With there being such a big swell running it was still pretty big down there (Logo.. mast + sometimes) but it was super fun and great way to ease Ourselves in.. my shoulder wasn’t great but it was doing the job and so nice to be back on the water!

Fun small day at Spreks

We sailed down there for 3-4 days in a row. Which looking back was probably the best days of the trip… the rest was a real mixed bag of conditions.

So when the Simmer shoot kicked off we really had to work it… as the conditions didn’t play ball… But it all came together in the end and i think we nailed a couple of good days topped off with a nice Heli shoot right on the buzzer… (I’ve seen some of the pics and they look great!)

Hookipa… i think during our Heli shoot. Pic stolen from Mark Smith FB

Direction from the captain

Last day of shooting… time for a few beers.. looks like Si has had too many!

Well earned drink for team Simmer!

It was a long few weeks.. The Captain having a rest!

So with the wind not blowing the whole time it gave us chance to do some looking around… so not all bad…

-We had some coffee..

Paia bay coffee shop..

and some milkshakes..

Best in town.. Anthony’s coffee shop

and some weird crushed root!!!!!

mmmmm… in fact.. NO!! I’ll leave that one for you Kai!!

Had a few nights out..

I haven’t drunk for a while!!

Beeeeeeeeeer!!!!

Mixed with the locals..

Justyna is the one on the right!

Got naked and pretended a tree was my Knob!!

WTF was i thinking.. it was Justyna’s idea!

Took cheesy pics..

Which way to the beach?

say ‘Cheeeeeeese”

Help i’m drowning!!

ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Went to the Simmer shop..

it’s a sign!

- We went to the jungle… (back of Rudy’s house)

Welcome to the Jungle..

Arrrrgggggalaolaooalaooaaa

Secret Water fall (Back of Rudy’s house.. not so secret!)

Hurry up and take the pic.. i can’t keep this smile for ever!

Always remember to close your legs before hitting the water!

Simmer crew

Had BBQ’s.. well one.. but it was a bloody good one

Now thats a BBQ!

Eat lots…

Now thats a Buurrrrriittoo!!

Got eaten lots..

She’s tasty, tasty very very tasty.. she’s very tasty!

Went up the Volcano

Hmmm.. wasn’t good half way up!

Breaking through..

Flexing the guns at the top..

Top of the word!!

Then realized I’d Locked the keys in the car.. just about to go dark and get very cold..  plus everyone is leaving!!

Oh shit.. Bottom of the world!! What a donkey… !!! Dont ask where i found a Shovel!!

Missed it..

Hitch hiked down with a tour bus… then got a lift back up with the spare key!! …yes.. i am a donkey!!! and Kai is a legend for giving us a lift back up! Not many people can say they have been up there twice in one day!)

Soon to be our new friends

Bad (stupid) boys (boy) at the back of the bus

one of the few guys around when we went up for the 2nd time!!

So all in all an awesome trip… great to see and use all the shinny new 2014 Simmer gear… I can tell you it looks sweet and you wont be disappointed!!

New Boards

We had some funny moments and some not so funny ones..  but thats what makes it a memorable trip!!!  Can’t wait for the next one.. Bring it on

Time to go home… oh yeah.. forgot to say… messed up my flight time!! Had to leave a day earlier than i thought!! ooooopps.. lucky i checked otherwise we might have still been there!!!! Hmmmm… why did i check!!! haha

But we did get upgraded to first class on the way home.. Always worth collecting the miles

WWWhhattttt… are you kidding me…  nah,  that cant be right?  …that would take me to late April early March..  which means i would miss the Simmer Photoshoot on Maui!!

Well as you can guess after 4 weeks i was going pretty crazy… but my shoulder was feeling a lot better… i say better.. in that i mean i could move it and stuff with out my arm feeling like it was going to drop off.

So i started to test it a bit with pull ups etc and it seemed to be ok. In fact the worst thing was (and still is) sleeping on that side.. it’s just not possible for more than 30secs to a minute.. it bloody kills!  Also doing the dishes, cooking and vacuuming were very painful too

Anyway after pushing the Physio a bit i managed to get out of him that it wouldn’t do any more damage if i sailed on it (I showed him some freeride videos , it would just be painful… Well that’s the green light i thought and got straight on the phone to Simmer and told them i could make the shoot in Maui.. Game on!!! Just needed to pack the ibuprofen and ice packs!

