Maui part 2

I've been in Maui for a month now.  There's been some pretty big days at Hookipa with the channel closing out. I've seen Jaws breaking, pretty cool to see it in the flesh.  Defiantly want to come back and try and sail it in the next few years, so long as I have a jet ski!

 The person out hear who has impressed me the most hast to be Katie McAnena.  Paddling off the rocks to sail Jaws was pretty ballsy.  Leaving the guy's and myself  feeling slightly emasculated.

Hookipa a trick place.

It's taken me quite a while to get used to Hookipa.  Very busy, if you make a mistake you miss your wave and or your kit ends up on the rock on bigger days.  Luckily I have only had to kick off the rocks!

I was getting to the point where I was wondering what the hell I was doing here until the break though.  I tried out a custom quatro, which i fell in love with instantly. It improved my sailing so much I had to buy it.  The guys at quatro were super cool and very helpful, even after I pretty much stole the board off them for 4 days.   Now just waiting for the wind to kick back in this week and get on it.

  'Borrowing' a custom quatro at Hookipa

Loved it so much I had to buy it. Sprayed and ready to go.

 Katie Going for it 

Katie going balls out putting a lot of guys to shame.  

Sadly ending up on the rocks., the price you have to pay.

Cape Town Cold UK and Maui

South Africa

Once again I have been pretty lucky to get away to cape town this winter.  It gave me a good opportunity to really test out my knee.  Hats of to my Physio and Surgeon for all the help.   I even found I was sailing better with out the knee brace.  Winner!

It was a very different trip to last time I was in cape town.  Slowly getting back into full power sailing, then light winds for the latter half of my trip.  This led to me exploring the cape, surfing, climbing and venturing into the city more.  I highly recommend  the place to anyone looking for a varied amount of traveling as well as enjoy some world class sailing.  In one of my better moments, I  managed to destroy my hard drive!  So excuse the lack of  cape town photos.

 Final Sunset session 

Sunset

 Cape Point

Climbing Lions Head overlooking the city

Back to the UK

The days before I got back to the UK I noticed there was a decent NE wind. I was pretty excited as one of my home spots goes off for jumping in these conditions. So on my last day after bashing some balls off on a South African driving range in shorts and T-shirt I got on the the plan back to the UK . I was greeted by a snow blizzard and a flat battery in my van!! Ever the optimist I headed to the beach a couple of days later.  Not being able to feel my hands after 5 minutes, I took the elective decision not to go sailing and wait for Maui. Where sailing in board shorts seems to be pretty standard.

My home spot Bawdsey.  Not so inviting once it starts snowing!

Maui

I've been in Maui for a week now.  One of the most chilled out places I've visited. No wind at the start of the trip but plenty of surfing.   My first day the faces at Hookipa were a little over mast and glassy, perfect for surfing . Being a little intimidated I elected not to go for a surf, as the inevitable beating  I would take along with jet lag would not have gone well.  Since then we have had  few medium wave windsurfing days at Hookipa by Maui standards - pretty big if you ask me!  The swells finally kicking in next week.  Hopefully I wont be visiting Hookipa's famous rocks.

Hookipa on the second day with a little less swell

Getting started at Hookipa

Last sail of 2012

As it was quite windy and wavy between Christmas and new year, I was hoping to get down to Cornwall.  Sadly my van was not  co-operating.  I still managed some sailing on the south coast, having my best session of the year, on new years eve, at Pagham near Chichester. Not hard as I can nearly count the the number of wave sessions I've had on one hand, due to injury and work commitments! 

Hear's a short video of my new years eve session before my go pro packed up. Happy new year to every one.  

New year resolutions; more windsurfing!

Cheers to Jim at Puravida for the loan of the board and thanks to Turfdog, Chinook, Simmer and K4 harness mount s for there support. 

New Years Eve 2012 from michael Archer on Vimeo.
   

East Coast

Like the rest of the UK the east coast has been pretty windy, with 3.7 and 4.2 weather at my home spot; pretty rare especially in summer. Having a full time job means I'm pretty rushed to get on the water .  I managed to get a few picks before heading back to work on one of the days.

 Felixstowe Ferry photos

 Felixstowe may not offer the greatest conditions, but there's a good core group of guys down at the locals who come down when ever there's wind,  sailing anything from the latest slalom gear to 1980s wave boards.  The sport is alive and well on the east coast.

When there's no wind it seem s to be pretty sunny.  It's given me time to test out some of the new Turfdog models freemove and freestyle.  Which both seem to work great for each discipline.   Hopefully some more photos and videos to follow soon.

 Testing the new freestyle board, with new improved tail rail and lightening.

 Dog checking out the local talent!

New Freemove mid gybe.  The new wheel positions make it a caving beast.

  Close up of the new freemove.

