DaNewsBlog

Slalom Tips for Starts & Straight Line Speed

2012-01-29T17:57:00.001-05:00

PWA tour media representative Ed Sinclair put together this group interview, taken from 2 articles, about slalom racing reprinted here with permission. All photos by John Carter.

Performing the perfect start can make or break your slalom race, we asked the slalom fleet to share their top tips on how to hit the line on the buzzer. If you come in early you run the risk of being disqualified, if you slow down then you will be at a huge disadvantage. However if you come in late it's hard to make that ground up for the rest of the race. The start in a slalom race is one of the most complicated aspects of the race, although extremely exciting to watch, it requires a huge amount of skill from the sailors. We asked the slalom fleet for their top tips on how to nail it.

Tine Slabe (RRD / Al360) That is the hardest part and maybe the most important. The trick is to stay very concentrated and on the other hand calm. You need to know how far you can go in how much time. And you count the last twenty seconds in your head, that is how I do it at least.

Cyril Moussilmani (Severne / Starboard) No special tricks I just close my eyes and go...

Kurosh Kiani (Simmer / Angulo) Getting a perfect start is all about timing and knowing your speed. Personally my "secret" is staying fairly close to the line at all times. The further you are from the line, the harder it will be to estimate your distance to the mark. Anything other than being fully locked in at 0 seconds and on the line is unacceptable.

Enes Yilmazer (JP / NeilPryde) You have to know a couple of points before to chose your strategy for the start:
-Try to start on favorite side, pin or boat or middle.
-Stay away from top guys or possible riders that can block your wind or your start area.
-Know the start area and how long will it take for a full speed start.
-Try to time yourself so you go full blast for the last 15 seconds.
-Always be aware of possible upwind and downwind changes you might do depending on other races or timing.
-Try to start without doubts; don’t slow down at the last second.

Jesper Orth (F2) Everybody knows that the starts in Slalom are extremely important. To hit the start line with 100% speed on the buzzer is the ultimate goal. How do I get to this stage of consistent good starts? It is quite hard to practice starts when not competing, unless you have 8 other keen sailors and a start boat with a line setup.

So race experience count big time here and that’s why we often see the more experienced “older” guys do more consistent good starts compared to the “young guns.” Best thing is to find your own routine with the starts. The PWA slalom countdown is 4 minutes. Make sure you are next to the boat when they start the countdown of 4 min, so you can hear them. Sail down the first slalom leg to check the wind and angle. Make a plan if you start at the boat or pin mark or in the middle. If you know your competitors well, then you would also know where they prefer to start normally, so this also opens some options for better positions than others.

With 2 min to go you cross the start line backwards and check your watch is spot on. From here on everybody have different routines. Some will sail a long way out, other will be close to the start line, high and low. Stick to your plan where you want to start! And believe in you own timing with the watch. More than often most sailors will be early to the start line and slow down a bit. Do some practice starts before the real start to get your timing right. If you sail places where there are visible marks like jetty’s, buoys, trees or marks on land – then make some check point. Check the time on your watch, from the possible markings in near full speed to the start line and make a mental note, for the real start to check if you are early or late.

The last 10-15 sec takes a lot of experience. Here you really need your timing spot on and work your way up to full speed. Lots can happen here and it is important to put on the “aggressive” face to protect your space and plan. Keep your cool and don’t let the other sailors “push” you forward to much as you will need to slow down not to be over early. If you have excellent timing then coming from the back with free space and wind is the ultimate start. This does however take some practice and confidence.

Every location is different so different tactic can apply. In gusty offshore wind, it is more important to be closer to the line than try to come with full speed from behind. In rolling waves it is important to start on the front of a wave and not behind it, so even if it means a little less speed hitting the start line, - then make sure to be in front of one. Work on your acceleration in your gear. This will improve your chances for good starts and extra boost out of the start line.

Don’t be intimidated by the other sailors with "big names." Sail over the top of them or push them upwind before the start if you need to. They would do the same to you if they needed. There is No Rules – but remember to keep it fair…

We asked the world's fastest sailors to share their knowledge when it came to going faster in a straight line.

Karin Jaggi (Patrik / Severne) When it gets really extreme I often sail with earplugs, the soft ones from the concerts. You might think you loose a bit of balance but I have the opposite experience. It takes away that aggressive sound of the wind away, everything is much quieter and feels like “slow motion”. It creates a completely different world around you. So I can concentrate on my own movements and focus on going fast.

Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North) Try to tune your gear well at the start of your session.

Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde) The best way to go fast on the straights is to have perfect tuning. The best way to do that is to speed test with a friend and try different ways of setting your sail. Here’s what to try: different mast track position, different boom height positions and different tensions of downhaul. You will be able to feel the difference by doing this, and you will know what feels easier to go faster and what is slower.

Tine Slabe (RRD / AL360) Stay focused on the water a few meters in front of your board and try to read the waves and imagine where is the most flat. Despite this, sail a lot and I mean a lot especially in you have a chance with faster guys than you!

Enez Yilmazer (JP / NeilPryde)
1-Tuned gear: you need to have a good balanced gear that you can hold on to at high end and still get pressure when you need it at low end
2-Downhaul - make sure you have a good amount of downhaul, go out there adjust and try to feel the difference
3-Fin - make sure you choose a good fin - can change your world
4- Power - try to keep your gear balance and push the power of the sail to board through your legs and try to keep the lift.

Kurosh Kiani (Simmer / Angulo) One of the most important things that I have learned over the years is that you need to get to a point where you are able to sheet in fully, push the equipment and be comfortable at the same time. I have always worked on two aspects that I think have helped me out a lot. In high wind, I try to be compact and generally be in control rather than going fast for a while and wiping out. This means longer harness lines and perhaps a waist harness, so that you can really tuck into survival position when the wind gets really strong.

In lighter winds I work on the exact opposite. I try to get further out on the rail of the board and really work on the fin to get it lifting, and I really focus on keeping the rig upright so that I have as much power as possible to keep the lift and I will hopefully be flying down the reach.

If you have a question you would like to ask the professionals just post it on PWA Facebook.

There's more... Kurosh Kiani wrote a 6 part series for Windsurfer, Pro Slalom Secrets; Peter Volwater and Peter De Wit co-wrote 2 articles, Elements of Speed. Find these on the Learners guide page Racing. More speed tips from Albeau, Pritchard, Peterson on the Hodgepodge page.

"Discover the hidden potential of your slalom equipment with 10 easy and practical golden rules! Often this more technical gear does not allow us to feel comfortable and relaxed when surfing. Therefore we are now going to give you the answers to the most common problems. Give priority to modifying the trim of the gear, starting with the first solution given. If this does not work, continue to the second listed advice and so on…" 10 Golden Rules of Slalom

More Pro Tips from Boardseeker with this video about the Slalom Gybe.

Windsport ~ Pete Dekay · 101 Surf Sports · AWT

2012-01-15T23:33:00.001-05:00

It wasn't a death match between 2 business rivals or even a corporate play to gain market dominance. The end came to WindSurfing, one of the two North American windsurfing magazines, simply because they threw in the towel. Editor Pete Dekay says, "Windsport is actually North America's longest running windsurfing publication starting in 1981 but as a Canadian magazine. Around 1998 the focus was broadened to become “North America’s windsurfing magazine” and that has been the focus ever since with roughly 85 percent of our copies being delivered to the US. Windsport is based in both the Gorge (White Salmon, WA and Hood River, OR) and Toronto, ON, which allows us to cover all of North America quite nicely." The 40 year old Dekay added, "This year marks the beginning of my sixth year as editor. Before that I enjoyed the title of Instructional Editor while I was teaching for ABK Boardsports -- for about nine years touring around the country full time and living in a van. Wow... 15 years in the windsurfing business!" A few questions for Pete:

In their official statement about the closing of WindSurfing, Bonnier Corp stated: "...Due to a continual decline and consolidation in the windsurfing and kiteboarding markets the magazines have been placed on hiatus..." How do you see the sport? Are we growing or declining? Or perhaps we're in neutral?

Pete mid vulcan

I think windsurfing in the US has been in “neutral” for the past few years. Most shops that I’ve talked to have had a mix of good and bad years over the past few. We need to support the shops, as they are the key part of our sport’s growth. There are a lot of positives going on with the sport today. Most of the windsurfing schools I’ve talked to have been doing very well over the past few years. Classes are full, so people out there want to learn to windsurf. We just need more schools all around the country. Plus, growth could come about as all the new SUPers realize how much fun it is to stick a sail on their new board when it gets windy. Another great thing right now is that we have one of the best ever national competition tours going on: the American Windsurfing Tour.

I was surprised that they saw the sport in consolidation. The industry certainly isn't buying each other out. While we have lost some, every time I turn around there seems to be a new sail or board company. What do you think?

There are plenty of brands out there making awesome gear. I think that as long as windsurfers support their “local” shop and join (or start) a regional club then “brand consolidation” isn’t something that the average Joe needs to worry about. I’ve put a listing of shops and clubs on the main menu bar of Windsport and I’d appreciate hearing from anyone about additions I can make to these lists.

How would Windsport change if you suddenly gain a lot of subscribers from the closing of Windsurfing Magazine?

It’s always cool to gain subscribers and I hope people that only got Windsurfing Mag in the past do check us out. We are looking at it as being a huge responsibility to be the only non-regional windsurfing publication left in North America. I’m happy with what we’ve been doing but will look at everything we can do to get even better. I want to hear from all windsurfers out there. E-mail me at info@windsport.com and tell me what you want to see in Windsport.

British based Boards is about to refocus their enterprise from print to digital. All print businesses are going through changes because of the Internet. What's your vision for the future of print?

Print magazines definitely have to adapt and get involved in different mediums to survive today, but Boards announcement was definitely a shock. A magazine’s website is now very important and we try to use windsport.com as an extension of the magazine with fresh content added every day. Subscribers to Windsport will benefit of having the best of all worlds: a constantly updated website and an eye-popping print mag.

What does Windsport have to say to the newly orphaned WindSurfing readers?

You’ll always have a home at Windsport. As North America’s only remaining windsurfing publication I want you, the reader, to be involved. Send me your comments, opinions, stories, photos, ideas, etc. at info@windsport.com. Hope to see you on the water!

Diversity is the new business plan for water sports retailers. To succeed, retailers have broadened their product lines to broaden their appeal. In today's shop, more product equals more customers. For us in windsurfing, a new retailer is nothing but good vibrations for the health of our sport. Enter David Wells, chief bottle washer for Waterhound.

"The new shop in San Rafael, CA is a dream realized. My business partner is 2 time windsurfing world champion Cort Larned. We are doing SUP, Windsurfing, Kiteboarding, kayaking, and surfing. The core of the business is SUP but it was a priority to put a proper windsurfing shop in place and SUP makes that possible. About 30% of our SUP's have windsurfing mast tracks. We are going to carry JP, Neil Pryde, Epic Gear, Aerotech, and Starboard. The shop opened 11-11-11 at 11:11:11 am. We do plan a second store and hopefully a 3rd and a 4th. The next one will be in San Francisco. The build out took 43 days and we really pushed hard to make it a special place. We are right on the water but it's strictly a longboard windsurfing, Kayak, and SUP launch. No shortboarding." The new store's new website.

Still 5 months away, the American Windsurfing Tour is excited about 2012. A tentative schedule is set with all the same 5 stops from last year. Check the website for event dates. From their Facebook page, the latest news:

Prize Money - The Expert division will now be called Professional with prize money on the line at each stop.
Live Casting of US Events - Competitions will be broadcast live on the internet so the action can be followed all over the world.
Grand Masters Division Added - Windsurfers over the age of 55 will now have their own time on the water.
New AWT Website coming soon - a new-look site with all the info you need to know about the AWT.
Facebook Fan Page - Be sure to follow this link and click 'LIKE'

Postcript · Pete Dekay said in the interview, "I’ve put a listing of shops and clubs on the main menu bar of Windsport and I’d appreciate hearing from anyone about additions I can make to these lists." My suggestion to Pete and everyone else is to take a look at the Community section in the Learners guide... My shameless plug is please look at all of the material in the guide. Don't be shy, tell anyone with an interest in anything windsurfing: wannabe wave sailors - friends who just wanna see what it's like (Inside the brain...) - a racer who is deep in the fleet - aspiring freestyler - first time loopers. Share the link with anyone who has an interest to learn.

Kai Lenny: "I am pretty sure this is my favorite windsurf shot of me ever." Photo by Berthuot | Visuals

Dana Miller catching a January sesh on the Oregon coast. Photo by Tigi

WindSurfing & Boards · Cisco & Jimmie at Jaws

2012-01-08T23:18:00.006-05:00

Two windsurfing institutions are changed forever. U.S. based WindSurfing suspends publication; translation: going out of business. British based Boards decides to end their monthly print magazine. Unlike their American competition they will give it a go in the digital realm.

In 1980, Terry Snow, founder and owner of World Publishing, started his second magazine: WindRider. In 1990, they bought out their sole competitor, Windsurf and merged the 2 into the renamed WindSurfing. World Publishing was bought out by Swedish media giant, Bonnier Corp. in 2006. Just 5 years later:

"Bonnier Corp. has announced it will suspend publication of WindSurfing and Kiteboarding magazines. Due to a continual decline and consolidation in the windsurfing and kiteboarding markets, the magazines have been placed on hiatus, effective immediately. The Feb./March 2012 edition of Kiteboarding, currently in production, will be produced and distributed."

They believe the growth potential, increased revenue from advertising, subscriptions and counter sales, did not warrant the continuation of the 30 year old institution. This does not mean the sport is declining rather we are just growing too slowly for a company like Bonnier to stay in the windsurfing entertainment business. They, like all print businesses, continue to adjust their operations seeking to find balance between a finely honed, matured modus operandi and the new digital future. In the end, windsurfing was viewed as too small a market. The abrupt closing surprised everyone in the sport.

WS Mag had just relocated to Hood River in 2011 and shared an office (also closing) with Kiteboarding, the other magazine in their Bonnier Group. A check of the corporate website showed they were quickly erasing names. Former editor, Josh Sampiero, is already searching for new horizons which could potentially include staying in the windsurfing industry. "The sport of windsurfing and WINDSURFING magazine changed my life," says Josh. "It took me all over the world, introduced me to incredible people, and gave me the life many dream of, and for that, I'll always be grateful. And no matter what, I'll always be a windsurfer." The WS Mag website will also close. There was no comment about the possibility of selling WS Mag. Officially, they will retain their property with the hope they might reconstitute it in the future if market conditions warrant. But this seemed a fairly far fetched idea after talking with Dean Turcol, VP Corporate Communications for Bonnier Corp. He put the circulation for 2011 around 25,000.

The latest and possibly the last WS Mag Email Newsletter did not mention anything about the closing. Turcol said: "Current subscribers will receive a notice that they will receive TransWorld Surf for the duration of their subscription. However, if they do not wish to receive TransWorld Surf, they may select an alternate Bonnier-produced magazine."

