Cape Town

Had a sick trip to Cape Town with Guillaume for a week of coaching with Ben Proffitt and Colin Dixon. We sent it. HARD. Check out Send-It Sunday. I'm the guy crashing on the Orange/Burgundy Severnes from 0.18 to 0.46.

Quintana

A short clip from a super fun Quintana session last fall. Sound on. :)

Boca Chica - January 2019

This was a fun session.

Punta San Carlos - April 2019

I have a blog...

Protection

Scrolling through my phone I found this clip of me attempting to wave sail on my freestyle board.

And it reminded me of this, one of my favorite quotes: "Sailing head high down the line waves with a Freestyle board is like taking home a smoking hot girl and realizing that you don't have any protection. Damn right, you do it anyway and worry about the consequences later."

The Slab of Death (Part 1)

At low tide, upwind of the main launch opposite Lawama the slab of death might not always show itself. 

On small days, it makes a nice peak for jumping and getting one or two hits on the way in. But windsurfers beware. As the swell picks up this cute little kicker can unleash it’s fury on the unwary sucking up the surrounding water and breaking top to bottom in an instant of power and determination.

I arrived in Moulay 2 days early. Excited to get some warm up sessions in before Jem Halls clinic started. The forecast was for building wind and waves. Yippee!! The first day was fun 4.7 jumping and the second looked great with building wind and waves. 

After a few warm up runs I worked my way upwind and picked up a nice set wave. Oozing confidence I lined up upwind of the peak and charged down the line cranking a hard bottom turn focused on the water in front of me. I looked up opening the sail for my next move, ready to hit the lip. In that instant a feeling of dread ran through me. A thick fat brown and white slab of water had silently snuck up on me. “Fu…”.  The lip hit the sail in an explosion of sound and energy. The sail and boom hit me hard in the shoulder with the pressure building. Then suddenly something gave way. I was pushed deep and bounced around like a rag doll.

“I’m hurt” I thought. “It’s not good”. Surfacing I tested my arm. It still worked! “Yes!”.

Once convinced I still had functionality in my shoulder I looked around for the kit expecting to see major carnage but the mast looked to be intact. “Yes!”.

Lifting the sail to waterstart I found the foot of the sail flapping around under the boom but the clew still attached. “Yes! I can still sail it!”.

Thankful that the sail had failed before my shoulder I waterstarted and limped downwind with my tail between my legs. 

Bit of bruising - Day 2

Man style! - Day 4ish

Addendum - I wrote this account whilst in Moulay in between plenty of windsurfing and SUPing choosing to ignore the pain and swelling in my chest and arm. Once back in Texas as the swelling reduced I noticed my chest looked kind of weird, like some of it was missing. A visit to a specialist confirmed major tearing in my right pectoralis and I'm now waiting on the MRI to find out if surgery is required. Doc reckons the 'impact' I described was actually my muscle/tendon fibers breaking...yummy.

Ten Minutes with Jem Hall

Hanging at Magic Fun in Moulay with the clinic crew. We decided to give the enigma that is Jem Hall^TM a good hard grilling with the goal of finding out his deepest, darkest secrets. Below is what we unearthed. Photo credit: Nick Jones

Clinic Crew From L to R: Rachel, Arve, James, Mike, Bastiaan, Mark, Enigma, Laurence, Jacob, Tom, Bjorn, Kevin, Gøril, Gary (Martin is missing in action after tweaking his ankle back looping)

James - how did you first get into windsurfing?

My best friend’s Dad taught my two best mates and I to windsurf in Southsea which started a life long passion and journey. 

Tom - Top 5 most used phrases on a clinic?

Get down James Brown

Back hand down the boom 

Toughen up Princess

Drive forward and bend the ankles 

Jump more / do more forwards!

(Jem played this one way too safe and PC. My kids favorite from PSC was "Woohoo! Living the f***ing dream" - Sorry Jem! :) Mike)

Jacob - what gives you the most joy doing your job?

Seeing people improve and begin the powerful action of becoming better self coaches too!

Mark - Who is better in bed? Southsea Tony or Darren (two of Jems best friends from Portsmouth)?

Mark, my good man, you are best qualified to answer this :) 

Don’t put this in Mike! (Oopsy! Haha ;) - Mike)

Jacob - When did your job last make you cry?

Frustration at a particularly difficult time for travel logistics. I hold it together when coaching, in the main, to be of the best support to my rippers. 

Gøril - where and when would you like to retire?

Oslo with my family and after 60 (15 more years). I have heaps of coaching and working with amazing people to go. 

Mike - do you rotate undies or do laundry on your 3 week clinics?

Rotate and clean them. I have too many fins in my luggage to carry enough pants to not wash them!

Laurence - if you could have a different personality trait, what would it be?

It sounds like I already have enough of it but I would actually like to be a bit more competitive. 

Arve - will you let your daughter get in to kite surfing?

I will look to steer her away from this sport and into sports that require more challenges. 

Jacob - Favorite sailing location?

