NOSTALGIA AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE!

NI WINDSURF CRAIC - see www.windsurfcraic.co.uk for the full version of all of these stories - plus the pictures...

NOSTALGIA AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE
Talk about rolling back the years, it really was a scene from yesterday at Newtownards Sailing Club last week. And for once I'm not talking about Trevor Pollen's gear. Of course, as usual, it was all Wookie's fault.
As you may know, the furry one decided to do the Irish Slalom Series this year - in fact he's doing very well indeed, 4th at Downings and near the top overall this year so far. All this on a budget so he can't buy his stairway to heaven and has to rely on raw talent, determination, eating his opponents and having more hair than anyone else. Let's face it, it isn't his good looks. So he suggested that it might be fun to have some practice races at the club before the Cork event and good old Panty Lyner threw the invitation open to anyone including non members. And result was a really good showing of present and former NSC members - hence the nostalgia bit.
Pat nipped out early and set out buoys for various courses and by late morning there was quite a crowd. The wind had rather too much north for NSC which meant it was a bit up and down, but much better if you were well out from the shore. Most people rigged 7-8m but there were a few 9+s out at times too. So it was on the lighter side, but for a good hour after lunch it blew 6m causing quite a few people to either hang on with their teeth or change down - oddly enough to 6m.
There weren't any official results, but it was pretty clear that the Hairy One was the fastest on the water most of the time. However Ming the Merciless gave him a hard time both in terms of speed and also looking mean and moody - Ming was on his black sail which does make him look like the bad guy.
Tony 'Shipman' 'Death' was racing pretty well too, just showing what you can do after major surgery. It's such a pity the operation means he'll now have to enter the ladies fleet. Perhaps we should start calling him Antonia.
We were also particularly pleased to see that Tony has mastered the lay down gybe - well, actually more of the lie down gybe. This is quite difficult to do as an important part is that your feet must not be touching the board while you carve. If you're reading this on the e-mail, go to our website to see the photograph - if you study it hard enough you may figure out how to master this difficult free style (or in his case no style) manoeuvre.
Another mean looking person whose parents are unlikely to have been married at the time of birth was Ali Tourettes Todd. Armed with 8.5m he was charging about looking like he had his usual hangover.
The nostalgia started when Russell appeared and rigged a, for him, enormous 7.5m. He's obviously been practising hard at the car park as he was getting his gybes. And Alan 'Orange Man' Yeates also came out creating more nostalgia on the BIC Techno and getting some good speed. The Colin 'Lorraine' Kelly appeared the old boy network was complete. It was great to see Colin still sails in his Biggles aviator helmet.
Also involved were of course Pat, Gary and Tim.
As you can imagine there was a lot of mayhem about the gybe marks. I wasn't racing, my excuse being that I was looking after Sarah who was getting into the foot straps. But it meant I got a good view of what happened. My own favourite was when Shipman cut it too tight at the mark and his boom hit the buoy - which was one of those tall poles. In a desperate attempt to save himself he clutched the pole and end up with arms around it. He then slowly slid down the pole and into the water - clearly a form of medical pole dancing.
It was actually a lovely day, the water was warm and the sun shone. During the period of consistent wind it was just lovely. Most people came out around 4ish, but Ming and Shipman clearly decided to make a night of it. So as we all left, they were still bashing away, well towards the other side of the lough. For all I know they may still be out there...

WAVE COURSE UPDATE
Good news and good news!
Firstly we do have enough people who've indicated interest that we should be able to run the Donegal wave course.
And even better, Jim Collis has worked a bit more magic and squeezed in an extra day. So the details are likely to be :
Course starts PM Thursday 14th Oct
Runs for 3 days ending lunch time Sunday 17th
Cost to be confirmed shortly
So save the dates, tell your mates and we'll be looking for firm commitment very soon.

