Tiree is awesome. I sailed port tack onshore, dead onshore, port tack side-shore, port tack side-off, starboard tack offshore, starboard tack side-shore and starboard tack side-on. All that in just two weeks! The place is stunning and I was really not expecting it that “empty” and raw. From the organizers to the competitors, they all made me feel like home. It was just amazing to meet such passionate and cool people!
When Hurricane Ophelia hit the island it delivered some sick conditions!!! The stand out move for me was the first stalled forward I did in the expression session. It was blowing like 60 knots and I was on a 4.0 and an 85l board, so basically when I hit the ramp I got lifted up in the air and I was floating up there for ages. I remember looking down and seeing Phil Horrocks trying to escape from my landing spot ha ha. At one point I thought I was gonna land on him, so I had to pull the forward earlier and landed quite hard!
All my kit was working really well but I had a new “stubby board” prototype that I got before Sylt and I was really loving it. The funny thing is that it was working really good from crap onshore conditions to more down-the-line conditions. It was just so versatile. It was a great event with a really cool atmosphere, really well organized and some great windsurfing conditions. I fully recommend it to everyone, from juniors and ladies to amateurs and pros! In three words Tiree 2017 was – fun, stunning and cold.