oisin and my self decided to check it out. It was definitely a three bucket day and after a half hour talking about sunny windy places in Oisins van we decided to rig. To cut a short story even shorter we sailed for about a half hour in mostly sub planing conditions. As most people were struggling to plane due to lack of wind, Oisin still managed a nice mid summer Spock. Check it out!

More Light Wind Freestyle

Not much wind today so I went for another light wind freestyle session at Malahide Estuary. It was a good fun session with plenty of head dipping. I did manage a light wind switch stance duck gybe with a pirouette as I ducked the sail. Seen Ricardo Campello do it on one of the vids. Only my second time to pull that one off. It did take me about fifteen tries. Anyway drove home and just as I parked the van outside the house my exhaust fell onto the driveway. Guess what I will be busy doing tomorrow!

Learn To Vulcan In Your Shed! (video)

I decided to try and learn vulcans last year but found it very hard to take the first step. Jumping at full speed and trying to land going backwards was just not on the list as far as my survival instincts were concerned. So I came up with the idea of a training device that would allow me to gain some muscle memory and get a feel for the move.

I made the board first and based the measurements for footstraps and Mast track on my JP freestyle 100L board. I wanted to keep the board as light as possible so I could pop it off the ground. The rig consists of an old mast cut down, a short boom and rope to keep it all in position.
To simulate wind I used exercise bungies attached to the boom extending to the wall of my shed.

My first attempts worked but I needed something better than solid ground to simulate pop. An old mattress was the answer and also added an element of balance and movement under foot.
It all looks a bit mad but it works!
I have now started landing vulcans and hope to be trying spocks soon. Hmm how will I get the board to spin? Maybe an old washing machine will come in handy!

No Wind Today

Went for a light wind freestyle session at Malahide Estuary today. Didn’t last very long. Wind went from light to zero. I did manage some sail spin things like Caesar Finies from Bonaire. That guy is cool. Check him out in the clip below. Im going to work on that stuff over the summer.