BrUWEpool's MONTH LONG (!) Summer Trip to Dahab (That's: Bristol, UWE and Liverpool)

BrUWEpool's Trip to Dahab

This August Her Majesty's Government sent out a special krak team of drinking professionals out to sort out the civil unrest in Egypt once and for all. This was a purely volunteer only mission, and yet 18 brave members of the SWA stepped up to the challenge.

Nothing could have prepared us for stepping off the plane on the first day. Imagine blowing your hair dryer on its hottest setting straight at your face – you're getting pretty close. The heat took some serious getting used to. But luckily for us Dahab Apartments took awesome care of us – air conditioning which the girls insisted putting to freezer mode.

Our flats were both within a 5 minute walk of the beach, and the wind blew – and blew, and blew. We were there for 25 days and the wind blew for 22 of them. We were looking at mostly 4.7m days with a few 5.3 and a few 4.2. Serious wind. Lots of people took lessons and it was scary how quickly they progressed. From getting comfortable in the footstraps and getting round their first carve gybes to perfecting those gybes and nailing their downwind 360s! We reckoned that we did more windsurfing that month that in 6 or 9 months in the UK.

Olivier and Charlie even had the opportunity to practice their freestyle up at the Blue Lagoon. This place is simply amazing. Crystal clear, glassy flat water. And 30 knots of wind. Makes for a very happy freestyler.

But enough of the boring bits. You can see more of them in the videos:

BrUWEPool Windsurf Tour Day 1, 2 & 3, 2013 from Simon Garrod-Bell on Vimeo.

BrUWEPool Windsurf Tour Week, 2 & 3, 2013 from Simon Garrod-Bell on Vimeo.

Onto the Ibiza busting beach parties!!

Having arrived on a Thursday, Monday night welcome drinks were the first opportunity to start sorting out the mess in Egypt. Safe to say that the stories may have preceded this article. With rum at £2.50 a bottle and the bar running dry on Rum at the end of the night, the four musketeers were born. Four men prepared to drink their body weight in cheap rum for the good of the nation. For most the night came to an end around 8pm. But what a night.

Every Friday the girls came up trumps with their costumes for the fancy dress party. It's fair to say that the girls were the party animals on the trip, and Katie Chowiencyzk was full power all month.

Worshipping the Pharoh.

Partying Aussie Kiss Style

There were times when drinking was less on the cards (although still very much on the cards for most!). There were camel trips up into the mountains accompanied by (you guessed it) cheap rum and the most amazing view of the stars I have ever seen.

There were snorkling and diving trips to Dahab's amazing coral and reef sites. Sadly there are no photos, but we have some pretty epic footage under water!

Not only where there great things to see, but more importantly great things to eat. For 100LE (around £10) you could get in on this epic seafood meal. This was a portion between five, here we go: • 1kg of calamari • 1.5kg cockels • 1 crab • 1 red snapper • 1 white snapper Too much food, even for Tris and Charlie to finish.

But there were also less glamorous aspects to the trip. The key one, felt by all, was the Dahab Dash. Having said that – 3 weeks with the dash does wonders for your waist line! If you find yourselves in such a situation make sure you take our advice: lots and lots and lots of rum. And you'll be dashing no more. Instead you'll be strolling at a leisurely pace to the toilet as and when you feel the urge. Things started to fall apart in the last week. By things I mean bodies. Nia's broken hand takes the award for most catastrophic injury. As standard, Nia was still partying on a broken hand and smashing it right up.

After a month in the sun England seemed a long way away. But come it did. Now to get paid and book my next trip to Egypt!! Do you like the sound of the trip? Well you best do!  If you need convincing come and talk to us at AK. We will be more than happy to bore you with our holiday tales!

Thanks to all the guys at Club Dahab. We met some awesome people out there and I can't wait to get back on the water with you lot.

Tris




We are going back next summer to smash Dahab up all over again. The trip is silly money:

• Flights are between £250-£300 plus £25 each way for kit
• Accommodation was £90 per person for the ENTIRE month this year, and we will be looking for somewhere cheaper next year. 
• €80 a week for lessons 
• £440 for kit hire for a month or £60 a week for kit storage if you bring your own