Now I’ve had some pretty average trips to Maui over the years as I seem to scare the wind away!  But last year was amazing and easily my best trip to Maui ever!! I think i sailed everyday for just over 3 weeks with  waves pretty much all the time.

So this year I was going to Maui with high hopes. plus these hopes were raised when looking at the forecast the weeks before as there was bugger all wind which surely meant by the time i got there it was going to be cranking!

Justyna was pretty excited anyway as she was making her first trip to Maui. A place she’d dreamed of visiting since she was a little girl so with visions of coconuts, palm trees, hawain shirts and hulu dancing it was time to start packing!

To be continued..    Woooooooooo!

So far you’ve been spoilt this week with the ‘Playboy’ dreamy look at windsurfing in Western Oz Courtesy of ‘Windsurf Australia’ (If you haven’t seen it be sure to check it out… it’s full on WA windsurfing Porn!!)

But now it’s time for the more ‘Readers Wives’ look at Western Oz… rough around the edges but dont worry all the bits are in the right places or close enough! haha

Hope you enjoy… we had a lot of fun this winter and scored some sweet conditions… well i think my movie does the talking… awesome times.. bring on next year!

Well it’s been a while since the last training diaries in Pozo so i thought it was about time i did a few more. In fact I’ve been meaning to do them for a while but it’s kind of hard when your living in a van.
It’s not quite the same as Pozo but i hope there will be enough action and stories to keep you going.
Be warned this first one is long so get yourself a cup of tea
Action including Doubles, push forwards, blood, car crashes and broken bones…  well it sounds exciting!!

All the previous Training diaries can be found here: http://benproffitt.com/training-diaries/

Motivation is at an all time high and I’m fired up to learn new moves and perfect some of the old ones…  I just hope i can stay injury free…  which might be easy said then done if the wind keeps coming like the last few weeks.

At the moment i’m sitting in a friends house on the sofa…  Mmmmmmm…  it feels soooo good!! haha…  now that doesn’t sound like much but when you’ve been living in a van for 2 months, a sofa feels sooooo awesome its crazy!!!

My body is in Pieces at the moment and it feels like i’ve been hit by a bus…  a solid 2 weeks jumping practice at Corros has a lot to do with it…  that and the fact i turned 35 a couple of weeks ago has not helped!

But mainly i think it’s been the double and push forward training which has really got me…  more on that later! 

I have to say i left a bit disappointing last year about Corro as it really didn’t live up to the hype but this year i’m getting see what everyone was on about and it really is a full on windsurfing skate park and heaps of fun…  loving it at the moment.

Ok..  so everyone has been asking me… Where are the diaries??  Well..  i wont lie it’s not been easy to stay on top of things out here living in a van but we have been filming a lot and i’m going to try and make a few this week…  I said try!!!

But trust me, if i do put some together there are some awesome crashes to look forward to from Graham, Dave and obviously Justyna!!!  ..we have blood, broken bones!!

Infact..  i’m going to go make one now…  lets see what i can come up with!

To get me in the mood i just watched my video from a quick trip up north last year. The camera broke so it’s not long but reminded me how fun it can be even on a small day!!!  Wahoooooooooooo…  bring it on!

Check the video here..

More pictures less words…

Even though i went to turkey to do the commentary I still managed to get my hands on a trophy… well its definitely the closest i’ll get to a trophy in Slalom thats for sure. Those guys are about double the speed of me….

As usual the National windsurf festival was awesome.. it just gets bigger and better every year. Simmer had a great stand and i was on there most of the time, so the only race i did this year was the team 15 team race! Unfortunately we didn’t win this year.. but it wasn’t down to my trusty partner or me for that matter! All i’ll say is there was a lot of cheating going on.. mentioning no names Mr Baker!! ha

Next up it was over to Klittyland for the next stop on the PWA wave tour.. now this was definitely an event i thought i could do well in. Long story short.. i messed up!! Lost to Campello in the single after i played it a bit safe! Then hancock beat me in the double.. he sailed pretty good but i didn’t have my best heat. Shame.. but shit happens.. 9th in the single.. finished 17th!

Standard issue in Klitty land.. not a great look… haha

After Klitmoller it was straight down to Sylt… and i have to say i really enjoyed it this year.. It was firing. Some really sweet waves coming through and cross shore winds. Plus for once i was sailing like i know i can.. One problem: Koster!! Arghhhhh… always seem to get him! ..and the crazy thing is i nearly beat him.. i just needed to land my jump!! But i crashed at the beginning of the heat and did something to my arm.. and basically couldn’t hardly grip the boom! I’m not going to go on about it.. but i should of had him!! It was pretty hard to take… 9th in the single 17th in the double!! I hate dropping places like that!

