http://www.surfkraft.co.uk

Remembrance Sunday - RESPECT

LOOP CLUB - OPTIMISM

Ant Baker's Birthday - HAVE A GOOD ONE!

LOOP CLUB !!!!

with a special guest ..............

Loop Club day loomed, with forecasts for decent winds .... but woke up and it was bright, dry, and pretty light wind.

Too late to can it, and all forecasts showed decent wind, so up early and on the road, arriving at Camber before 8am.

As usual I wasn't first there, and pretty soon people were rocking up for breakfast at The Place.

Once we were all there, and consumed our breakfasts and supped our tea / coffees, Callum got us organised and down the beach to check conditions. It was still light, but all the weather sites west were showing wind, and it was coming our way.

 Our own personal 'Pro Windsurfer' for the day offering top tips .... Matt Pearch

Not wanting to be underpowered, I opted for 5.3m Ego and the Allwave 92. This was perfect for probably 30 minutes, and as the wind filled in more and more I really started to struggle. Eventually I relented and did the trip back over the dunes, took on some re-hydration & a banana plus some Kendall Mint Cake to re-energise. Then, as I wasn't alone de&re-rigging, I cracked out the Twin Fin and a 4.2m Ego and got them rigged for action.

Back over the dunes, and the wind had filled in further, so much that the actual act of walking to the water was a challenge in itself !!

Got there and was really nicely powered up, in fact verging on overpowered. One run, and tweaked outhaul a bit, next run and took advice of Matt Pearch to add further downhaul too. Played a bit more, and I think I'm really going to enjoy the Twin Fin ... it's just so much fun to sail. I only got backside rides in but I reckon it allowed me at least one extra turn on each wave the way it changed direction so readily.

Anyway, I wasn't there to cruise about and backside ride, I was there to take on board all the looping tips I could, and then go and nail the move. I had a few goes, but can't really claim to have even got close to nailing it yet. It's a shame, but I spent too long hanging onto the 5.3m when I should have changed down. Not being able to fully sheet in / oversheet meant I couldn't get the rotation I needed and indeed crash and burn was the result for me.

Some really good attempts going on, though to be fair, we were really put to shame by some folks who were revelling in the conditions. There were the usual Camber Posse suspects who'd sailed up to Little Maui to take the mickey out of us, or more honestly offer encouragement and pointers, with the Geriatric Looper sharing the knowledge readily.

Check out Jeff's video on You Tube

 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=g5b5KRaLbGc

As a bit of a treat, and to add extra inspiration, we had Nik & Ant Baker sailing amongst us showing us how it should be done. It was really quite surprising to find out that they'd never sailed at Camber before, but I got the impression that it'd not be their last visit to Camber.

It was really cool to see so many smiling faces and people going for their loops in really testing conditions. To be fair, it got too windy too quickly for learning to loop, but everyone had a really good day on the water, and then got to check out the action as recorded by Callum, on a big projection screen back at The Place before enjoying supper to conclude proceedings .... not forgetting everyone got a tee shirt from Callum, and had spent the day on the water sailing with the Baker bothers, Matt Pearch ... and the Camber Posse.

Happy daze

Camber pics coming soon .... for now enjoy these gallery shots of Nik living the life !!

 *********

Feedback from the loopa's

Gutted (Guy) wrote -

One of the loop lot at Camber.  Big, big thanks to Krafty for organising, Callum for being just about as helpful as can be, Matt for looping right in front of me and just making me feel more of a girl for not trying more than one.

Launch with a 5m and it was perfect for three runs, then a really light shower came through and killed the wind for 10 mins, so I was quickly washed down to the cafe.  The wind picked back up and I headed back upwind to find the rest of the loopers who were only just coming over the dunes.  Most had rigged 5m, some brave souls on 5.3's and a few sensible ones on 4.5's. 

The wind quickly filled in, but it was manageable for about an hour, then the mother of all squalls came through, so I decided to follow the Fabulous Bakin Boys over the dunes - them to go home, me to change down.

I debated whether to rig 4.5 or 4.0.  Made the wrong choice and went 4.5 and spent the next half an hour battling the sand to get to the waters edge, which was having a holiday in France.  I then had another hour or so fully stacked on my 4.5.  It was a good fun sail, but I was there to overcome my fear of loops and nuclear winds aren't really the way to do that.  Oh well.

