AWT Cabo Verde Wave Event

Ever since I watched 'The Windsurfing Movie' and then later actually met Josh Angulo at the Aloha Classic in 2013, I've been looking for an excuse to go to Cabo Verde. My 50th birthday and the new 2015 AWT Goya Cabo Verde Pro event was just that excuse I needed.

My 50th birthday windsurfing farewell

My colleagues at work gave me a wonderfully warm send off as I started my birthday adventure. It was planes, buses and automobiles ‎as made my 3 flight connection through Frankfurt and the Canary Islands.

Sal is one of 10 islands that make up the Cape Verdian archipelago off the Atlantic coast of ‎Africa. Is is blessed with sun, periodic waves and the trade winds that eventually blow over to the Caribbean. I arrived and was surprised to see a Canadian military plane on the runway.

Sal from the air!
(with Santa Maria right and Ponta Preta centre)

Went for a quick sail at the Angulo Centre where I rented gear instead of bringing my own like most other competitors did. ‎I could definitely tell that I haven't windsurfed in 5 months. It felt like hard work as I struggled to sail for a full hour.

I was excited to watch Cape Verdian star windsurfer Josh Angulo being interviewed by his long time championship rival but clearly friend, Kauli Seadi.

Josh Angulo - Kauli Seadi interview on the beach

The town of Santa Maria is much larger than I expected. Great restaurants and vibe catering to the many European tourists many of whom arrive on direct flights and stay in 5 star all inclusive resorts.

Kevin Pritchard at Ponta Preta before I arrived on Sal.

‎First dinner with the AWT riders was fun. Kevin Pritchard et al. We ate at the pirate themed restaurant and I enjoyed meeting the international crew. Many of the riders had been in town for a while checking out the conditions and having an awesome expression session at Punto Preta on day one and two. My roommate KMac said it was the best wave he's ever ridden. Here's a shot of KP!

Official Day 3 of the ‎competition had us check out Ponta Preta in the morning but it was now flat. So we then convened at Little Ho'okipa / Secret Spot which has much smaller waves. The amateurs were up first.

I'm heading out..

Found one!

Oh yeah!

My 1st heat was OK, I got two or 3 waves but also swam for a very long time in the shore break.

Caught a big one...

Riding it in...

And made it!

Survived my two amateur heats in the AWT Cabo Verde!

My 2nd heat was better and I was starting to feel comfortable in the waves but still only placed 3rd so I didn't advance. But at least I could return my gear to the shop without any damage.  I was pretty happy!

Meeting Boujmaa after lending him my rash guard

Maybe the highlight of the afternoon was meeting world champion Boujmaa‎ on the beach. He was heading out for the pro expression session and needed an event lycra shirt. I ran to the truck and gave him mine.

FYI, Boujmaa is the Moroccan pro who almost landed a triple loop, was knocked unconscious, was rescued, won the Aloha Classic and had a great appearance in the 'Atlantic' windsurfing movie.

‎At dinner I met the windsurfers from Sardinia and another sailor Soufian from Morocco who was in the 'Atantic' movie. Gelato was followed by a showing of 'Don't Let Go' a great windsurfing movie at 32 club.

Great view of the action from the truck... (photo Si Crowther)

Day 4 of the event was back at Little Ho'okipa with the last brackets of the Amateurs. It was fun to watch amateur Patrick from Germany handily win our contest and then get to sail in the final open spot with the pros.
‎
The last pro heat of the day saw Kauli Seadi vs. Boujmaa and ‎Stephano from Sardinia. They had an epic session in the dying flight of the day. I enjoyed watching from the truck. It was fun to hear some of the Europeans asking, "who is that quiet guy Russ from Maui? - he's good!"

After our Italian dinner, we walked back to the Tropical Apartments. My cool roommate Andy and I helped update the AWT website with our balcony's access to intermittent internet.

