Thank God it's Windy!

‘Africus’ the god of south west winds did well today. We had a good session at kilcrea. Most of us rigged 5m which worked well most of the time. Oisin and Carlos were buzzing around on there new Neil Pryde ‘Flys’. Carlos got his in purple and was looking as cool as prince. Looks like tomorrow will be even better.

Clear the Cobwebs from your Footstraps

Jonas and myself went to Malahide for a light wind session today. We practised clew first helitacks and clew first upwind 360s. I managed a triple sail spin yesterday taking my back hand off for the second two spins. Good fun!

The van is packed and ready for tomorrow. Better clear the cobwebs from my footstraps. Looks like i'm going to need them. Don’t let me down Mr Wind Guru!

We Want Wind! We Want Wind!

No wind this week. Next week should be better. I spent yesterday evening fitting a back brake to the bike. It took about three hours as I had to drill, tap and fit gyro tabs and a gyro system to allow the handlebars to swivel. I have it set up now and working. Fingers crossed!

Six Ways to Park a Bike!

Today I brought the bike over to Skerries. Oisin wanted to give it a try. Here is what we got up to. All teeth are still in place!









Oisin won a rosette for this trick. The flying Seagull!


One leg, no hands. Yes I'm proud of this!



Spin those bars!

Light wind Wave Riding

Yesterday I had a light wind session at Malahide estuary. Good fun until I put a hole in my expression 6.1. I repaired it last night as I taught we might get some northerly wind for a sail today.

I met up with Oisin in Skerries for a sail in the afternoon but the wind wasn’t strong enough. We decided to go out anyway and catch some small waves coming in. Oisin was on an S.U.P with his new Fire Fly 6.1 (nice sail). I was on my JP freestyle 100l with my repaired 6.1. It was a fun session trying sail 360s on the wave, clew and fin first on the wave, sailing backwinded etc

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Check out the picture above. It shows why windsurfers and Kiters dont mix too well!

Turn that Off and go Outside. Its Sunny!

Wow! It’s a nice day today. I’m meeting Jonas at Kilcrea for three o’clock for some light wind sailing. Think ill bring the shorty. Hmm, the water might not be so warm. Maybe ill leave the shorty.

(update)
Jonas and myself ended up sailing at Skerries expecting a non-planing session. There was a steady sea breeze and I could see what looked like stronger wind over towards Shenick island so I sailed over and ended up having a nice session planing into the flat water bay of shenick island on my 6.1 expression. Perfect for practicing freestyle.

Bike Fun

I haven’t windsurfed in a week due to the lack of wind. The last few evenings I have been in the shed prasticing different rolling balance positions on the bike. It’s very hard to get used too but I am making some progress each evening.

I managed to fork glide a few times. This is where you start riding as normal and spin on the handlebars till you are facing backwards standing on the front fork pegs. I also tried a tailwhip foot jam. This is where you jam your foot in the front forks, Endo onto the front wheel while spinning the frame 360 degrees around the front forks. I’m making some sense of it but haven’t landed back on the bike. Could be a while!

Check out sakata seiji showing how it should be done.

Who say’s you have to grow old!

This is for anyone who thinks they are too old to learn new windsurf moves. Check out this 70 year old windsurfer trying to improve at the Quiksilver Windsurf School in El Tur, spring 2008. He tried chop hop, upwind 360 and vulcans!

No Wind - Lets Roll

Day one on the bike was interesting. Definitely beats going to the gym. I went over the handlebars within five minutes! First I tried some endos into rolling backwards and some bar spins. Had some success with both. At the moment I’m trying to get comfortable rolling forward on the front pegs facing the saddle. Easier said than done.

New Bike Arrived

Yesterday I sailed at Rush. It was heavy going. I was on a 4.5 and over powered most of the time. I should have rigged a bit smaller as I felt old this morning when I got up. When I got home my flatland bike had arrived in the post.

Today I decided to skip sailing, rest the body and try and figure out how to assemble a bike. Cant wait to go over the handle bars!!

Back to Work (video)

I’m back to work this week after two months off. On Sunday I sailed at Portmarnock first and at Skerries in the afternoon. There were plenty of people out on both beaches enjoying the waves. Looks like there might be some wind tomorrow. I hope to get out after work.
I came across a flatland BMX video of a guy doing his new trick called 'Galvatron'. Name taken from transformers. Looks cool!

Check it out

The Lonely Man (video)

Yesterday there was a strong west southwesterly wind early in the day. I went to Kilcrea to check it out in the evening after work. The wind and anyone who sailed it had gone!

Check it out