Boards Magazine started in 1982; the venerable content powerhouse produced 10 issues per year. After much soul searching, they are changing from a print to a digital focused enterprise. Their press release: "Following an extensive review of the current windsurfing market and the demands of both audiences and brands, Boards have made the proactive decision to increase their investment and presence within the online market. From Jan 1st 2012, they will begin a program of investment that will include the launch of a new windsurfing website and mobile applications (please note – the forum will be unaffected other than enhancements to speed and reliability which we realise will be much welcomed).

To complement the enhanced digital experience and to better optimise the use of traditional media, Boards magazine will be restructured into a high quality 'reference' publication with two scheduled releases per year. In addition to these publications, the team will also create a Boards 'basics' magazine aimed at increasing windsurfing accessibility and participation.

Subscribers of Boards magazine, will receive a letter with issue 280 explaining what this will mean to them fully.

Overall, this investment and restructuring represents an exciting future for Boards magazine and one that should continue to increase audiences through media that best support windsurfers in the UK and beyond."

Jaws roared into the new year providing photographer Jimmie Hepp his rookie session shooting the famous wave. And thank you very much for sharing the action from Peahi this Jan 4, 2012. This 8 shot series of Francisco Goya is priceless. Don't miss his story of the day at the bottom of the post.

Just in case you missed the many Jaws videos...

Welcome 2012

2012-01-02T17:52:00.006-05:00

This is the second year for the Lord of the Wind Showdown at Los Barriles, Baja on the southern coast of the Sea of Cortez. $20,000 of prize money awaits the competitors for their efforts from January 12 - 18. Last year, Kevin Pritchard won the Kite vs.Windsurfing Long Distance Race earning the winner take all prize money and some serious smack down bragging rights. Last year's inaugural event made it to television via the the Comcast Network this recent October. The Travel Channel will be there to shoot an episode from this year's event. For those who can't go, you can watch on your computer via the live webcast. Check the website.

Recent Training Camp - BRR, FL

The U.S. qualifier for the ISAF Youth Worlds, Jan 13 - 16 in Long Beach, CA, will select the 2 best finishers from the BIC Techno 293 Fleet to compete in the 2012 Youth Worlds, July 12 - 21, in Ireland. About a dozen juniors are expected to go to Long Beach. The 2 winners, one boy one girl, will have qualified in Long Beach on the T-293 and then must compete in Ireland on the RS:X. This could be a big jump in sail size for the lightweights. Juniors use to the T-293 7.8 max sail size will have to make adjustments, especially in winds over 18 knots, for the larger 8.5 sail used in youth RS:X. Also, the larger RS:X board will take lots of practice to get dialed. The Long Beach event will also factor into the decision for the selection of 4 members to the new U.S. Sailing Youth Development Team. More on the team here.

Bob Willis

Florida usually starts the winter race season with The Alex Caviglia Blue Water Classic in Miami. This regatta is traditionally held the weekend before the OCR. However, organizers reported on Dec 20: "Due to conflicting activities on a very busy weekend on the water and the Orlando Surf Expo (Jan 12 - 14), we are postponing the regatta. Stay tuned for the new dates announcement..." The Rolex Miami OCR set for Jan 22 -28 is the only western hemisphere stop on the Olympic Class World Tour. expect to see a rather small field of competitors in the RS:X Class. Performance at this year's Miami OCR will factor into qualifying for the 4 RS:X members on the new U.S. Sailing Development Team.

Farrah Hall

Bob Willis and Farrah Hall are the recently qualified U.S. Olympic Team members for the RS:X Class. Congratulations !! Bob also qualified the U.S. for the 2012 Olympics at the 2011 Worlds in Perth, Australia. Farrah will have to finish in the top 7 of the as yet unqualified countries at the 2012 RS:X Worlds at Cadiz, Spain, March 20 - 29, to seal the deal for an Olympic berth. For the first time ever in the history of the class, Neil Pryde is putting up $50,000 prize money for this regatta. Adding to a big year for the RS:X Class, now focused on the 2012 Olympics in England, is a looming decision in November to pick which classes will compete at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. There has been a lot of speculation that kiting could replace windsurfing.

The Calema Midwinters returns this year, March 1 - 4, at Kelly Park, Cocoa, FL. This event is also hosting the Kona Class National Championship and the North American Techno 293 Championship. Traditionally held the week before the Midwinters on the west coast in Sarasota, FL, the Island Style Classic continues their annual event Feb 25 - 26 . Last year's replacement for the Midwinters, the Banana River Regatta, will not be held because event organizer, Dominique Valle, will be in Cadiz, Spain training for the RS:X Worlds. However, expect to see this event return in April 2013. Speaking of April, will there be a race in Jacksonville this year?

Finishing out 2011, Dec 28 - 31, the Banana River Training Camp in Cocoa Beach, FL (T293, Formula & RS:X) has become an annual get together for a group of young Americans and Canadians. The camps are focused on racing skills but work on everything related to windsurfing plus SUP-ing when there is no wind and suitable surf. The event was taught by Dominique Vallee, Britt Viehman and Karen Marriot. Many of the participants will now head to Long Beach in a few weeks.

DaNews is now published 3 days a week on M W F. I'm trying to focus even more on North American content and the first quarter of the year usually has a lower volume of news hence the abbreviated schedule.

The Calendar last year covered events in North America. Still looking for better sources for events in Canada and will try to include more South American events this year.

The Learners guide to windsurfing has updated all the Disciplines pages with new material; added a new page by Simon Bornhoft linking up 30+ articles; added a new page with links to the complete Jem Hall's Wannabe a Wave Sailor series; and increased the size of all the video players. More to come...

Calendar: Jan - Feb - Mar - 2012

2011-12-25T09:52:00.008-05:00

IV Buzios International Regatta | Brazil | Jan 9 - 15
http://www.internationalwindsurfing.com/userfiles/documents/Buzios_International_Regatta%20Brazil_Jan_2012_NoR.pdf

Lord of the Wind | Baja | Jan 12 -16
http://www.lordofthewindbaja.com/

ISAF Youth World Qualifier | Long Beach, CA | Jan 13 - 16
http://www.abyc.org/upload/2012_ISAF_Youth_World_Qualifier_NOR.pdf

Alex Caviglia Blue Water Classic | Miami, FL | TBA
http://www.cavigliafoundation.org

Rolex OCR | Miami, FL | Jan 22 - 28
http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/events/miami-2012.php

ABK | Bonaire | Jan 23 - 27
http://abkboardsports.com/camps/details/226

Aloha Clinic | Maui | Mar 17 - 24
http://www.shawnacropas.com/ShawnaCropas/Maui_Clinics.html

Guy Cribb Clinic | Maui | Mar 18 - 28
http://www.guycribb.com/windsurfing_technique_holiday0037v01.htm

RS:X Worlds (country qualifier for Olympics) | Cadiz,Spain | Mar 20 - 29
http://www.rsxclass.com/download/12RSX_WC_NoR.pdf

ABK |Bonaire | Mar 26 - 30
http://abkboardsports.com/camps/details/231

Guy Cribb Clinic | Corpus Christi, TX | Mar 30 - Apr 2
http://www.guycribb.com/windsurfing_technique_holiday0035v01.htm

Canadian events.

More Team USA junior events.

Mowind does a detailed schedule for the Great Lakes / North Central U.S.

Calcup covers the west coast U.S. races and more.

Maui Race Series.

ABK continuous tour schedule.

U.S. Windsurfing National Racing Tour.

Southeast U. S. events will be found here.

iWindsurf Events page.

Solo Sports events.

PWA World Tour Events.

American Windsurfing (Wave) Tour.

BABA events.

Matt Pritchard & Shawna Cropas Aloha Clinics

Techno 293 calendar

Rest In Peace WINDSURFING Magazine

2011-12-22T14:41:00.000-05:00

Mag Editor, Josh Sampiero posted this message to the iWindsurf Forum:

Word is getting around, and I wanted to be the one to tell the iWindsurf community.

WINDSURFING magazine will be suspending publication for the upcoming year.

There's still quite a few details I'm not sure about, and our team is still quite a bit in shock.

I'm sure there will be a press release next week. We've spent this week telling our advertisers and contributors. (Sorry if we haven't gotten to all of you yet - there's a lot!)

It's been a great run. We are part of an amazing community, that I'm sure will continue, even without the magazine. Windsurfing will always be the most incredible sport in my world, and, I'm sure, yours too.

I'm not sure what the future holds for me yet, but I will continue to be a member of this community, and continue to be on the water with you guys.

I'm off to the mountain for some decompression and get my mind off the thing. Will check back later.

All the best in the wind,

Josh Sampiero

Find out the latest on this developing story: https://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23829

AWT Maui Makani Classic: Live from Ho'okipa

2011-10-27T10:42:00.005-04:00

Live Webcast available on the AWT Website.

Broadcast scheduled to begin: 4:00 pm EDT.

More live Ho'okipa coverage from Mama's Beach Cam.

The Fish Story · DaNews · Learners guide · New Job Offer

2011-10-04T12:35:00.006-04:00

Mike with his sons

Rip Hood to Fatherhood by Mike Fischer was published on his blog in 3 parts, 18 pages long. In steps Bill Bell who created a PDF Reader Widget that made it easier to read. Bill wrote: "Mike composed an excellent feature noting the experience of fatherhood and its tie in to windsurfing. The piece comprises interviews from windsurfing personalities across the spectrum and is an entertaining and insightful look into the experience. I was fortunate to be one of the interviewees and contributor to the story."

It's a good story that was written for publication in a windsurfing magazine. This blog really only offers a little more page width for even easier viewing and another chance to those who might have missed it. Hint: Zoom your page view to at least 125% for easier reading.

PDF player has been removed. Go to the above PDF Reader Link.

DaNews is my daily collection of windsurfing news and videos with the focus on North America. I've learned that the windsurfing community does an impressive job of reporting. Some might find it a little hard to stay on top of the many unique sources that report. This digest was started to make it easier to find the news. Why put it on Facebook? Because it's free, doesn't require FB membership to view the page and does a great job summarizing what you'll find when you click the link.

If you would like to put the DaNews Widget (see below) on your website, contact me via the "comments" at the bottom of this page.

Learners guide to windsurfing will be adding new material. Boards magazine has released a ton of recent magazine articles by Simon Bornhoft and Jem Hall. And there's more to add...I've been working on linking up all this new material so it is easier to find. Consequently the Blog will get less attention for awhile.

Katie Crafts is leaving her job as the Executive Director of the Columbia Gorge Windsurfing Association. They want to find a replacement soon. Deadline for applications: Oct 10. The job pays $30,000 a year. There is no other windsurfing job like this in the U.S. Details

Nurturing the Sport · PWA Live · Radar · Video Replay

2011-09-26T17:22:00.000-04:00

Nurturing the Sport ·

USWA · U.S. Windsurfing Association, founded in 1980 (originally started as U.S. Boardsailing), is here to encourage participation and promote excellence and enjoyment in recreational windsurfing and racing in the United States. Association President, Karen Marriott, reports membership has almost doubled from just a few years back: 600+ members today. Learn more here. What does our volunteer President Karen do? One thing, she answers the toll free phone about a dozen times a week: foreigners traveling to the U.S. looking for rentals, lessons and good places to sail; retailers looking for demographics (how many boards sold in the U.S.) and access issues. Surprisingly, loss of launch access is something that they regularly work on. They don't have a legal team but do get assistance from windsurfing lawyers. They lend help to those fighting municipalities by putting the legitimacy of a national organization on the side of locals wanting to gain or regain water launch access. Letterheads do matter. Sometimes it's just cross referencing what worked in one area with similar issues in another. In our litigious world, using public parks and having involvement with the public requires some level of liability protection. This is one place where membership dues get used: insurance for events.

Karen Marriott

Youth programs in the U.S. continue to grow at a measured pace. Translation: no large single Techno 293 Fleets of 20+ juniors in any one locale yet. I've noticed that reporting has dropped off for juniors and their events, but maybe those directly working in the youth programs are spending all their time on the water teaching and helping. Honestly, racing in general seems to be under some pressure when you look at the total number of participants at events, year to year. There is currently an effort underway to review (revive) the National Tour. Is USWA a racing organization? Karen said it has become one over the years but it shouldn't be just about racing. Is windsurfing slowing or growing? She said feedback from instructors across the country indicates we are growing. More people are learning and business for instruction is good.

Gonzalo Crivello

It's been 15 + years since there was intercollegiate windsurf racing. Some will argue that the future success of windsurfing rests with reaching the college demographic. A new event is set for this fall. The official title of the event is: Intercollegiate Sailing Association Windsurfing Fall Invitational Windsurfing Regatta - Kona Division - Promotional Regatta. The event is set for November 5 - 6, University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. The driving force behind the regatta is USF Sailing Coach, Gonzalo Crivello. Gonzalo has recently fallen in love with windsurfing and wants to share the sport with college students. North Beach Windsurfing owner, Britt Viehman, has offered a helping hand along with Steve and Marty Gottlieb of Sandy Point Progressive Sports.

Windsurfing returned this September to the Orlando, FL Surf Expo. Surf Expo is a strictly wholesale trade show of water sports merchandise connecting retailers, mostly from the western hemisphere, with manufacturers and distributors. All of us regular Joes and Josephines are not invited. This used to be the hot spot for our first look at new windsurfing gear. And in years past the mags did some serious reporting introducing the new stuff. After all, the only thing better than windsurfing is looking at windsurfing gear. This year I've only seen one video. I didn't go, but the reports all agree: windsurfing's presence is dialed back from previous years (last year they held a separate wholesale show for retailers in Hood River). SUP is the bright light of the water sports industry. Even kite companies are making SUP gear. Has kiting hit a plateau? Some said yes. Even if that's true, they still did a massive job with video reports.

AWSI (Association of Wind and Water Sports Industries) is a trade organization that helps the wind industry with various business issues and organizes an annual trade show. This year they.partnered with Surf Expo to host the annual trade show event for most of the manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in the Windsurf, Kiteboard, and SUP industries.

St. Francis Yacht Club

Jim DeSilva of Liquid Water Sports in south Florida sent out an impassioned group email asking us all "If you want to grow the sport, help get windsurfing started at Yacht Clubs, where kids can sail every day, where sailing is what they do, where they have facilities and infrastructure, and they have new talent coming through every year. Why are the Euros so far ahead of us? They have windsurfing at their clubs, that’s why...If you care about the sport, help it grow at YOUR local club—this works, just like it has for Lasers, Sunfish, 420’s, Collegiate Champions (all came from clubs), World Champions (all from clubs) in every sailing class, and Americas Cup Champions (all from Clubs)! This works, why does windsurfing always want to run from the obvious answer and go to the beach by themselves?" Here's some more on the same topic from Britt Viehman: Broadening the youth scope to include windsurfing

From my regular reading of Scuttlebutt I've learned that the yachties are also concerned about declining interest from the younger generation for the ye ole ancient art of sailing.

