TESTING TIMES
Here in Gran Canaria we have so much wind you can pretty much sail every day. The days that are awesome for waves are actually pretty few and far between, so that fits in well with my test programme. Before I started testing I would be constantly sailing but getting a bit jaded of the same old, same old, day after day. On the smaller days it was sometimes pretty frustrating and at times I was a bit over it. Now when it is windy and flat it is perfect for me to test slalom sails or freeride or freestyle. When it is firing my priority is still to go wave sailing but now I really enjoy it much more when I go! I am loving all aspects of my sailing right now, from slalom to wave! With a slalom sail there is so much you can change to improve it and the results are a little more objective rather than subjective. With a wave sail the feel is more personal. I can love a particular wave sail and someone else might try it and prefer another. I have been competitive all my life as a windsurfer and now my competitive side has switched over to making the very best sails. If one of my sails gets criticised in a magazine test it kind of hurts, but luckily most of the feedback has been really positive. I actually try and be open to feedback and if there is a negative word or two about a sail I can learn from that and move on. Negative feedback can actually be more useful than positive in general and I am pretty focussed right now on keeping everything open minded. I have known and worked with so many designers through my career that are really closed to other ideas and I really hope as time goes on I can avoid this.