Ripping Report

Barbados showed me her finest side over the past 12 days. Winds everyday of either 5.7 or 5.3 (FYI...the 2006 Gaastra Manics are as good as good can get) and head high waves that the Fanatic NewWave 81 was made to tear apart. The great thing about the waves in Barbados is there are huge rewards for going at the lip as hard as possible, but they are gentle waves over a pretty deep reef, so the punishment is minimal if you go down.

Great crew of both locals and foreigners on the water, great surfing, and great evenings out (note - no one should ever leave Barbados without having at least one dinner/several drinks at Surfers Bay), and just the most chilled out and welcoming sailing scene I have ever sailed in. It is almost as though someone put a "Check you ego here" sign at the airport, since local pros like Brian Talma mingle and sail with first timers.

Sadly, most of the action shots of the reef that we took didn't turn out that well, but here are a few pics from my phase of Barbado-thon 2006.....Mike kicks off phase 3 on the 11th!

Scoping out the conditions

Evening surf session at South Point

Timing the shore break (....why did Paddfield never carry my stuff into the water like he does for Sally in the picture below?)

Padders helps Sally deal with the shorebreak.