If Strictly Came to Donegal
As I write up the second week of Getwindsurfing in Donegal, that mind boggling nonsense that is Strictly Come Dancing is on TV. One good reason why I'm typing and not in front of the TV!
Not as you might think a description of Tim, but in fact an alternative title we considered for this article! Actually it's a sign at the surf shop at Magheroarty.
However I can't help noticing some similarities in that it starts off with matching up all the contestants with partners. And this is how it seemed in Donegal too.
Firstly we had Tim and Ming, or Timming as we might call them as they were always joined up and close together. At times they ran off together to wing (they said) instead of joining the course with the others. They always ate together, appeared for breakfast togther and indeed discussed how loudly the other had snored last night (through the wall from the next door room they claimed). However, unlike last year, Tim did not lay hands on Minger as apparently Minger didn't break this year. Last year his back was a wreck even before he joined the course and only Tim's silky skills kept him on the water. To show how close they were, Tim always caddied Ming's kit to and from the beach for him.
Tim acquired the nickname Chardonnay, as he always swapped over to this after the first few pints of Guinness. Mind you Minger had a pet name for him - Chubster - and to prove true love had even had a special T-shirt printed for him with this on it. Grossly unfair of course as Tim is a fine figure of a man.
Chardonnay at work!
And we were joined by another sporting 'couple' in Lucasz and Kevin. Or the Lucozade Twins as we might call them. Again inseperable, always sailing together and both suffering from the most unsuitable kit on which to sail waves.
Although not on the course, Simon and Garfunkle appeared and ate with us at Colls. Simon, rather confusingly, looks like Art Garfunkle while John doesn't. But we see them sail waves in many NI/Irish spots, but never one without the other.
Nicky and Mark however never sail together. The reason being they had their young daughter with them, so one always had to be on dry land.
I on the other hand was not part of couple. No surprise to people who know me of course...
Actually, we also had Rich from the English south coast and Emily from the frozen north of England. Rich is a joiner and so his van is immaculately fitted out - including the all important gas ring for the kettle. He was a popular man.
It all got off to an interesting start when it turned out that Kevin had a sore back. Lucasz of course laid hands on him in the grass at Dooeys, but then Emily joined in with what looked like a Black and Decker. Definitely a dodgy start...
Can we fix him - yes we can!
Unlike week 1, we actually had some real wind this time! But not that much.
Monday through Wednesday was Dooeys. First day no wind so it was surfing or paddling a SUP on small waves but at least it was glassy. Tuesday provided some wind and I had my best sail on SUP session for ages. Emily managed a real wave sail on her 113. The sets were nice, even heading towards biggish as times.
Finally on Wednesday we got real wind. With much joy real wave boards came out and we had the first kit casualty when Mark properly broke his boom. Undeterred he immediately stole his wife's boom and sailed on before owning up. Nothing like a little marital dispute to liven up the day.
I hadn't sailed proper wave kit for a year. So much so that when I caught my first wave and rode it I realised I'd forgotten to put my feet in the straps - so used to the strapless SUP. To be honest I didn't transition to wave kit well, it showed me that I've been spending too much time on the Pond (Lough Neagh) when I needed to drive to the coast and waves. The afternoon session, when Phil did the video session, was more difficult conditions with the wind now getting gusty and I was hopping between 5.3 and 6.2. So I stole Minger's kit - the famous Moo with Point7 and tried hard to trash this.
Alan on a stolen Moo
I also discovered I'd accidentally set a new standard in footstrap placement. Apparently they use assymetrical staps in Maui, so perhaps I'm not that stupid after all. Others may disagree judging from the amount of tittering going on....
And where was Minger that I could steal his kit? Incredibly, on the first real wind day, he minced about rigging foils and various wave boards until lunch time, but never went out. When he finally did, he picked the wrong kit (Goya 104 quad and 5m) and had to start again. Finally he moved to winging - and proceeded to sail to Iceland so far as I could see.
It was interesting, on the first day that Timming actually sailed with us, to see wing foils in the waves. Tim sailed really well, depowering the wing once he was on the wave and riding in a way that was recognisable to us. We were also very grateful to him for providing video material of how a foil crashes when it escapes from the wave. Some really nice shots there Tim....