BEGINNERS LESSONS A HUGE SUCCESS AT NSC
You may know that there's been a few problems in running windsurfing lessons at NSC. Well this year, after a lot of work by Paddy Pants, it's all systems go. The lessons have been running since July and already a lot of people have gone through. Further instructors have also been trained up, so expect the lessons to continue and grow.
So if you know anyone who wants to do a proper RYA windsurfing course, go to http://www.newtownardssailingclub.co.uk/index.htm and check out the details.
And if you've already done your RYA course, this means that rescue boat cover is present at the club every Tuesday evening - so why not go out and get some practice.

27 June 2010

NO PENALTIES REQUIRED!
NI WINDSURF CRAIC - see www.windsurfcraic.co.uk for the full version of all of these stories - plus the pictures...
No Penalties Required
RYA Windsurfing Lessons
And What About the Wave Course?
Stuff the End
NO PENALTIES REQUIRED
What a great day! England get stuffed 4-1 (Thank you for that but at least England was THERE to get stuffed - Ed!) and it's windy and sunny - you can't get much better than that, given that the cheating French team have already been sent home with a croissant up their derriere...
Anyway, it's been a funny month for windsurfers. We normally associate this time of year with good Spring winds and they're from the prevailing west. Instead we've had mostly dodgy wind (rather like being the vicinity of Andy) and it's been from the north. I've heard a lot of tales of quite good sessions at Ballyturd, well I guess that's one way to get a fake tan. However since I live near Lough Neagh, I've found myself out there a lot.
In case you don't know, Oxford Island which is the bird sanctuary on the south of the lough, is great in northerlies. You get very clear wind whistling right down the lough and there's quite a crowd go out there. The only negatives are flies if the wind is low and the funny water, some call it fresh water but it doesn't taste that fresh to me. It's also a good spot if you want to indulge that other windsurf related sport of giving the grannies something to look at if you have a wardrobe failure as the main coffee shops look out on the area we all get changed.
Mostly I have to admit I've been out there on big kit (9.4m) but I did get one very good evening on 7.5m when most others were holding down 6s. Nice spot and good company with the added benefit that Ross sails there a lot which is handy if you need your board repaired. But you do have to watch out for certain spots where it's shallow - I've just spent a happy half hour sanding down the new dents in 2 of my fins.
But this weekend it swung to the west and Saturday saw a few people out at NSC on around 8m. It was apparently up and down but very warm. Sunday provided a much bigger crowd and better wind. I was second down and rigged 7.5m on 120ltrs in warm sunshine - turned out I got it about right. Lee and James appeared and raced about on smaller kit. James especially planes on the proverbial and he and I had some great races, I think we was on around 6m but only 100ltrs. He was faster than me but when we raced I was able to use my larger fin (40) to go up wind across him as he caught me forcing him to go up wind and slow or fall back before trying to pass me downwind. All great fun.
For once we had two girls out as Lee was joined by Paula. She had some great runs at good speed but when I asked her about her gybes she used some (very) mild swear words. Shocked at this change of image I asked for clarification and she claimed that in her book these were very strong words - she's clearly not be in Ali Turrettes Todd's company very much...
Tim was out - I mean on the water, no dressed in frightfully garish tight clothing... He was rattling along nicely on 7.5m although he did seem to be taking the phrase lay down gybe rather too literally I noticed as I gybed round him in the water.
Gary joined us and stretched his whole body on 8m and 135ltrs. He had a good sail though. We also had David Brown although he stopped early as wanted to get home to watch the England match. Clearly he prefers to watch paint dry to windsurfing, although he did sail well on the an impossibly small 5.5m.
We didn't see Pat Panty Liner out - but this could be due to lack of shoes. He was apparently out sailing while a sailing course for scouts was being run. When the scouts came in, their leader gave instructions that all left behind articles of clothing should be tidied up and put in a bag. A nice way to ensure the Scouts tidied up behind them - but sadly for Pat they also tidied up his shoes and socks so he was seen bare foot in the bar afterwards. Pat is now apparently Scouting for Boys - a joke in itself...
So a lovely day's sailing, despite my attempts to complete a carving tack front to sail causing much (ironic) cheering and laughter from the shore. But then they missed the excellent planing out gybes.

