After returning from a long weekend in Tarifa, the high is yet to diminish. I spent 3 days in the beautiful Spanish destination of Tarifa, taking part in one of our new clinics, which also run in Maui, and Mauritius.
    I arrived late Friday night at the beautiful Las Flores, and was made to feel so welcome. The apartments look like an old French style house surrounded by flowers.
    In the morning I met the group at the centre where we slouched on oversized beanbags overlooking the beach. We discussed which sports we liked, a bit about ourselves, as you do, and what we wanted to get out of the clinic. We were also handed brand new, in the bag ION lycra tops, bonus!
    The wind was light in the morning, so we took out a fleet of SUP boards, and paddled downwind to another centre, where we loaded up the van and took the boards back to the first centre. On the way back we stopped at a cool rocky stair case. I’m not entirely sure what it was, and clambering up it definitely didn’t comply with EU safety regulations but it was cool! We got the top to find some amazing views of Tarifa, and a small room.
    After lunch, the group announced that everyone wanted to go Kitesurfing. I mentioned that I loved windsurfing, and even with just one person looking at the other sport, Chris, an instructor immediately offered to come with me. Though deciding it was about time to nail Kitesurfing I opted for that. The group was broken down in to beginners, intermediates, and advanced. We spent some time on the water, then the intermediates and advanced set off on a downwind trip. This was a great way to practice kite and board control, as there was no thinking about going up wind, as isn’t something many instructors suggest for intermediates, as they are usually tied to being close to their centre.
    After a great day on the water, we all shared a bottomless welcome cocktail, and arranged to pick each other up and go for dinner. The restaurant was just down the road, and served terrific food. With a range of meats, fishes, salads, and sandwiches. The steaks in particular were very, very good, and the beer was cheap.
    The mornings begin with the choice of either a yoga session or beach workout, both are completely optional. At the start of the clinic it is made clear that you can choose to do whatever you want, and shouldn’t feel obliged to participate in everything.
    In the morning the whole group did a downwind windsurf, which was a fun way to learn. In the afternoon we did similar the previous day with a kite session on the water followed by a downwinder.
    By Monday the swell had begun to pick up, so we took out some SUP boards and surf boards. Unfortunately for me I had to leave in the afternoon to catch my flight as I had to be in the UK the following day. Not wanting to leave was bad, but after hearing that morning all the activities lined up for the week, I was gutted. The group had paddling the strait of Gibraltar to look forward to, along with mountain biking an awesome route, and spending time with legendary North kiter Jaime.
    Overall I had a fantastic time, I loved the group, the level of instruction, all the extras, being on the water all day despite conditions, the big bean bags, the level on instruction, Las Flores, the list goes on.