WINDSURFING editor Josh Sampiero has put together a very cool plan for a National project for the summer of 2012, complete with promotional ads and a plan for execution. Here's his introduction for the L2W 2012 Project – National Learn To Windsurf Day. "I’ve proposed we very shortly pick a date in the summer of 2012 to promote a National Learn To Windsurf Day, in which every shop, school, windsurfing club, and yacht club in the country conducts free windsurfing lessons. It’s something many of the shops, schools, and clubs do anyways – but with a national, cohesive effort, I think it could be much more effective in inspiring current windsurfers to take part, promote, and participate in the effort.

Brands could sponsor for exposure (small investments) and the magazines could sponsor pages for promotion of the event that lists participating shops. (Since we’ll be marketing in the magazines to current windsurfers, perhaps the pitch there is Teach a Friend to Windsurf Day."

PWA is live from Sylt, Germany: Sept 22 - Oct 2: an all discipline tour ending extravaganza. The video player below will automatically turn on when there is a live broadcast. Apologies if this blows your cover at work.

Radar · The long running and now 26th Calema Midwinters will return March 1 - 4, 2012 · Tatiana Howard....new sails, new sponsors, new website · Water Sports Swap Meet...Miami, Rickenbacker Cswy...Oct. 22, 10 am - 1 pm · Clip Harness Line on Facebook · Lord Dunkerbeck found Facebook · Katie Crafts has stepped down as Executive Director of the CGWA · PWA may return to Maui in 2012 · Andy McKinney reports Wind-NC is back in action · RS:X updates from the recent AGM · Trudy Lary wants you to vote for her Tyson Poor photo · Lord of the Wind 2012 set for January 12 - 16 in southern Baja is offering $20,000 in prize money: Details

Video Replay is a selection, IMHO, of the best videos from last week's DaNews. (Sept 19 - 25 = 15 videos).

There are 2 very good event summary videos from KIA @coldhawaii. I like this one from Robby Swift and Heidy Clawson:

The Reunion Island Wave Classic ran Aug 25 - Sept 5:

El Faro, Pacasmayo, Peru:

These guys are doing something really important and introducing windsurfing to a new audience.

Light wind day at Waddell Creek:

11 year old Loick Lesauvage kicking ass:

Nicolas Dudet in Lobitos, Peru. August 2011:

PWA Kia @coldhawaii · Radar · Windsurfer · Best Videos

2011-09-18T16:47:00.002-04:00

PWA/Carter

PWA Kia @coldhawaii was a huge success. Say what? Didn't have a chance to catch any of the live webcast? It was 17 year old Philip Koster's victory against the 2010 World Champion, Victor Fernandez, in the Double Elimination that secured him the 2011 PWA World Wave Title. Koster kept charging, taking out Ricardo Campello twice, thus winning this event and chalking up, so far, a perfect three for three season. The 4 heats in his run to the top were an impressive display of skill, talent and confidence under pressure. Listening to the steady stream of praise and respect for his technical skills from the 2 announcers was telling. His peers were flat out in awe of what he was doing to the competition.

PWA/Carter

Organizers had proclaimed that Kia @coldhawaii, second to last stop of this year's Word Tour, would be "the most live and interactive event on the circuit." Live video streaming would be a big part of fulfilling the promise. Local Danish company Streamfactory, who had done the work last year of getting the broadcast to the internet, was chosen again. From my end here in Florida, the show was brilliant. Even though the promised 4 camera broadcast which would have allowed slow motion replay didn't pan out, the resolution and feed rate all measured up to great video quality.

PWA/Carter

Another good production choice was using Internet platform provider Bambuser. The PWA uses Livestream for their webcasts which unfortunately has no volume control. Surprise, surprise when you arrive at any page with a Livestream player. Be careful if you sneak a peek at the office. The Bambuser player gives you on/off volume control. Another very cool feature: It stores all the previously recorded broadcasts. Watch the prerecorded or if the broadcast live button is active, select it and go real time.

PWA/Carter

The glue that held the video work together was the great commentary from Robby Swift and Ben Proffitt. The mix of these two personalities worked especially well. The extensive in depth chatter about the riders, their gear, conditions and technique was well appreciated. It has really been rare for us on the other side of the microphone to hear this kind of banter and benign gossip. If you're a windsurfing junkie, the commentary was especially savory. All the interviews and ever changing guests added even more to an already outstanding job of reporting.

PWA/Carter

I learned from the webcast that 180 volunteers had contributed time and effort to help this event operate and come together. The sponsor list further showed how so many had contributed to the financial needs for a successful contest. The crown jewel of all this work was the Internet sized jumbotron on their Live Media Mashup Page. They used a larger than normal player for the live video feed, individual judging scores at the top, the official Kia Cold Hawaii Facebook update stream, a live FB chat stream that interacts with the commentators, multiple tweeter feeds and at the bottom, the podcast library. The homepage was no less impressive. Remember, the PWA was also reporting with their trademark Live Ticker, written play by play, daily summaries, elimination ladders and the always incredible photos by John Carter. In fact, it wasn't until I saw his photos that I realized how insane the conditions really were.

PWA/Carter

One unexpected cause for delay throughout the contest was the jetski not working. The jetski was the on water ambulance ready to swoop in and rescue a hurt or disabled competitor. And wouldn't you know it, just one hour into the competition, Danish local Lars Petersen (from the video Winner to Wave Sailor) went missing in his first heat. He got separated from his gear and couldn’t catch up with it before it was swept away. The judges dispatched the jetski and rescued Lars but not his gear.

Tuesday's double elimination brought a first ever for the PWA: the judges score sheets were made available online quickly after each heat.

The Day 3 Podcast # 10 shows some of Philip's winning style. Sexy Pictures shot and produced all the podcasts: view their library here:

The Stream Factory/Bambuser video player with all the recorded live webcast is below. Here's some help in finding your way through the hours and hours of video.

· Day 1: Early rounds of of the single elimination.
· Day 2: Single elimination completed and the start of the double elimination.
· Day 3: Double elimination completed.
· Day 4: Super Session sponsored by Surf Magazine.
· Day 5: SUP competition. Interview by Proffitt and Swift with John Carter, Andre Paskowski and the team from Sexy Pictures.
· Day 6: Interview by Swift with Mussolini, Fernandez, Browne and Seadi about Koster and being a pro windsurfer.
· Day 7: A first ever look at how Judges score a heat. Head Judge Duncan Coombs and Robby Swift dissect and analyze the Super Final with slow motion replay. Must see !!!

Radar · For the first time in many years, an intercollegiate windsurfing event, a one design Kona Regatta, is set to run Nov 4 - 6 in St. Pete, FL. If you can help they need gear · U.S. Windsurfing will hold their 2012 National Championship in Hood River · Bernd Roediger leaves sponsor Naish in search of new directions · PWA is planning for the 2012 season: first up early in the year may be Cabo Verde · Graham Ezzy Foto Fridays: 9/16 9/9 9/2 · Florida Wave Challenge may be the only East Coast Wave Contest this year...Dates have been set for their contest window · Windsport's Surf Expo, most innovative product: watch · AWT Maui Makani Classic is filling up fast...30 spots left as of Sept. 13: register now

Brian McDowell's latest issue of Windsurfer International. Just click the photo below:

Video Replay is a selection, IMHO, of the best videos from last week's DaNews. (Sept 12 - 18 = 14+ videos). Also this week, the PWA live webcast added many hours of video content.

The first video via Solo Sports: "Fresh from the AWT CACTUS CUP Pro sailor Kevin McGillivray AKA KMAC or K-SMACK or K-Potle & friends take on a macker of a southern hemi, nicknamed GODZILLA, in early September. All that remains are a few broken masts, a spent box of band-aids and this chronicle:"

Jeff Bennett wrote: "first north swell of the new windsurfing north shore wave season at Hookipa, Maui."

Super Session Podcast from the 4th day of the PWA Wave Event at Klittmoller, Denmark.

Would you go this far? Desperate for a sesh...

Brazilian Marcillio Browne aka Brawzinho. Is a world wave title in his future?

Need some inspiration? Wave sailing Julien Flechet proves windsurfing is so easy, a child can do it !!

Hurricanes · Radar · Legends · Best Videos · PWA Live

2011-09-11T14:02:00.005-04:00

Live track of Maria updating every 6 hrs.

Hurricanes are usually a big pain in the ass. High season for tropical storms in the southern U.S. is August - September when wind sport junkies are desperate for a good sesh. Sometimes you can score an epic session if the storm is the perfect distance away, meaning 200 to 400 miles, and only passing by. But if it's headed directly for you, it will be really hard to balance the necessary preparation time to secure family and property and the time for just a quick sesh. The insanity factor comes into play when you realize sailable wind most likely won't come until right before the big collision.

Hurricane Irene fly by, Cocoa Beach

If your local authorities order an evacuation, your life may get way too complicated. Will you join a mass exodus that crawls away from the oncoming threat or will you defy the order and ride out the storm? Trust me, if you can actually score some water time after all your storm preparations are done, everybody from the Governor to anyone that carries a badge will treat you as a deranged lunatic if they realize you wanna go out into the water. Your favorite launch may actually be closed which happens here in Brevard County, Florida if they order an evacuation. Patrick Air Force Base closed all the beach access parks that had lockable gates for 3 days during and after the passing of Hurricane Irene 250 miles offshore.

If you're in the cross hairs of a hurricane and you've done all your preparation, hunker down and wait it out. Enjoy the amenities of modern civilization for as long as you have them, especially electricity. The U.S. eastern seaboard, courtesy of Hurricane Irene, just learned the awful reality of life without electricity: it goes on too long for most. A neighborhood full of portable generator smog and noise is little comfort at the hottest time of the year.

Joe Rocco

As the storm passes, you excitedly remember that no electricity means no work and no work equals play time. Repairs and clean up can wait, assuming of course, the house still has a roof and there's not a foot of water in your bedroom, 'cause there's probably at least one more day of wind left. You pack up, head out and see your community for the first time, probably navigating without any traffic lights all the way to your launch. Rig up and head out...and you've most likely not thought about the hazard that is right there below the water: debris. Sadly it was debris that most likely killed Long Island windsurfer Joe Rocco. We all know the power of a slam in a catapult.

Living near a coast for most of my life has brought me into the path of many hurricanes. Back in the olden days, before the prevalence of gas generators, post hurricanes were endurable events. Everybody in the 'hood emptied their refrigerators and freezers, fired up the barbecues and lived large for a few days. Everyone came out of their house, shared food and partied with their neighbors.

Atlantic Basin tropical storm tracks 1851-2000

There's a lot to think about if you're a wind junkie in need of a fix when a hurricane or a tropical storm approaches. While you eye the storm track with excitement or maybe dread, remember that the forecasters at the National Hurricane Center have a 5 year average error, for hurricane track forecasts, of about 200 miles when the storm is 4 days out. If you watch your local TV news to get information, most likely it will scare or confuse. If the NHC 4 day out track accuracy average doesn't impress, don't worry, they're still the definitive source for all information on tropical storms. If you want a reliable second opinion, go to Jeff Master's Wunderblog.

Radar · Zane Schweitzer has a new Facebook Page... Another new women-centric web destination on FB: JP Girls... Eastern Surf Magazine has a report on H. Irene with photos: Part 1... Josh Sampiero, WindSurfing editor, has been working on something new. I hear it's supposed to go to print March '12. Here's a sample: paddle + board... If you're a gearhead, have a look in the Blogroll on the right of this page at 琵琶湖 Freeride Web... Windsport editor Pete Dekay is also in Orlando at the Surf Expo 2012 and shot some video... The PWA Kia Cold Hawaii set to start this Monday, Sept. 12, is rumored to have 4 cameras for their Live Webcast. Katia could be a player at the contest. Robby Swift may be doing the commentary for the webcast. Robby along with Klaas Voget and Ben Proffitt all have serious foot injuries that will most likely keep them out of the contest... Swap Meet, Long Island, Sept. 17, Details: Hampton Watersports... Another Swap Meet in Atlantic City, NJ, Sept. 18, Details: Extreme Windsurfing... Racing at the RS:X European Championship starts on Monday, Sept. 12. Go to the event website for all reporting and results... Hookipa Super Snapper, Jimmie Hepp wants all of you who make his FB albums to Tag your photos and maybe even leave a few comments...

Legends · Laird Hamilton defines the term waterman. His website, Laird Life, describes a man fully engaged in living life on his terms. He's best known for his big wave surfing prowess but back in the day he did a lot of windsurfing.

His wife, Gabby wrote: "We recently sold our Maui home since we have been spending winters on Kauai, and have our eyes on the property next to our Maui lot. Laird has been flying back to Maui for big Peahi swells, and has essentially been enjoying the best of both worlds...Turning off the lights and shutting the garage doors for the last time was bitter sweet, but both of us feel like if you are not going to be somewhere let it go, and that change allows for new things to enter your life. It is so human to want to hold on to everything, but why not keep rolling forward when you can? Laird always talks about looking ahead since
that's the only way one can arrive at the next place. Not to live for or in the future, but to let go of the past so you can arrive at the new, and not live for what has already gone by. After all we are not defined by what we have done, but rather what we can still do. Time is moving so quickly and holding on to material things and the past cripples us all from continuing to suck the life out of every moment."

Video Replay is a selection, IMHO, of the best videos from the last week of (Sept 5 - 11) DaNews: 18 + videos this week. With so many video this week, honestly what follows are only some of the best. JP Girls, It's a Life Style, Maui 2011:

Can 9 Phil Soltysiak (Sailworks) from this year's PWA Tour, Canary Islands. Video taken by Polish freestyler Jakub Kosmowski. With one more freestyle event, Phil is currently in 9th place.

Max Rowe shot 40 minutes of video to get the best of the worst wipeouts from the sunny ol' U.K.

The dude with the 'tude...the always insane Zane Schweitzer:

Over on the Atlantic side of South America Kauli Seadi takes the double elimination after losing the single elimination to Wilhelm Shurmann in the Mormaii Ibiraquera Wave Contest.

While the conditions were not spectacular, what really impressed me: they have a national windsurfing festival. A few more videos from the Hayling Island Festival here.

PWA Live from Klitmoller, Denmark, September 12 - 18. For a bigger screen and the full media mashup, go to the event website Kia Cold Hawaii.

AWT Cancels Hatteras Wave Jam · Best Videos · Radar

2011-09-06T16:31:00.001-04:00

The American Windsurfing Tour canceled the Hatteras Wave Jam which was set to run September 14 - 17. Hurricane Irene hit Hatteras on August 27 cutting the main highway in multiple places and disrupting all basic services. A disappointed AWT pulled the plug on the event Sept. 1. With the loss of the wave contest, the Makani Fins Wave Experience was also forced to cancel their concurrent week of clinics.

Local event organizer, Bill Bell, reported on his blog: "Hurricane Irene hit with full force Saturday featuring a double punch of opposite gale force wind direction as the eye of the storm passed nearly over the OBX. I am lucky to live on a high dune area near Jockey's Ridge State Park, thus flooding was not an issue for me. However, for many on the OBX (especially the local community) the west side took the brunt of the storm with major historic sound side flooding as the tail end of Irene's westerly winds brought the raging water onto land and into people's homes/businesses. Roanoke Island, Hatteras Island, Collington, Duck, and other parts of the islands were simply inundated by the Albermarle and Pamlico Sounds..."

