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Well

As the year of 2011 is finished i leave my sailing stats for this year.

For me overall it was a good year as I started to nail the gybes!!!

For 2012 my goals are to sail comfortable in high winds with my 86L Kode and to start riding some small waves…

The final Stats: (http://mmilhazes.windsurfing.pro/windsurf-statistics/)

Totals:

Boards Used:

Sails Used:

Months sailed:

Well

I can’t remember the last time I’ve windsurfed!!!! FUCK!!!

I have to check the statistics to see that I’m out of the water since 5 November….more than one month and by looking at the forecast it seems that I will only windsurf next year, 2012!!!! SHIT!!!

Some days there was wind enough to going out but it was work days!!! On the weekends there is usually no wind or lots of rain…..

Meanwhile I would like to leave with one of the funniest videos I have seen in the windsurfing world:

Well

This Saturday the conditions were great again at Murtosa spot and some of friends went windsurfing………i couldn’t make it ou because i woke up with a flew so had to stay in house all weekend……shit!!!

They had a blast in 5.0 to 5.5m weather conditions!!!

Meanwhile I would like to post a little video from last weekend……its very little because the camera battery just finished when I went out…..bummer!!!

The Video:

The GPS track:

Yeap

Finally we got a day we conditions to go out again. We decided to go to a spot in a river, Murtosa, because there waves around 4 to 6m…….so no sea today!!!

As I bought a new handy camera with a tripod I took it with me to test it and made some videos of the guys and girl, yes girl, there is a brave girl sailor, Cecilia Apura , that is always ready to go out on the water no matter the conditions!!! Big cheers for her!!!

So after some phone calls we were on our way, Manuel Novais, the first one to arrive, António Pereira, Tiago Fernandes, Rui Torres, the brothers Alvaro and Jorge Raimundo and me of course….

The weather was for 6.0m sails and sub 100L boards….i made a mistake and only had my 122L with me so went out and suffered a lot in the big chopp that was formed by the river current and wind swell.

Everyone that had small kit had a blast and was super happy in the end of the day….it’s funny to see full grown adults behaving like kids playing on and off the water……..but this sport does this!!!!

The videos:

Murtosa Take I

Murtosa Take II

Well

The weather has been from sunny 0 knots to very wet 50 knots with huge swells, 3 to 7m high,…..so no windsurfing lately……fuck!!!!

I tried to windsurf last Saturday, 29 October, but the wind was very light, no more than 10 knots, so only the Formula boys with their 11m sails had fun…..….I preferred to stay on the beach and eat a massive hot dog!!!

The last days I windsurfed were 5 and 8 of October as you can see in my GPS tracks below…..to much time off water is driving me crazy!!!

Meanwhile we have launched a Facebook group, Windsurf Cabedelo Riders, and also had Manuel Novais Silva design a great logo for us and printing it on T-shirts, so if you see someone around the world surfing with this logo you will know it’s a Cabedelo Local……..

Big thanks to Libório Silva for creating and updating the group and taking great pictures!!!

The Windsurf Cabedelo Riders logo:

My GPS Tracks:

Hi

Just would like to post a great photo taken by Libório Silva at sunset in Cabedelo Spot.

The rider: João Leitão

The Kit: Starboard Ultrasonic 147 / Severne Reflex II 8,6m

Hi There

Not be posting a lot because some changes in my life occurred…..mainly changes in work….just left the company i worked for 9 years and embraced a all new and exciting job at a big ISP (Internet Service Provider).

Meanwhile I windsurfed some days with my friends, but as the summer as gone and the autumn is in the north trade winds tend to become weaker and a lot more unstable…..meaning that you can get very sudden wind changes while you are in the water…

Just for example the other day we went into the water with 7.0m weather, sometimes with big lulls, and suddenly the wind went from 20 knots to 35 knots in a matter of seconds and keeping this strength for more than an hour, obviously some guys got caught on the open sea and more than 1 mile from the coast with big sails and had a very hard time…..3 of them had to be rescued by the Coast guard because they just couldn’t get back to the beach!!!

I was lucky because on my way out I noticed the increasing white caps on the water so I decided to gybe back and was shocked when I looked back to the beach and saw the water completely filled of white caps, so I managed to hold on to the boom completely overpowered and do a crazy reach mainly riding on the fin back to the beach!!!! Uffff…..that was a close one!!!

For some time I stayed in the beach seeing some guys getting hammered out there……huge catapults, rigs flying, people way over there limits!!!! Some came back and got out, others stayed in the water and got really hammered and some unlucky guys got rescued!!!

What a hell of a time……then after an hour the wind dropped again but I had already di-rigged and didn’t go out!!!

Some Photos of me taken by rider Alberto Alves:

Gybe sequence….

Hi

Just been wondering about and thinking the spots i would like to sail in the future.

Usually I sail flat-water / chop conditions as that is what I have at my home spot, sometimes waves but I’m not into waves yet, I hope I can start doing waves some day, but it look so intimidating being trashed around in those huge masses of water!!!!

For now I’ve sailed in these spots:

Cabedelo (Viana Do Castelo, Portugal) – My home spot, works well with north winds

Seixas (Caminha, Portugal) – Very North of Portugal, works well in south winds

Rabagão (Montalegre, Portugal) – Big reservoir, works well with West wind

Meia-Praia (Lagos, Portugal) – In Algarve, perfect flat-water with offshore winds in the summer

Ria de Alvor (Alvor, Portugal) – In Algarve a river mouth that works well in North and South winds, good for learning.

Dahab (Egypt) – Fantastic place for free ride, freestyle and learning. Improves more in 1 week than in 6 months at my home spot

As I’m improving my sailing my goals are:

1 – Start doing full planning gybes

2 – Sail in 4m weather conditions without no fair of being trashed away

3 – Start sailing full slalom boards instead of free race boards

4 – Go over the 50km/h speed barrier

5 – Start sailing 0, 5 to 1m waves

So with these goals in mind I wonder, besides my home spot, which other spots would help me improve my sailing and have a good time.

So my 7 perfect places to windsurf in a near future are:

1 – Jericoacora (Maybe in 2012)

This places looks and feels magical. I had several friends that were there and said there is no other place in the world where you can have wind all days, small waves, good vibe and great weather!!! So must go there soon!!!

 2 – Gruissan (Maybe in 2012)

Defi wind for sure, I would like to do my first competition in this fantastic event, i´m now starting to make plans to participate in Defi Wind 2012, I hope I can get together a team of 5 friends so we can make the journey next year!!!

 3 – Fuerteventura (Maybe in 2013)

It´s a 2,5 hour flight from my home and it would be an ideal place to start sailing in howling winds so i can get more confident with my sailing and learn how to survive on the water with the sotavento trade winds!!!

4 – Alacati (Maybe in 2013)

A perfect place to improve from free race board to slalom boards as the spot looks like idyllically for full slalom with its flat water and steady winds between 15 and 25 knots

5 – Port Pollo (Maybe in 2014)

Looks like a perfect place to do slalom, bump and jump and some small wave sailing, besides that i love Italian food!!! A must go place with family!!!

6 – Aruba (Maybe in 2014)

A trpoical place that looks like heaven, after looking at the videos and photos of the last PWA i think it would be a great spot for slalom improving and a good vibe on land!!!

7 – Baja (Maybe in 2015)

Yeap…..the magical wave spot….with great waves in a remote place on earth….nothing to do expect windsurf!!! When my level is suitable I will make the trip!!!!

Meanwhile I have to stop dreaming and get back to work, family and improve my windsurf skills at my home spot!!!! Ehehehe!!!!

Good winds!!!