windsurf Beauties camp june 2010

So many new girls came to Windsurf Beauties camp in Dahab to learn and get better in windsurfing that even Gods of wind couldn’t miss it. We had another successful and windy week with girls planning, water starting, jibing and having a lot of fun on the beach. The camp is coached by two best Russian freestylers, Olya Raskina (JP-Australia, NeilPryde, Roxy, Five Square windsurf school) and Sveta Martynova (Five Square windsurf school), who have been sailing and teaching windsurfing professionally for many years. Our camp welcomes girls of all levels, from beginners to advanced sailors. Coaching and windsurfing is perfectly combined with interesting trips, yoga, parties, filming, video analysis and photo shooting. We have a professional photographer and a cameraman working full time with us. Windsurf Beauties camp, which is supported by JP-Australia and NeilPryde, has recently got a new stylish sponsor - Roxy. At the end of the week all girls took part in a fun race to win beautiful prizes from Roxy. Every participant got a cool wallet, hat, backpack, t-shirt and many other sick presents from Roxy.

The camp took place in Dahab from 6 until 20^th of June, which is the best summer time here. It is not too hot yet, but the water is nice and warm, around 27-28 degrees. We were sailing all day in Windsurf Beauties lycras without getting cold or sunburned. June is definitely one of the best months to come to Dahab. Beginners were learning how to sail in front of Five Square windsurf center, but a group of intermediates and advanced girls went to the Lagoon every day. There’s the best place to learn water starting and planning. One morning we had a warming-up session in Lagoon, but we had to run away from all the locals coming with cameras and filming us on mobile phones. Windsurf Beauties camp seems to be a sensation here in Dahab. ;) Girls were sailing all morning and all afternoon for a week, getting tired but very satisfied with their new skills. Olga Fokina from Sveta’s beginner group came to try windsurfing for the first time and during the second week of the camp she was already planning in the harness on a 130 liter board. When girls are professionally coached and look up to each other, they advance very fast.

After sailing we all had yoga to relax the tired muscles. For those girls who work all the time in the office and only have a chance to go twice a year on holiday, too much windsurfing can lead to unfortunate injuries, so it’s very important to give your body a rest in the evening. Yoga helps a lot to regain your energy. And, of course, we all need to have some fun. So we had 3 parties a week with lots of friends coming and hanging around with our windsurf beauties. One day we went on a yacht trip of the hotel Ganet Sinai around Dahab. We took friends, drinks and only positive vibes on board. First our captain drove us to the Lighthouse, but then we decided to change the course and go to swim in the Happy Life village. On our way there we met…a flock of dolphins! It was such a surprise! I’ve lived in Dahab for 5 years and I’ve never seen dolphins here before. There were so many of them, definitely more than 20. When the yacht approached them, they came to us and started surf the waves that the yacht left behind. Some of them went under the nose of the yacht and were following us there. They were so close, you could touch them. All the people on the yacht were screaming with surprise and delight. We spend a long time with them in the sea. As we came close to the beach in front of the Happy Life village, the dolphins disappeared. We were jumping in the water from the top of the yacht, swimming and having lots of fun. It was definitely one of the best trips we’ve had.

Next Windsurf Beauties camp will be again in Dahab from 14 until 28^th of November, also in English, so, girls, you are all welcome to join us. For further information, please, write to Olya here: windsurf.beauties@gmail.com. Check our NEW VIDEO HERE: http://vimeo.com/13002627.

Windsurf Beauties camp SUMMER 2010

Summer. Red Sea. Dahab. A lot of beautiful girls on the beach. You might think they are lying on the beach and sunbathing? Oh no, not at all. They are full power windsurfing all day long. Moreover, they are rigging equipment, carrying sails and boards to the beach, sailing a lot and learning new moves. This is Windsurf Beauties camp supported by JP-Australia and NeilPryde taking place in Dahab at Five Square windsurf center from 6 until 20^th of June.

Ten girls from different parts of Russia came to the first week of the camp. Five of them started windsurfing for the first time here and another five came to learn planning, water starting and some new moves. All week we were lucky to have the best wind for learning, which was not light, but strong enough for the girls to learn planning with small 3,7 m2 sails. Girls from a beginner group started with small 2,5 m2 beginner sails, but after a few lessons they could change them to professional 3,5 m2 sails only after 2 days on the water. All girls were very motivated. When their lesson was finished, they would keep on practicing on the water and asking questions. It’s great how they improved their sailing after a week. On the final day of the camp we had a fun race for beginners and intermediates. The girls took it very serious, some of them were a bit afraid, but others were eager to go for it and win good prices from Five Square windsurf school. The race was very simple. The girls had to beach start, reach the buoy, jibe it and come back. During the first fun race for beginners, some of the girls got so nervous that they went downwind from the buoy thinking about jibing it. Some did a tack and a jibe after. There was a lot of funny misunderstanding going on which we watched on the video in the evening and laughed a lot about it. The second fun race for beginners was more successful, everyone managed to beach start, jibe and come back. Intermediates had a very tight race, all of them beach started at the same time, got the speed and were fighting to finish first. We had a Go Pro camera on the flag, which every girl had to touch in order to finish and we caught a lot of emotions and great moments on camera. The video from the camp will be finished soon, so you’ll see what happened. The first price for Olga Fokina from a beginner group was a brand new Hot Sails Maui harness and Polina Drujinina from an intermediate group won a Da Kine bag, everything provided by a Five Square windsurf center.

