Daneille Lucas of Get Windsurfing has sent in a great bunch of pictures from last month in Dahab – enjoy!
September is one of the best months you can get in Egypt, for work or play I have been here 4 years out of the last 5 during September and the wind has always been switched on and full power during the majority of this month! Currently living and working in Dahab we have been looking forward to September most of the year (although the summer has been pretty full power so no complaints there). When it arrived we were not disappointed. I didn’t have to rig my 5.0 for the first 3 weeks, barely needed to use my 4.5 putting me on my 4.0 or 3.3 and loving it.
The last thing I wanted to do during September is injure myself, and unfortunately these things happen and it just so happened to me, leaving me off the water for a over a week, everyday except one blowing a 5-7Bft.
So what did I do to save myself from slowly going crazy? Having a good amount of camera kit, and a lot of friends and freestyle pro’s on the water here at the moment, I got myself out there with my mates and started to get loads of photos and video clips for them. I love doing watershoots, so the first day I was more mobile I got straight in there, up in Baby Bay before the crowds showed up, and got Phil Richards and Dieter Van der Eyken B-35 as well as some of the local staff jumping over me (literally at times). The results were more than pleasing. Once the crowds showed, I took to the tripod for some more photos and also video leading up to a short break for lunch and to let the sun pass over before more shooting in the afternoon. After lunch I took all my gear to Speedy, lucky enough to borrow a second 550D from Miles Rouse at Neilson, so I could have a water camera set up and another ready for shooting from the land afterwards, saving me changing lenses after being in the water risking getting water and sand inside my gear. I took to the water, got what seemed some amazing shots, and realised my memory card was not inside the camera!! So swimming in and climbing scarily back onto the rocks/dead reef avoiding sea urchins on the way I picked up a memory card, kicking myself for such a school girl error, then jumped back in the water for the a second take! This time I went straight to video mode, and the guys did well to make their moves where I was as the wind had become pretty gusty by now. I got some great clips, even though through the housing I could barely see the screen to see if I had anyone in the frame whilst shooting!! I had just decided to go in as it was getting super busy and dangerous for me out there when Dieter did a double spock ending up with his sail on my head! I saw him sliding backwards towards me after the second rotation and then he bailed, this to me signalled he knew he was too close and it was time for me to duck! Luckily I held the camera safe and covered my head with the other hand, I think he was more scared than I was!! So to the land I went and finished the day with loads more movie clips and some more photos as more and more friends and pro’s came out on the water.
I had a great day, totally distracted from injury, spent it with my friends on the water still and at the end of the day they were all really pleased with what I had got for them. Since then I have done more shoots, all great for making the day go faster while everyone else is on the water having fun. The other great thing is I now have the promise of some photos shoots for me once I am better too!
Luckily the wind held until I was recovered enough to get out and so I got some playtime in too. The temperature starts to drop in September too so it really is the best time to be out here in the flatware windsurf mecca that is Dahab. Here’s hoping for a windy winter. Hope you like the shots!
