Fat Face Ultimate Convoy - Final Update

Wow! Who would have thought that we'd score so many great days of action on the water during our week on the road? Gathering at the start of the convoy we were all prepared for a real mix of conditions. Packed into the Bus was everything from Frisbees, massive kites and sails for light winds through to tiny surfboards and high wind windsurfing sails. Basically we were ready for whatever Mother Nature chose to throw at us.

Leaving the idyllic shores of Brandon Bay and the hospitality of Jamie Knox Watersports we raced (quite literally) to Kinsale where we had two fun days kiteing, windsurfing and even a short surf session. The evenings were full or Irish dancing, Ukulele sessions and wake boarding behind the Fat Face Landrover - we like to mix it up! It was great to meet up with the locals - thanks to PJ, Paddy, Geoff, et al for letting us crash their beach and for joining in with the craic. A big thank you to Oliver Hart and his team at Oysterhaven for making our stay so comfortable - It was hard to leave (there's a trend emerging here!).

After an overnight ferry/drive we arrived on the Gower Peninsular in Wales to be faced with near gale force winds and stormy seas. Perfect for some high flying kitesurfing courtesy of Chris Bull and some big back loops and spiralling crashes from the windsurfing team riders John Hibbard and Neal Gent. The smiles on the faces were even visible through the driving rain. A big thank you to Adam England and family who met us at the beach and gave us their locals perspective on the conditions. We were hoping to surf with legendary Welsh Surfer PJ but the surf was blown out and PJ was off to watch the Cricket in Cardiff!

By Day 4 team rider Chris Thomson was desperate for a surf and with the wind still hammering and the ocean still blown out we dropped in on Swansea Leisure centre and had a great hour of fun riding their flow rider machine - basically a lot of water blasted at an incline that creates a kind of standing wave. Chris shredded this until the team got hacked off with his domination and started throwing their foam boards into the flow, trying to knock Chris from his perch! Team Rider Bowling! Team riders, competitive, never!

After the flow rider we rocked up at Mud Dock Bar in Bristol and set about getting as much time on the water as we could. The racing was won by John Hibbard. The most fun was had doing the night time stealth paddle past all of the pubs and bars in the Watershed area - I think some people are still trying to work out what exactly it was they saw that night in Bristol!

The wind continued on blowing as we made our way to West Wittering Windsurfing Club for the final session on the Convoy on Day 5. Thanks to Simon Bassett for allowing anybody who showed up that day to use the facilities at the club for free. Emile Kott won himself and bunch of Fat Cash for tearing it up on the water. Adam, James and Toby also bagged themselves some goodies for throwing caution to the wind and getting some big jumps on their windsurf gear. The end of the convoy was signalled by a huge kite jump by Chris Bull.

What an amazing week of windsurfing, kitesurfing, surfing, driving, socialising, dancing, tomfoolery and friendship. Thanks to everybody who met us along the way and of all of you for following the progress online.

The Team Riders are already planning the next convoy -we hope to see you out there on the road with us.

Fat Face Ultimate Convoy Day 5

After a few celebratory drinks last night in Bristol, the convoy awoke with heavy heads this morning! A quick glance out of the window though soon had everybody jumping in their drivers seats and heading south to West Wittering - in a word it was WINDY!

Arriving at 10.30am at West Wittering Windsurfing Club there were already sailors on the water doing battle with their smallest sails. As the tide pushed in the waves improved. A collection of windsurfers had shown up to take advantage of the special day of free launching provided by WWWC (thanks to Simon Bassett for arranging this).

Neal Gent, John Hibbard and Convoy “tag along” Scott Gardener launched into the frothing English Channel with 4.5m sails to sample the conditions.

2.30pm saw the start of the Fat Face Expression Session - 30 mins for the sailors to show the Fat Face crew and team riders what they could do. There were all sorts of action and some great crashes. Emile Kott took the top prize with a display of back loops and chunky forwards.

Toby Fairgrieve won the “blonde prize” of the day and walked away with a stash of Fat Cash after admitting that he thought his sail was a 5.4m when it was actually a 5.8m (the wind was blowing up to 32knots so Toby had a meter more sail than most!)

Later in the afternoon Chris Bull got out on the water to bust some massive jumps on his kite. That guy goes massive – it has to be seen to be believed.

