Sunrise Session

September passed by with barely a hint of wind. Squeezed out a dawn session at Port Aransas on Saturday. This is a cool pic:

Look close and you can see the fisherman casting his net

Hit some solid knee high lips like in this clip:

But we really need some proper wind and waves soon.

Learning to Push Loop

Sailing out fully powered I hit a nice steep head high bowl. Imagining I was Boujmaa I projected as high as possible. Here goes! I threw my head back, ready for the fast backwards push loop rotation. Waking from my reverie, for a split second time slowed down, I found myself peering down at the water. I focused on the water surface in fine detail, a long way down. I was hanging there, lets say 20 feet up, over my sail. A sinking feeling welled in my chest. "Mike, what have you done". I'm not quite sure what happened after that moment of timeless clarity. Time sped up and I hit the water, not my equipment, surfacing with a sense of relief and a smile.

I guess that's just the reality of pushing your limits and not living in complacency. You flirt with the edges and often cross them.

So, the first couple of days in Moulay I was trying backloops but kept over-rotating. Jem called them push-backs. Kind of half back loop, half push loop. Here are some examples:

Coach encouraged me to choose one. After watching the video I decided I might as well start trying push loops! Here is an ugly attempt:

I didn't get any others on film unfortunately. Then day 3, sailing up by Lawamas I hit a nice ramp and busted out a decent one right in front of the coach landing bum first. My first ever push loop. Boom! The next day, the crash...a mental step backwards but a technical step forwards in the learning process. Going into the wind slightly speeds up the rotation and appears to be the secret to making it round all the way. It also feels safer as you aren't really right over the top of your equipment.

My take on how to push loop:

• Jump off a nice steep ramp with hands pretty close together
• Aim to go straight up but also steer the nose somewhat into the wind (to speed up the rotation and go a little more horizontal)
• Look straight back and pull in hard on the front hand only
• Let the magic happen, at this point I'm just along for the ride
• Apparently you slow down the rotation and finish the move by pushing out on the back hand and opening up the body. Personally I'm still working on this part. 

PS - Check out the push loop diaries on windsurfing.tv for more tips and motivation

PPS - Last Friday, Packery was working great, a rare gift. Side-on, nicely powered 5.2 and head high waves. First attempt I whipped it round and landed on my back. Ooh stinger - that hurts without a wetsuit! Second attempt didn't go so well and I got stuck again mid rotation on top of the kit. I guess I went too vertical again. Came down hard on the sail...

Got some bruising on my tricep

AND put my head through the sail - first time out on my new (but used) 2016 Severne S1-PRO. Noooooooo!!!!

PPPS - Next time!? Oh and I am loving the S1-PROs. They feel pretty special. 

Moulayyyyyyyy!!! Jem Hall Clinic

Wrapping up video analysis, the morning of day 3, I looked around the room. It was remarkably quiet. In fact, the tension was palpable. Was I imagining the steely eyed looks? Somehow, in the space of an hour filled with banter, slow motion video feedback and seriously un-PC humor, Jem had lit a fire in everyone's hearts, producing a burning desire to take it to the next level.

Jem giving us all video anal-ysis

An hour later. With most people on 4.0s or smaller and decent size waves it was ON!! Check out this clip from Emile Kott:

Moulay July 2016
A little video from the Wittering Boys in Moulay on Jem Hall ' s EPIC wave clinic. I know I speak for all of us when I say that we are fully fired up and more excited about learning moves than ever. Respect to the big man for all his hard work changing everyone's mindsets! You are literally never too good to get some coaching. Spend the money and get on it, you won't regret it. Thanks Fettah Lamara for the hospitality, food and making us all feel like part of the family!
Posted by Emile Kott on Thursday, July 21, 2016

Sick action right? Apparently this was the highest level clinic Jem had done. A bunch of legends from the south coast where there and it felt pretty special to be part of that. But what was surprising was the total commitment from every single person there to improve and push their level.

So what about Jem? I was expecting a drill sergeant coaching style, but instead found a much more measured and subtle approach. OK, he does speak clearly and with authority but he seemed to be able to adjust his style to the individuals. The best thing for me was the frequency that he would put something I was thinking into words. A number of times I marveled at how something I had thought or mulled over in my mind was described in a succinct and straight forward manner. I was like "Wow, that is exactly what I was thinking! Thank you." All in my mind of course. Haha.

Jem Hall. Coaching Legend!!!!

Time for some more action. I was working on controlling my forwards and rotating more horizontally. They didn't always work as planned though:

Shoulda gone for the double! This one was much better:

I also worked on backies and made a few. Jem got one landing on video (cheers Jem!!!!). Woohoo:

This post is gonna last foreverrrrrrrrr!!!!! The millenials already quit reading. Hi mom, I know you're still with me! What's left? The people. The place. 

So we stayed at Lawamas. Loved it. The food was exceptional. It was clean and comfortable and Fettah, his family and staff were great hosts. I would totally recommend the place.