Foil breached, this is going to end in wet buns Tim
Just to show how good Tim actually is
In the meantime, Ming was still on his way to Iceland.
Emily sailed really well and later was joined by Nicky, once she'd extracted her boom from Mark. She got some really good waves too.
Nicky while boomless Mark baby sat
Emily bottom turn
Now I need to explain a bit more about the Lucozade Twins. These guys were super keen and eventually did really well. However on the first (windless) day, Phil thought he should have a kit session with them. And that's when the horror show started. Various antique boards and sails, mostly totally unsuited to waves were pulled out and the ever positive Phil had to find something good to say about each one. Lucasz had a 110 freestyle board (Lucasz isn't a small bloke) from back in the day and we heard Phil saying bravely I recognise that board (from the distant past).And one of the sails was so old and brittle that everytime you touched it another hole popped.
We think Phil deserved an Oscar for keeping his face straight as wave after wave of total crap was wheeled out before him.
Kevin amazingly on a wave on a freeride board
Lucazade - how did he do it on a totally wrong board? Note the Zlatan hairdo...
However, once more SUPs saved the day. Actually the next day when a couple of us lent the Twins SUPs, Phil gave them the wave sailing ABC and each of them immediately went out through the breakers and caught waves. It was fabulous.
And on the windy day they actually took their motley collection of kit out and caught waves. Lucasz was amazing on such a small board (he's a big lad) and getting waves and Kevin managed the same on freeride kit. And didn't damage any of it either.
Meanwhile Ming was still sailing to Iceland...
Mincing in preparatrion for Iceland
Lucasz said afterwards it was like Christmas, all you ever dreamed of came true. It is lovely to see new people discoveing the fun of wave sailing.
Richard rocking it on a wave
In a throwback to the week one course the Germans appeared. It was lovely to sail with Tom and Martina and Klaus again. We are pleased to report however that there was no repeat of the Germans in Speedos incident this time....
Having amazed us on the water the Lucozaders then managed to do the same off it. We headed across the road from the Loch Altan as we'd heard the pub there had a very good traditional music night. Sure enough there were a bunch of seriously good musicians and and audience made up of more of the same. Then Lucasz said he played the accordian! But he was too shy to go up and talk to the musicians. Fortunately his better half went up and pimped for him, no doubt now acting as his agent (for a fee). Next thing Lucasz is pushed up and starts playing. And wow! The entire pub (of musicians) stopped drinking and got their phones out to video him. I can't quite say he went viral, but as near as you can get on Facebook at Gortahork, he was big news.
Windsurfer spoils the view at the Friary
Party wave at the Friary
Donegal or the Caribbean?
Thursday was our day off which included coffee and a huge chunk of carrot cake (nice one Chubster) and thence to the Friary where Timming and Emily supped the river mouth while I sat on land with a picnic and long lens. After that we drove round to Rosapenna where I finally got planing (on my 8.5) while Tim showed off his winging skills and Ming instinctively headed for Iceland. He was going to come in when he realised Tim had got his drone out, so had to do another hour. The drone footage is so good, I've reproduced some grabs here. This is Rosapenna as we don't normally see it.
A fine figure of a man with his finger on his joystick
Meanwhile the Lucozades practiced tacks etc very well.
One of the Lucazade Twins at Rosapenna
Friday finally saw us use Magheroarty. It was super light, so Emily and Nicky had their first try as winging. They did this on a SUP and actually did this very well. Timming winged, but with Ming frustrated as the wind direction wasn't good for Iceland.
The rest of us dutifully took out small kit and worked on ultra light wind water starts, board stalling and tacks. Damned hard work. Kevin decided to also try helicopter tacks which he got, but as the cost of a hole in his sail.
The final day saw us return to Dooeys. I had another really good sail on SUP session in light winds but with waves strong enough to turn even my big SUP on. But it soon disintegrated to mushy waves and dodgy wind and so most people called it a day.
When I left Ming was of course still on the water. I wonder if he's reached Iceland yet?
Minger follows the road to Iceland
And in breaking news, one week later he finally made it to Iceland!