All in all it was a great final day to the Fat Face Ultimate Convoy, which has seen action on the water every day and over 1000 miles traveled. A big thank you to all the people who have helped us out along the way and joined us for sessions on the water. The list is almost too long to mention, but thanks to Jamie, Jeremy, Duncan, Ding, Shawna, Dave, Oliver, Sinead, PJ Ireland, PJ Wales, Swansea Leisure Centre, Adam and Trish England, The Team at Mud Dock Bristol, Simon Bassett, Chris at WWWC and anybody we’ve forgotten.

Team riders John Hibbard and Neal Gent will be getting an early night (with no Rum), ready for the Fat Face Night Windsurf on Hayling Island this weekend. We hope to see you all there on the beach.

Fat Face Ultimate Convoy - Day 4 (Thursday).

Only two days left and although the wind as been awesome the convoy was still to score some surf before leaving Wales. Chris Thomson getting really twitchy as the forecast is for wind from now on. Checked out Langland nr Mumbles which is a great beach in the right conditions but it was not to happen. Flat calm and raining hard. Stroke of genius from Chris on leafing though some flyers - "hey there's a flow rider in Swansea". Within 20 minutes the boys were on it!! The lifeguard at the leisure centre didn't now what to make of this crowd of professional windsurfers, surfers and kitesurfers all throwing themselves at this 1 foot artificial wave on big yellow foam boards!!

Once they cracked it the nonsense began throwing boards, bodysurfing etc (take a look at the images). As a gentle warm down the boys decided to join the old dears in the pool next door for a little aqua aerobics!!) Great laugh and undoubtedly the best wave on the Gower that day!! (Injury count: one twisted spine, one cut hand, one scratched back and multiple bruised backsides). Joking aside the flow rider is a great option when the weather doesn't deliver.

After taking a beating in the flow rider it was bye bye Wales and on into Bristol for some flat water Stand Up Paddleboard action. To celebrate the opening of the new Fat Face store in Bristol's Quakers Friars development (opening 25th Sept) it was time to create a stir on the water! Based out of the fantastic Mud Dock bike store and restaurant (www.mud-dock.co.uk) - the sprint racing began. Under one bridge, round into the Watershed area, up to the fountain and back to Mud Dock. Simple but effective drawing crowds of bewildered spectators. Once they understood the concept, the onlookers began cheering and shouting as the heats ran. John Hibbard took the win for the day with a series of constant results. However the highlight for him and Bully was the lunchtime paddle the other way up the river past the ladies in the office windows... Which could only be described as a like something from a diet coke advert... shameless!!

Having brought SUP to the city by day it only seemed right to do a little stealth night time SUP for a cheeky beer or two!

Woke to the forecast being accurate for once with gale force SE winds hitting the South. In this direction most spots do not have good waves so it's on to W. Wittering for the final day of the Fat Face convoy. High tide is around 4pm and although access for windsurfing is normally restricted to the members of WWWC we have managed to open it up for anyone who wants to join us. Just drop into the clubhouse at Wittering and say "I'm on the Fat Face Convoy" and you can windsurf for free (one day only and you will still need to pay car parking).

Conditions looking great for the Fat Face Night windsurf event this weekend so if you cannot make it to Wittering today perhaps you can hook up with us on Hayling Island tomorrow for what is set to be the best UK windsurf event of the year.

*Latest Update*

Due to the forecast for south easterly force 5 the convoy is heading to West Wittering to play tomorrow (Friday). Thanks to West Wittering windsurfing club for one day only, if you pitch up in the club house and say "i am with the Fat Face Convoy" you will get a bib and be able to sail for free all day (you will need to pay parking). We will be down there from midday so come and join us for a warm up to the Fat Face Night Windsurf.

See you tomorrow.

The Fat Face Ultimate Convoy Day 3 - Wednesday 3rd September

Having got into the Gower at 3am, Bully did the wake up call at 7am, pushing his face against the window WAY too close shouting "winds up!" Glad we made the ferry last night though as it was not running today due to high winds!! Just what we need to hear.

The Gower is renowned for epic surf conditions so quite a bit of time was lost working out where would be best for today's games. Anything at the end of the peninsular was too onshore to kite or windsurf. Checked the spots on the north coast but they need a big ground swell to work so headed to the South (after a chat to the legendary PJ in his great surf store in Llanglenith)...

