Club Vass

After speaking with the local taverna owner on the Greek mainland and finding out he used to windsurf and had high regards for Vassiliki, Lefkada we decided to head North there to check out the wind as it is 'only a couple of hours away'.

So leaving the next day we arrive there 5 hours later!   On arrival we have a coffee and see that the wind is coming in nicely.  We then proceed to find a spot to rig on the beach front.  For a change beach access here is very good, so having you own equipment was not a problem with many people wild camping along the beach.  We found a nice spot next to Club Vass and rigged up there. for me it was my 110L RRD FSW with my 5.3m North Ice and Mat on his 103L Starboard Kode and 5m Session sail.  We had a good sail up until around 8pm then went into the town for a great seafood meal.

After a hot night for Mat in his Red hot van and me happly sleeping in my Cool white van thanks for the marvels of the Thermostatic Fan Fiamma roof vent keeping things cool, we or maybe just I was ready for some windsurfing again.  The next day the wind came in late at 5pm 'Greek style'  we went out on the same kit and found that there were many lulls across the bay and having the extra volume in the board helped get out to the wind and stay on the plane across the bay,  I don't think I would have like to be on much less than 110L at the time.  After a good session up until 7:30pm we went for the curry + a pint (Mythos) at Club Vass next to where we camped - not bad for 7.50EUROS.

View from Club Vass Cocktail Bar

Speaking with Ollie Scott and Colin 'Whippy' Dixon from Club Vass they told us that Dave White was running a Speed week there from Monday, so we decided to hang around and book on.

So the next week went on as follows:

16/7/10 - 7.5m +128L from 5pm-7:30pm  followed by a BBQ with lots of punch at Club Vass.
17/7/10 - 6m Naish Amp +110L 1PM-3PM  then overpowered from 3PM onwards, Mat on 5.7m +103L

19/7/10 - Started Speed Week breifing at 11AM, looking around we spotted a familiar face from sailing in the UK, it was our friend Yoshi, so it was great to see him along.  Typically the start of the Speed week, there is no wind so I took out the 7.5m +128L and got planing some of the time.

20/7/10 - Had breifing. No wind,did not sail

Dinner Darling?

The true mess of life on the road

21/7/10 - Breifing and finally the wind came in, I was on the 7.5m +128L and soon bcame massively overpowered so changed down to the 6m +110L.

22/7/10 - 5.3L +110L ON/OFF conditions, entered the slalom race there on the 6m +128L.  When the race started there appeared to be no wind then by the end of the first run I went steaming into the Gybe full pelt and overpowered, missing this one and seeing it on the video camera later I then manged to get the next and witness that on the video also.  Then the wind just stops and I found myself downwind with a few others- until the next time hey.

23/7/10 - 5.3m 110L fully powered up.  I started getting a few more Gybes here as when going through the video Colin point out that I was not twisting feet enough even though I thought I was a t the time.  So adter a bit of muscle memory, Mat caught this one on camera with a bit of pre set up spin out.

spin out

And away - the joy of not having to waterstart :)

Yoshi at the end of the Week

Yoshi and Jack

Dave White - taking no prisoners

Let battle commence

Mat

Club Vass BBQ with punch that evening

Mat, Yoshi, Me (Tom) & Bruce

Bruce was a new recruit to windsurfing so we told him to make sure he gets his board Planing by the end of his first week - fair play to him he did it.  Well Done Bruce!

Tom, Yoshi, Dave White and Mat

me with Mr Colin 'Whippy' Dixon

Nico the Greek.  This guy was the fastest thing on the water 8.4m when everyone else was on 5m.  On this 3.2m day he went for a 6m

25/7/10 - Storming Sunday Went out on 5.3m +110L the wind really started to pick up and was well overpowered, changed down to a 4.4m.  The wind had really picked up at this point and it appeared to be something totally out of the norm, people were overpowered on 3.2m.  As my smallest sail at the time was a 4.4m I had to give it a go.  I was totally overpowered with the sail being ripped out of my armsmost of the time hanging on for dear life.  I did manage a couple of runs but had to admit defeat, I don't think it help having massive wind shadows as one minute I was fully mawed then the next I was try to find a gust on the 2 short runs I had, Quite an experience though.

26/7/10 -  Left Vass heading for Naxos