2100h and everyone arrives at the college, some of the guys have spent the day helping Howard (year 2 student) with the running of his Biathlon all day and I think there could have been some last minute packing subsequent to this!
Everyone was in good form and excited by the prospect of travelling to Egypt, as we left we get a call from Tim who is meeting us en-route, his gig has run late and he is going to miss us (that’s why we have give ourselves 12hrs to get there!)
We drove into and through the night with Elliot taking watch and being the one to stay awake and keep chatting to drive. (I am amazed that he was awake and that he was so excited at that time of the morning, I also have an awful feeling Elliot mint be very awake and excitable for the whole tip and that I will have to sit next to him on the plane – only joking!)
We arrive at Gatwick airport with lots of time to spare so we parked up in McDonalds car park and put a DVD on the laptop to watch/snooze through while we await a suitable time to go to departures.
The flight and travel goes very smoothly, we arrive into Sham and meet our Neilson rep who’s primary concern is the Bacon which Johnny has brought out at his brothers request (Cookie who works at Dahab is Johnny’s big bro).
The hotel is lovely, the local people and the staff have been really friendly and welcoming. We spent the first evening eating a huge meal (several rounds) with lovely desert and then to the bar for a beer and group chat about what we need to do as a group to ensure we have a fun and safe holiday.
From a group leaders perspective I am thus far very impressed with the guys, it is lovely to be taking away such a mature, happy and friendly group who are so excited by the opportunity to be in such an amazing country and to take part in a week of watersports.
Each of the following entries to this blog will be from the students and their experiences and thoughts each day so here’s looking forward to a fantastic week!! J
Steve Bowens
Day 2 11.5.09
Elliot –First day started with a groggy wake up for most and a deserved lie in for some as maybe a consequence of the nights festivities and indulgences the night before; a cool crisp larger!
However, this was not to inhibit the level excitement that was clear in the air around the breakfast table. Delectable delights from waffles and omelettes to bread jam and fruit were on offer and a hearty start to the day was had by all! To help this go down a few of us opted for a swim in the, less than warm, pool. The activity throughout the resort was stopped suddenly as a squeak resonated through the air as Pete entered the pool via the dry slide on his stomach!
After a comprehensive introduction to the “summer-campee’s” that would instruct us for the week we hit the water!
A fresh breeze and warm waters provided a very conducive environment for enjoyment and development of personal sailing. On a technical level my skill levels improved at an accelerated rate (perhaps skipping lunch and staying on the water may have helped this also!).I have achieved more today than I could of hoped and am eager to get back into it tomorrow.
Tonight I have enjoyed a great meal again, and am happy to chill out in the good company that we are blessed to have on this trip.
Overall, so far I could not be happier and am thoroughly enjoying myself! J xxxx
Jonnie - Apologies in advance but Elliot’s writing ability is far superior to my own!
On with the action however, and what an action packed day it has been! As Elliot has covered the main off-water highlights, I will take the opportunity to highlight how the on-water progressed. Having been split up and introduced to our instructors (Beginners, Intermediate Non-Plaining, Planing and advanced groups) we soon hit the water following brief instructions.
As predicted, the beginners soon flew off uncontrollably with disastrous consequences (Ema’s finger the first casualty). The Intermediates followed with a tad more control and made their way steadily to the lagoon Lee Shore! Whereas the Advanced hit the water hard with Vulcans, body-drags and Grubby’s being attempted (with varying degrees of success).
Lunchtime saw more of the same with many of us returning to the water (mainly because lunch was non-inclusive so thought that windsurfing a bit more would satisfy our taste buds.
With the wind slowly dropped, the groups continued to improve. The beginners benefited from the lighter winds by perfecting their sailing position, while the intermediates begun work on their tacks, gybes and upwind sailing. The advanced group used the lighter wind to progress from upwind 360’s to Gecko attempts.
By the time we returned to the beach, hands were severely saw and in need of rest. However rest was put on hold for HAPPY HOUR (BOGOF on all drinks, happy days!)
