Trip to Serra do Caramulo

The heat wave in Portugal and the lack of wind turn the weekend into a quest for something not that physical to do. I don't like to do sports out of the water when it's more than 30°C, it's just too hot. Getting to the beach now means waving our way though traffic jams and "Sunday" drivers so unless there's wind I'm all in favour of going the other way and into the mountains.

So yesterday, when the afternoon was already beginning to turn into evening, we decided (well.. I decided and imposed my will. Later I was told that it was one of the best ideas I had lately - I don't know if that a good thing though) to go for a trip to Serra do Caramulo.

On the way did found a very nice place... but I'm not telling you where. I can share a photo though.

Nice as the "secret spot" was we wanted to keep driving to get to Caramulinho. On the way we stop at a very nice river beach at São João do Monte.

Eventually we arrived to the summit at 1071 m of altitude and with a wonderful view of the valley between Serra da Estrela and Serra do Caramulo, the mountains around Sever do Vouga, the Ria de Aveiro and the Atlantic Ocean.

The sunset was just spectacular. I just let the images speak for them selves.

The strong orange red light you see in this pictures is not the Sun but it's refection on the Ocean and the Ria.

As will all shows the performer always has to come end it. But what a majestic ending of the day it was.

Heat wave

Super hot and no wind. Damn...

I guess I'll head to the mountains and do some walking or bicycle ride.

Another good day

The afternoon was king enough to bring some wind for us to play.

It wasn't a strong wind, but with a 125l board, 36cm fin and a 6.9m² sail I was planning all the time. The improvement of my sailing stance during the windsurf clinic also helped a lot bring the board up to planning speed and then keep it planning while going upwind.

As I was at Riactiva, with the ride rising, meaning that the water was flowing South and the wind coming from North (so both pushing you South) there was a lot of upwind and tack training. It was a good training.

Let's see what winds tomorrow brings...

Oh what a day!

Two and a half hours of windsurfing in the morning. Three and a half in the afternoon. Planning all the time, training gybes, training tacks, training jumps. What a great day.

Getting back home to my beautiful wife.

What more can a man desire? (yeah.. I know... some things...)

Update: a more detailed report of the day.

The morning it was a session at Riactiva. The tide going down (water flows north) in conjugation with the wind from north (something between 14 and 18 knots) made planning possible even with a small fin (27), medium sail (5.4m²) and medium board (100l).

In the afternoon I decided again to use the tide to my advantage and went to the north part of Ria de Aveiro, in Bestida where the water would be flowing north with the coming high tide. Not that it was necessary. The wind speed increased from 16:00 on.

So plenty of time to train gybes, tacks and jumps... I'm improving so that one of this days I'll feel ok to play in the waves and do a push loop.

A quote from wikipedia

Learning to windsurf can be compared to chess in that there are many pieces moving in different directions which you have to keep track of. After a few goes most finally catch on. Whereas learning to kite board is more like learning checkers.

Among the people that I find kitesurfing there are several that have never tried windsurfing or tried and failed to progress. Kitesurf has brought the feel of being pulled by the wind to a more general population and for that I am glad the sport exist.

Unfortunately that generalization also open the door to a dangerous activity to several individuals that are incapable of risk accessing and analysis and although kitesurfing is dangerous to the practitioner it's a lot more dangerous to the people around the kitesurfer. The 25 meters of lines and the way a kite can be easily dragged create a dangerous zone downwind form the kitesurfer that is quite big (depending on the force of the wind and gusts it would be anywhere from 30 meters to a lot more).

I have lost count of the times I see guys using the kite for jumping on the beach, right next to people that are just there to enjoy the sun, or that jump when upwind from swimmers, surfers or other people that are enjoying the water. I myself have had two incidents were a kite was banged against the water, fully powered up, not more than one meter from me. I have no idea what would be worse, to be hit by the kite or to the enrolled in the lines...

The low entry level for kitesurf as well as how easy it is to go for a high jump (flashy for those who are testosterone filled to impress whoever is looking) also brought practitioners without no knowledge of sailing or safety rules. Which is worrying for the future image of the sport.

What I would like to see is that the real kitesurfers, those that enjoy and understand the sport, start pushing the other ones for a bit of responsibility and regard for the safety of others. Simple things like not passing other people upwind, not playing around while on land, not launching the kite in places with people that are not into the sport.

Broken Boom

I've broken my boom yesterday.

I was just getting to plan, starting to speed up, when the tube in the front of the boom just broke. No warning, no twisting, nothing. Just total failure and into the water I fell. Coming back was a bit of and adventure..

It's not as if it was a particular good boom. It was just a ok boom for a beginner (which I am). The right price and quality for a startup gear.

It sucks because I'm having a long weekend next week and I wanted to go on some windsurfing travels (maybe to Viana do Castelo or Lagoa de Lagos). Now that's a bit out of scope unless I find a replacement.

I'm now looking at the North Sails booms and thinking that a Silver HD New Style is exactly what I should be aiming for. Sadly though the market for windsurf stuff in Portugal is quite small and as such there's only one shop selling North Sails gear and they don't even list the booms (only sails).

Fortunately the day was not completely lost as I could take a lend rig to keep on practising my tacks and jibes. After the windsurf clinic at Lanzarote my tacks have improve a thousand times but I still need to do a lot of training in my jibes to get to do them planning all the way through.

Update: added some photos.

PHD Movie comming soon.

PHD Movie Trailer from PHD Comics on Vimeo.

The coach at the Windsurf Clinic @ Lanzarote 2011

I went to a windsurf clinic to see if something could be done about my bad windsurfing style.

To my surprise yes, I can be cured, with the proper training and with some coaching I might still be able to become a more or less effective windsurfer - planning early, managing to go upwind, faster and more accurate. In time I might even be able to pull out a push loop (I'm going for it...)

Anyway, for this post I just wanted to share this small video with Tom Brendt (the coach at the clinic) doing his thing. After the clinic was over he was finally rid of all the "patients" and could also score some fun.

Going to this clinic was one of the best things I could have done with the small amount of vacations I have. I feel that my windsurf skills has been pushed up quite a lot. Now I know what I was doing wrong, I understand how to fix it. Just need wind and water to practice.

I am quite sure that I'll be joining other clinics... In the meantime I'll be posting some of the pictures and some of the stories of this really nice event in future posts.