Back to Dahab

So I had three weeks spare, was in need of some flat water and on a bit of a budget… Fuerteventura crossed my mind but I wasn’t that certain on the reliability of the wind this time of year and Cape Verde was a bit out of my price range. Turned out Egypt was an absolute no brainer; no hire car costs, no faffing around rigging up, reliably windy and cheaper than ever. I hadn’t been to Egypt in nearly four years apart from a little one day work adventure to Cairo a couple of years ago from Greece with my mate Edd to drop some equipment off for the centre Club Vass used to have in Dahab. Anyway, I wasn’t really sure what to expect given that the mainstream media have been scaring all the tourists away from the Sinai for the past couple of years but I was still amazed at how quiet it is in Dahab. Its quite sad to see given that its a town that survives solely on the back of the tourist trade. At the same time it hasn’t lost any of its charm and the lack of a couple of thousand people hasn’t done anything to damage the amazing conditions this place has to offer. We couldn’t have really asked for more of the wind and everyday without was a welcomed rest day. I must of sailed on either my 4.0 or 4.4 90% of the time!

I have to say even though it sounds pretty bad that it felt like a real luxury having all my kit rigged up ready to go down on the beach and although not owned by Club Vass anymore the centre now named Dahab Stars is looking great and is still being run to an incredibly high standard. There’s still also a lot of familiar faces around that anyone who’s been to Dahab before will recognise, including Salama, Ahmed, Kamal and big Dahwood.DCIM116GOPRO

The Blue lagoon has been catching a lot of attention in the windsurfing media recently mainly thanks to the fact its gone from being a completely remote location into the first ever flood lit night windsurfing resort!! Its is also even more accessible than before with the option of a 45min boat trip up the coast to get there although it does get a bit bumpy, we actually opted for the scenic camel trip back after a “small” sea sickness incident on the way up! Pretty much a very nice German guy named Steve has invested a fair bit of money into making the place self sufficient power wise, there’s about three solar panels and a mini wind turbine and even though you still sleep with a blanket on the floor it even boasts a wifi hotspot. The spot really is pretty magical; I stayed up there for two nights together with my girlfriend and Adam Sims and the Bedouin boys Mahmoud and Santos really looked after us. Everything was arranged for us we just had to turn up with some water and couple of days worth of snacks.  Unfortunately most of the pics from there were too good to go straight online, hoping we can get a couple printed so stay tuned for them. We also unfortunately missed out on the night session as we were fast asleep and broken after sailing for five hours on our 4.0’s that day….. May regret that one but sure I’ll be back at some point. For now just a selection of my best shots from the trip, huge thanks to Lizzie Baillie. Also a massive thank you to Dahab Apartments for having us, be sure to look them up if you’re going to Dahab!  DCIM116GOPROIMG_7292  IMG_7455