RYA WINDSURFING LESSONS

The man with no shoes has been busy organising more RYA windsurfing instructors and as they come on line, the official lessons have restarted at the club. Tuesday night sees most people out, but some courses are also run over weekends. More than half a dozen are through or nearly through and there will be more courses to come. So if you know of anyone who wants to learn, please get in touch with Pat on p.lyner@btinternet.com - and while you're at it, do ask him if he's wearing any shoes!
Tuesday nights are also set up that people who have passed their course can come down and use the club gear safe in the knowledge that there is some rescue boat cover out for the windsurfers. So any of you improvers, get on down every Tuesday night.

AND WHAT ABOUT THE WAVE COURSE?

What indeed about this year's wave course? Well the good news is that Jim Collis is well enough to give the course. The bad news is that the only dates he knows he can take a full week off right now are silly ie late August or late November. So we're currently waiting for him to give his best guess as to when he can wrangle say 4 days off and then we'll go for it. The best guess is sometime in October - and on the law of averages we must be due some serious wind.
So be patient and watch this space - it will be worth it!

6 Apr 2010

EASTER BUNNIES
At long last, holidays and wind - a perfect recipe for some fun.
It all started on Good Friday at Tyrella. 5.5 - 6.3m was the sail size, the waves were of a reasonable size, the tide was in, there weren't too many kites on the water - and it was FREEZING! The car said 7 degrees, but it felt much colder than this. Maybe we're getting soft.
Nothing soft about Wookie (allegedly) and right enough he was first man out. 5.5m and having a great sail.  Ali FN Tourettes Todd was next - just back from a week's skiing late the night before and so with his by now usual hangover look.  He actually lasted pretty well (for a total wreck) and got some good waves and jumps before fatigue (and drink) caught up with him.
I look 6.3m and thought I was in for a great day when my first run included a planing out gybe, catching a good wave and rather neat carving tack on the inside.  Unfortunately for me it was slowly downhill after that.  The problem we all had was the cold, although an increasingly strong rip added to it later on.  If you got caught in the water a bit, it really zapped your energy.  And there was a lot of hands between the legs going on - I mean on the shore, not some new riding technique.  In my defence, I later found out I'd got a virus (thanks Pat) hence no staying power.
It was a good start to Easter, but by 2pm we were all driving home with the heaters on full blast.
The wind didn't play ball until Easter Monday - but then it did big time. The troops were divided between the wave-heads who went to Tyrella and the hibernating creatures who went to the club.
At NSC it was like one of those big international football matches where they trot out (actually carry out) the 1966 England team and parade them in front of an amazed crowd (who've all naturally assumed they're all dead).  So it was at NSC as all the oul men who'd clearly been hibernating over winter had emerged in the full awfulness and were parading on the grass at Newtownards.  Actually some of them looked they might have been carried there too.
First up with Trevor (my gear is from the Ulster Museum) Pollen.  Trevor was mostly on 5.2 and told me that his endorphins were flying.  I thought that was against the law in NI, but I guess he gets away with it on account of his age.  The other thing he gets away with is having virtually no eyesight, so when he's on the water it's the rest of us (and the pier) who have to look out..
Then of course we weren't at all surprised to see turning up together (hand in hand as ever) Guy and Harry.  None of dared to ask what they'd been doing all winter, but they did at least sail - I wasn't in the showers with them so I can't say any more than that.  Turned out that Guy, who's lost a decent bit of weight - no doubt thanks to his exertions with Harry - had been out last week.  Actually, we know he's been 'out' longer than this.  But that time Harry came but didn't go out.  Now where have we seen that before.  But fair play to them, out they went and has a great sail.
And talking of colourful characters,  Nigel 'Fanta Pants' was back on the water.  Actually he was flying, had a great sail and because it was warm we could see him coming ie no helmet and ginger hair.
Others out included Paula, holding down 5.4 in some big winds, Gary (national under 7 egg and spoon champion), Pat, FN Todd, David Brown, Lorraine Kelly and Shipman.  Actually Tony was really flying and showing no ill effects of all his reconstructive surgery at all - and of course a fine set of breasts in the shower afterwards....
Pat made our day by being brave enough to go for some ducks.  He was nailing these big time at El Tur but choppy NSC is a different matter.  His particular speciality seems to be the one where you walk to the front of your board (mid duck) and dive off. He then went home to fix the cracks on the noses of 2 of his board - not unrelated.
Casper was there and for once in really good time rather than materialising as we all came of the water.  It was an expensive day for him as holed two sails without apparently doing anything spectacularly stupid.  Like some of the windsurfers, I think they were just knackered.
I won't say it was very warm, but at 12 degrees and with some sun it was nice.  Sails varied from 5.2 - 6.3 with a few people starting on 7m.  But it was up and down a lot - the forecasts were basically right, but average wind speeds don't tell the full story.  I was one of many who rigged two sails and boards and swapped between them a lot.  6.3m on 110 ltrs and 5.5m on 90 ltrs.  Some people got it wrong at times, it was hard to do otherwise and it was a real bit of nostalgia to see Harry wallowing around in the shallows way downwind have been caught out.
It was lovely to see so many smiling (if ugly) faces and indeed such a crowd.