Tide was not quite right at Horton but worth waiting for the tide to change. Time flies when you watch a cracking game of "up wind football" in a force 7 gale. 3 guys were killing time while their mate courageously battled a 5m sail on the water playing a game dreamt up by a genius - 1 goal post - 3 fully grown adults and a very light ball... the inevitable happened when glory boy lifted the ball and wind took it and it went 3 miles down the beach!

Similarly at Langland surf boards where cart wheeling down the beach at low tide. The only way to describe the conditions today was nuclear. The boys did well in the gale with huge back loops, forwards, flackas and well powered wave riding - check out some of the images by clicking on the flickr link.

Bully had a kite session in the gusty conditions of Horton, waving to the worried looking RNLI guys and pulling massive airs. Sadly the surf didn't come in due to the wind but looking for a good session early doors Thursday at Langland before heading to Bristol for the dockland SUP sprint race. Due to the lack of surf we managed to catch up with the girls in the Fat Face store in Mumbles and whilst there, who should be in there... but young Connor Griffiths who cleaned up at the September Sessions in Brandon Bay - cashing in his voucher winnings on a new wardrobe!

The general vote today went to Mr Hibbard for some epic sailing so he received a well deserved half pint of shandy!!

Aiming for a 3pm kick off tomorrow (Thursday) at the very cool Muddock bike store and restaurant for the SUP contest to celebrate the new Fat Face store opening in Bristol. If you are in the area - come and join us and the contest is open to anyone.

Forecast looking great for Friday... what more reason do you need to take the day off, come and join us and convoy onto the Fat Face Night Windsurf at the weekend. Aiming for Avon beach / Pool - keep your eye on the twitter update and we will let you know where we will be - its all down to the weather!!!!

If you have any questions on the route we have taken or are after any other information, please get on the forum and we will do our best to tell you what we know.

See you out there.

The Fat Face Ultimate Convoy Day 2

Oyster haven is a wonderful place to wake up and today we had the added bonus of sun and gale force wind!! Thanks again to Oliver and the team. Still with Johnny’s ukulele rendition of Britney Spears ringing in our heads – today’s the day for the windsurfers so it’s back to Garrattstown to set up on the beach and take to the water. What we have learnt is the conditions change here so fast you have to make the most of what you are given (ideal for the convoy) – John and Scott (convoy addition) hit the water and although the waves were a little soft had some classic rides and launched into some enormous aerials. Neal was back on his kite smacking wave after wave. The wind was up and down until Bully decided to launch when it vanished completely... if you were out – sorry it was his fault!!

Turns out Ireland has had two days of sun this summer and we have scored both of them!! As the surf didn’t clean up as expected it seamed sense to pack up and head for the ferry Its been a wicked few days in Ireland and if you are reading this thinking it might be for you then just get on and book the ferry – really diverse, really friendly - great crack!

We are getting into the Gower in the middle of the night but plan to wake up (wed am) at Llangennith for a full day on the water (forecast is windy), so come and join us if you are free, if the weather holds we’ll cook up a little bbq in the evening so come and find the bus, bring a slab of meat and a guitar!!

Check the twitter feed for updates.

See you out there.

The Fat Face Ultimate Convoy Day 1 - Monday 1st Sept

The Fat Face Ultimate Convoy has officially started! After a great weekend at the Stand Up Paddle board competition at Brandon Bay, the journey to the Fat Face Night Windsurf begins!

"So, it's time to say good bye to Brandon Bay, Jamie Knox and the other characters on the West Coast and head South East to Kinsale. The drive turned into more of a leg of the world rally headed by John "Lewis Hamilton" Hibbard avoiding everything from tractors to steamrollers!!

A beach called Garratstown saw the essence of the convoy captured in one afternoon…. Pop up some flags, get some professionals on the water across windsurfing, kitesurfng and surfing and more and more local guys pitch up to join in the fun. Bully was going huge on his kite under blue skies - the wind was a little light for windsurfing but it didn't matter, John and Neal were still out making the best of what they had. Surf was sloppy but again - enough to have some fun on.

Then we wrapped up on the beach and headed to Oysterhaven via Kinsale to check out the new Fat Face store there. Unfortunately the bus is a little too big for Kinsale !!!

