Escape to Cape Town

After the first snow fall of the winter and the prospect of worst still to come we decided that the UK really was too cold to stay in and the trip to South Africa that we have been planning but not getting round to became a reality.
On our arrival at Cape Town International, we picked up the worlds smallest car (it didn’t last long before we had to up grade to a bigger small car! If only you could take your van with Virgin) and loaded it with the a large amount of kit and headed out of Town to our destination, Langebaan on the west coast of SA. After a small detour into the heart of CT city centre we found the right road and headed north up the coast.
Our first day on the water was comfortable 5.0 weather for both of us Simon on the 85 SB Kode and me on the 75 RRD HC wave board, our weapons of choice for this trip, it was to be our ‘light wind’ introduction into windsurfing in SA! The next day we started as 4.5’s but we had soon down sized to 4.0’s and whilst I was happy if somewhat overpowered on my 4.0 and 75ltr board Simon had a little too much volume and was forced to sail with maybe a centre meter of his fin left in the water! The following day was 3.7 weather for Simon and 3.3 weather for me and as our smallest sail was a 4.0, I tried not to get blown off the beach while Simon battled the elements and got a good spanking as he tried to hold onto his 4.0 and the RRD. Survival was the order of the day.
I must mention here that our ‘Flat Water’ lagoon now resembled Hayling on a big day and the surf was just getting bigger! Even the locals were getting excited.
While we were in Langebaan, Cape Town was going off with constant 3.5 weather and 3m to 5m swell. In fact the condition were so good that Phil and Danielle who are staying Cape Town came up to sail with us for a rest.
The following day we had another absolute stonker and to be completely honest I could have done with a 3.3! It was awesome and a great experience some of the waves were huge (for me!) and I don’t think I managed to sheet in at all and I was still going like the clappers!
This is certainly a windy place although the locals keep telling us that its not normally this windy at this time of year. The wind pattern at the moment seems to be a very civilized four days on and two days off and after 4 days of being battered the rest is most welcome and provides the ideal opportunity for a bit of site seeing and a chance to get the wetsuits off and chill out for a day, sitting on the beach and soaking up the sun.
On the off days, we’ve taken the opportunity to do a bit of site seeing and headed up Table Mountain, toured round the cape and were rewarded with stunning views. Been shopping at the Victoria & Albert Waterfront wandering through the tourist markets and shops and hunting for a decent coffee.
Anyway the winds blowing again to it off to the beach again, it looks like another 3.7 day to day!

Dahab - Seems like a long time ago!

Sometime my job has its bonus’s and some work for Neilson at their Dahab resort in the middle of winter is definitely a bonus.

So at the beginning of March it was off to Egypt for two weeks work, honest. Simple job really run at Intermediate Instructor Course and a couple of Start Instructor course moderations and in between go windsurfing, simple really.

Neilsons centre in Dahab is a fantastic venue for windsurfers of all levels especially at this time of year, as you tend to get a good mix of condition to suit everyone.

With stacks of Starboards and Tushingham sails to choose from all you need is the right wind.

So after a successful Intermediate Instructor course with some great conditions and a successful out come for every one all I have to do is wait for the next bit of work and in between if I’m lucky get a sail in. Unfortunately this is were its starts to go wrong it is now my second day off and still no wind, I guess that’s how its goes. As ever though and windsurfers being the optimistic bunch that we are the forecast looks like improving in the next few days, so fingers crossed.

Girls for Gold

After the best intentions of keeping my blog up to date, a very cold and uneventful but busy winter has meant that there has been very little to say. But with Summer approaching there are plenty of trips and event planned to keep every one busy.


Last Saturday however (one very cold Saturday) we did get 6 brave girls down to the Lake from 'Girls 4 Gold' (chosen from many as potential future Olympic Windsurfers) to find out all there is to know about the world of competitive windsurfing and to get out on the water and experience the thrill.

Unfortunately the Lake froze on the Friday night and we had 15mm of ice covering the whole lake.

The girls were accompanied by a Girls 4 Gold representative, Barry Eddgington the RYA Olympic Windsurf Coach, and the RYA Windsurfing Olympic Physiologist. Not to be put off by the cold the first part of the day was spent looking in to the world of the Olympic Windsurfer (very scary and very humbling) run by the RYA team and then followed by a 'this is windsurfing' session 'beginner to advance' run in double quick time by Mark and I ending up with a two hour windsurfing session in icy water.

The ice proved a great teaching aid as the ice and cold water provided the ideal incentive to not fall in and as the ice re-frozen under them the boards became more stable, all we need to do now is work out how we incorporate it into our summer teaching program.

Tushingham / Starboard Dealer Conference

Wednesday saw myself and Linz drive down to Devon for the Tushingham/Starboard annual Dealer Conference.

This was our first visit to their new warehouse and it was stuffed full of new 09 boards and sails.

Starboard are to make a few changes to the range next year but most will be small improvements, in essence all remains very similar.

The big changes are the disappearance of the Kombat - a "love it or hate it" kind of board which has been replaced by the all new Kode which is everything the Kombat was and wasn’t, and some. I've now had a chance to sail both the 94 and the 86 and love them. They will definitely become part of my permanent quiver over the 08/09 season and both are available for demo.

There were small tweaks to the Futura and Isonics but no majour changes and we now have 09 Futura available to buy and demo. See Shop.

Tushingham, like Starboard there are very few changes to the Tushingham sail range and those changes are small tweaks rather than anything dramatic. It’s hard to better what is already an awesome product both in performance and value for money and the only real notable changes to there range are the Storm. Still in essence the same sails the look and shape has evolved. The bigger sizes giving earlier acceleration in the lighter winds an emphases on making the sail more manoeuvre orientated with the smaller sizes maintaining there awesome high wind freeride potential.

Following the Starboard/Tushingham brain washing Linz and I along with the other retailers went for a paddle on their new SUP’s up the river Avon followed by some food and beer at the local pub in Bantham. If anyone is interested in the new SUP board phenomenon we now have five demo boards and are planning a trip along the Thames.

Frostie's Blog

Welcome to Frostie's blog,
At Bray Lake we want you to get involved with your watersport either by coming down to the Lake, telling us about different places you've sailed at, or trips you're planning and of course what happened.
The next club trip is Dale in October which is often a great time of year to sail, we always get loads of people joining us, so if you haven't done this trip before, don't be shy come with us. Having looked at tides etc we've decided the weekend of 4th/5th October is going to be the one.
I'll be keeping you up to date with everything that happens via this blog. If any one wants to add their comments, please feel free.