Punta San Carlos, Baja, Mexico. Amazing adventure, world class wavesailing, SUP and hospitality. 

Bastiaan - will you still be windsurfing in 10 years?

Yes and I will be still be looking to get you jumping even higher and hitting the lip more.

Kevin - if you were forced to stop windsurfing from injury, would you become a life coach instead?

Yes, this area interests me a lot as I am very into personal development and love to see people move forward and help themselves to get the very best out of them.

Laurence - What is the most memorable incident whilst on a clinic?

There really are too many, and so many amazing ones so i will take one of the first to pop into my head now and that is when a dutch intermediate was so happy with his improvement that he picked me up, bear hugged me and then put me down and kissed me on the forehead. Blew me away and it was such a genuine sharing of happiness and emotion that it really touched me. 

Gary - how did you enjoy learning to kite and what did you take from it?

I enjoyed the journey of learning a new sport, but it was not for me and so I could not give it the passion I apply to so many other areas of life. I took from it that it is good to learn new things and take a step back and know what my people feel when they are learning and developing. I am now enjoying learning to ski, both downhill and cross country.

Bjorn - if you were to go on someone else’s clinic, who's would you go on, where and why?

Colin Dixons, as I enjoy sailing with him, he is a fun guy and I feel he would have a different approach to getting me to improve and charge. 

What would you be if you weren't a windsurfing coach?

Some sort of sports coach, or a life coach or back to my roots and being a Physical Education teacher. 

Laurence - top tip for doing a push loop? 

Speed, right ramp and be committed and best technical tip is to look past the mast tip, pull on mast hand and throw your legs over your head.

Rachel - you spend so much time in the sun. How do you keep your skin looking so youthful?

Why thanks for that, simple really, use a scrubber to take off the dead skin, moisturize when possible, use high SPF, get a hat and shades whenever you can, eat well and be happy. I’m a new dad so I can’t say sleep well :) 

Martin - what is your biggest regret?

Sorry mate, no regrets, I take it all, good and bad and all have been part of the journey. 

Thanks for the questions, really enjoyed contemplating my answers and getting them across here. 

Thanks too for all being such a fun and focussed group, stoked to share Magical Moulay with you. 

Love and respect, 

Coach 

Thanks for reading! If interested in what it is like to do a Jem Hall Moulay clinic check out this post from last year: moulayyyyyyyy-jem-hall-clinic

The Slab of Death (Part 2)

First day of Jem Halls Moulay clinic and the wind was light with mast high sets coming through. 

Heading out I had two goals. 1) Play it safe and 2) go early on the wave, having had an earlier altercation with a section of the wave aptly named “The Slab of Death”.

I sailed as planned doing weak turns on the unbroken waves and straight lining in the interest of safety whenever the lip started to appear. All was good, but there was also a feeling of dissatisfaction. In the back of my mind, I couldn't shake the thought that I wasn't sailing with my usual vigor. To be honest, my specific words post session feedback were "I need to stop sailing like a pussy". 

Straight lining. Shortly before the incident

I picked off the last wave in the set, another tactic I had been employing all morning, and headed in, lined up with Lawama. I bottom and top turned the logo high wave nice and early, this time coming out with decent speed. “This is more like it Mike!” I thought. Whilst right in the midst of the slab of death, I could see that I had plenty of time so went for another combo. Cranking the top turn I lost the fins and went into a tail slide. I managed to pull the tail back in but lost all speed and found myself stationary at the top of the wave as the slab of death decided to unleash it’s fury on me one more time. The lip threw, taking me and kit out in front of the wave. Practically free falling I held the boom for the drop and then let go covering my head with my arms and waiting out the roller coaster washing machine.

I popped up just in time to see my board jettison out of the wave. Uh-oh. Treading water I found myself on my own, way out at sea with no-one and no gear in sight. The board appeared to have self rescued itself and the rig was nowhere to be seen. 

I find the decision making process to be quite interesting in these types of situations. The mind goes into overdrive. Do I swim in? Should I dive down and try to find the sail? What will Bruno say about me losing his rig? Where is everybody? I wonder if they will send someone to rescue me? Whats for dinner tonight?

After floating around and getting washed by a couple of waves the short term decision was made for me as the rig miraculously popped up just ten feet away from me completely intact. I couldn’t abandon the rig without a fight. So I grabbed it and started swimming towards shore. Each time a wave unloaded on to me and the rig I expected the worst but each time the kit survived and I seemed to get incrementally closer to the beach. 

Some waves would send me and the rig cartwheeling under water. Twice the sail was pushed deep and I couldn't hold it. I tried to swim it back to the surface but I had to abandon it and hope it would resurface, which it did after what seemed like an eternity. I figured out that holding the rig with the mast parallel to the wave and the clew pointing to shore provided the path of least resistance and I made good headway using the white water to push me in.