Not satisfied with the day's activities, an inviting causeway was blocked with flat water on both sides - high tide - water ski line off the roof rack of the land rover and BINGO - swamp-pond-skurfing!! (click on the flickr link to see the images!).

Smelling of swamp water, we headed on to the stunning setting at Oyster Haven and fantastic watersports base belonging to Oliver Hart (www.oysterhaven.com) This is possibly one of the most beautiful places in the world and possibly one of the best received BBQ's in the world! The great day ended with a few cheeky beers, some Irish dancing put on by Emily from the store, drums and ukulele driven by Bully and John! Looking forward to tomorrow's shenanigans!"

Sunday 31st August

Other than stampeding horses, storm force rain and occasionally being disabled by Guinness, Brandon Bay has played host to the most awesome array of freesports.

The Fat Face Ultimate Convoy doesn't even official start until tomorrow (Monday) and we have already had two days of Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) competition, two great kite sessions and everyone has had a free surf either at Dumps or somewhere else on this amazing peninsular.

The September Sessions has been a great two day, very chilled contest seeing participants from all over the UK taking part in, what was for some, was their first ever competition. Alongside the contest virgins were some seasoned pros like Chris "guts" Griffiths, our own team riders Chris Bull, Neal Gent, event organiser John Hibbard and the host himself - Mr Jamie Knox. Conditions were fantastic - swell when required wind when the surfing was done and of course plenty of that well renowned horizontal green rain that gives this place its character!!

After the second round of the SUP event 20 competitors of all shapes and sizes took to the water on boards of all shapes and sizes for the long distance endurance event. 12.5 km of flat water paddling around two headlands and with one of the most epic backdrops as a view. Paddling over stingray and kelp across crystal blue waters the majority of the competitors although knackered said they were so pleased they had done it. Chris Griffiths steamed in first up the beach with Mr Hibbard close behind. Steve Carter charged in third place with Jamie knox (on a regular 12ft6') bringing in fourth place. Marie Buchanan the first lady crossed the line in 5th, an amazing achievement.

Prize giving was dominated and well deserved by the Griffiths family from the Gower and the local Knox Clan.

Event organiser John Hibbard says:
"The September Sessions is a relaxed event and this year, like last we were blessed with great conditions. A big thank you to all entrants and helpers for making it a great event. Thanks also to Fat Face, Starboard SUP boards and Grass Hopper Porridge for sponsoring the event. I'm already starting to plan next years September Sessions. Now it's time for a road trip - bring on the convoy..."

The key is even if you are not into competition this is the most incredible part of the world on all levels - stunning back drops, punchy surf, clean winds and weather that changes by the minute. It's really not that far to get here and if, or rather when you do be sure to hook up with Jamie for tuition / local advice or even just a beer!

Welcome to the Fat Face Ultimate Convoy 08.

On the 30th August 2008 four Fat Face team Riders and a collection of other freesport professionals and amateurs will depart on the convoy to rival all others. Simply linking two great events: The September Sessions Stand-Up-Paddleboard event and the Fat Face National windsurf Festival. The ultimate convoy will journey from the West Coast of Ireland to the South coast of England.

En route, the riders will compete at every level – on and off the water. Windsurfing, kite-surfing, surfing, paddle boarding, eating, drinking, sleeping – the contest does not stop and anyone choosing to hook up with the convoy or just a section or two are welcome to join in. There are daily prizes and no restrictions as to who comes onboard.

The September sessions event runs on the 30th & 31st August in Brandon Bay on the West Coast of Ireland. The Convoy will depart on Monday 1st Sept headed towards Kinsale just south of Cork. The Ferry from Rosslare on Tuesday Night will give the convoy access to the Gower on Wednesday for a full day of competition and an evening beach party. Thursday sees an urban contest in the centre of Bristol and on to a South coast location near Bournemouth on Friday 5th Sept. The final day of competition will be at the Fat Face Nightwindsurf event on Saturday 6th Sept on Hayling Island with final prize giving and party that night.

"Join us for Tee" – anyone who is able to join the convoy for any leg of the journey to surf, sail, party with the team, will receive a free limited edition Fat Face Ultimate Convoy tee shirt. If you cannot physically join us on the road or water, there are also 50 tees up for grabs for those who hop onboard online. If you register your email for updates, you will automatically be entered into the draw and the first 50 names pulled out will win this must have tee!