And what of the waveheads do I hear you ask?
Well the great and good assembled at Tyrella where they got 4m weather and sunshine - and waves.  A very good call. Wookie, Raptor, Bedford, Simon Saunders and Chris Cassidy were on the water and showing off as you do.
Now what can I say about the average intellectual level of the type of person who walks on our beaches in NI?  Only slightly higher than those (elderly couples) who sit in their cars at various car parks like Ballyturd and 'enjoy' watching us get changed perhaps?
Apparently one of these intellectual powerhouses collared John Bedford and, no doubt mesmerised by that hair of his, asked if the group were professional.  Titter ye not!  History, or at least my hairy correspondent, does not record John's answer (yes, seems likely), but one suspects that young Raptor's aerial antics may have had something to do with it....
  Winter's over and the fun has begun.

SLALOM RACED AT NSC

It was the first time the Irish Slalom Series had come to NSC and also the first time they'd run an event so early in the season - so there were some concerns.  But they needn't have worried, around 60 windsurfers descended on the club and, ignoring the rotten weather forecasts (which turned out to be completely wrong) had 2 days great sailing.
If you want to see more you can find details at www.irishslalom.ie  In fact this is really great site with piles of fantastic photographs - which mostly seem to be of Maurice kissing people. Strange way to race, but it obviously worked for him - probably put off his (male) competitors I guess.  I'll leave you to speculate on tongues.  But if you go to www.windsurfcraic.co.uk you'll be able to see the evidence especially from the Saturday night disco.
However, first off, what happened?  Well, I'll hand over to our big-juicy-lipped correspondent Maurice Owens for this -
March 27th - 28th saw the round one of the Irish Windsurfing Slalom Racing Series kick off at Newtownards Sailing Club, Co. Down. A poor forecast may have dampened spirits in the run up to the weekend, but come Saturday morning, the wind filled in for what turned out to be a great weekend of slalom racing for the 50+ entrants.

A major difference this year was the speed of registration, this was due to competitors availing of the pre-registration and payment via irishslalom.ie This meant that competitors literally only had to pick up their vests on the Saturday morning allowing for an earlier 10am briefing and a timely 11am first race.
OD for the year, Ciaran O’Brien, laid out a 6 buoy downwind slalom course with the help of the NSC boat crew, opting for a “sail towards shore - port start” as opposed to the more traditional start from beach approach, the advantages to this was that there was much more room for sailors prior to the start to allow many sailors to hit the line flying as well as the visual importance for the spectators.
Gold fleet racing kicked off with two full rounds of heats on Saturday morning, this meant that only 50% of the fleet were ever racing at the one time, thus having fewer bodies on the line and at the marks allowing for less intimidating racing
Once two complete rounds were run it was decided that 5 back to back "all-in" races could be run in the afternoon with winds ranging from 20-30 knots. The action on the water was spectacular, with high speeds, dramatic turns at the marks and “drag like” starts out at sea racing towards the club house. The pace was very fast in the afternoon with current Champion Pearse Geaney and Maurice Owens fighting it out for the lead. Other top five contenders included new comer and local sailor William Revels, the steady Hannes Louete, Fintan Day and current Grand Master Chris Loughridge.

