I'm not sure when was the last time I saw sand at Arguineguin, but for sure was several years ago, but now, after nearly a month of south weather, it's a lot of sand on the second beach, the one where the wave ends.
The surf was fun, nothing special because of the light onshore wind messing up a little bit, but fun anyway, but the sand was such a surprise.
The forecast looked absolutely amazing for the south shore of the island, a 3 meter swell at 15 seconds from WSW, and the wind was supposed to be onshore but so light that could be even glassy.
The fin (like the mast) is one of those elements to which many do not give it the attention it deserves, perhaps because you barely see it, but the fact is that decisively affects the performance of the board, and suits better or worse to our riding style.
I remember the first time I changed the fin to my board, was my first "small" board, a second hand Bic Hard Rock with a wave-slalom plastic fin, which I changed into a more rigid pure wave fin, the difference was huge.
Since then I've always been curious about this essential part of the equipment, and when I change the sail, if I can’t change the board, at least I change the fin, because it’s surface affects nearly as much as the surface of the sail, so without reaching the extreme of some World Cup sailors, who have a different size of fin for every sail, it’s important to at least have two or three fins of different sizes to choose depending on the conditions.
No wind today in Pozo Izquierdo, no waves either, but what an amazing day, with 26 degrees and clear blue sky, not bad for a late December day. As they said in a popular local beer commercial "how lucky to live here".
Looks like some of the usual suspects were late for the Christmas lunch with the family, I left Juan Grande around 14:30 and a lot of the guys (and girls) were still sailing, with the strong SW wind blowing in the south of the island.
I've always loved magazines, since I was a kid, and I think in this digital era, they still remain irreplaceable, probably have adapt a bit to these days of websites, blogs and live broadcasts, even so I think they're totally irreplaceable.
For this article I must acknowledge the assistance of two friends who like me are great lovers / collectors of windsurfing magazines; Lino and Claus who lent me some of his historic jewels to scan them.
 | Here we have the cover of the first issue of the spanish magazine Surf a Vela, wasn't the first windsurfing magazine in Spain, but for most of us was the one we started with, and the one you still can buy every month. |
 | As you can see, at that time were no specialists, and riders were doing all three disciplines and were in the run for the prestigious overall title. |
As I just said, and although many of you may not know (as it disappeared before most of us started windsurfing), the first windsurfing magazine in Spain (of which I have on record) was Vela Libre, which we have here the cover of the 25th issue, in which we see a radical jump of that time (worth a cover) with what was then an extreme wave board.
On this spread from an old issue from the french Wind magazine we see what even today remains one of the most epic days in the history of windsurfing, "The Big Monday" February 27, 1984, the legendary Arnaud de Rosnay was the only photographer that day at a huge Hookipa, in the picture we see Fred Haywood (clear example of the versatility of the riders at that time, since he was a speed "specialist") between two monsters with more than two masts height.
And to finish this first chapter of old windsurfing magazines, which is so far my favourite windsurfing shot, taken by Sylvain Cazenave, one of the great photographers of the time.
 | In the picture we see Robby Naish at Phantoms, the outer reef of Backyards, at the North Shore of Oahu, in an enormous but perfect day, dangerous anyway, that day a man died windsurfing there. |
Advertising from the mid 80’s, a Fanatic sticker, by then each board from the range had the name of an animal.
Gran de Canaria it's not only waves and beaches, if you come here it's not a bad idea one of those days with no waves, take the car and visit the centre of the island.
Presentation of all the sails in the range and rigging tips for every one of them, and of course plenty of action from the water..
To watch the Simmer Style channer on YouTube click HERE.
Although Tuesday's session was nothing special, was enough for the dayly dose and to take some pictures. At the moment December hasn't been exactly amazing for windsurfing, but you never know, my best session ever at Pozo Izquiedo was on December 31.
To watch more photos from the session at Galdar click HERE.
It's not that often that we have glassy or offshore conditions at the north shore of Gran Canaria, thats why when we have, we enjoy it so much, when it's glassy I don't care if it's big, small, sunny or clouded, if it's glassy it's good for me, just feeling the glide…
To watch more photos from yesterday's session click HERE.
The new lanes on the road to the North of the island are already opened, no more traffic jam on the way to the surf spots on the north shore of the island.
Some photos from the session yesterday afternoon at Arguineguín, I haven't hear for a while about the project of a peer which would destroy the waves of the area, but yesterday, while surfing, Pepe (one of the classic locals here) told me that looks like the project is stopped due that the fishermen say that area is really important for fish breeding. Anyway, if someone knows anything about it, would be great to share the information.
To watch more photos from yesterday's session go to PHOTOS.
