Waves in Wales

Wow, what a month its been! We’ve totally scored the conditions. We hit Tiree when it pumped all week and then we went to Wales where we had a couple of days of no wind, but well worth it when it delivered true Autumnal conditions!

This was the first week long wave coaching holiday on the Jo Wilson Coaching Holiday and I felt it was a great success.

(Nick choosing a wave in Rhosneigr with just the birds, photographer and coach watching)

I had two comments back from the 6 people already:

“Thanks Jo & Dom for a great holiday - fantastic location, luxury accommodation and I learnt loads. Looking forward to getting out on the water again soon!”

and

Thanks for a great week! I really enjoyed it. I thought Dom was a great coach too.”

Breaking in to the realms of wave kiting I thought who better to bring in as the coach then Dom Moore. He is a strong character, has been kiting for years and has traveled the world to surf world class waves. He is a BKSA trainer and coach and his knowledge in coaching waves is better then mine.

The conditions we were thrown were extreme. We started off with 3 days of no wind! 2 days of no wind is actually really beneficial, but on the 3rd day we were more then ready to hit the water. During the time of no wind Dom coached people through rescue techniques, how to deal with wiepouts, what to do with your kit when you’ve been wiped out and how to make your way safely back to shore.

(Setting up your own wave board to be right for the conditions that you ride in and how to set it up should the conditions change or you head elsewhere)

He talked about rips, board set up, how to set the board up for yourself and how to have your board depending on the conditions you were riding. He covered many other topics too in both theory and practical set ups.

(Simulating riding waves with mountain boards on the beach)

On day 4 the wind began. We had 4m swell forecasted and a range of 20 - 40 knots for the coming days. It made for some very challenging conditions as it became clear that everyone would mostly be on there smallest kite and preferable smaller still.

(Wind for 6m kites and over head high waves)

We had 3 solid days of wind to follow blowing from morning until night. We started the day bright and early for the dawn raids ensuring that we made the best of the tides, had the quietest time on the water and to ensure over those 3 days there would be no one kiting harder then us any where else in the British Isles.

(9m weather and shoulder high waves to play with)

It allowed us to hit the water from 8am - 11am before coming in for a big hearty brunch before hitting the water again from 1pm - 4pm. Being Autumn we were in winter wetsuits, but had a drying room on sauna style heat to dry the suits out between sessions. The house was beautiful and less then a minute walking from the beach and a great place to get cosy and hunker down in the evening.

(Hunkering down in front of the log fire)

During the windy days we were able to take video footage and provide feedback throughout the sessions on how to ride the waves rolling in right there and then. It worked well with the coaching earlier in the week when there was less wind giving everyone the chance to put what they learned in to practice. An epic week and so much fun! Thanks to Bryony Shaw, Nick Davies, Adam Firth, Chris Ellis, Ian May and Mike Porter for kiting as hard as they did, you were all incredible and can’t wait to see you out ripping on the water again soon!

IWe had a phenomenal time coaching and cannot wait for the next. Keep your eyes peeled for Waves in South Africa running 13th - 19th January incl. To find out more check it out here.

Check out the video here