Teaching at the local kids day on the beach at Ponta Preta

‎Day 5 saw the Cape Verde kids day at Ponta Preta beach. I brought my trainer kite and introduced a few of the local kids to the sensation of holding a kite. But in the 25 knot winds it was challenging without a common language to explain that keeping the kite up was the goal.

‎Then it was off to Little Ho'okipa to watch Kevin Pritchard, Joey Sanchez and Kevin McGillivrey warm up for the potential AWT final. ‎The rest of the fleet showed up and the decision to complete the final was made. Here's a good video from KP summarizing the action as the final 4 (all former world champions) fought it out.

Our dorm room.

‎That night the dinner party ‎was followed by great dancing and pub crawling. I learned a bit more about Morocco from Boujmaa and more about Guadeloupe from Camille.

Day 6 - A bunch of us headed to Little Ho'okipa. I had a great session sailing a 5.7 on the 109 Angulo wave board in the dying waves.  ‎I helped a French windsurfer who had broken his rental boom get back to shore. He didn't know the trick of turning your broken boom upside down to effect an emergency repair.
‎

Final AWT Cabo Verde 2015 results - I tied for 13th!

More dinner, ice cream, drinking and dancing followed - with Andy and me cheering Joey on in his salsa dancing quest.

Windsurfers against humanity

Day 7 was a very chilled day. After push starting our rental truck to get it going (thank heavens for standard transmissions) I went to the ‎Angulo Centre and stayed all day. I finished the first of 3 books I brought. I had an hour long 7.5 session on a 120l slalom board and enjoyed getting out to the big ocean swells but didn't ride any breaking waves.

Some super bock beer and local island booze 'Grog' and ‎cards against humanity rounded out the afternoon.

Pirate chicken dinner!

Dinner was back at the great Pirate ‎place and was followed by ice cream and a quiet night. Turns out my roommates and I share some OCD traits so our place is pretty nicely organized for a bunch of beach bums. My bed was set up out on the couch.

Day 8 was another low key day. I had an even more fun almost 2 hour sail on the same 7.5 and 120l set up. I spent more time setting up the harness lines and found it to be much more relaxing and enjoyable. I also stayed closer to shore avoiding the chop and big swells. ‎That also made riding and gybing much easier.

I picked up my freshly washed laundry and a few more groceries.  ‎Dinner wasn't at the restaurant we thought so a delicious burger was in order at Sal Beach Club. I set my alarm to wake me 10.5 hours later - what a treat.

The official AWT Amateur and women Video on Vimeo
There are a few seconds of me at timestamp 2:56!  Thanks KP!

Day 9 - I met Andrea D'Antonio the nice local photographer from Cabo Creative Lab for breakfast and found he did have a few shots of me in the waves. Yeah, those are the 6 pictures including the one with the big wave face behind me! I was very excited to see those.

Many of the other event photos were taken by internationally known photographer Si Crowther who did a great job with in the water shots of the pros (and me in the truck).

Broke my mast on a smaller wave day.

We headed to Little Ho'okipa again and played in the light winds and small sets of waves. I fell onto a wave on top of my gear and heard the snap snap of my mast breaking in 3 places. A first for me and an inevitable rite of passage. ‎Later that night I had fun chatting with Boujmaa about the risks and rewards of wave sailing.

Day 10. Anther solid day at the Ponte Lemme spot in front of Angulo. ‎I sailed for two 1+1/4 hour sessions and had a great lunch wile getting to know German Team Angulo member Martin. It turns out all three Germans at this event are from the former east side of Germany. Interesting.

Carl and world champion Boujmaa discussing gear breakage

I felt much more comfortable sailing again. In the afternoon  I moved from the 120 Release to the 112 ‎Magnum. I was smiling spontaneously as I windsurfed at pretty high speeds close to shore in the offshore winds.

I checked out some real ‎estate on the walk home and phoned my wife and mother back in Canada which was very nice.

An‎other fun dinner with the AWT regulars and then ice cream and a night cap at Oceans.