Andy McKinney filed this report on September 1: "The biggest issue is the washouts on Hwy 12 in Pea Island and at Mirlo Beach. It’s going to take some time to get the road back up and running. Other standard infrastructure has been affected as well- including water, electricity, and phone lines. Obviously, it isn’t safe for anyone to be on the island when these basic necessities can’t be provided..."

Dana Miller offered these words of thanks: "... for that upper-level wind shear that helped collapse Irene’s eye wall the last day before land fall across North Carolina. Huge. That was some very hot ocean she was feeding from and the potential for her to gain power that last day had me fearing for the worst. Yeah, the loss of life, the destruction and pain would have been so much worse but for that single most excellent event...the locals on Hatteras have never seen a flood like that. Not one but two new inlets. One up at the Pea Island Refuge station and the other at Mirlo Beach at the north end of Rodanthe. Maybe a road again in a month or so. The ferries are running but only essential inbound traffic. The place is a disaster. The Hatteras Island Surf Shop grounds were swept clean. The decks and stairs are gone, the boats scattered..."

Meanwhile, way out west, Solo Sports is offering up a week at Punta San Carlos at half price to all of the AWT fans who can make it down Baja way Sept. 10 - 17: Details.

Video Replay is a selection, IMHO, of the best videos from the last week (Aug 29 - Sept 4) of DaNews. Not sure why, but big wipe outs are always interesting to watch. Straight from the Indian Ocean:

Continent Seven wrote: "Right during the filming of 'Minds Wide Open'...Andre Paskowski, the producer, got a new cancer diagnosis in March. Back then he thought to stop the project for a short moment, but Andre never gives up. His personal goals in competitive windsurfing may have changed a bit, but his love for the sport will never change..."Andre said: "I feel that I still can do good. My body is totally damaged, but it does not mean that it will stay that way...I feel that mostly, all is still there. Windsurfing is still the most important. I check the news every day. It is important that you keep your dreams alive! It would not help me to stop thinking of windsurfing… it would just make me even more depressed." The Continent Seven interview with Andre here.

JP always makes a fashionably late product debut:

The world is just a better place because there is windsurfing in Morocco. Thanks Boujmaa Guilloul:

The amazingly long waves of Lobitos, Peru from the recent IFCA Wave Championship:

Can we ever get enough help rigging our sails right? Even more rigging instruction here.

Radar · WindSurfing mag editor, Josh Sampiero, will be in Orlando, September 8 - 10, for the big industry show, Surf Expo... The PWA: Kia Cold Water Hawaii wave contest (Please have a look at their Press Kit below) will run September 12 - 18 at Klitmoller, Denmark. Like last year, they will live webcast the entire event: Live Video... Running almost at the same time, Sept. 10 - 19, the RS:X European Championship in Bourgas, Bulgaria will be the last big test before the Olympic country qualifier this December in Perth, Australia... If you want to be a boardtester for Windsport, now is the time to make your reservations. They will be testing at Solo Sports in Baja for 2 weeks starting October 8... Come to think of it doesn't WindSurfing do a board test in Maui about the same time every year... DaNewsBlog had its first visitor from Iraq last month...

Open publication - Free publishing - More cold hawaii

Calendar: Oct - Nov - Dec - 2011

2011-09-04T22:27:00.004-04:00

SDFW | San Diego | Oct. 1

http://sandiegowindsurfing.homestead.com/events.html

PWA | Sylt, Germany | Sept 22 - Oct 2

http://www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=38&tx_pwaevent_pi1[showUid]=186&cHash=ab34ae39c6

Endless Summer | Shell Point, FL | Sept 30 - Oct 2

http://www.20knotsnob.com/es.cfm

ABK | Long Island, NY | Sept 30 - Oct 2
http://abkboardsports.com/camps/details/213

Columbus Day Regatta | Lake MacBride Solon, IA | Oct 8 - 9

http://www.mowind.org/calendar/calendar.pdf

ABK | Dewey Beach, DE | Oct 8 - 10

http://abkboardsports.com/camps/details/214

Windsport Gear Test | Punta San Carlos, MEX | Oct 8 - 15

http://solosports.net/Special%20Events-Punta%20San%20Carlos/2012%20Windsport%20gear%20test.htm

Windsport Gear Test | Punta San Carlos, Baja | Oct 15 - 22

http://solosports.net/Special%20Events-Punta%20San%20Carlos/2012%20Windsport%20gear%20test.htm

RS Racing Series | Miami | Oct 15
http://adventuresportsmiami.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=331:rs-racing-series&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=150

Atlanta Fall Classic | Atlanta, GA | Oct 15 - 16

http://www.windsurfatlanta.org/index.php

Kashy/WET WS Festival Part II | Seaford, VA | Oct 15 - 16
http://www.sailwet.com/Regattas/FallReg11.htm

ABK | Hatteras | Oct 17 - 21

http://abkboardsports.com/camps/details/217

Pan Am Games | Puerto Vallarta, MEX | Oct 17 - 23

http://www.guadalajara2011.org.mx/eng/03_deportes/deportes_en_guadalajara2011.asp?id_dep=27

2011 IFCA N. A. Slalom Championship | Miami | Oct 21 - 23

http://www.windsurfingtour.com/?p=4153

Aloha Windsurfing Clinic | Maui | Oct 22 - 27
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=184a0ca1e35d3f582eb081ed9&id=025afee86b

AWT: Maui Makani Classic | Ho'okipa | Oct 27 - Nov 1

http://americanwindsurfingtour.com/venues/maui/

ABK | Hatteras | Oct 28 - 30

http://abkboardsports.com/camps/details/218

ABK | Corpus Christi, TX | Nov 3 -5

http://abkboardsports.com/camps/details/215

SDFW | San Diego, CA | Nov 5

http://sandiegowindsurfing.homestead.com/events.html

ICSA WINDSURFING FALL INVITATIONAL – KONA DIVISION

PROMOTIONAL REGATTA - UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

2011 Intercollegiate Windsurfing Fall Invitational | St. Petersburg, FL | Nov 5 - 6

http://www.uswindsurfing.org/?p=896

2011 Florida Wave Challenge | Cocoa Beach | Nov 5,6 - 12,13 - 19,20
http://www.floridawavechallenge.com/Florida_Wave_Challenge/Home.html

ABK | South Padre, TX | Nov 10 - 13

http://abkboardsports.com/camps/details/216

SDFW | San Diego , CA | Dec 3

http://sandiegowindsurfing.homestead.com/events.html

i to i Distance Race | Ft Lauderdale, FL | Dec 3 - 4

http://www.i-to-i.org/

2011 N.A. Formula Championship | Miami | Dec 16 - 18
http://www.windsurfingtour.com/?p=4497

Best Videos from Last Week · Digital Evolution

2011-08-29T20:14:00.002-04:00

Video Replay is a selection, IMHO, of the best videos from the last week (Aug 22 - 28) of DaNews. Dax Barker, age 7, goes for a quick sail after school:

The wacky world of windsurfing aka the King of the Hook. The Big Winds video:

British windsurfer Chris Murray, aka Muzza, is a bon vivant water dog who spent his summer over here in the western U.S. The video shows us some of what he did:

The Queen of Kanaha, the beautiful Valerie Lopez, shreds some waves with her Hot Sails Maui Smack:

The 6 day PWA annual gathering at Costa Brava is not known for nukin' wind, but delivered perhaps the windiest conditions on Tour this year. Good thing Eric Bellande put this video together because it is a rare visual record of the event:

Stickering vandals hit Kanaha...Maui Windsurfing has collected 5 videos from the Kuma Movie Blog visit to Maui.

Red Bull Media House filmed and produced this PWA Tour video for their content outlets which includes a cable channel in Europe: Servus TV. There is a German voice over and it's 24 minutes long...have a look:

Digital Evolution · First to ride on the new school digital wave was Brian McDowell's Windsurfer International online magazine. The August issue, # 21, means 21 consecutive months of publishing. Because there are no long lead times to get the magazine to the printers, topics and material are more up to date. The videos are the coolest feature in the mag. The magazine is free and doesn't require the sacrifice of one tree. If you haven't already read it or have just learned about the August issue, click on the photo and give it a go.

Maui Sails has also been pumping out a monthly digital magazine/newsletter focused on their products and the principals that make up the business. It also includes regular reports from their team riders. Hearing directly from Taty Frans has been fun for me. The July 2011 Newsletter, number 75, is found on their website here. Using the same style format as the newsletter they offer their complete 2011 product line in an electronic brochure.

For 2012, e-catalogs are now more common.

2012 Starboard:

2012 Tabou Catalog with arguably the most colorful board graphics ever produced:

2012 Gaastra Sails Manual:

2012 Goya Boards

2012 Simmer Style Boards, first year for boards:

2012 Maui Sails:

Best Videos from Last Week · The Ways of the Wind

2011-08-22T18:08:00.001-04:00

Video Replay is a selection, IMHO, of the best videos from the last week (Aug 15 - 21) of DaNews. The first video is a tasty, don't beat 'em over the head, introduction to the 2012 Naish Windsurfing Collection:

Windsurfing vs. the World:

The King of the Hook, the ever so unusual and often funny once a year freestyle event, is put on by the Columbia Gorge Windsurfing Association...some of this year's rendition:

From the Indian Ocean, Marco Lang in Mauritius:

Point of view, or simply POV, camera angles record the scene from a particular player's viewpoint. POV is how the broader field of cinematography would characterize the GoPro genre so common now in windsurfing videos. Here are 3 good examples from this week.

James Douglass is an accomplished GoPro videographer. More of his musings and videos can be found on his James Blog. James enjoying a summer day in Nahant:

The next video demonstrates the central issue of where to put the camera to get the most interesting view. The camera mount in the Punta Experience is something new:

Jeff Bennett of Maui Windsurfing wrote: "At the 2011 Maui Race Series Neil Pryde State Championships, Mike Yasak wore a GoPro camera during the morning age group heats. Mike was kind enough to share the footage with me. I’ve made two videos from it, one a highlights video with some footage I shot from the beach intercut with the GoPro footage, and another much longer video of all of each race 1 through 4 of the men’s age 50 division at the 2011 Maui Race Series Neil Pryde State Championships."

Newspapers will report on windsurf gatherings, like a regatta, if someone prods them enough in advance. Usually that role falls on the shoulders of an event organizer who is sometimes overwhelmed by a sea of details. And more often than not the paper will do an adequate job of announcing the event but will lose interest in the follow up report of what happened. Occasionally you might find a human interest story about windsurfing usually concerning a long standing business or something interesting a windsurfer has done. In short, newspapers know we exist but for most of their readers our sport is a big yawn.

One notable exception to the newspaper doesn't really care syndrome is the Maui News which faithfully reports on windsurfing news. Their Maui Race Series reporting would look right at home in any big city newspaper's sports section. Covering windsurfing on Maui makes sense especially when you consider it's a relatively small island with 150,000+ residents and water sports are way big there.

Meanwhile, back on the U.S. mainland, something new for windsurfing started this summer in the Gorge. Katie Crafts of CGWA fame is writing a column for the local newspaper, Hood River News. A column for a newspaper usually means a regular feature driven by the author's personality and explicitly containing their point of view: the GoPro video of journalism. This summer she's written 5 articles, with one more to go, for her column: The Ways of the Wind. How did Katie get this chance to write about windsurfing for her local paper? "Adam Lapierre (a local kiter and reporter at the paper) contacted me after I submitted a press release, and laid out the idea of a recurring column about windsurfing. As a writer and windsurfer, I, of course, thought it was a great idea and jumped on the opportunity! Hood River has a lot of different "circles" of people - wind sport people, winter skiers, small business owners, farmers, ... it's nice to have a platform to bring awareness to these different circles, and this has been an awesome opportunity to do just that - build awareness of how windsurfing fits into Hood River (and how Hood River fits into windsurfing) through the column."

Unfortunately there is no archived record of Katie's column, but she did photo copy the original clippings. Click the image and zoom for easier reading:

Summer

2011-08-15T22:33:00.004-04:00

Marion Lepert's summer included 2 world championship podium finishes: outright World Title for the 2011 Women's Formula Class World Champion and a 2nd place finish in the Under 17 Bic Techno 293 World Championship. Her essay for the Little Pickle Press gives us an insight into the rarefied world of competitive windsurfing. She writes: "Every time someone asks me what my favorite activity is, I answer windsurfing, and every time I get blank stares. “What’s that?” is the question that most commonly follows. This is no surprise because windsurfing is not very popular in the United States. In fact, I have only met a couple dozen American junior windsurfers. But this has not stopped me from loving the sport. I have been windsurfing for eight years, and racing for five. During the summer, I race with an amazing group of San Francisco windsurfers, who have taught me everything I know about racing. In four years, they have helped me go from struggling just to finish a course to being able to race internationally..." How My Dreams Take Me Through Change

The Bic Techno 293 Worlds were held July 19 - 24 in San Francisco, Marion's home waters. She has a short interview toward the end in the video below. 7 more videos from the event here.

Zane Schweitzer came in 2nd in the Under 20 division of the first ever running of the IFCA Youth Wave World Championship. Zane won the Expression Session which payed $1000 in prize money to the winner. In addition to the money for the Expression Session, $3000 more was awarded to the Junior and Youth Divisions of the regular competition !! Pretty amazing to see prize money here. And they joined an even bigger windsurfing event trend by live webcasting all the action. The contest ran from August 2 - 6 in Lobitos, Peru, a world famous wave destination.

Matty Schweitzer reports about the kids clinic: "Zane and I put together a kids clinic after the final day of the IFCA World Championships! We had more kids show up than we could have hoped for and had one of the most memorable days of our Lives introducing Kids to the Ocean and donating almost all that we had! This would have never been possible if it was not for Zane and his sponsors donating their time, product and support! Mahalo Nui Loa to Alpinestars, Star-Board, Maui Jim & PowerBalance Hawai'i ! Because of your full support we have changed many lives here in Peru! And big thanks to Ricardo Guglielmino Pedreros for setting up everything and getting us out here! Viva Peru & Mahalo Nui."

Nicolas Dudet, 18 year old from Cancun, Mexico who now lives in the U.S., also competed in this event. He started windsurfing when he was 12 years old and decided by 14 to become a wave sailor. Nick had a 3rd place finish at the 2011 AWT Waddell Creek Event in the Amateur Division and a 5th place finish at the 2011 Pistol River in the Amateur Division. Nick missed AWT Baja to compete instead at the IFCA Youth Worlds in Peru.

More reporting at the event website. Expression Session below.

Sarah Quita Offringa is having an amazing summer, grabbing 2 PWA World Titles: freestyle and slalom. The 20 year old from Aruba, who is now going to college in Holland, secured her 5th World Title with a 2nd place finish in slalom at the recent Tour stop in Alacati, Turkey. 2010 was the first year she competed in slalom for the entire tour finishing 3rd overall.

