JP NP Young Gun camp in Dahab at Five Square windsurf center

From 2 until 9^th of June at Five Square windsurf center took place a kids windsurfing camp JP NP Young Gun camp coached by the best Russian female freestylers Olya Raskina and Sveta Martynova. Kids from different cities of Russia, ages from 5 to 14 and all windsurfing levels came to learn and improve their skills on the water together with their parents.

 It was an amazing and inspiring camp with lots of wind, fun, sailing and playing around.

 Warming up..

and stretching before the lessons begin..

 In our youngest group we had a few 5 year old girls and boys trying windsurfing for the first time. Little angels turned out to be very focused and talented sailors. At the end of the camp they were beach starting, turning and sailing along with the help of the instructor. The wind was hauling all the week. A few days we literally had 30 knots conditions where everyone was complaining but not the kids. They were holding on to their 1 m2 sails and trying very hard. Of course we were helping the kids all the time, but they didn’t need any extra motivation, they were always ready to sail.

Second group we had was a 8-10 year old future windsurf champions. Some of them already tried sailing in Greece, Spain and even in Cambodia. They learned how to tack, jibe, beach start and were sailing quite far in the sea the last few days. They were always looking at each other, trying hard and helping each other on the beach.

 

In the oldest group we had kids learning planning in the foot straps and water staring. They came to Dahab a few times already, some took part in our camp last year as beginners and this time they were in the advanced group. 

After sailing we had special seminars about the wind, waves, gear and windsurfing disciplines. One day the kids learned how to rig and derig the sail, the next day they learned everything about the boards and set up their Young guns 115 l by adding foot straps and changing fins. 

We watched parts from Minds Wind Open and Windsurfing movies together and then kids told us what they wanted to do in the future. Girls decided they wanted to do freestyle and guys were eager to learn wave riding and jumping. 

At the end of the camp we had a Five Square and Quksilver Fun Race. All kids took part in it and won beautiful prizes from our sponsors. 

Kids from advanced group helped our little windsurfers from beginner and intermediate group to finish the race as the wind was very strong again. 

Sonya and Varya from beginner group finishing at the same time..

Jenya from advanced group came to the finish like first and won very cool Quiksilver board shorts.

At the end of the day we had a great prize giving and a fun fancy dress party. All kids came in amazing costumes and performed a dance of their hero, so we had some cats, butterflies, hobbits, mermaids and a spider man on the dance floor. 

 Mermaid Sonya dancing..

 It was a great time and experience with the kids who fell in love with sailing and the sea. We are hoping to make another JP NP Young Gun camp in November during kids holidays and now we’d like to invite everyone to join our Windsurf Beauties and Beasts camp in Mauritius from 16 until 28^th of August.

All photos courtesy of Alex Kuznetsov.