Day‎ 11 Groundhog day. ‎Breakfast at Angulo. Started my 2nd book. Had a mediocre session on a 7.5 and 112l Magnum with a fin that was too small. After lunch I went out on a SUP with a 5.0 did freestyle in the shore swells and had a blast.

Uploaded Andrea's photos of my wave ride to facebook!‎ And did some souvenir shopping for my family who I'm really missing.

Last dinner at America's was great again. But the crowd has really thinned out with people leaving the island now that the swell forecast is pushed out another few days.

‎Ice cream and a Caipirinha night cap at Oceans made for a nice end to the day.

Day 12 Last day. Helped Andy and Katie get loaded up for the airport. Packed a bit myself and then headed for my last session. Checked out kite beach on my way. There was a great vibe there with 60 kiters out‎ - vs the 30 windsurfers at the main beach.

This time I was on a 6.9 and the 112 Magnum which made for a fun fast sail. ‎It really does take several days to get your sea legs back.

Got back to the apartment, finished my second book, cleaned up and packed the rest of my bag.

At the closing party I was called up on stage and given an award for being the oldest guy on tour.

And then off the airport sharing a vintage W123 taxi ride with a cool windsurfing pilot I met from Austria; Joachim.

My flight through Lisbon wasn't as direct as I expected, so as I finish up this entry I'm a bit tired and looking forward to being back home in the cold of Toronto with my family.

Sam, Vickey, residents of Sal, fellow AWT riders and everyone else involved, thanks for making this an epic 50th birthday adventure for me!

Kiting in Grenda - Union Island

Boxing day 2014 was spent on a catamaran in the Grenadines. My daughter, niece and family friend Quinn all took beginner kiting lessons. I had a great refresher lesson and the next day had a great time kiting in the sound that I think is called Frigate Island.

Yes I kite! With my front leg too straight.

It is great fun.

But the hat is geeky

I even jump a bit sometimes

Ok, the hat is really geeky

But it is all fun.

There was no windsurfing that trip, and I only got around to creating this blog post recently. I think I now have all 3 of my kiting sessions from the last 5 years noted on this blog.

Solosports Baja 2014 Pritchard Wave Camp

Highlight jump photo!

Here's my diary from my 2014 trip to Baja:

Day 1 - Saturday Sept 20th

Great flight down to San Carlos from Brown Field. I may even have had the chance to take the controls for a few minutes of the Piper Cherokee 6. 

1.5 hours of perfectly set up sailing. 5.3 and 108 RRD free style wave. Running 34 inch harness lines, the longest I've ever had. 

Guessing 25 km of sailing. ‎Sang Howard Jones "Life in one day" the whole time and everyone was commenting on the permanent smile on my face.

Our flight down to Solosports

Two baja fogs and a great lasagna dinner. I'm so excited by my semi competent wave sailing today I'm thinking I'll sign up for the AWT next year. 

Day 2 - Sunday

Intro to the camp. Great mix of people. 5 women aged 33 to 56. Lots of repeat customers, plenty of engineers. The men range from age 29 to 64. Norway, UK, Australia, Canada are all represented. Shame that Matt Pritchard wrecked his shoulder. But Kmac is out ripping up the waves.  

The Baja coastline

Seal of approval. I saw so many seals in my two 2 hour sessions. 68 km total in 4 hours. A dozen pretty high jumps; two were painful. Got 3 out of 10 carve 360 attempts. Zero upwind 360s. 

Same board and sail and feeling completely comfortable. 

Great salmon dinner and got to know more guests. Laura of course knows Steve from Toronto who I played poker with on Tuesday. ‎Not really a small world anymore. 

Coming into camp

Thinking I should bring fewer clothes, more sunglasses and a Spot satellite system next time. ‎(No wifi). 

Day 3 - Monday

‎Woke to the sound of fellow campers cheering on the hearty souls who were already out on the water SUPing. 

After video review of our day one efforts, I headed out for an hour of what tuned into light wind freestyle with a few wave rides thrown in. 8.5 ‎km. 