Of course we all know Sarah for her amazing command of freestyle. Boardseeker recently interviewed her. Asked about the two disciplines she now does: "...it’s good that the competitions are separated from each other so you can fully concentrate on one discipline for the duration of the event. But it is hard to keep your level high in both disciplines because if you don’t train, for instance, in freestyle for a while the others will progress more than you do. The same thing happens with slalom, so in that sense it’s hard to combine the two disciplines...Usually when I get the chance I’ll go and freestyle. I prefer to go slalom sailing with a buddy - it’s a little bit boring by yourself. However, sometimes I need some time off from freestyle and then I love blasting across the water on my slalom kit!"

Sarah dominating Race 9, Winners Final at Alacati:

Dax Barker may have set a new record this summer. At 7 yrs. old he may be the youngest to sail world famous Ho'okipa. He created a buzz with his recent photoshoot for his sponsor Hot Sails Maui. That's right he's sponsored. Being a good team rider, Dax got his sponsor's gear into the Action Sports (school) new brochure. From the Hot Sails Maui website:

DOB: 8/25/2004

Home Town: Sprecks, Maui

Home Break: Camp One
Favorite Discipline: Windsurfing!
Sail Quiver (sizes and models): Micro Bolt 1.6m, MircoFreak 2.1
Board Quiver: Starboard kids 88L, Quatro 50L
Favorite Fin Size: 40cm center, wave 20 on tail. Wave 22
Harness line length: 18 inches
Favorite Sailing Spots: Bonaire (in his dreams)

What inspires you?
Windsurfing! It is fun. Also Jeff, Mommy and Kai.

Top 5 Favorite Albums:
Throwdowns, Green Day, Beatles

You're all time favorite movie?
Don't mess with the Zohan

What's something that you get from sailing that you can't get from anything else? Respect and high fives.

Plans for the future: Finish 1st grade with good grades. Get a passport. Windsurf, surf and I want to foil-board.

Dax takes his sister for a short windsurfing adventure.

Björn Dunkerbeck won his first World Title in 1988 but his last Racing World Title, according to PWA records, was 1999. The 42 year old is legendary for his long career at the top of competition. Björn debuted as a professional in 1986. 35 years later he is once again World Champion !! His victory at the PWA tour stop in Alacati sealed the deal, making him the 2011 PWA Slalom World Champion.

Cactus Cup Rewind · New Mags · American Slalom

2011-08-08T23:19:00.013-04:00

AWT · Cactus Cup Rewind · We almost didn’t make it across the border. The sixteen-foot box truck, loaded with windsurfing gear for more than twenty people, unfortunately had the words “Penske Commercial” on it - and apparently, the Border Patrol didn’t like the word “commercial”. No amount of hand gesturing and broken Spanish could resolve the issue, and we were turned back around through US Customs (who was fortunately much more understanding, and didn’t leave us in no-man’s-land limbo for too long.) A few miles down the road to the cargo border crossing, where we were waved through with a smile and a wink, and the road down begun. Non-stop to Ensenada, then Walmart, hielo cristalizino, and our favorite, Tacos el Poblano. Then more of Baja-1, until one last tacos ‘n beer pit stop in El Rosario, before we hit the dirt road at about 6 PM...wrote WINDSURFING editor Josh Sampiero. Sampiero Day 1

Viewing hint: play both of the videos at the same time but mute one of the soundtracks. I like the Jay Watermeyer (2nd video) soundtrack the best...

Tanya Saleh reported: If you've never been to San Carlos before then you need to try and imagine rolling out of your tent facing the water every day. There is no phone signal, but there are amazing conditions, good company, and therefore there is such a laid back, chilled out vibe in camp.With 6 potential days of competition ahead of us it was suggested that we would likely run a series of single eliminations until 2 discards are allowed (assuming conditions permit). The small sized fleet of 30 competitors would allow for a super relaxed event with the main stage being down at the point break... Tanya Saleh Day 1

Kevin Pritchard wins first Single Elimination · The AWT caravan survived three separate border crossings, the ride down and two glorious taco stands to arrive at Solo Sports to 20-25 knot winds and clean head high waves. Head judge Matt Pritchard announced that we’d be running up to seven single eliminations for this contest with one throw-out after four rounds and two if seven are completed. Day one of competition couldn’t have been any better and here are the results and some photos to prove it by Clark Merritt! - Windsport editor Pete Dekay. AWT Day 1

Mershon wins Day 2 at AWT San Carlos · The second single elimination delivered at the AWT San Carlos Cactus Cup hosted by SoloSports Adventure Holidays. The wind kicked in to a solid 25-knots and waves picked up slightly with more logo-high sets running through compared to the previous day. The contest area is set perfectly allowing riders to pick up set waves at the point and ride them for four to five hits before connecting down to the Chili Bowl for some sick aerials. Now on to the action…

Heats of the Day: We couldn’t pick just one as the Final and Super Final both delivered. The Final had Keith Teboul, Matt Pritchard, Nathan Mershon and Russ Faurot battling it out with the top two advancing. The action was intense with Faurot delivering his best lip smacking performance so far in the comp to finish in 3rd just ahead of Matt Pritchard. Teboul and Mershon advanced to the Super Final, which was an incredible way to end Day 2. The heat started with both sailors picking off mast-high waves off the point. They both destroyed it riding all the way down to the Chili Bowl but the consensus among onlookers was that Mershon took the lead. Both exchanged numerous decent waves over the next 12 minutes until the final minute of the 14-minute heat when once again both riders picked up another mast-high set. Teboul was slashing his roundhouse cutbacks and throwing massive aerials but Mershon matched him hit for hit. According to the judges it was incredibly close with Mershon taking the final in the end. AWT Day 2

Saleh added: Another successful day and another round complete. The swell ranged from knee high to logo high depending on whether you were lucky enough to score a set wave in your heat. The family style competition vibe continued with competitors and spectators cheering each other on from the point when not in the water...In the women's I managed to take the win with Miho in 2nd, Sam in 3rd, and Catherine in 4th. I have to say that this is the most fun contest I have ever been a part of. The conditions are so enjoyable that sailing in your heat is awesome since you get to sail the point with just 4 of you there for 15 minutes. It's just like cruising around with your friends having a good time. Tanya Saleh Day 2

Day 3 - Kumbaya meets Fellini, a most Bizarre Expression Session · Saleh explained: Glassy conditions led to extended surf sessions this morning both down at the point and at the main beach break. Unfortunately the high spring tides meant that by the time the wind kicked in, the swell wasn't playing ball. Although some waist to head high sets rolled in they were very few and far between. After lunch it was full on 4.5 weather and the judges called a pro - am event. What is this I hear you say? (Since I wondered exactly the same thing). It's a team event in pairs where each Amateur picks out the name of a Pro man to team up with. There are 10 minute heats and you are ONLY scored on overall impression. Tanyah Saleh Day 3

Russ Faurot continues: Just to kick it up a notch, there was an optional event pairing up the PROs & AMs with a twist, encouraging the Contestants to be as flamboyant as possible.Everyone took it in stride with a staunch few opting for the straight man role. AWT Day 3

Graham Ezzy’s Goiters dominate Day 4 · Saleh sets up the day: Still having an absolute blast down here at San Carlos. The internet is very limited so will have to upload more pics when I get back...We awoke to slightly larger swell again, but the fast increasing large high tides once again meant that the point waves did not exist. Therefore it was decided to hold round 3 at the beach break by the solo sports camp. Solid head high and larger sets were coming through so everyone geared up for the 12 minute, 2 waves to count heats. Tanyah Saleh Day 4

Russ Faurot continues: The venue changed for the Cactus Cup’s fourth day with the competition taking place directly in front of the Solo Sports camp. Graham Ezzy put on a show with his one-handed Goiters and Takas. It was another windy day with plenty of logo-high sets rolling through from the Bombora towards the point. AWT Day 4

Morgan Noireaux dominates Day 5 · Young ripper Morgan Noireaux got on a roll in the 4th single elimination taking down all the older pros. As the light was fading in the evening he was forced to sail three heats back-to-back (2 pro finals and a youth heat) and won them all. In Noireaux’s final heat against Graham Ezzy he landed a perfect Taka to help claim victory. Let’s see what day 6 brings now that each single elimination has been won by a different competitor and everyone gets to throw out their weakest result (after the 4th round). AWT Day 5

Graham Ezzy wins the Cactus Cup · The wind cranked up to a strength whereby everyone was overpowered regardless of sail size. The waves were inconsistent thanks to the extraordinarily high tide, and also very choppy when they did come through...Tanyah Saleh Last Day

With four single eliminations in the bag it was decided that contest conditions were not quite up to par to run a fifth giving Graham Ezzy the title. There was still wind and waves on the final day but unless you brought your 3.7 and were prepared to wait for the proper set to arrive it just wasn’t fair for everyone. It was a great call by head judge Matt Pritchard. So instead Pritchard send heats out for an Expression Session to battle for a Chinook Carbon boom. The competition was intense and the Expert final saw Kevin Pritchard, Graham Ezzy, Nathan Mershon, Russ Faurot and Royn Bartholdi all head out to the far side of the island to throw their biggest jumps. In a surprise finish Faurot dominated the heat landing countless Back Loops, Push Loops and a huge Stalled Forward. Yossi Salomon took the Amateur title and Miho took the women’s crown with impressive loops in the tough conditions... AWT Day 6

Photos for each day are are found on the AWT day links. More here AWT Photos | Solo Sports | More AWT Photos

More · Funny report from Chris "Muzza" Murray. Cactus Cup winner, Graham Ezzy tells his story in 3 parts: part 1/3 part 2/3 The Fabrice Beaux report is here.

New Mags · Dave Dominy, owner of Streamlined USA (universals, extensions, booms, boom heads, masts) along with Tom Servais, formally with Surfer Magazine as Photo Editor, are about to launch their new print magazine project in September 2011. Dave promises a fresh look at all ocean water sports including Surfing, Windsurfing, Kiting, SUP and associated hybrids. In addition they will feature the world's watermen. The premiere issue will feature Punta San Carlos as a "must visit" destination. Liquid Edge.

Windsurfing Magazine has just published 2 new digital issues, which are found on their website. One issue focuses on sailing SUPs and the other is a Beginner's Guide to windsurfing. Josh Sampiero writes: Welcome to WINDSURFING's d.pub, a digital magazine that comes to life on your desktop computer, smartphone, or touch-screen tablet. Windsurfing: Digital Issues

American Slalom Racing probably had its biggest day this year on July 30. On Maui, they concluded the 27th running of the Maui Race Series with the 5th and last event, the Neil Pryde Hawaii State Championship. 46 competitors participated. Hours earlier, on the same day in Hood River, the penultimate event of the Gorge Cup, The Gorge Challenge, was about to begin the first of 2 days of racing. 36 participants competed.

Karen Bennett connects you to the reporting from the 2011 Hawaii State Championship here. Gorge Cup reporting is here.

What do these 2 locales have in common? Well, they're both consistently windy. Conventional thinking says you need good strong wind for slalom racing? I'm sure gear choices for these 2 fleets reflect their local conditions. I bet either of these fleets would have a hard time running their race series if the average wind dropped to 10 knots, but on the PWA they slalom race in winds as light as 7 knots. Formula racing, the class invented to make it possible to have planing races in the lightest of wind, has the same basic wind minimum.

In an email from Ron Kern, he reported participant numbers for racing events here in Florida are good. The Banana River Resort Event in March garnered top numbers with 47 participants. He also said there are two bids in at US Windsurfing for the 2012 US Nationals, with locations at the Gorge and Winthrop Bay in Boston. If you have any thoughts about the Nationals or racing in general, send some feedback to Ron.

Alex Morales is organizing the 2011 North American IFCA Slalom Championship set for this October 18 -23 in Miami.

Freestyle

2011-08-01T16:06:00.006-04:00

PWA Freestyle · It's the end of July and the 2011 Freestyle World Champions have already claimed their crowns. Steven Broeckhoven, the 25 year old Belgian who joined the tour in 2008, won the recent event in Fuerteventura, claiming his first Freestyle World Title. With the victory Broeckhoven crushed all hope by making it mathematically impossible for the Tour's final event in Sylt, Germany to make any difference in the Title calculation. Sarah Quita Offringa, also winning at Fuerteventura, continues to dominate the Tour with this her 4th consecutive Freestyle World Title.

Past Freestyle World Champions

It's been 10 years since a European has won the men's PWA Freestyle World Championship; Fuerteventura was the event that clenched it for the 2001 World Champion, Antoine Albeau. That's right, Albeau was World Champion in freestyle. Look at the list of past champions on the left and you'll see 2 other names that might surprise: Bjorn Dunkerbeck and Karin Jaggi. All 3 are known today for their racing prowess. What does it mean? Not sure, but if you want to be a better racer, maybe learning freestyle will help. What was freestyle like in 1999?

Kuma Movie Blog has become the unofficial videographer of the PWA Freestyle tour this year. The Japanese language Kuma Movie Blog attracts an international windsurfing audience through the universal appeal of video. Freestyle is their passion and it seems they have documented more action than the PWA. Even with live webcasts at 4 of the 6 freestyle events this year, the coin of the media realm is still recorded video. While PWA TV does a very good job at recapping the action from every day of any event, Kuma's passion and subsequent body of work are a welcomed boost of attention. People watch videos. So far, Kuma has produced 11 videos from Fuerteventura this year.

In the just completed 2011 Fuerteventura contest, the men's single elimination freestyle winner was Gollito; the double elimination winner was Steven Broeckhoven. The rules require that if the winner of the single elimination loses in the double, there must be a rematch. Steven, after beating Gollito once in the double elimination, had to do it again. In this heat the judges counted the best 4 out of 7 moves. No moves were scored after 7 attempts. The super or grand final of the men's heat below. Continent Seven has 2 more videos of the same final here.

The Sarah Quita Offringa vs. Laure Treboux double elimination final below. Continent Seven has more videos of the same final here.

On tour, when they finish both the single and double elimination brackets and determine the overall winner, the official event is concluded. If time allows, they do a Super Session with whomever wants to compete. Sometimes they award cash, sometimes merchandise; there is one winner from the men, one winner from the women. A video from the super session day is available at the PWA website (watch out, the volume comes on when you go there). Another video below from the event sponsor.

North America is well represented in the world of freestyle. Not sure who divided up the world and assigned countries but North America scored. We got the Caribbean, which of course includes the Netherlands Antilles which of course includes the ABC Islands: Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao. This could go political...but it is only about geography. Indeed, there are a few European countries that do control some of the real estate over here. Regardless of country, large or small, the one big thing we share in common is where we live: North America.

Everyone who follows freestyle probably knows the famous names from North America. They win World Titles, are in all the videos and smile a lot because they get to sail and train in their tropical home waters. I like 'em all but wanted to spread the good vibrations to a few more.

