A weekend at with

Southcoastwindsurfing.com

Iain Hunter's Carve Clinic

Last weekend saw 3 Brogs, 1 ex Brog and 2 others joining up for Iain Hunters Carve Clinic.
Despite the cancellation of Iain’s first clinic of the year just a couple of weeks earlier due to snow and no wind (a bad combination) we had all arrived down at Mudeford for a 10am start. I had already received a worried call from Toby 30 minutes earlier who had noticed that the temperature outside his car had risen from 1°C to 2°C. As I pulled into the car park I could see a seriously angry sea outside the harbour and the wind was already blowing a solid force 4. Nervously I asked my girlfriend what she thought.
“Cool” she said. That’s an understatement I thought, more like bloody freezing!

Just then Iain rocked up in his 4x4 full of enthusiasm so despite the freezing cold I stuck my 2 quid in the meter and headed swiftly to the café for our briefing.

After a quick introduction and the usual confessions about being unable to carve gybe, Iain pulled out the day’s forecasts which all confirmed that the wind which had already arrived was indeed supposed to be there.

Passing around some info sheets, Iain began to explain the 5 steps to carving happiness that he was going to break down for us. It all made perfect sense but could we actually do it?

With that we set off to go through the moves on a simulator. After a short session in the bitter cold Iain gave the word to rig up, and as if by magic the sun came out.

I rigged a 5.75m, which proved to be perfect for the whole day. I estimate the wind kept between 20 and 25mph pretty much all the time we were on the water. The only breaks we took were when the harbour drained too much for a short period (I still don’t get the double-high-tide thing?).

The sun kept things bearable and compared to the lake temperature the water was really quite warm.

Iain took us through a series of exercises throughout the day, building up to the final complete gybe and by the end of day 1 we were all getting to grips with it.

Finally Iain called time and as the temperature started to drop and we quickly de-rigged before heading off for a well-earned beer and pizza followed by an early night (much to party animal Iain’s disappointment). That set us up nicely for day 2.

It was very much warmer as we arrived on Sunday morning for a fascinating video de-brief. Iain took us through our efforts one by one picking up the subtle and blatantly obvious defects for us to work on that day.

Rigging for just a little less wind (my 6.5m was perfect for most of the day), we headed out to work through Iain’s latest tips. There seemed to be a bit more water in the harbour for this session, which allowed us to move around a bit further than the previous day. Much of the time was spent working on Iain’s individual tips with the occasional blast that seemed to last forever in comparison to our own pond.
As fatigue finally took its toll and the tide and wind began pushing us further from our stating point, we headed back to shore, with just about enough left in reserve to make the final 200m walk through the shallows. So with varying degrees of success we called it a day late afternoon and sat de-rigging in the sun.

I am sure that everyone who took part in the clinic had a great time. Iain’s coaching was absolutely fantastic and his ability to appear just along side you with instructions every time you attempted a manoeuvre was truly amazing. At one point I even looked beneath his board expecting to find a motor and propeller!
Personally I will be booking early for Iain’s next clinic as doubtless they are going to get very popular indeed.
Maybe we could persuade him to come to Brog for a clinic? I know three names that would be on that list for sure.

Highly recommended.

Thanks Iain.

By Clive Blass