As the tide dropped and more beach revealed itself the silver fleet took to the water for a simple out and back format, 11 races were held in total with John Boyce stepping up to the mark coaching and encouraging the entire fleet who were feeling the effects of the winter water temperature.  Standouts in the silver fleet included the youngest sailor, John Patrick Fletcher, all three ladies, Alessia Stocca, Laura Macauley and Rebecca Fletcher, but it was Kevin Cunningham, Aidan Granfield and Gary Pope who topped the fleet 3rd to 1st consecutively.
Saturday night started off with a banquet buffet in the sailing club followed by the 2009 prize giving with winners receiving locally handmade windsurf trophies. A special anural trophy in memory of Alan Harris was started for contribution to windsurfing in Ireland, a cause for which Alan was a driving force.  Fintan Day one of the longest standing surfdock team riders proudly presented the trophy to Danny Mulryan.
Later followed a vinyl DJ set from Newtownards own Alan DJ AJ Watts. Alan who is better known for his newsletter and online post www.windsurfcraic.co.uk and basically taking the hand out of anybody who steps out of line, was definitely the right man to have behind the turn styles! [I think he means turntables, but turnstyles might have been a better description when you look at the dodgy characters who got let in].  Dodgy dancing was the name of the game and it was decided early the next day that Stephen Kelly had taken his third consecutive event win in this newly hotly contested discipline!  This weekend was also the launch of the Irish slalom clothing range, hoodies and beanies are available from our website www.irishslalom.ie with t-shirts and accessories to follow. All proceeds from the sale of merchandise will go to promoting Irish windsurfing.

A special thanks also to Eimear Owens from Discovery foods who laid on much needed hot lunches for the competitors on both days with help from friends.
Sunday dawned with yet again more bright and breezy weather (Much to the dismay of a few people!  Some bodies were not capable to taking days of abuse this early in the season!) Nevertheless a slightly smaller Gold fleet took to the water to complete five races to total eleven races and give an all important 3rd discard. A Master blaster where by the entire fleet followed a rib across the Lough and back, signalled the end of what was a great weekends racing.
After a reasonably early prize giving with generous local sponsorship from Pier36, www.wookieWindsurfing.com , Tushingham and McCready sailboats. A big thanks to all the volunteers in the boats who ensured racing ran smoothly and safely, as well as those who helped take in the boats at low tide which was a task in itself. We would like to thank the Commodore and Committee of Newtownards Sailing Club for letting us avail of their fabulous facilities.
Watch this space for GPS replays of all the racing on www.irishslalom.ie with thanks to Cormac O’Brien
Gold Fleet
Overall
Pearse Geaney
2. Maurice Owens
Hannes Louet-Feisser

Master
Hannes Louet-Feisser

Grand Master Funk
1. Chris Loughridge
U-20
1. Matt McNutt
2. Joseph Fletcher

U-17
1. Ben McNutt
2. Emmit Kelly
Lady
1. Alison Beirne

Silver Fleet Overall
Gary Pope
Aidan Grandfield
Kevin McGuinness

Ladies
1. Laura McCauley
2. Rebecca Fletcher

The Dodgy Dancing Award
Stephen Kelly

I don't know about you, but I just love the description of Ming the Merciless as Grand Master Loughridge. Makes him sound like Grand Master Funk - or something sounding remarkably similar.