Bryan Metcalf Perez

Phil Soltysiak

With one more event to go before the PWA Freestyle Tour ends in early October, 24 year old Canadian Phil Soltysiak is currently ranked 9th overall. Phil started windsurfing at 10 and first competed on the Tour in 2007. Last year he finished 6th overall. Phil's story. Another 24 year old, Bryan Metcalf Perez from Santa Fe, New Mexico says he's been sailing for 18 years, mostly in Baja and the Gorge. This year is his rookie season on Tour and he is currently ranked 23. Bryan didn't compete in Bonaire or Aruba which would have certainly improved his standing.

Colette Guadagnino

Tyson Poor

2001 Freestyle World Champion Colette Guadagnino, who now lives and works in Miami, raced in the 2011 PWA Aruba Slalom event. Tyson Poor had his first season on the PWA in 2002 but no longer competes on Tour. Tyson won the Freestyle event at the recently completed U.S. Nationals. Does this make Tyson our U.S. National Freestyle Champion? I hope so.

Mike Burns

Mike Burns won the Long Island, NY East Coast Windsurfing Festival Pro Freestyle division becoming King of the East in June 2011. He thinks windsurfing is a drug: "It's not so easy to have a drug addiction. Sure it ruins lives, and could cost the user their family, friends and even their own lives. Not so different from windsurfing really. Without wind, the windsurfer will get cranky, fidgety, and start lashing out at friends and family, kinda like a crackhead that hasn't had his fix. But, at least the local crackhead can go get his fix at will, provided he hasn't spent all his money on heroin." Follow Mike on his blog: Pure Windsurfing.

The learners guide to windsurfing has a lot of how to material, links and videos on the Freeestyle Page. In honor of the AWT Cactus Cup, the video below takes us back to yesteryear at Baja with a few faces you're sure to recognize...

Kevin Trejo: Solo Sports & the Cactus Cup · PWA Live

2011-07-24T19:02:00.000-04:00

The American Windsurfing Tour heads south, across the border, into Baja California, Mexico for the third and longest event of the tour: a full week from July 30 - August 6. Kevin Trejo, owner and founder of Solo Sports, habla acerca de este famoso wave sailing destination.

Kevin, you are hosting the AWT San Carlos Cactus Cup at Solo Sports for a week. How many people can you accommodate? Are you sold out?

My staff and camp can handle over 40 people. I have windsurfing gear for over 20 people but since most of the competitors will be bringing their own gear we can handle about 40+ people. We have over 25 people confirmed and lots of last minute requests but I'm sure we will sell out before contest time.

A while ago you were only flying in guests. Is it safe to travel by land again?

The old sign.
Its replacement is being readied.

I've been traveling the Baja all my life and now with a business in Mexico I spend even more time in Tijuana, Ensenada and Rosarito and I have not once seen anything like what the news is reporting. I actually feel safer traveling through Baja then many parts of Los Angeles. Our guests are using our fly in service for the convenience and to spend more time enjoying all that is Punta San Carlos not because they are afraid to drive through Baja. Do the math, an all day drive or a 2 hour flight!

If it's an average year, what should the AWT expect for wind and waves. What about water temps? Air temps?

So far this year has been well over an average year! The wind has blown everyday except one, since March and we've had plenty of great swells. July is one of my favorite months as it blows almost everyday and we get great south swells with little to no crowds! Of course we are talking about Mother Nature here and anything can happen but here is the latest on the potential surf from Surfline. We could see a series of fun size SSW swells starting around July 29th and then potentially continuing into the first couple days of August. I just got back today (Wednesday July 20th) and the air temps have been great in the high 70's and low 80's while the water is a cool 60 degrees F. I'm sure the competitors will be way stoked on 60 degree water after the first events in the frigid waters of Santa Cruz and Pistol River!

Any surprise guest for the Cactus Cup?

I just got this message from Quatro shaper and Punta San Carlos Tropical Energy Challenge winner Keith Teboul: "Only potential other person would be Levi Siver with us but this is a maybe...swell is looking pretty promising so I might convince him to come..."

Punta San Carlos is pretty isolated, do you have a good Internet connection...will the Tour go dark during the event?

You are absolutely right that PSC is pretty isolated. We do have Internet via satellite and it's pretty reliable, reliably slow that is! Actually it's not that bad with only a few users but when we have 20+ people in camp we sure put a big strain on the system. We are only allowed 425 MB per day of usage and we can go through that pretty quick, then throw in the fact that everybody wants to send large file photos and video and we run out of bandwidth really quick. The AWT might just have to go dark unless those hard working photographers, videographers and writers stay up past Baja Midnight (9:00 pm) and send out their work after 11:00 pm as we have unlimited broadband from 11:00 pm - 4:00 am.

Solo Sports is a dream destination for many Norte Americanos. Educate us on the wave and wind season at Punta San Carlos.

For those in the know, PSC is a year round location! If you are like me and do more then just windsurf, you'll never get skunked! With world class mountain biking, surfing, stand up paddle boarding & kiteboarding there's no reason to sit on the beach hoping for wind. The wind season starts off with a bang in March/April and May with 30-40+ mph winds and large NW swells and the start of the south swell season. The summer months of June - July and into August see high winds and great south swells while Sept./Oct. and into Nov. is my favorite time to be in Punta San Carlos for the warmest air & water temps of the year, insanely good south swells and true wave sailing winds in the 18-25+ mph range. We're talking over 80% sailable days from March through Oct. and the winter months still see 50-70% sailable days.

Jem Hall

Jem Hall did wave camps last year. What were Jem and his British invasion like?

Jem is Awesome and tons of fun! We've hosted Jem for the last several years and he brings a world wide clientele base so I wouldn't call it a British invasion but always a fun and lively bunch. Jem is definitely one for not letting his group sit on the beach waiting for wind. He gets them out surfing, SUPing and mountain biking as well as all kind of dry land windsurf training. Never a dull moment when Jem is in camp!

Your calling card is Adventure Holidays. Here's a chance to share some of the 20+ years of stories you've heard and told.

Plenty of adventure over the last 25+ years in Baja for sure but these are reserved for the campfire so if you want stories you'll just have to come experience the magic Punta San Carlos and hang with us at the campfire or wait for the book to come out! We have more then enough entertaining stories to fill several hundred pages!

Funniest thing that ever happened to you: While you were on the water? At night? On the way to the bathroom (outhouse)? In the desert?

Man, that's another one for the campfire but one funny moment on my first trip to Punta San Carlos in 1985 was the seals fell in love with one of my friends and kept following him and playing with him in the water. They were just curious and having fun with him but my friend was totally spooked and they chased him out of the water. They didn't pay any attention to any of us but every time my friend Wayne would go surfing about 6 or so seals would all circle him and tug on his leash and tease him. We all thought it was hilarious but poor old Wayne didn't think it was so funny. The good news was Wayne was a complete wave hog so with him out of the water we all caught tons of waves!

I hate to ask, but what do you do when there is no wind?

Punta San Carlos is so much more then windsurfing! In fact the windsurfing sucks in San Carlos, it's all about wave sailing! If you are coming to Punta San Carlos just for the wind you will not be disappointed but you will be missing out on a ton of other world class sports and adventure not to mention the history, culture and people of this magical land!

Most Famous Guests ever? Which guests did you least expect to see at SoloSports?

Tough question and we like to give our guests a bit of privacy but we've had top professionals from surfing, windsurfing, SUPing, mountain biking, top industry professions from the tech industry, TV stars, photographers and more. As far as windsurfers go we've had just about every top pro except Robby Naish!

Kevin Trejo

Something we don't know about you that will make us more comfortable at night?

I'm always watching over Punta San Carlos so this magical place will be protected for us to enjoy!

Music you like to hear around the camp fire?

Just what ever live music we play on our own!

Where do you go on vacation?

Wherever the wind, waves, snow or trails take me!

Link up with Solo Sports & American Windsurfing Tour

PWA Live Webcasts Continue · Fuerteventura started July 22 and runs through August 1: an 11 day event. Freestyle is set to conclude early afternoon on Wednesday, July 27. Slalom will begin the next morning, on Thursday. More reporting at the PWA website.

I've enjoyed being able to embed the Live Player on this blog. It must be annoying, to visit this page and hear voices. The idea of someone chasing down the unwanted disruption of silence only to find that the voices are from a live broadcast of a windsurfing event makes me smile.

U.S. Championship Rewind · Techno 293 Worlds · PWA Live · Jaws

2011-07-17T21:11:00.008-04:00

Steve Sylvester

Rewind · Berkeley Yacht Club hosted the 2011 U.S. Windsurfing National Championship. Waterhound reported: "The winds here in Berkeley apparently work on a schedule and 2:30 pm is the go time. True to local lore, at exactly 2:30, the fleet was sent off the beach ready for some Formula Course racing action. Most of the sailors were on 9.5's or 10.0's with a smattering of 10.7's/11's as they headed out to greet race committee lead, Darren Rogers. Rogers had set a flawless windward leeward race course against the dramatic backdrop of the San Francisco skyline featuring two laps for the adults while the juniors course had a shortened weather mark." Bodner added: "Day 1...with 39 competitors from the US, Australia, Brazil, England, Finland, Latvia and New Zealand, 4 course races were run in winds from 12-28k with the foreign sailors taking the top 3 spots. Paulo Des Reis, BRA-3333 walked away from his competition by taking the 1st four bullets of the regatta with Wilhelm Schurman, BRA-999 holding on for 2nd in all the races. Xavier Ferlet, GBR-451 holds onto to 3rd place with myself in 4th as the top American. Waterhound Day 1 | Bodner Day 1 | Waterhound Photos Day 1

Paulo Dos Reis

Day 2 ..."picked up where day one left off with solid winds and a full racing agenda...A solid sea breeze kicked in a bit earlier than usual allowing for the race committee to set up the two for one special: the Formula and Slalom windsurfing double bill...As the Formula racing kicked in to gear the winds once again blew in the 15-22mph range with some lulls and gusts on each side of the range. The infamous San Francisco Fog bank once again performed the in and out dance with the Golden Gate Bridge just off in the distance." Reported Waterhound.

Phil McGain

With 2 formula races done, they moved to slalom. Again, Waterhound: "Race one of the slalom saw Phil McGain burst out to an early lead with Wilhelm Schurmann and Tyson Poor in hot pursuit. McGain however simply had the better board speed and looked to have the win wrapped up. The key word here is 'looked'. Unfortunately McGain headed down to the wrong mark taking himself completely out of the picture while nearly simultaneously Schurmann stumbled during a jibe allowing Tyson Poor to capitalize. Poor cruised on to victory..." Waterhound Day 2 | Bodner Day 2 | Waterhound Photos Day 2

Wilhelm Schurmann

Day 3 "...of the US National Champs saw the Brazillians dominate both the formula and slalom courses in classic SF Bay conditions. 3 formula races were run in 18-24k followed by 3 rounds of slalom in 20-25k. Paulo Dos Reis collected another string of bullets as he's on par to sail a perfect regatta, something that I'm not sure has ever been done at the US Windsurfing National Championship. Not to be outdone, Wilhelm Schurmann collected 3 bullets on the slalom course followed by a string of 2nds on the formula course." Reported Bodner.

Bodner continued: "After 3 races we switched to slalom but at that point I was glad to listen to my body after having been in race mode for the past 16/17 days. I gladly made my slalom gear available to Paulo as he currently wasn't entered in the slalom competition and showed he's pretty solid around any race course. I'm not sure I've ever seen my gear go that fast! He gave Wilhelm and Phil a run in the 2/4 races but called it quits to save strength for tomorrow and Saturday's long distance and course racing. 3 races were run in 20-25k with the San Francisco city front and Golden Gate Bridge in the background - an amazing backdrop for slalom racing. Schurmann clearly dominated with better gybes around the course..."

Tyson Poor

Freestyle · Pete Dekay reported: "I joined Wyatt Miller and Kevin Kan in judging the freestyle in which you couldn't ask for a better day to have these sailors throwing down their biggest tricks.The double elimination winners final came down to an epic battle between Tyson Poor and Jordan Reid...Poor isn't guaranteed victory despite landing a Double Spock in the choppy conditions as Reid sailed the heat of his life. The fight for bronze came down to Sophien Sehiri and Chris "Muzza" Murray (from the UK) and saw these guys exchanging huge forwards, Flakas and Spocks in the building swell." Bodner Day 3 | Shawn Davis Photos | Windsport Day 3 | Tim Martin Freestyle Photos | Tyson Poor Report

Day 4 · Waterhound reported: "The fog bank that has been powering the wind all week long was a bit more persistent than in previous days causing wind speeds to soften a bit in to the 18-22mph range. The wind however was near ideal for Formula racing and with that, the race committee ordered up a heaping serving of long distance racing...To equalize a bit of local knowledge the ever innovative race committee lead, Darren Rogers, and his crew set up a course never seen before on these waters. To mix things up even further Rogers threw a rabbit start at the fleet – something not used here in a decade or more...For many of the racers it was the first ever rabbit start – and it showed. The race committee executed the prerace plan to the letter that started with a dropping of the AP flag some 35 minutes earlier. As the boat powered up the line signaling the start, many racers just looked like deer in the headlights, including yours truly who was hanging out with Paulo Dos Reis as the boat went flying by us both. Are we starting?...McGain however was in the back of the pack of good starters but used his superior speed to overtake Sylvester and Schurmann and claim the bullet. Schurmann took a comfortable second."

Chris Muzza Murray

Jordan Reid

Waterhound continued: "With not enough wind for slalom the action moved on to freestyle. The freestylers however were also struggling a bit in the low winds. Low being a now gusty and shifty 12-20mph breeze . Tyson Poor made the best of it capitalizing on his wins the day prior. Jordan Reid also sailed well but the lower wind made it tough to gain any ground on the solid performance of Poor." Waterhound Day 4 | Bodner Day 4 | Shawn Davis Photos | Tyson Poor Report

McGain - Shurmann - Ferlet

Day 5 · Racing got off to a late start on the last day and Steve Bodner needed to make up just a few positions to finish as the best Formula from the U.S. He reported: "It wouldn't be easy as the clock was ticking down to the last possible start by 4 pm and the possibility of only 2 races. The setup couldn't be more ideal- a chance to race in light wind after having raced in mostly powered up conditionals all week. At 2:45 we hit the water. I was ready- armed with my best light-medium air set up..." It was drama for the eventual overall 5th place finisher, Bodner, and Sylvester who ended up 6th by a 1/2 point after 2 tough races, a protest hearing and a tie breaker rule. Read : Bodner Day 5 | Waterhound Results Report | Awards Photos

Waterhound's 2011 US Windsurfing National Championships Final Report

Thank You David Wells of Waterhound, Steve Bodner, Shawn Davis and Pete DeKay of Windsport for all the reporting Results

San Francisco · The Bic Techno 293 World Championships begins this Tuesday, July 19 - 24, hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club. 200+ competitors from over 30 countries, representing 5 continents will participate. Almost all have signed up for charter equipment provided by Bic Sport; 150 complete kits are coming from France. Actual racing will be at Crissy Fields, beginning at 10:00 a.m. everyday, Wednesday through Saturday.