So here we are this evening in the main hotel bar, being entertained by a dancing man in a dress. More tomorrow, I LOVE YOU ALL, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU. Peace out, West side forever. One love, Windsurf. Jonnie OUT
Dave – Really enjoyed the bus journey down here; never slept a minute despite Steve and Elliot’s comments. Thought the flight would be a long one having been attacked by a larger woman within the first 5minutes of the flight.
My first encounter of an Egyptian man was the angry passport officer shouting at everyone. Look forward to meeting more of these lovely people.
Onto the water; having been ‘thrust’ into the intermediate non-planing group despite my clear lack of windsurfing ability, I feel my progression has been nothing short of Magnificent! Even managed some sort of trick (by accident admittedly) even though my tacking is as fast as the Marine School Mini-bus!!!!
Looking forward to smoking more Schish’s and enjoying a few more Sakara beers.
More from Dave tomorrow
Hello Upper Cornish Ciders, Right we touched down in Egypt yesterday after a loooong journey which for Em was a Valiam filled cloud and Alice a dreamless journey due to her sheer exhaustion she didn’t even have any energy to dream! From the token girls point of view. Firstly WE LOVE THE FOOD!!! And while we are writing this we are witnessing a sight that can only be described as MAGIC! Pete dancing with the Egyptian belly-dancer!
The day started of rather ‘Summercampish’ but pretty quickly it turned in to a very fun wet day of windsurfing. But none the less we still managed to spend a couple of hours on the sun loungers. Now that’s dedication. Despite the copious amounts of fun on the water one of the day’s high lights was when jimmy kick a poor bird in the head as it flew past trying to mind its own business.
Unlike the boys we wanted to experience some of the local culture and step outside the gates to get a taxi to the town we first had to battle the language barrier and the taxi back involved going down a dirt track, at which point Alice nearly went into cardiac arrest holding on to the seat for dear life! You could just see thoughts of the movie “Taken” running through her head, which seh managed to watch on the plane in her awake zombie-like state.
After Pete dancing with the belly dancers we where asked if we would like to join in with it resulting in us nearly being sold not for one camel but only half of a camel. Thanks boys!!!
Well that’s all from us, you know we love you xoxo Gossip girls
Hello all from Joe
Seeing as alot of things have been covered by the other guys theres little to write about..... but I’ll give it a shot. From 8:30 Uk time on Saturday morning to 9:30 egypt time with only about 3 or 4 hours sleep in 30 minute segments, not good for me I think. But we got here! Arrived at the airport and had to go through the airport once we had our temperature taken “ok, thats not weird....” we took the hours transfer to the resort. I wont go on much more about the resort as the others have mentioned it.
Seeing as I am a complete novice at windsurfing I decided last minute that I would improve my skills at windsurfing rather than not learning anything thing doing sailing. In the morning we attempted to go out but mainly got blown over and out to see by the wind that was just way too strong for beginners. In the afternoon I finally managed to get a windsurfer moving without me going in the opposite direction as I’ve just fallen off. The problem then was turning around, that is a completely different story and for a different time.
Right thats enough from me so I might have another shot at this another time. Joe out.
Jimmy
How is college going? Hope all good, just sat having a pipe on some funky cushion on the floor seats watching a belly dancer... and Pete with possible the biggest smile on his face!
Had a really good day on the water may have lied abit and got myself in a group that is far more advanced than i am, however i seem to spend most of the time sailing along doing my own thing. Went to hook in to a harness today, I think it went... well, face planting the water begs to differ.
So hot here yet you don’t seem to sweat so it just really nice to just sit around in. First night didn’t sleep much mostly due to the fact Matt blocked the loo early hours and made enough noise when he went fishing for the contents, NICE! We nearly got a good deal for the girls, no interest though, must of gone in too high with the half a camel.
It has been claimed that I kicked a bird this is sort of true but its not like i ran up to it and drop kicked it, Just swigging my legs and the crazy bird flew in to my leg.
Steve is off to bed, I’m off to bar, much love