UK Freestyle at Worthing

I enjoyed heading down to Worthing this Saturday,  catching up with the UK freestylers.   Sadly we didn't have much wind.  Considering the light gusty conditions,  I managed to get a few shots of some impressive freestyle  form youths, armatures and Pros before the wind died completely!  Thanks again to Trevor Funnel ,  the UKWA  and the Baker's for organising the event.   

Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

It's been a while since my last blog.  Pretty understandable since I have been off the water for about a year now with various knee and ankle problems.  Unfortunately most of my preliminary sails have been in non planning conditions with no waves, including a trip to Fuerteventura!!  I went out with the Stephen Gibson Clinic.  Even with no wind we had a really good laugh.  Managing to amuse ourselves with plenty of golf, surfing and hot tub action!

I was starting to feel like a bad omen, until a good session today at my local spot Felixstowe.  

Cheers to  John, Farrell  and Ed at Moo Custom, Simmer and Chinook for getting my kit to me so quickly.  The board seems to perform really well in onshore conditions.  The extra volume (100L) seems to really help since I have put on a few pounds!  I'm really liking custom boards designs in the bigger sizes.  Generally speaking for myself,  the smaller tail to relative high volume production boards allows them to perform better on the wave amongst other things.

Having said that I am looking forward to the next few months once I am back up to strength, as I have some more new sponsors and projects on the go.  I am going to riding the PuraVidaCustom boards, testing them with Jim of  PuraVida Boardriders.  Pretty excited as I currently work as a Engineer so will hopefully put some of those geeky skills along with on water testing into the boards, to help fine tune them.  Not that Jim need 's much help, having shaped surfboards for years and tested most of the major production boards on the market though his shop .  Not to mention his new shaping set-up,  which I'm pretty jealous of!

  

 

The start of my new 90L custom PuraVida, CAD shaped for accurate dimension control.  Cant wait until its finished.  

BWA Cornwall and Monday session

Having stated to hobble around again after my knee operation. I was invited to come and judge the BWA Cornwall event. I was pretty impressed with the massive turn out.  Judging the pros, lady's and amateur fleet, the level and commitment of competors really impressed me.  I was please to see the new format of two sets of Judges implemented in this event. This allowed two fleets to be run alongside each other and will be the the best way to run BWA competition's at future events.

 Stand out sailors/fleets for me were:

Ladys Cornwall champion Lucy Robson.  With a top turn that could easily hold its own against many of the male competitors.  

The Lady's feet.  A massive turn out form all the girls, with a very high level. 

Lewis Merrony of the amateurs fleet. Not shying away form some wave tricks, to further his already high score's.  I look forward to seeing him in the Pros next year 

 Jamie Hancock and Timo's aerial battle in the first single of the Pro fleet.  Along side Adam Lewis's top turn  into taka.

 

Monday morning session 

While waiting for a lift home on Monday. I decided to take some photos of what turned out to be a pretty good session.  With Muzza and Jamie Handcock being the stand out sailors, pulling off some huge aerials in front of the gwithian lifeguard hut. Jamie later said they were some of the biggest aerials he had ever done.  Pity my I forget spare SD card and was taking photos like a bit of a specialist! Consequently I didn't get the hole sequence of most shots.  I have however put some of the best shot up on facebook.   Follow the link below. 

Monday session photos

Busy last few months of the water

The last few months have been lacking in windsurfing for me. After dislocating the top of my leg form the knee joint in Pozo, damaging there out of 4 ligaments in the knee I have been very busy couple of months physiotherapy! Thankfully the knee has recovered well, only needing one of the ligaments replacing, the ACL.

I am now recovering for the operation. This involved taking a couple of my hamstring ligaments to replace my ACL ligament and clean out some loose cartilage for the original damage. Recovery is going well, I am hoping it won't be the full 6 to 9months off games predicted after the operation!

The length of time before the operation has provided the opportunity to work on my company, Turfdog. A new prototyping workshop has lead to a new range of boards, coming out later this year. We have even been producing some custom boards at the request of the heaver users. These have reinforced tucks, carbon stringers and larger back wheels and trucks. See pics.

The longer wheel base also provides better high speed control and a smoother gybe. Combined with a dropped stance (lowered deck), giving a smoother feel.

We also with be shortly releasing some new equipment for other sports. Hopefully see you back on the water soon.

New Video about the 30th anniversary of F2. Enjoy

Pozo 2011, a short trip

I was pretty excited it get some training out in Pozo this year. Rather annoyingly after 5 days of marginal 4.7 Pozo weather, I bailed form an over rotated backy and got my foot stuck in a twisted front foot strap (Which I was going in to tighten after one more run!!!), leading to my knee getting bent in all sorts of wrong ways! Not being able to do much after this I flew back home to have it checked out. The results say I have at lest a couple of months off the water with ligerment damage, just waiting for a few more results to make there's not any more damage!!!!

While sitting with my leg up and Ice with a good old bag of Peas. I put together some clips I had on my computer of 2011/2010. Was hoping for a few better jumping shots but these will have to do.

Clips are form Hosseger France, Cape town South Africa and Pagham in the UK,Enjoy.