I tried one loop while on camera and promptly bruised my shoulder and put a scratch across my nose - it looked beyond lame on video and yet hurt more than any other attempt I've ever made.  I think doing it in less than a foot of water probably didn't help.

I am officially a bender.

Additionally, Guy wrote -

 Well done for yesterday. Top day. Too much wind is better than too little I suppose, but really good experience regardless. Shoulder f*cking hurts!

Grawp (Ed) wrote -

Really excellent day with Krafty. It was really enjoyable meeting everyone in the morning, with lots of banter and procrastiation. Matt and Callum were top blokes and the Baker bros lent a celebrety air to the occasion.

My arse is black and blue tonight, and I'm walking like an old man.
But anyone who's spent time with Krafty will know that's pretty normal.

Thanks Ian for a great day.
Proper special it was.

Ed also wrote -

I did about 50 loop attempts this weekend. I think I have slight concussion! But I'm very happy, and I'll stop hurting by Wednesday. It's a pretty fair trade off in my book.
My top tip to going for the first one is to just get silly on a session. I started trying to do back loops off piddling waves and did lots of crashing. Every crash reinforced that it was only water and it didn't hurt (much). So I had a go at a forward, and let go halfway round, and crashed, and that didn't hurt at all. So I did the same again. Then I decided to hang on and went for it. This time I let go with just the front hand (don't ask me why) which kind of worked because I felt a new feeling, a loopy kind of feeling... This was all I needed for encouragement. Next go I held on and WHAMMO!!!!my head and and right side smacked squarely into the water and I went under, but I was underneath my sail, and when I struggled to the surface, my kit was pointing the right direction, and all the pain left me and I whooped with joy.
So now my quest has started. Spent the whole of Krafty's loop session doing short runs off the beach and looping on the first wave possible. I did two attempts within 100m some runs. I'm not getting enough rotation yet and landing pretty squarly on my back, but on some my feet stayed in the straps and I'm starting to get round. Even did an endo/mast on bottom/polevault in front of Nik Baker. He said to me "less endo, more round the mast" How cool is that?

Have decided I need to hit bigger waves to buy me a bit more time in the air to complete the rotation.

Now where's that ibuprofen?

 Jeff Scott wrote -

good turn out at camber today, well done Krafty, callam, matt and all involved.

Lots of carnage and loop attemps every time I looked around so well done everyone for having a go in tough conditions. Lots of great inspiration from matt, nick and ant (which was great as it's not every day you have pro's ripping in front of you) but sadly no push loop for me today! But I did try and I did 2 tacks so result!

I hope everyone will take these attemps to their everyday sailing and if you keep trying you will get it.

Simon Weston Smith wrote -

Plus some comments from those who couldn't make the Loop Clinic for various reasons, and also from people also windsurfing at Camber on the day.

 RichC wrote -

You can watch it on dvd in your own home or you can watch from the beach but, nothing beats watching the Baker Bros  & Mr P right in front of you on the water. Awesome forwards, backies and all sorts....

Oh yeah that was at Camber, windy place on the south east corner.

Boys had it proper again at St Margos......

SurfDud wrote -

Camber - Mental

Well powered on my 4.4m Combat and Evo74. Nice waves with flatwater in between once you made it past the ramps. Huge jumps and some good backside riding. Just a pity it was quite onshore.

Highlight of the day was spinning out for a long long way while riding backside down a wave face.

Not sure it was ideal for looping practice, well done if you had a go.

PaulP wrote -

Shortest session ever.

4 runs then dropped a gybe inside, water a bit shallower than expected, landed on ankle heavily. Hobbled up beach and de-rigged. Nicely bruised and swollen now.

Shame as it could have been fun. 4.7 well powered. Nice flat run ups to nicely shaped ramps. Hit a peach of a jump on first run put. A bit surprised at how much smaller waves were to yesterday, but that was no bad thing as had some very scary moments.

Ho-hum, guess it's karma for bottling the Krafty loopfest.

Fingers crossed an ice pack and a roast dinner will have me fixed in time for tomorrow.

Camber Mafia wrote -

me today shopping at lakeside with mrs mafia and next sunday a dog showand then f**king suicideglad every one had a good day at camber and well done krafty