Finally I touched bottom. “Thank goodness! I’m going to make it!” I thought. I could see Bruno in the shallows with a local holding the board. The hope turned into dismay as I got washed into the rocky shallows and the sail got caught in a hole. But each time, the kit would come out unscathed. The local waded out to meet me and reconnected the board.  “You can sail back now” he said. “I can’t” I mumbled, “I’m too tired”. He took the board and sail and sailed it back upwind for me. I floated in with the waves, bouncing off the rocks, to meet Bruno. I gave him a questioning thumbs up and he replied with a smile. I smiled and laughed. I thanked the local profusely for catching the board and helping me get through the rocky shallows. 

Super happy to have made it in with everything intact. I treated myself to a coke and relaxed, with a good story to tell.  

Quintana December session

Happy New Year!! Totally forgot about this clip. Fun action from Quintana last year. 

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!

Winner to Wavesailor

"Woah, you brought the kids?" was a common sentiment on our August trip to solosports Punta San Carlos. In the middle of nowhere, no electronics and not a whole lot to do except play in the waves, relax and eat great food. You can see why. But we had a blast!

Flying into the campo was pretty exciting.

The airplane

Take Off!!

 We all enjoyed lots of water time.

Post-Sesh Shakas

And there was plenty of things to keep the boys entertained. Climbing around on the cliffs, swimming across to the bird poo island, boogy boarding, foosball, chasing scorpions. Plus being able to eat and drink as much candy and soda as they wanted, albeit when we weren't watching.

Joey showing the boys the ropes

It was warm-up week for Jem Halls clinic and I was really impressed both with Jems coaching style and clear passion for his job and the standard of his 'students'. Everyone was tacking onto waves, cranking nice turns with a bunch of them busting forward loops. Here is a nice short from Clive Boden: 

Baja Jem Hall Wave Clinic from Clive Boden on Vimeo.

If you watched that till the end you will have seen me trying a ponch/goiter. Unfortunately, as I landed my front foot came out the strap, the back one stayed in and twisted HARD. It was rather painful and resulted in me spending the rest of the week with my bloated foot in the air. The diagnosis once back in Houston: fractured bone and sprained ligaments. Worth it though I reckon.

Welcome to 6-8 weeks in a boot

Perfect Packery

Short clip from fun Memorial weekend Packery session. Excuse the quality, new camcorder needs adding to the 'buy one day' list...

Memorial Recap

Long weekend! Wind! Waves! Forecast rain! Surprise sun! Steered well clear of the bay under threat of catapulting open mouthed into poop. Imagine that, poop in the mouth! Ewwwwwwww.

3 days straight at Packery. Unprecedented. Sunday was the best direction but Monday was oozing fun-ness. We got some iphone clips and might try to make a video. Bird was good too with a bunch of people out. We pulled up Monday to see Brian Miller busting a perfect clew first spock 540 in front of the cheering crowds. Unfortunately we didn't get it on video but here is one of Randy doing a regular one-one handed:

 

 Jack was ripping too:

It did finally rain, a lot! But with only 10 miles to home we made it back safely. Julie took this photo from the end of our street:

Happy Mothers Day!

We had some fun Sunday morning making this iphone 'Trailer' with the kids. It's a bit cheesy but what the heck.

Another great windsurfing weekend with good friends including a 4.0 Bay session, 4.8 dawn session in scary onshore waves and some Bird Island frivolities thrown in too.

Spring Sprang

For a brief couple of weekends, then it got a bit cold, it rained and the wind disappeared.

But let me tell you about one session in Corpus bay. It was TOO MUCH FUN! Fully powered on 4.4, with nice steep ramps. I went for a couple of backies but after over-rotating onto my back I decided I was actually trying pushies instead. Psyched!! PUSHIES!! I guess if we had days like that all the time, they wouldn't be so special.

Then the week after we got a fun sesh at Port A with over a dozen people on the water. Small waves but nice 4.4 wind. Enes and Olivier were going for Takas and Julie got one of Oliviers attempts on tape:

Those guys rip. She also captured me boosting an endo. Watch it with sound, it's funny. :-)

Oh and during one of the many windless moments, I ordered another board. It's like we were made for each other, I was just in denial for the last few years. Fingers crossed my KT83 will arrive before the late season cold front that we all deserve.

Blogattical

I have a windsurfing blog! Blame the lack of: media, adventure, wind, waves...

Two weeks back I eeked out a fun 5.2 sesh at South Packery and my wonderful wife took some video. Cheeky little top turn:

This hurt like heck:

Then last week the best Boca Chica forecast ever started to take shape. 30mph NNW wind, 10 ft waves and 50F temperatures. Friday afternoon, Enes concurred, Julie and the kids packed their weekend bags and we were committed to the 400 mile trek south.

What a forecast! Boca Chica is just under (SE of) Brownsville

We rolled up at the beach to lashing rain, 39F temperatures and offshore WNW winds. Disaster! Deciding to give it a shot anyway we kitted up, donning every available form of neoprene clothing. Getting in the water the cold permeated every extremity. I have never felt so cold.

If only O'Neil made these in neoprene!!!

We ended up sailing back and forth in the knee high shorebreak. Enes:

Was it worth it? Course it was!! :-)