Mmm chili dogs for lunch. 

I think I should bend my legs a bit more!

In the afternoon I didn't plane for the first 1/2 hour but then the wind and waves kicked in. I sailed down towards the point and caught a few waves. Later I caught my first off the lip aerial - a full six inches up off the white water. 

Day 4 - Tuesday 

A quick SUP session before breakfast with a total of one successful wave ride. The 29 inch 10 4 board was way to tippy for this 210 lb wanna be surfer.  

‎After video review and lunch I headed out for a session on a Goya Freewave 104. It worked nicely as well with the 5.3 Ezzy elite that has been my goto sail so far. 

My first off the lip aerial?

Tried my first Vulcans of 2014 with predictably poor results. But it was fun to try. I did get one of my six carving 360 attempts. ‎35 km in 2.5 hours as there was a lot of slow sailing waiting for waves. My two good wave rides were very fun but were 2 hours apart!

Really missing my wife and kids though. While it is nice not getting work emails it would be fun to connect with my family and hope to be here someday with a few of them!  

Day 5 - Wed

Morning light wind freestyle session inspired by Brian. 7.5 km in an hour. ‎Got some duck tacks and even a few wave rides on the RRD 120 and 5.0. Not really any planing but fun anyway. Especially since I almost got my dream of getting going riding back winded on a wave. Pretty neat to be just wearing neoprene shirts and a rash guard since the water is so warm this year. 

It gets windy in San Carlos

I stubbed my toe on the rocks walking onto shore. Oww!

I did manage to connect with home via webmail on the shared ‎solo sports computer which cured my brief homesickness. 

The afternoon session was the first bad one. With ‎my bad toe and a quad fin board it was my shortest session. 35 minutes and 6 km. Time to save my energy for the waves that should come tomorrow ‎night!  

Nice backlit photo

Oh well, couldn't sit still. Went for a quick 1/2 hour 3.5 km bike ride. Saw one of the San Carlos hares crossing the runway. 

After a great steak dinner Jet entertained us by the campfire. The wind shifted though so we'll see what tomorrow brings weather wise. 

Day 6 Thursday 

Nice huevos rancheros for breakfast. Then some AWT video review. 

Everyone was waiting for the swell to come in. I finally cracked the book I've been meaning to read. 

Around 4pm the first NW swells arrived just as predicted. Even the wind filled in. ‎I headed out on the Quatro 104 single fun and my trusty 5.3. Not enough to plane but good enough to get me lined up for the waves. 

Right away I caught 2 good waves, then had a bunch of miss timed sets and then one more good one. I spent a fair bit of time in the white water trying to water start and then getting slammed. I had the clew view on so it will be interesting to see how that looks. Total 10km in 1 3/4 hours including the walk home - not really a walk of shame, just too tired to bother slogging upwind. 

A Baja fog and fresh clams for our appetizers.  Then off to the showers and a good chicken stew dinner. Lots of people wearing shorts and t-shirts tonight it is so warm. 

Brad received 5 stitches in his head from Dr Rodney after being hit by his own fin while tacking - sadly not in the waves so there is no epic story. During the after dinner conversations I may have convinced Camilla from Norway to enter the AWT in Maui...

Soft and easy waves in San Carlos

Day 7 - Friday

It was pretty quiet in camp as we finished our breakfast egg muffins. ‎I read my book but by the time we finished our delicious chicken burrito lunch, the wind was building. 

I headed out on the RRD freewave 108 and a 5.7 and had a great time. I put the GoPro in a few positions and caught some waves. ‎Of course the battery was dead by the time the wind picked up in the 3rd hour of my 3 hour session. I did around 35km but the best parts were the wave rides. I did contemplate a loop but that ended badly as did the one jump I tried. Oh well, I was nailing my tacks and getting back out through the shore break very well though. 

Towards the end of my session I rode past two dolphins that were playing in the outside swells. I rode upwind and in to the beach feeling very good about my week. Baja fog time! 