The view from Lawamas - click on it to see the windsurfing action

I also spent 3 nights at Magic Fun, rented kit off them and we all ate lunch there every day. Bruno and his team were awesome. The food was super fresh and tasty and the windsurfing kit was nicely up to date with mostly 2015/2016 board and sails. 

And the people? The locals are super friendly and the clinic crew were the best. Top marks to everyone for being fun and interesting. We went into Essaouira one evening and had a great time.

Mark 'Pezza' and Ian Celebrating Oyvinds Stag Do!!!!

The crew! Champagne anyone? Geoff?

OK I'm spent. Do you want to improve your windsurfing? A Jem Hall clinic would not be a bad place to start. Oh, and Morocco is amazing! So much culture and so much to see.

Hood River

Did an early July trip to the Gorge, that place is so much fun. And Brian and Laura live there now! Thanks guys for putting up with me for 5 days and to Laura for taking this cool clip of me going a little endo.

Just as I went for a nice little kicker a massive gust hit and after that I was just along for the ride. Woohoo!

US Windsurfing Nationals

I rolled up at my place after a post session refuel at Executive Surf Club. The lights were on. That's weird I thought, Olivier should still be at work. Peering through the patio door window, I could see a stranger sitting at the table. I knocked at my door. It's only polite, right?

Me: "Hi, I'm Mike. This is my place. Who are you?"
"Hey! I'm Martin from Martinique. I think Olivier may have mentioned you?"
Me: "Cool if I come in?"
"Sure..."
I could have been a crazy person for all Martin knew. We sat down and talked windsurfing. :-)

Welcome to the US Windsurfing Nationals! For me, that set the flavor of the event. Grass roots, community, oodles of volunteers, relaxed and fun. Spare vehicles were borrowed, couches were slept on, local gals were hit on, rides to Dallas generously dished it. First Baptiste church put on an amazing breakfast at first day registration. Then free tacos and beers at the Yacht Club at the end of the day hit the spot. It felt great to be part of it all, helping to represent Texas windsurfing.

Love this pic! (Most pics courtesy of Mike Murphy and www.USwindsurfingnationals.com)

Olivier and Martin packing the truck on Day 1:

The price of the windsurf kit could probably buy a couple more trucks

So how was the competition? Note: this is a tad Mike-centric but then it is my blog. Haha.

Slalom
What a blast! My top tip to really maximize enjoyment of slalom competition would be to leave the ego at home. Someone else is always going to have a better size sail or board, carbon fin, faster start etc. Just go out there and have fun. I qualified for the A group in both eliminations, let's call the A group 'the pros', ;-) but then failed to do much with the opportunity. One heat in particular stands out though, I think it was the semi-final second elimination:

Approaching the gybe behind Miles Borash

After a mediocre start I managed to overtake Miles at the second to last gybe marker with a sweet gybe:

I planed out of this baby

We raced to the final gybe marker with me looking back and laughing, Miles was whooping as he tried to catch me. Really, it was that much fun! Rounding the final mark we sailed away neck and neck. But the wind lightened up and I just couldn't get the speed I needed to ride off the fin. Miles reeled me in and I could only watch in dismay as he overtook me 50 yds from the finish line and qualified in fourth place for the finals.

Long Distance
Day 2 and the long distance race was on the cards, wind permitting. This time I dug out and dusted off my light wind summer Bird Island set-up. The F2 Powerglide with weed fin and my trusty 7.5.  The Powerglide was actually my first ever board, bought used off Worldwinds over 13 yrs ago and still going strong. At 287cm in length, it's pretty old school. Warming up I had to work hard to get on the plane so was a little worried at the prospect of slogging for 6 miles. But magically, about 5 minutes before the race started the wind picked up a notch. Nice!

The start was interesting. At the green flag, one of the boats drove along the start line directly into the wind and you had to wait for it to pass before you could go. Once past, the race was ON! Sixish miles of high speed blasting, three miles in each direction. Everyone was racing, no matter where you were in the race, there was someone else close by to race against. It was great trying to eek a little more speed out of the kit. I signed up for the B fleet and after the gybe was pretty sure I was in the B fleet lead. But alas, I sailed a bit broad and had to pinch to make the finish line and right at the end Josh Shirley came through upwind of me to take the B fleet first place. Afterwards, Olivier was like "You should always go high Mike". Like everyone knows that. Sheesh. Well, maybe next year.

Barely pinching over the finish line after about 18 minutes of fun

And then it was all over. Some light wind kona and formula followed but the wind didn't co-operate as forecast. The closing ceremony was fun with cool hand made trophies, solid cash prizes for the pros and lots of goodies for the rest including free gear rental at Worldwinds, a sweet IFJU carbon fin, Naish board, Ezzy sail and Chinook masts and boom.

The Slalom Winners

Fingers crossed for next year. I would definitely do it all again. Just...need...that 120L slalom board...and 8.0...and 3 carbon fins...and a watch...one of those big ones with a countdown timer...

PS - Kudos to Noel for encouraging me to come out of Texas windsurfing blog retirement. Yeehaw!