Now of course Maurice may have covered the racing, but that pales into insignificance in comparison with the Saturday night disco. One of the many skeletons in my closet is that I used to be professional DJ, so it was that my 2000 strong vinyl collection was dusted off (more like industrially steam cleaned), gear hired and the usual stream of abuse from this newsletter was - for one night only - transferred to verbal abuse. Lots of it. You have to feel sorry for the hire shop who fell about with laughter when I asked for a twin vinyl deck (but located one) only to be floored again when I asked for a cassette deck to play my jingles. Anyway it all worked and eventually sufficient drink was taken to overcome the chronic lack of women that night. Most of the women who were there appeared to be married to Paddy. But this didn't daunt Grand Master Funk and Maurice 'the lips' Owens who didn't seem to care what gender they danced with. See the photographs and wince.
I also have to give a mention to the brave contestants for Bits 'n' Pieces, won by a very creditable 13/20 by a table with a combined age of 423 years - and that appeared to be a team of 3.

So all in all, it was a great weekend. Wookie came fourth by the way and we are still reeling with the shock that someone let Gary Pope into the Silver fleet - and he's now the national leader. I hear he's also going to enter the under 7s egg and spoon race as well...
The ISS were superb. Pat did all the arranging for the club, but once the ISS were on the scene the well oiled machine just purred into action. In the thank you department, a special word must go to Pat (Panty) Lyner - if it hadn't been for his 1 man determination and 6 months hard work (and 6 months talking) from him it simply wouldn't have happened. Nice one Paddy!
See you next year!



RYA CONFERENCE
By way of something completely different, I've heard from Mary Farrell, RYA NI Development Officer.

Dear Alan,
As you may be aware, RYANI is running a principals and instructor conference on the 10th April. As the main speaker is RYA National Windsurfing Coach, I am trying to use this as an opportunity to lead a discussion on Windsurfing in NI and perhaps what RYANI could do to support it and also to give NI windsurfers/clubs an idea of what is happening in the UK.
The details are in red as below, but I would like to invite windsurfers, be they instructors or not. The afternoon part of the day will have a demonstration about windsurfing instructor scheme (TBC) followed by a debate/discussion about windsurfing in NI.
I would be much obliged if you could spread the word about this conference to the windsurfers and perhaps attend yourself? It is free, and if you book in advance there will be lunch provided at the club.
Regards
Mary Farrell

RYA NI Development Officer
( Mobile: 07919 923 018
Phone: 028 9038 3875
Email: mary.farrell@rya.org.uk
WEB: www.ryani.org.uk
Skype: Mary Farrell

RYANI Principals and Instructors Conference 2010.
Venue: Strangford Lough Yacht Club.
Date: 10th April 10am – 4pm
Book your place Now by contacting me!


Now as it happens I can't make this as I'm in England that weekend. But if any of you wish to go, you've got the full contact information. The RYA as far as NI windsurfers in concerned has often been seen as a rather distant and inconsistent organisation. Mary has said that she needs to understand a lot more about the local windsurfing scene - so this is your chance to help her. And there's a free lunch.
So if you'd like to give off about your views about anything windsurfing - RYA, insurance, developing kids (for windsurfing, not the priesthood), training courses, Maurice's tongue - whatever is on your mind, just go along.

8 for Sale
Despite all the horrible things I say about the age of Trevor Pollen's gear, he does keep it in immaculate condition. He's the only sailor I know who religiously hoses his sails down after each session. So when he has some stuff for sale, it's worth looking at.

Alan

I am selling an 8 metre Tushingham Thunderbird sail. It is in virtually new condition, has only been used a handful of times and has been carefully dried after each outing. On the basis that it is of little value to me sitting in my garage I am seeking approx 20% of its original price say £80.

Would you mind passing the message on through your various websites / threads.

Regards
Trevor

Trevor can be reached care of Ulster Museum or on trevor-pollen@ntlworld.com. What a bargain - get in there quickly!
And while you're at it, ask him if he's got an Arthur Daily coat for sale ....

13 Feb 10

No - of course there's been no wind!
I'd love to be writing great tales of windsurfing and other daring stuff. But it's either been too baltic or windless. What a start to the year.

But what I can tell you is that there's an opportunity to become an RYA Windsurfing instructor. The course below will be run at NSC over Easter and there are still a couple of places left. So if you fancy putting something back into the sport, torturing and humiliating beginners and even making a bit of money, why not sign up and get the training?