MPORA Action Sports >>

New sails

After missioning it back form the BWA with about a million people kit in my van. I got a phone call to say me new kit was in. I proceeded to drive back from the east coast down south and picked up my new sails super light and really nice.

Itching to get out I had a typical Sunday, usually family stuff then taken girlfriend shopping. I managed a cheeky little session at East witterings around 19.00. Conditions weren't amazing but was one of the best sails I have had in ages really good fun no pressure session.

After heading Back from ireland and evtually gett

Bank Holiday

It been a pretty good bank holiday weekend on the east coast, sailing Friday to Monday, with sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. Very strange UK weather? Managed to find some good waves up at Walberswick near my house, an added bonus of a short drive un-like my usual treks to the southcoast or Cornwall.

I also got to sail a new spot which I have been wanting to sail for ages, Bawdsey. It was really good with much bigger waves than the other spots near me. I have been a bit hesitant to sail it because of all the second world war debris, pillboxes and rather large metal spikes hidden by the lovely brown east coast water! No problems though.

Picture of Bawdsey on a lighter day

You can seee what I mean on this blog.

http://pillboxesinsuffolk.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html

After sailing for the last 5 days in row I am knackered, but ready for my trip up to Rossi and Ireland for the first of the BWA wave events. Hope the weather's as good for those trips.

More Pics of Bawdsey

Walberswick

Photos by Kate Hartley.

Hayling Freestyle event

Not much wind this weekend. Should be perfect for some Turfdog action. I'm going to bee down at the Hayling Freestyle event this Saturday the 23rd. So Come and try the Turfdog demon boards. There may even be an impromptu tufdog freestyle even and a sneak peak at some new prototypes.

Cornwall

The start of this week was not to good. Getting back to Turfdog HQ only to find that my supplier had sent the wrong parts!! Having six boards to send out I was less than happy, however it seemed to work out for the best. Unable to build any boards until the next week, I powered down to Cornwall for Thursday/Friday session.

Thursday started with an average Marazion session, with the wind dropping off at the end. Not so pleased withhaving driven down, the pub overlooking the bluff near Gwithinan was the next best thing. I watched a few guys go out but the sets didn't seem to be forming right. As the evening progressed the sets started to clean up, leading to a light but really nice little evening session.

Aerial during my evening session at the bluff.

Taken by Scott Perry

Friday was good Gwithian session. I sailed from 10 until 8 then driving back to the student nationals at Calshot, to demo turfdogs. At both gwithian and the student nationals it was good to see loads of familiar faces with a good crowd at both places. I did discovered I defiantly am not a student anymore, really struggling with a hangover on the Sunday. Made even more pleasant by seeing the pics form the Saturday night of me in my rubbish my fancy dress!!!

One of the less embarrassing pics

End of my South Africa trip

Its been a while since my last blog update as Turfdog has been keeping me really busy while I have been away.

I had a really good first trip to South Africa and am defiantly coming back. There was good wind for most of the month and plenty to do if the wind was light.

On my way up table mountain with lions head in the background.

One of my favourite parts was testing the new F2 sails which were really light, responsive and powerful. Can wait to get mine at the end of the month.

http://20111.f2.com/surf/sails.php?L=1&o=/surf/

I also did some cage diving with white sharks. Sadly no pics of sharks as my go pro was lost surfing!!! I was not to scared until Scotty, floating in the cage next me grabbed my leg in a pincer action, scaring the S##t out of me much to the amusement of everyone else in the cage and on the boat!!!

Me, Scotty and Ian Gibson In the shark diving cage.

I was also really impressed with the number of different spots you could sail, with my favourite parts of the visit being couple road trips up and down the coast.

Milnerton

Melkbos

On one trip to elands bay, a few hours north of north of Capetown. We managed to get a bit of surfing for the first day and a half, before windsurfing in the afternoon of the second day. We decided hide are windsurfing kit in the rented house, as local surfers do not like windsurfer one bit. It not being uncommon for windsurfers to have a couple of tyres slashed by the local surfers

Getting up early 5.30 to surf on are final day before the wind kicked in. Me and Ben checked the surf to find the swell had come though in the night. Several gnarly looking older surfers came up to us to have a chat, saying how pissed off they were with the windsurfers at the break the previous day. We kept well quite but on walking back notice the guys were in the house next to us. There were a lot of dodgy stairs as we loaded up are windsurf kit onto the cars. Probably best to get back to cape town rather going to surf farmers (a spot which worked in small swell) and leaving are kit pretty much a big sign. Slash are tyres please!!

Surfing Farmer Burgers on the first day.

I was also luck enough to finish off my last day at cape point. With some nice wave riding just in time to rush back with and put my very wet overweight kit in the plane, thanks for letting it on Virgin!!

Pics of cape pont on the last day:

Cape point was a little tricky getting out as sometimes there was very light winds and reasonably big sets on the inside at the point. A fun day to finish a good trip on.