The event features divisions segregated by age with the biggest fleet comprised of the Under 17 (U17) age division. Sailing right alongside U17 fleet will be the Under 15 (U15) division and the increasingly popular Open Age division that allows for competitors 17 years old and older to still get in on the racing. All the competitors, in both Girls and Boys fleets, will be riding the Bic Techno 293 One Design Windsurfing race board.

You will find more information, news and the all important results at the official event website. The Exploratorium Roofcam will allow you a chance to see some of the racing live.

Farrah Hall, U.S. Sailing's Olympic Team Member for the RS:X Class, recently held a clinic for the junior racers of Team USA in San Francisco. From her blog: "Under the leadership of youth coach, Britt Viehman, I assisted in coaching a Bic Techno clinic last week for American kids competing at the Worlds. Nine kids showed up, from both San Francisco and Florida...Sailors from Florida were wide-eyed after the first day of training in San Francisco. For many of them, it was the coldest and windiest conditions they had ever experienced...All the kids tuned up their equipment in the breeze, and learned more about San Francisco's famous currents - how to start in big current, and which side of the course would be favored by observing the action of the current in various stages of ebb and flood tides." A video from the clinic:

Tenerife

PWA Livecast · Tenerife is scheduled to end on Wednesday, July 20. Koster and Daida Moreno won the wave competition. On Sunday the live broadcast was a Super Session. What they will do with the remaining 3 days in Tenerife is to be determined but when they do finish it's going to be a mad dash for the PWA tour crew to the next event. There will be Freestyle for men & women and Slalom for men in Fuerteventura, set to begin on Friday, July 22 - Aug 1. This too will be another first time for live webcasting from the PWA at Sotaventa, Fuerteventura. (Video Player has been removed)

Kevin Pritchard, of Maui Nerds Production, put a lot of time into this Jaws video of Jason Polakow and is glad it's finally online.

U.S. Championship - Formula Carnage - PWA Live

2011-07-10T17:01:00.009-04:00

New Year, New Place · U.S. Windsurfing will hold their 2011 National Championship at Berkeley, CA from July 11 - 16. Phil McGain won last year and is returning to defend his title. Can't tell the players without a program. If you want to put a name to a face, go to this Waterhound reference guide. So what else is new? A non windsurfing industry Title Sponsor: Double Tree by Hilton at Berkeley Marina. Its been 35 years since the National Championship was held in Berkeley.

CalCup 3 at BYC by Colvin

What to expect from Berkeley? Waterhound's, David Wells says, reliable big wind and big, significantly warmer water than San Francisco. All the racing will take place in the Olympic Circle sailing area directly in front of the Berkeley Yacht Club. Kimball Livingston (racers, read all of this link; he describes how the wind works at the Circle) explains: "On San Francisco Bay the best patch of water for championship racing lies on the eastern reach of the bay. This area is relatively shallow and relatively tide-protected. It is free of the narrow rivers of current and counter current found in deeper parts of the bay and clear of the shipping channels. The locals call the area, fronting the cities of Berkeley, Emeryville and Richmond, the Olympic Circle, the Berkeley Circle, or just the Circle. U.S. Olympic Trials have been sailed here, and yes, there is a kinda-sorta circle of buoys that can be used for racing, but championship courses do not use those buoys. Championship courses employ a larger field of play. You should anticipate start lines placed relatively close to the shore, with upwind legs sailed toward the Golden Gate and a weather mark placed short of the North/South shipping lane."

View Larger Map

What makes up a championship? The NOR says Slalom, Course and a possible long distance race. There was freestyle last year; expect both modern and old school on longboards this year. Wyatt Miller assures that Double Tree by Hilton at the Berkeley Marina has paid the wind bill. It's all good to go.

Racing is scheduled to start on Tuesday. The skippers meeting begins 10 a.m., daily, at the BYC. Shorebird Park is the rigging area. Freestyle is planned for 3 days, beginning Thursday. If you're looking for race results or anything else follow the links.

Official Event Website courtesy of Waterhound and David Wells.

A BIG thank you to Jane Morson who has worked behind the scenes for the last 10 months on an insane amount of detail from government permits, gas for committee boats, catering food, designing trophies, fund raising and way more...Securing the Title Sponsor has been huge in making the event possible. And kudos to all the others who have contributed to make this event a reality. Thanks Again !!!

In memory of Bill Weir (US M9), the M9 Bill Weir Memorial Trophy will be awarded to the top performing sailor at this year’s US Windsurfing National Championships when the results of slalom, formula, and long distance are combined into a single overall score.

Bill Weir passed away in October 2009 after a valiant battle with cancer. Bill was a windsurfer who embraced all disciplines and could often be found just under the Golden Gate Bridge sailing the waves before heading down to St. Francis Yacht Club to race his Formula gear. He was also one of the top Slalom Racers in the country. More on Bill's life. At Thursday's dinner there will be a showing of Bill's documentary, Wind and Water.

Phil's kit ready for US Nationals

Hard charging triathalon warrior, Phil McGain, tuned up his preparations for the Nationals with a victory at the July 2 Maui Fin Company Open. The Maui News reported: McGain won two of four heats to claim the 40-49 year old division and also took two of four heats in the open races to win that division for the first time. The Haiku resident lost to Peter Slate of Kula in the DaKine Classic, and missed the season opening Starboard Slalom so he could race in the Half-Ironman triathlon on the Big Island.

Formula Worlds end on a Saturday, July 9, in Puerto Rico and for those planning to race in the U.S.Nationals the mad scramble begins: get into SFO and then out to Berkely, no later than Tuesday morning, before racing begins. They will be hoping and praying those big boards, sails and booms will not be put on later flights.

The stories from the Worlds will be told over and over: the insane carnage the racers inflicted on themselves and their compatriots during the high wind opening day. Sean O'Brien reported: "Race 1 kicked off on the scheduled start of 2pm and despite Bruno calling it 16 knots on his Facebook tonight the wind was around 22-25 knots with a viscious chop/swell running through the course over the various reefs. The start line was insanely port biased and it was clear the port start was the favoured route so after about 4 massive crashes which ended with 2 split boards and Casper Bouman taken away in an ambulance we were into Race 1..." Bouman said, "I could see a collision was about to happen and I bore away a bit to try to avoid it. I went over this wave as I bore away and thinking I would clip his boom in my FACE I ducked under my front arm and the boom to shield my face from his boom and as this happened the back end of his boom sliced my forearm clean to the bone." 40 stitches later, the complete story. O'Brien continues, "...Arnon crashing, trying to avoid someone, Steve having to hit the brakes and nearly drop the sail, losing places trying to avoid me on starboard! And then one of the french guys getting his JP split in half literally by Victor Melo was on port. Somebody is going to DIE here this week however the racing is pretty exciting as a result!"

Steve Bodner reported in Race 3: "I made the worst mistake I have ever made trying to cross a starboard tacker and failing miserably. I put a huge hole in mine and his board. I immediately retired from the race and tried to find POL 10 a board to use for the next race. I've never felt so bad racing boards knowing I was at fault but in the end that's all part of racing. We all make mistakes but it how you recover that determines the winners...Ron Kern ran into the reef and basically broke his board in 1/2 hinging just in front of the fin box."

Surprise Pozo Livecast · Just when you thought you'd figured out how it all works, a non-windsurfing entity decides a windsurfing wave contest is content regular folks would like to see. I guess windsurfers are regular folks too. The company that did the live webcast of the PWA at Pozo was ACN Press, a Canary Island News Agency, that supplies news content in all forms (video, audio, text, photos) to television and newspapers. Because they used internet platform provider Ustream, it was possible to watch the live broadcast on Facebook. While going through my Facbook news beat on Saturday, I saw the livecast player linked up on a dozen pages. Those dozen pages reached around 15 - 20,000 individuals. The next 2 videos are samples of the hours of live streaming.

Watching the Koster vs. Fernandez single elimination final live was indeed a special treat. Thankfully, Continent Seven recorded it. The first video below shows mostly Koster. The second video by Cutre, from the same final, by focuses on Fernandez.

PWA Livecast · As mentioned last week, Tour Director Rich Page said there will be another Livecast from the PWA at Tenerife July 14 - 20. If all goes well, it should start on Thursday, with another round of wave sailing for the men and women. The darkened player below awaits the live feed...if you come by and hear someone talking, it means, they're broadcasting from Tenerife... (Live video player has been removed)

Maui Maids · Formula Worlds · Busy Summer · Big Loops

2011-07-03T13:32:00.000-04:00

Kerfuffle · Windsurfing Magazine just published the July issue, their 4th and last of the year. Page 12, Should Windsurfing Be Sexy?, starts with a photo (similar to the one on the left). The photo has no caption saying who is in it. Shawna Cropas is in the middle and she wants you to know: "Windsurfing ran only a fragment of an article I put together about some of the ladies who sail here at Ho'okipa year round. The magazine only published the group shot of us girls with the title, Should Windsurfing Be Sexy? I was asked to defend the photo, which is completely taken out of context if it's not followed up with the article we wrote to go with it."

What the Mag decided not to publish were the 5 stories of the these 5 women who all sail Ho'okipa and lead remarkable lives. Nori Hubbs: "Aside from being the best sport in the world, I also love windsurfing because people who windsurf are just great people." Shawna Cropas: "...seeing other girls ripping it up, inspired me to just get out there and go for it. I love waves and I'm not trying to prove anything other than having a damn good time. There's no better way to stay in shape and keep the 'joie de vivre' bounce in your footsteps than by getting that rush from being out on the water." Tiffany Ward: "I'm fully inspired and driven by riding big waves, it's like dropping into moving mountains. It makes me feel alive and thankful for the world that surrounds me." Tatiana Howard: " Windsurfing itself has influenced my whole life. Windsurfing brought me out to see the world, it taught me respect for the ocean while maintaining a healthy lifestyle, created new friendships worldwide and blessed me with the enjoyment of work." Anne-Marie Reichman: "The love of windsurfing is within me. It's not measured by others or frequent sessions, but by the sessions that make me come off the water stoked and smiling."

The quotes were taken from Shawna's original article she submitted to Windsurfing. That article ended with this salutation: Happy Hawaiian Breezy Kisses. Don't you wish you could have read it in the Mag? Next best is you can read it online: Maui Maids

Formula Worlds in San Juan, Puerto Rico will run June 4 - 9 with $40,000 in prize money. Miami's Alex Morales sets the stage: "The world’s finest Formula sailors have been slowly gathering here in San Juan to prepare for the 2011 Formula World Championship. For many, this is their first visit to the island paradise of Puerto Rico, for others it is a regular stop in their year's travel calendar. Top names here already are: Antoine Albeau (defending Champion), Wojtech Brzozowski, Arnon Dagan, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, Paulo Dos Reis, Steve Allen, Dennis Little, Sean O’Brien, and Gabriel Browne. Many more are scheduled to arrive in the days leading up to the event." Steve Bodner adds: "A lot of the top pros have been training here for some time and many amateurs like myself have been showing up steadily all this week. It looks like at least 50 sailors for the event with Marion Lepert and myself from the SF Bay and a 1/2 dozen US sailors from Florida."

The Formula Class held their first World Championship in 1999. The PWA even raced Formula for a short time. Through the years, undeterred, the Class has moved forward, survived and actually flourished. Racing the 3 foot wide boards has a hard core loyal and faithful following. It is windsurfing's most popular racing class: great for course racing and loved just for the pure fun of recreational sailing. The board is technical, takes practice to learn and tune and excels in light wind. Too bad it wasn't chosen for the Olympics way back when.

San Juan is going to see a lot of pros and a lot of great amateurs; good stuff for a racing class that thrives on strong grass roots support. And you've got to admire their tour this year with $100,00+ in prize money.

Busy Summer · Take a deep breath 'cause 2 days later it's the start of the US Nationals in San Francisco from July 11 - 16. More on that next week.

The PWA is having a banner year, which translates into the most ever number of events in a single season. The back to back return of the World Tour to Bonaire and Aruba was a great warm up for the busiest month of the year. With 4 stops in July, the Canary Islands will mark the peak of this year's tour. Tour Director, Rich Page, reported: "We had about 250,000 views of the live stream in June, equates to somewhere in the region of at least 65,000 unique viewers. We will also have live coverage from Tenerife (July 14 - 20, Men & Women Wave) and Fuerteventura (July 22 - Aug 1, Men & Women Slalom)." Psych yourself up for Pozo because Dave White just reported: "The triple forward was landed today in Gran Canaria, Philip Koster was just short on one and water started the other. Not sure if there is a video or picture sequence but if he did it in practice today when the wind wasn't so strong, you've got to be thinking its going to happen during the event."

After 2 complete contests, guess who is is leading 2 divisions of the American Windsurfing Tour? Ingrid Larouche. She leads the Women and the Amateur. And yes, she is the only female in the latter. Now we're all paying more attention. Learn more about Ingrid in this interview.

The AWT will meet up again for an entire week at the San Carlos Cactus Cup, July 30 in Baja, Mexico 275 miles south of San Diego.

Rewind · Big Winds Big Loop Contest · The just finished loopers gone wild celebration put on by Big Winds and WINDSURFING left in its wake a week long video record of the best flippin' aerialist in the Gorge. When it was all said and done, Big Winds gave away lots and lots of swag. And the winners are...

Experts Division | Best FWD Loop: Sean Aiken - Best Back Loop: Tyson Poor - Best Double Forward: Tyson Poor :: Womens Division | Best FWD Loop: Ingrid Larouche :: Amateur Division | Best FWD Loop: Jay Watermeyer :: Never Looped Before | Best: Brodie Sutherland

AWT leading super man, Nathan Mershon is the last video. Here's another one by Mike Godsey from Arlington. There are more videos on Windsurfing FB.

AWT Recap - Windsurfing History - Wiewel Videos - Defi Wind

2011-06-26T19:39:00.012-04:00

Pistol River Wave Bash · June 12 - 16 · The various reports have been compiled here so the story can be conveniently read in one place. The text below, not in quotes, belongs to the AWT and can be found on their Press release page. Photos belong to Vinnie Armato of Globalshots unless noted.

Wednesday The Day Before

The Bash was bigger than last year with 81 riders registered for the competition. The day before the official start saw plenty of action on the water with tons of sailors dialing in their biggest tricks. Former world champion Josh Stone was throwing huge push loops (photo left) and Kai Katchadourian (photo right) was hitting the lip backside harder then anyone else. Josh Sampiero added: "The day before competition began was packed with action as pro sailors and amateurs from all over the world grabbed some practice waves down at the Rock. Well over thirty sails were on the water today, with BIG jumps from KP, Josh Stone, Bryan Metcalf-Perez, and others. Skipper’s meeting: 9 a.m. tomorrow as head judge Matt Pritchard hopes for an early start." Photos Trudy Lary Pre Event & Day 1 | Dana Miller

Thursday · Single Elimination · AWT Pistol River Day One is in the books and it was a great day with 25+ knot winds and waist to logo high waves. Here are the results from the single elimination. Boujmaa arrived just in time to put in a solid day finishing 2nd... the Kanaha Kid, Casey Rehrer's Ho'okipa training paid off with a 1st place finish in the Amateur division... Makoto Iwasaki and Miho Tanaka came all the way from Japan to put in impressive results... Robby Naish had some solid time on the water throwing down some signature huge push loops and wave smacks... Photos AWT Day 1 | Dana Miller Day 1 | Trudy Lary Pre Event & Day 1 | Vinnie Armato Day 1

Friday · Double Elimination · The wind kicked in nicely just as the skippers meeting started at 11 a.m....it was go time. The action was intense in all divisions with everybody enjoying a second chance to win their way back into title contention.