The details are :
Windsurfing Instructor Course
Organised by Peninsula Watersports Sail Training:
Dates: 4th -9th April
Contact: Robbie Richardson

robert.richardson1212@btinternet.com

028 9182 8781
Cost £310

And finally a small reminder, that Round 1 of the

2010 Irish Slalom Series (windsurfing)

will be held at the Newtownards Sailing Club

on 27th and 28th March 2010.
Queries to Pat Lyner at p.lyner@btinternet.com

See also www.irishslalom.ie

There'll be a lot more information soon, but expect a big event for both serious and fun racers - plus some seriously dodgy entertainment on the Saturday night. The whole thing is of course open to everyone.

See you on the water - someday when the wind blows ....

1 Jan 10

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OUT WITH THE OLD - IN WITH THE NEW

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NI WINDSURFING CRAIC - www.windsurfingcraic.co.uk LAUNCHED!
NEW WEBSITE FOR NI WINDSURFING CRAIC

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I don't have much good to say about Christmas's generally. There's only so much food (but not drink) you can take, so much crap TV to watch and of course only so long you can stand being nice to your relatives. All that and it's generally too cold to windsurf - although not always...
On the plus side, it means that there's no work to get in the way of important things like wishing Simon Cowell a slow and unpleasant death and of course updating one's website. So it is, that I've finally got round to sorting out the website associated with this e-newsletter. So here's what you'll find :
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All the craic and news on www.windsurfingcraic.co.uk
Each newsletter after I send it out - but often with photographs etc added

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Details of our past windsurfing holidays - now including the full photographs. Prasonisi, Egypt and Medano are up, more later
Pages on some of the regular windsurfers - including (be very scared) photographs
A photo gallery of windsurfing locally
The pages to subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter.
By the way, the old URL of www.mylyst.com still works too.
So why not take a stooge through this and have a laugh. And any time you get one of these newsletters, you'll often find additional stuff on the website.
All feedback welcome.

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AND I WANT INPUT FROM YOU TOO - YES YOU!

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I can't be at every windsurfing happening, my name isn't Andy and I do have to work for a living. So I need your help to tell me what's happened. All I need is an e-mail (there's a form on the website) telling me who did what and where. If there's photographs, so much the better, they can be e-mailed to me.
And don't worry about tarting up the English or even spelling. You give me the basic facts and we'll make it look good - and for good measure we'll insert the humour and humiliating comments as required.
AND - if you'd like to feature on the windsurfers pages - just send me the stuff. I need to know a bit about you and to get a couple of your best (or worst!) photographs. Come on, depress your mates....

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AND SOME PEOPLE EVEN WINDSURFED THIS CHRISTMAS!!

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Yes - honestly, they did! After Christmas it became slightly less baltic (3-4 degrees) and easterly.29th saw Wookie, Andy and Thomas Bin Laden out in some quite good winds at Whiterock. In the words of Father Wookie 'it was cool'. We're not sure if he's referring to the temperature or his windsurfing - clearly he wasn't referring to Andy.

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And on the 30th I made my debut following a dodgy shoulder. My thanks to the huge numbers of you who replied to my last e-mail with some sympathy - both of you will be pleased to know I suffered no ill effects from being back on the water. In fact Wookie and I went out in a rising wind and 3 degrees. Wookie has developed a cunning arrangement of Marigolds (held on with duct tape) under his mittens. He looks like a (particularly mean) boxer who is about to do the dishes. He went for 5m, I took a 5.5 and we both badly under estimated the wind. After a brief but chilling mauling he went down 2 sail sizes to 4m and I 'rested' in the lee at Daft Eddie's. Then the wind really came up, certainly gusting to over 50 mph. Wookie managed 2 runs on the 4m, but I was murdered on 5.5 when I came out from behind the island. No chance, so it was a walk home from the wrong side of the sailing club for me - much to Wookie's delight!
So - I'm back. Look out for more abuse both on and off the water....
Alan