Back in the Club

No mater how many times I go back to Vassiliki it has that familiarity of home while offering a new experience every time. We the numbers increasing every year at speed week and the extra friends from home joining me I think next year will be for two weeks with the family joining me for the second week, though the boys are already calming they’re coming out for both.

While it’s called speed week, comfortably fast is a better description, sure we want to go flat out but that’ll never be really fast until we’re comfortable. I’ve seen so many guys grabbing the biggest sails they can find as soon as the speed gun comes out so we decided to make less of the speed ladder this year. The upshot was everyone got into the technique before adding a little grunt but the real bonus comes when entering the gybe.

I had a nightmare learning to gybe, that didn’t change until I felt confident enough to push off the wind to gain that extra speed to take me round the corner, ok, Harty used to take the piss and say my gybes started in one bay and ended in another but at least I finally found out what a planning exit felt like, after that it was easier to make them a lot tighter.

The Dunt’s Jack, Julia, and Mark have become the standard addition to our Vass family but this year we were joined by the Dodds family, even pupa Dodds came out to play (Graham will kill me for that), most people will know them through there show Wet ‘n’ Dry but twenty years ago Graham was working for HyLine sails and had the dubious duty of writing out my first check as a pro windsurfer.

If you’ve ever wondered if my Vass reports seem a little biased then I think these Vass virgins commitment into coming out for two weeks next year probably says more than my words ever will.

Before I sign off I’ve got to say thanks to Jay Haysey for jumping behind the lens in the boat, sure it gave me more time on the water but its good to see another photographers perspective and Jays a great photographer.