JET singing the goodbye San Carlos Blues

Dinner was great as usual and then we were treated to Joey's wrap up video. Jet entertained us again on the guitar. He graciously played a solid set of blues riffs for me and nicely finished off my impromptu  attempt at singing the San Carlos blues. 

The truck is taking our bags at 3:30 AM and hopefully we all get one more session in the morning. 

Day 8 - Saturday 

A hearty scrambled egg breakfast and extensive video ‎review had us ready to get on the water for one last session as the wind built up. 

I went ‎for one last session on the 108 and a 5.3. I was fully powered and felt like my arms were 2 inches longer after one hour and 20 km. I got a few nice duck jibes and a jump, but the tide was too high for wave riding. 

The planes started landing with the liquid force kite team as we munched on burgers. We got our last picture files transferred to USB keys, made our last shop purchases and ‎packed up. Goodbyes were said and as quickly as it started, we were airborne. 

My GPS trail from a typical session

I windsurfed  around 200 km in 8 straight days of sailing and spent around 12 hours on the water. My wave selection and riding have definitely improved. Other than a stubbed toenail I came out pretty well. Not even a blister on my hands. ‎2014 American Windsurfing Tour in San Carlos August 2015? 

Sending this write up while waiting for the group in little Italy for Saturday night dinner in San Diego. What a great trip. (But I didn't get around to editing the video and uploading to my blog till May 2015!)

Here's my video:

Baja 2014 Solosports Pritchard Wave Camp from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

I also made it into Joey's terrific camp week wrap up video a few times eg. at 0:56:

My second high wind session this summer

With just one week left in this summer, I finally had another "high wind" session. I timed it just right and caught 20 knot winds: more than was forecast. Somehow our corner of Georgian Bay sometimes exceeds expectations!

My wife took some video and pictures of my session from the boat. I managed to nail a few downwind carving 360s, perfect shortboard tacks and for the video, a nice jump and jibe. In the deep water where the waves roll in from the SW I did some wave ride/turns. I seem to have as much fun slaloming through the rocks though as I do completing tricks.

Quick video of my 2nd Skate session of 2014 from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

The Skate 108 and North Duke 6.2 are definitely a nice combination. After an hour and a half and as the wind dropped back down to the forecast 15 knots I called it a day - and maybe the end of my season in Canada?

Hi dear!

I love Georgian Bay windsurfing...

There was more wind where I was than in the centre of Georgian Bay

My session log - cold, but I still did 37 km in 1.5 hours

Downwind 360s make interesting tracks

Slalom through the shoals and waverides in the deep

Atlantic: World premiere of a great windsurfing film at TIFF

This year at the Toronto International Film Festival there was a great movie; that just happened to to feature some fantastic wave riding, jumping and stunning scenes of open ocean windsurfing. It stars 32 year old Fettah Lamara who is a terrific windsurfer and really nice guy. In real life he loves to windsurf and run a restaurant in Essouaria, Morocco. His character in the movie wants to leave and windsurf to find...

Atlantic is really the story of Jan-Willem Van Ewijk, a Dutch guy who grew up in LA, studied engineering and then worked in Montreal as an aerospace engineer. He then became an investment banker. But really, he loved windsurfing in Essaouira Morocco. He wrote a screenplay there about a young man's search - and then became a filmmaker. 

This is his second film and it was great!  The ocean and wavesailing footage was breath taking. And the Moroccan actors were terrific. It even had a nice segment with PWA pro Boujmaa.

http://www.tiff.net/festivals/thefestival/programmes/discovery/atlantic 

I went with Vanessa and Len from Bonaire, my sister and my wife. We had fun sitting in the same row with the actor and director. We laughed pretty hard at some of the windsurfing inside jokes (who hasn't needed to pee in a wetsuit?) And I heard that some windsurfers actually got him up to Lake Simcoe for a session later in the week!

The director gives his intro to the film

Photo with the star...

My ticket before voting..

Goodbye...