Still Sylt..

yes.. still Sylt!

Told you there was some nice waves coming through.. Not big but still fun..

Oh yeah.. i also got put back in my box!! haha..

So with Sylt over it was time to head back to the UK for the last rounds of the BWA… but before i went it was time one last sail!!! all i’m going to say is Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Also meanwhile the misses was getting better and better.. now walking and working on her strength/ balance! Such a relief to see

The start of the summer… it was all sorted.. we (Me and Justyna) were getting to Pozo early, we had a video camera and we were set to do some Proper training…

It was looking good.. first day.. place on the beach.. windy.. wavy.. and the camera was ready to record the action…

The problem was this is what we captured on film!!!   Oouuucchhh..   on the first day of filming! She didn’t do much wrong but got a big gust at the top of a forward and landed unluckily!!

Lots of issues with insurances and which hospitals (long story.. but involved no pain killers for a long time) but she kept smiling. Smashed her foot bad..  broke 5 bones and smashed one very badly plus lis franc injury!! Then we were told to just leave it and it might heal but there was a good chance she wouldn’t walk properly again!!

After sending the xrays back to Poland it wasn’t long before it was obvious it was serious and what the doctors had said in the Canaires was total B*llocks. She needed to get operated on and fast. So after a week of waiting in Pozo with some of the worst pain i have ever seen someone go through.. she was flying home!

So with Justyna home with her family it was decided i’d stay out and train for the both of us (Didn’t really work too well as i was too busy thinking of what was going on with her at home) but i did go through with the idea we’d come up with about doing ‘the Pozo training diaries’ Which to be fair worked out really well and i had good feedback from. If you haven’t seen them.. check out the video section on this site!

The comp went ok and i finished 17th… i didn’t have the best draw and lost to Denel in the single. It was fair enough as i didn’t have a good one and jules sails good. Then in the double i got my act together.. i got through a couple of heats and took down Jonas on my way through. Then i had Kauli.. and he was in no mood to lose to me again (After i beat him a few years ago) and sailed an amazing heat. It was close but he got the nod. I was a bit disappointed with 17th but it could have been worse and i was also doing all the live commentary so it was pretty hectic.

Next up it was over to Tenerife.. now this is an event i really feel i should do well at as these are my conditions. I started off well and took down Jules Denel (yes i had him again) in my first heat. But then i got the worst draw on the board.. Koster!!! Now i dont really mind who i get but Koster is someone you just dont want in those conditions.. Anyway i got knocked out!! Then some how Ross got knocked out early so he was coming through the double and would go against me. It was a tough one and he had a good heat with a nice frontside 360. But i also had a good heat with 2 front side 360′s for some solid wave scores and a really tweaked Pushie. Which won me the heat.. i was stoked. Next up i had Skyeboy which was doable to get me into the top 10. But i didn’t have my best one and Skyeboy had a good one.. I was pretty gutted as that was a good chance for a top 10 result. Still  13th. not bad!

Well against what i thought.. Justyna made her way out for the PWA comp in Tenerife. Still with wires in her foot and in a wheel chair but she made it.. and i have to admit it worked out really well. Nothing bad happened (it came close in her first minutes of arriving.. when a comedy moment of Katie turning round to grab her bag and justyna sped off down the hill with no brakes!!! Dont ask!!) But the whole trip really lifted her spirits and it was a good call… she also got on the mic and did the beach commentary.. which was awesome!!

While all the PWA events had been on, the public had been voting in 10 riders they wanted to see in the REDBULL Storm chase. I ended up  just missing out coming in at 11th place. But as i have since found out 11th is pretty much as good as in!!  We’ve  had a few false alerts and i’ve been in every time as someone couldn’t make it!! Although i have to say it would be much nicer to have an ‘All time conditions chase. rather than a storm chase!! haha

After getting back from Tenerife it was time for Justyna to get her wires out.. so now she would be Wireless and could start to walk again!!! Pretty big moment!!

Next up i was off to Turkey to commentate on the PWA Slalom.. it was an awesome event and i really enjoyed it. I even managed to get out on a bit of Slalom gear (Thanks Kurosh and Gonzo) It was actually pretty fun but my arm were shot after a couple of runs!! haha.. need to get in training if i’m to stage a come back to racing at any point!!