Every participant of the camp got a beautiful lycra from JP-Australia and NeilPryde with a Windsurf Beauties camp logo. The girls looked awesome in them. Apart from windsurfing, other activities in our camp were stretching and warming-up in the morning, yoga in the evening, parties, trips and various photo sessions. The professional photographer of our camp, Olga Novikova, who is shooting fashion since a long time, made a lot of beautiful photos and created new images of the girls. At the end of the camp every girl got her own CD with all the footage on the beach and on the water. We also had a few parties which were great fun. One of them was a Latino Party with all the girls dressed up and dancing to the Spanish rhythm. It was so hot on the dance floor that some people run to the swimming pool to cool down in the middle of the night.

One of the days was not windy, so we decided to go to the famous Blue Hole. It’s an amazing reef in shape of the ring which goes 100 meters deep right next to the beach. There’s a very special and magnificent underwater world which you can see while snorkeling. You can find here different types of fishes, colorful reef and other sea creatures. Some of the girls were snorkeling for the first time in the lifes, so they were totally amazed of the beauty of the Red Sea. Now the first week of the camp is over and tomorrow we start another camp with new girls arriving. The forecast for Dahab looks great, so it’s gonna be another week full of wind, fun, lessons, parties, yoga, photo and video sessions. Our next camp is going to be in the middle of October, also in English, so girls of all levels of windsurfing are welcome to join us here in Dahab. For more information, contact Olya on windsurf.beauties@gmail.com.

Windsurf Beauties camp March 2010

A second Windsurf Beauties camp for ladies who want to improve their windsurf skills took place in Dahab, Egypt at “Five Square center” in March. 23 brave girls were again coached by Olya Raskina and Sveta Martynova, filmed by Svetoslav Bolgarchuk and taken photos of by Olga Novikova. For those who think that sailing in Dahab is too easy, I have to say it can be different. The day when the girls arrived, we had 2m waves breaking right on the beach with 30 knots onshore wind. Me and Sveta went sailing while the girls were watching on the beach. The camp had to start the next morning. It was such a beautiful day with this unexpected strong onshore wind and fun wave sailing, that our girls got very inspired. One of them, Elena, took a 120-liter JP X-cite Ride with a 4,2m Fly and went straight into the 2-meter shore break. On the way she got stopped by the center manager, who was, probably, afraid for the equipment. Anyway, the next day the wind changed to normal north direction, it got flat and, with such strong desire to learn, the girls spent all day on the water learning first tacks, first water starts and first planning.

This camp we focused on windsurfing as much as on the off-the-water program that was healthy and fun. Many people take warming-up and stretching after sailing for granted, but it is an important issue in learning fast and feeling full of power every day. Before sailing we had different warming up sessions on the beach, in the pool and a special hip hop stretching from one of our girls. After sailing we had yoga lessons from one of the best yoga teachers in Russia. In the evening girls were watching their sailing on big screen and listened to our comments and corrections. Audi-visual effect is also a necessary part of our camp. And, of course, we had sick parties! One of the best was an 80s style Retro party when everyone came in funky dresses and danced all night to good old songs. During these 2 weeks we also had a few birthday parties, including my own, so full power sailing and full power partying were happily combined together. We also went to a few exciting trips to see life in Dahab and enjoy the beautiful mountains of South Sinai. We rode camels in Wadi Gunai, went mountain hiking and enjoyed a simple beduin dinner. To see the sunset, we went on top of one of the closest mountains and enjoyed the magnificent panorama of Dahab. Before the wind started we went snorkeling at a dive spot called Islands where you can find a fantastic coral reef.

Few days there wasn’t much wind, so we focused on light-wind freestyle. There are always so many great old school moves to learn. Girls of all-levels of sailing were the whole day on the water doing reverse duck jibes, sail body 360s, cf heli tacks, push tacks and many other funky moves. They loved it so much that at the end of the week we did a light-wind freestyle competition for them and it was almost impossible to choose the winner. They were all very good making one move after the other. Happily we had many different prices from JP-Australia, NeilPryde, NPX and Five Square windsurf center.

A special present for every girl was a photo session with a professional photographer Olga Novikova. Apart from taking action photos, she found a unique style for every girl in the camp. At the end, they all took home a CD with high rez photos and video of the camp. You can have a look at our videos here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPsuAxguqII and here:http://vimeo.com/10528302. And visit our website to check the photos here:www.windsurfbeauties.com.

The next camp will take place in Dahab from 6 until 20 of June powered by JP-Australia and NeilPryde. As always, the age and windsurf skills are not important as soon as you really want to learn how to windsurf. We teach in English and in Russian. For further information write to Olya: windsurf.beauties@gmail.com.