CAROLINE UPDATE!!!!!!!

As you can probably see in the photos,there has been great progress in Caroline's windsurfing.She has been going to the lagoons in Cotillo with her friend Merce throughout the month of July and have both made the impressive leap from beginners to fully planing,feet in the straps windsurfers! They are now both comfortably beachstarting,using the harness and planing in the straps!Wicked.Now the fun really begins.Caroline has already had some pretty impressive full face hooked-in catapults but,amazingly,always comes up smiling!

Unfortunately,it would appear that the lagoons are now a no-go area for everyone due to the appearance of millions of k*********s,mainly italians and posey girls,who spend their time parading around the beach in designer budgiesmugglers(speedos) and getting dragged over the rocks by their blowy-up parachutes,and,basically,rendering the whole place too dangerous for anyone else,including sunbathers.Oh well,time to get back to Waikiki and the open ocean...........
I'll leave you with a few photos of happy days in the lagoons...............

Well done,girls............

As always,the last weekend in July saw Fuerteventura host the PWA World Cup in Sotavento in the south of the island.Once again,the wind gods smiled on our little island and there was wind for every day of competition.The freestyle discipline is the most hotly contested discipline as freestyle is the "in" thing in windsurfing at the moment.The level of sailing has improved so much over the last few years,the limits being constantly pushed by younger and younger riders every year(the women's champion this year is just 16),mainly from Venezuela and Bonaire.The action was insane,and I was lucky enough to catch the entire final day,with everyone pulling out all the stops and fully going for broke in the 35kt winds.Standouts were Kiri,the Frans brothers,Campello,Brauzinio and Gollito,who eventually went on to win fairly comfortably and was crowned World champion at this event.

The moves in the freestyle event this year were astounding and,to your average windsurf enthusiast, probably incomprehensible.The event is a "must" though to anyone visiting the island at this time of year.
A massive mention must go out to our good friend,and outstandingly talented windsurfer,Nayra Alonso,who,despite still recovering from a horrific foot injury,sailed incredibly to take 7th in the ladies freestyle.Check out her pic when she celebrated with a fantastic meal in the legendary Gibson's Restaurant,the choice of many of the world's best windsurfers when they are visiting and/or competing over here.

Well,here I am again!I apologise for the lack of blog but I've had no computer for 6 weeks!Operational again now-loads to write about so watch this space over the next few days..........I'll leave you with a taster of some of the action to come........

As mentioned,the wind has been perfect this week for cruising.Check out Paul(my brother) and Caroline(my girlfriend and the undisputed boss of and driving force behind the legendary Gibson's Restaurant) strutting their funky stuff at Flag Beach a couple of days ago!
A word of warning to all you k*********s out there~don't get in Caroline's way or you could find yourself at the business end of a full frontal verbal assault which can easily make a grown man cry.......................................

Well, the wind arrived at last and we have had two weeks of strong northerlies with all the east coast beaches working. Unfortunately the wind was not accompanied by any decent swell so it has been mainly flat to 1 foot. With little or no waves it has been a time for freestyle at Glass or cruising/bump n jump at Waikiki and Flag Beach. With the water warming now for summer there are lots of turtles out there in the channel so keep your eyes peeled for these beautiful animals.
I have been sailing at Glass Beach most days trying out some new flat water manoeuvres(with limited success!)and also teaching friends. My brother has been on holiday and made a glorious return to windsurfing after a 20 year "sabbatical" and was so impressed with the new kit he's decided to take it up again! Watch out world!
The forecast is looking good for the weekend with strong northeasterlies AND waves for Cotillo and Punta so watch this space for another update and hopefully, photos next week.



Take it easy.........

Hi there,welcome to Fuerteventura.com's windsurfing blog!If all goes to plan this will be a place to catch up on all the windsurf~related news from the north of Fuerteventura.

I'm Stephen Gibson,probably best known for being the mild~mannered chef in the HUGELY successful Gibson's Restaurant. What you may not know about me,however,is that I am also a "very keen" windsurfer(most people knew that already,I think) and it was my love of the sport that originally brought me to this wonderful little island. Anyway, without going into too much detail, I have resided here for 13 years now and have been windsurfing(pretty much non~stop,or so my girlfriend reckons)the whole time so I am pretty much in the ideal position to bring you any news or info from our very healthy windsurfing scene here over the coming weeks and months.

Summer is the windy season here in Fuerte and is generally the busiest time out there on the water so there should be no shortage of photos,videos and,most importantly,gossip about the locals and visitors alike.

This year the summer has been very slow to kick in with very marginal winds which,although good news for the k*********g fraternity,have not been the best for the more manly windsurfing crowd.Hopefully,the northeast trades will come in soon and the action can begin.Watch this space...........

On a personal note,I have recently changed sponsors after 13 years(I should have got a gold watch for service,I reckon) and am now sailing for Goya sailboards, Goya sails and Mormaii wetsuits so I am as eager as anyone for the wind to blow and the season to begin in earnest. I'll be easy to spot in the water now as my kit is much flasher than before and covered in stickers!

Anyway,that's about it for intros,I'll leave you with a couple of videos from last summer and this spring,until we get more recent photos and videos uploaded,







Ciao...........