Cracking conditions - windsurfing and dinghy sailing in Vassiliki

23 June 2010

Andy Barnes

The first six weeks is over - congratulations to all 18 Fish from the first windsurf and dinghy sail instructor courses.   As ever, the Vassiliki black hole has taken effect with a good number of the crew failing to leave.

Fish students having too much fun to leave ..

The end of the first course coincided with the Vassiliki Festival with the European Freestyle Pro Tour last weekend. Cracking conditions for two days in Vass let the boys put on an incredible show.

Over the course of the last week we have also had fantastic music bringing in the pros, Spencer Lee Horton and Gavin Wyatt playing with the Wildwind band as "8 mill Drill...........Bit".

This weekend saw the end of the festival with the Mountain Bike Race and the Sailing Regatta - Open dinghies, Cats and Lasers - with former Olympic sailors taking part. The Fish crew were in the mix on Hobie 16, Tiger and Laser radial. 

Olympic contenders and previous Tornado European Champions,Dannis Paschalides and Kostas Trigonis edged current J24 European champs Nikos Mavros and Alex Tagaropoulos into second place on countback, leaving the Wildwind team of Joe Bennett and Marko Reynolds in 3rd place and myself and Laura Prentice 4th (by two points!) in the overall rankings of the Greek National Catamaran Cup. We did take home some silverware winning the F18 class.

Andy Barnes and Laura Prentice

The Laser class was taken by last year's winner and current Laser Masters World Champion, Adonis Bouyouris, with 16 year old Yannis Beginas from Thessaloniki in 2nd and Alastair Nichol from the UK in 3rd.

The Hobie 16 class was won by Festival Organiser, Simon Morgan with his ex Fish crew Rachel Coomber.  The mixed ex and current Fish crews of Rory Plummer and Harry Pontifex got 2nd with Charlie Ellington and Oilbhe Cahill Reid in 3rd.

Rory Plummer and Harry Pontifex get 2nd in Hobie 16 fleet

Check out more photos of the event on Facebook >> taken by Jamie Wainwright and Scott Perry, and looking forward to next year which should be bigger and better...

We're down to our last few places on instructor courses in Vass this summer - if you want to join the fun, book now >>

If you're looking to train later in the year, our sail and board sports season kicks off in Sydney, Australia in September.   Dates and availability >>