Hello!
Hope you’ve had a lovely week. Great week over here – small, good quality groups on the cycling, and really good wind most evenings. It’s getting very hot at the moment and we’re all trying to adjust. Current solution is hose ourselves down every hour or so.
This Saturday, Vasiliki got all competitive. As part of an annual event in only its second year, there were three races. In the morning, there was a running race going into the mountains from the town. In the afternoon, there was a mountain bike race. And in the evening, a wind-powered race in the bay, organised by Cookie.
The running and cycling races were, I’m told, a great success. But this being Vasiliki, we were all far more interested in the race on the water. The start time was set for 6pm, and the course laid out. It was a simple two-mark course. Start near the beach, long broad reach into the bay, left around a mark, then downwind to another mark, then back to the first, then to the beach.
The beach team was being represented by Becky, Alex, Chris and Max. The bike team, of which I’m the only member, was represented by yours truly.
I got out on the water early to warm up. I was competing on the wing foil, and I knew my chances weren’t great. Wing foils can’t keep up with windsurfers – they’re fast, but unlike windsurf kit, out-and-out speed isn’t what they’re designed for.
It was a classic Vasiliki cross-shore evening – strong wind, white caps on the waves, some considerable chop. But since we were racing, I took out a stupidly big wing. Initially, I was all over the place. The gusts really threw me off – the wing changes your weight distribution as it catches gusts and goes through luls. Same thing happens when you pick up or reduce speed. The foil rises and falls and you have to constantly change your foot pressure to keep the board at the right level. If it comes too high, the foil breaches – it leaves the water and you fall all the way down. At foiling speeds, that usually means a big ol’ slap against the water.
But after half an hour I was getting the hang of it. When I worked up the courage to fully power it up, it seriously shifted. I’d lean right back off the board to counter the power of the wing. The waves rushed below. The occasional splash when a bigger wave caught the edge the board, sending water crashing all over me, would remind me quite how quick this was.
Six o clock approached and I went to the start line, where about 15 windsurfers and one other wing foiler were waiting. Most of the lineup were staff from various hotels up and down the beach, with a few guests mixed in. On the hour, two of the Neilson beachies started the race by razzing a powerboat in front of us, smoke grenade and flares going. I got a decent start, crossing the line close behind the powerboat. But within seconds windsurfers were skimming past me. It was pretty cool riding along with windsurfers passing so close, but I was not going fast enough.
Most of the pack were in front of me, but when I got to the first mark, the water was littered with windsurfers. About half of the people who had overtaken me had crashed while gybing, so i zipped through the chaos and headed downwind. On the straight, a few of them caught me again, but the next mark was the same. 3 or 4 windsurfers swimming around, trying to get their sail in position for a waterstart.
I was mid-pack as I gybed and headed upwind. This would be where I had the edge; the wing foil goes upwind beautifully. I fully powered up and stormed back towards the first mark. The fallen windsurfers couldn’t catch me on this leg, and as I got to the last mark I was feeling relaxed. There were a couple of people struggling to get past the mark, having tacked too early. I passed them and headed to the finish line near the beach. The shore was covered in people clapping and cheering. It was pretty cool. I got into the beach to find… 7 others in front of me.
Max Rowe, a professional freestyler from Club Vass, had come in first, but he’d missed the tack mark, so was DQed. Second to the beach was Stelli, the owner of the hotel, but he went the wrong side of the finish line so was DQed too. Third in was Chubsy, owner of windsurfer instructor school, but he too was DQed for going the wrong way around the mark. Once everything had been worked out, Becky was the winner. Yay!
And I came somewhere around 4th. Not bad. The vibe was really good as we stood around in the shallows cheering the rest of the race in, before everyone got back out for one more blast as a group.
What an evening. I believe Cookie filmed the whole thing, so hopefully you’ll be able to see the action on the youtubes soon. Its annoying that the highlight of my week is always on the water so canne get any pix. Will try to get out with a gopro or somethin soon.
How are you? What you up to? How’s things?
lots of love
James
