Roberto Hofman and his 25 students traveled to the beautiful island of Fuerteventura in the Canaries to escape the cold spring and improve their windsurfing skills once again. The setup between the hotel, the René Egli Windsurfing center and the beach makes it one of the best spots of Europe to go sailing on holidays! Read Rob's report below and stay in touch with him here.

After great conditions last year, I decided to hold the Rob Hofmann Windsurfing Clinic on the island of Fuerteventura this year again.

Thanks to the consistent trade winds, the big René Egli Windsurfing Center and the nearby Hotel Gorriones, we had the perfect week. Seven windy days out of seven with winds ranging from 15 to 35 knots even made it a bit challenging. My group of 25 students had goals to improve their jibing, tacking, sailing positions and jumping, and we achieved all goals thanks to their motivation. Big steps forward for all of them.

A very important step to my students' success was the choice of the boards, and thanks to the Starboard range, we always have the perfect boards for all conditions. The most used boards were the Kode FreeWave 103 and 94. In the lighter days, we used the Futura 104 and 114 quite a lot, as well as the Carve 111 and 121.

I also have to point out every year how important it is to take five minutes before you hit the water to set the footstraps right. Whenever you rent equipment, you have to make sure that the setup is the same as what you would you use at home, or you have to adapt it to the the conditions where you are about to sail. Fuerteventura is a quite choppy and windy spot, so I always suggest to use the more centered footstrap positions for more comfort. On the flatter days, when the wind is more offshore, it makes more sense to keep straps on the outside, to have more control and speed. For a couple of days during the clinic, we also had some swell and some of my students used the occasion to improve their jumping skills.

The beach of Sotavento (hosting the PWA World Cup for the past 30 years) has given us a big variety of conditions during the week and this is why windsurfing is so much fun... You never know what to expect the next day! This is also the reason why Windsurfing is a pretty difficult sport due to the variety of conditions you have to deal with!

Thanks to the Starboard team for making such great windsurfing boards! I will keep you updated on my next clinic, taking place on the beautiful island of Sardinia soon!

Ciao!

- Rob Hofmann