EXPERT DIVISION: Kai Lenny showed up fresh from his high school graduation to join the double elimination. He battled his way through the bracket winning four heats in a row before being knocked out in the quarter-finals by Graham Ezzy and Josh Stone. Ezzy put on a clinic on Day 2 with his waverides throwing down countless takas but lost out in the semi-finals to Boujmaa Guilloul and Stone in a heat that saw the wind lull at times. Stone was on fire late in the day advancing past Boujmaa to set up a final against Nathan Mershon. Stone and Mershon impressed all despite the setting sun and diminishing winds. They matched forwards and back loops and made the most of the waist to shoulder high sets that came through. When the final ended...it didn't really end. Stone won the heat forcing a re-match as Mershon would have to lose twice before giving up the title. The re-match was even better than the first!

Josh Sampiero added: "With judges pushing competi-tors to milk the last bit of dying wind, the double elimination was completed on the second day of competition with the final heat sailing until nearly 9:30 at night. It was an epic battle between Josh Stone and Santa Cruz winner Nathan Mershon, with each sailor matching each other, move for move, as they racked up wave rides in the lessening light. Mershon, who had been standing on the beach all day, lost to Stone in the first final after Josh battled his way up through the double bracket, but was able to reclaim his title to make him the event winner.

Another tight battle went down between Casey Rehrer and McRae Wylde in the Amateur division, with McRae, the double-elimination seeded contestant, beating Rehrer twice to take the title.

For the women, Ingrid Larouche claimed it against Miho Tanaka from Japan, and in the youth, Morgan Noireaux beat Bernd Roediger, and in the masters class, local sailors Dwight Bode lost to Bay Area wavesailor Attila 'The Killa' Tivadar." Photos AWT Day 2

Saturday · SUP Competition · There was a great turn out for the SUP contest (Results) with $1,500 up for grabs thanks to the Inn of the Beachcomber in Gold Beach, OR. It came down to a epic battle between world champ Kai Lenny and Maui ripper Zane Schweitzer with Lenny getting the title in the end. Photos AWT Day 3

KDRV-TV of Medford, Oregon ran a Pistol River Wave Bash report Saturday evening and added this one (PRWB starts at 3:05) to the late night news.

photo by Dana Miller

Sunday · Expression Session · The wind, waves and sun were all back for a final day 30-minute expression session with a Chinook carbon boom up for grabs. Riders were going huge with back loops, push loops, doubles and even an air spock attempt on display. After the scores were calculated the winner was Boujmaa Guilloul just ahead of Nathan Mershon and Sean Aiken. The women's winner (who took home an AWT sweatshirt) was Miho Tanaka from Japan!

photo by Dana Miller

Dana Miller added, "...it was bedlam out there. The crew was throwing down heavily in spite of what were flat conditions, at least by the local standards. It seemed like Boujmaa was taking it easy too, and that’s understandable considering the beating he took a couple months ago at Hookipa. The last thing he needs is another concussion. The dude was still going large though. As were the rest of the crew for sure. I’m just glad I didn’t have to judge that as it would have been a tough call...it seemed a bit of a shame to bring so much of the sports most excellent talent together for less than totally radical conditions. But at least we had wind and great parties. Maybe next year for the mast high plus on the final day." Photos Dana Miller

Postcript Aaron Vieira of the Human Catapult Blog wrote: "I'm probably not alone in looking at the top 10 list for the Pistol River Wave Bash and being somewhat surprised to see Mershon's name on top"...there's a lot of praise to go around. Read This Facebook photographer, Kathy Lane, took some photos. More photos in The Windsurfer gallery. The Curry Coastal Pilot of Brookings, OR wrote a Day 1 report. This shaky video had a lot of potential.

Windsurfing history was made on June 24, 2011. For the very first time, 2 separate events broadcast live webcasts at the same time: the PWA from Aruba and the Red Bull Rockets from Pozo.

David Troup's, American company, Epicsessions.tv, made a last minute decision to webcast the one day event. Epicsessions had only contracted to provide the data that recorded the participants' jump heights. To be able to do this, a new GPS device was used that now allows the jump heights to be streamed in real time to the judges and the online viewers at the same time. It was cool to watch someone jump and then immediately see how high. If you're wondering, this new technology is headed for other extreme sports and TV, so David hopes.

What became of the Red Bull Rockets event? Dario Ojeda won. John Skye reported: "I have to be honest and say I am totally broken right now. Today was the Red Bull Rockets contest. Conditions were not epic, but the action was still pretty amazing. I managed to get a lucky ramp in the 2nd heat and posted the highest jump of the day with 32ft, which at the time was nearly 10ft higher than anything else. I then lead the whole day and at one point the day was almost cancelled, but then they had one more go and in the final 5 minutes of the last heat of the day, the wind picked up a few extra knots I lost out by 4ft. Pretty gutted as there was a nice healthy cheque to be won and I had already been working out where to spend it! Still congratulations to Dario, who was putting his new RRD boards to good use. The best move category was won by Philip and Ricardo took the best crash." Here's a report from Epic Sessions.

Harry Wiewel videos from the June 18, Dakine Classic Slalom Race, Kanaha Park, Maui:

Defi Wind Gruissan, 2011 official event video:

Too cool for school Maybe you've seen this or maybe you know who created it. I found it on The Windsurfer with this quote: " The Wind is my friend, but friendship needs Time"

Live from Aruba - Katie Crafts & the CGWA - Race Stories - Sunscreen

2011-06-19T14:27:00.007-04:00

Live video webcast continues as the PWA World Tour moves to Aruba this Sunday, June 19, for a week of Freestyle and Slalom racing. The freestylers have been warned they will probably be first to compete. Big Shout Out to the PWA -- Thank You for the Live Webcast !!! (Video Player has been removed)

The Gorge is continental America's most celebrated windsurfing destination; rich in beauty, abundant with wind and strong industry presence, it has all the ingredients windsurfing requires for solid growth. Community is the result of the right ingredients nurtured by the right people. Just like well tended gardens, orginizations will flourish with the right leadership. Let's hear from Katie Crafts, who heads up the Columbia River Windsurfing Association.

Please introduce yourself.

Hi there - My name’s Katie and I’m the executive director of the CGWA a member-based nonprofit that does things like kids programs, beach clean ups and access, and fun community events. I live in Hood River, Oregon with my dog, Mollie. My parents got me into windsurfing at a very young age; I took to it very slowly and had quite a love/hate relationship with the sport for the first 20 years of my life. These days, though, it’s all love all the time!

The Gorge Windfest is set for this coming weekend. Share with us a brief history of the event and what it means to the CGWA.

CGWA has hosted Windfest for about 10 years now, in some form or another. It is the first big wind sport event in Hood River each summer, and a fun way to kick off the season. For CGWA it’s a big fundraising weekend, and we look forward to signing up new members and getting the summer off to a good start.

I enjoy Windfest because it encourages people to try new things and learn something new. With clinics running nonstop throughout the weekend, Windfest is also a great way to expand your windsurfing skills and knowledge.

Gear makes such a difference in a person’s windsurfing experience, and having the right gear is key. The demos are a great and cheap way to compare equipment and make sure you’re on gear that’s right for you, and with the manufacturers and shops right there you can make sure the sail is rigged to best suit your body and sailing.

Your website is busy in a good way: new logo, regular news stories, call outs for volunteer projects. What role does the website play in promoting windsurfing and helping the local community; how does Facebook fit in?

We place high value on community engagement at CGWA, and engagement means different things to different people. Therefore we offer many different ways to get engaged, informed, and involved at whatever level a person wants.

We value all these different forms of engagement because they provide different benefits to keep us running and thriving: dues-paying members provide money to keep us up and operational, facebook friends provide dialogue to keep us in the loop, email recipients provide an informed reader base to develop an informed community, etc.

Also, the story of CGWA- what we do and what we have done- is not a 30-second elevator pitch. It spans two and a half decades, involves numerous community partner organizations and thousands of individuals, and is diverse and complex. The more short story-type news blurbs/facebook posts/newspaper columns/short videos we can do, the more we can share that story of who we are and what we do.

How does a windsurfing association add to the sport?

I believe that the biggest impact we can have on the sport is to fill gaps that industry can’t or won’t fill. For example, our kids program has changed forms over the past few years- at one point it was a weekly instruction-based kids camp. Now it is a club, where participating families get access to kids gear AND weekly group sails/clinics. We chose this route because we realized that other businesses already run kids camps, and we were competing with them instead of collaborating with them.

Now we’re nurturing a youth community in the Gorge, which fills a unique need that most businesses are not fulfilling in the same way- it’s hard for businesses to put a price on “community”. Whenever we can collaborate with the industry or regional entities (like State Parks) to fill a gap in service, those are the areas where we thrive the most and have the biggest impact on the sport.

Another benefit we provide is unbiased representation of the local windsurfing community during decisions by State Parks, Port Authorities, and other such entities. We truly have no personal gain (other than more fun on the water!), so we can and do act purely in the interest of the windsurfing community.

Something new on FB is the The Gorge Groms page. Bring us up to date with this group.

Gorge Groms is a kids windsurfing club that we started last year and it was very well received by parents and kids alike. For a $100 season pass, families get unlimited access to our kids windsurfing gear, as well as weekly group sails and clinics throughout the summer. Our Facebook page is new, and we hope it serves as a discussion board for kids and parents to connect. We heard from a lot of parents who want to talk to other parents to exchange instruction tips, gear swaps, etc., and we want the kids to have an opportunity to talk amongst themselves to nurture a youth windsurfing community in the Gorge.

How do kiting and windsurfing get along? Do they work together on an organizational level?

The Gorge has both a CGWA and a CGKA (Columbia Gorge Kiteboarding Association). We work together whenever possible to keep our communities informed, and to represent our sport interests to “the powers that be.”

Both our sport’s communities share very similar interests in the Gorge: more beaches, better beach maintenance, clear safety signage, engaged community members, etc. It’s easy to overlook these similarities and fall into the “us vs. them” mindset, but at an organizational level we try to both represent our members (windsurfers) while also doing what’s best for the greater wind sport community in the Gorge.

I often look to skiing and snowboarding and think back to the early days when snowboarding wasn’t even allowed at many resorts; these days they get along (almost) seamlessly. I think it’s the responsibility of the associations to set a good example of mutual understanding and respect between the sports.

Funniest moment as Executive Director of the CGWA?

Goofy times at King of the Hook, definitely. This annual event (inside the Hook, costumes very strongly encouraged) is a great family and spectator friendly event. We’ve seen tandem sailing while standing on shoulders, clowns, super heroes, etc.

It’s a funny, not-serious “competition” where everyone’s a winner, and our sponsors donate lots of swag for everyone- gift certificates to Mike’s Ice Cream, Sailworks kids rig, Naish and Dakine bling- it’s great that the local industry gets behind the kids windsurfing scene here. I love it, and roll over laughing at each event.

What's it like to be a local in the Gorge? How long is your windsurf season?

The Gorge is great! I love the spirit of entrepreneurialism that has so taken to this area. The people here value active lifestyles, and have jobs that support and fit into their lifestyles. The only thing I would change is make the season 12 months instead of 6. I usually windsurf from about May through October. I’d like to do more sun-chasing trips throughout the winter, so we’ll see what opportunities I can grab onto this winter!

Katie's dog Mollie

How much time do you get to windsurf in an average week?

Depends on the wind and what’s going on at work, but I try to get at least a short session in almost every windy day. Gotta keep the stoke alive to stay effective and motivated at my job!

What are your favorite non windsurfing activities?

Playing with my dog, biking, wakeboarding, tending to my (often neglected) veggie garden, playing Frisbee, letting my body rest up for the next set of windy days.

Music that moves you?

These days I’m going through a Brazilian Girls and Eminem phase… odd, yes, but totally pumps me up for sailing!

Race Stories Waterhound's David Wells reporting from San Francisco Bay on the Ronstan Bay Challenge - Long Distance Race: "While the excitement was rocking at the top of the fleet a story was brewing just behind. In an absolutely stunning performance Junior Women's sailor and Sailworks Team Rider Marion Lepert (pictured at left) not only braved the big winds and nasty waters, she chewed them up. Lepert posted a 1 hr 37 minute time that bested some exceptional Kiteboarders and windsurfers who have run this race countless times. Marion's 12th place finish is quite simply the "sail of the year" so far in San Francisco Bay." More

photo by James Douglass

Long Island, NY from the East Coast Windsurfing Festival, Michael Alex of the Peconic Puffin wrote: "Then there was the Open class, twelve guys with big sails and race boards. As the kids say: OMG. Pro sailors are pro sailors for a reason; champions even more so. It was great that Josh Angulo was so warm and friendly and outgoing on the beach, because on the race course, he finished the first heat before most of the competitors were half way around the course. It gets worse: Judge Mike Burns says Angulo wasn’t really gunning it in that heat. “C’mon, Josh,” Mike told him, “show these people what you’ve got!” So in heat #2 Josh blazed...nothing but fin in the water. He crossed the finish line so early that Judge Burns shouted out “Hey Josh: go around the course again!” And so in a single race Josh Angulo finished First and...wait for it...Fourth. "And he missed 3rd by a board length!" Mike Burns says. Against 11 other sailors."

Jeff Henderson, Hot Sails Maui designer and wave sailing afficionado, decided it was time to get out on the race course. The Maui Race Series, in its 27th consecutive season, was the obvious choice. Jeff said, "It was pretty insane, and very intimidating. I knew I had fast sails and a fast board but I had NO IDEA how to sail them! The previous 2 weeks had been 30-40 knots every day and I had not been able to train...The first race I was middle of the fleet and I just blew up. I had no way to control the huge iSonic 97, I could not see anything from the spray, and I simply was not used to going that fast. In fact both big falls that I had during the races were both going in a straight line midway between the buoys! Completely and wholly my simple lack of control and knowledge of how to sail this stuff."It got worse. More

Rory Ramsden reports from Weymouth, Enland: "The breeze was up, 20-25 knots in fact, and the RS:X silver fleet at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta were deep into Race 8. Three silverados were negotiating the first slalom mark in quick succession. First to gybe was Luke Baillie (AUS) in 6th. He blew it. Second, Jamie Ingram (GBR) in 7th, he nailed it. The perfectly executed planing gybe saw him exiting the turn at full speed.
Luke was in the water... On the racing line... There was no time to think. No time to take avoiding action. Jamie flew on. Struck Luke a glancing blow on the right temple. His head whipped over. He was out cold... Face down in the water...Just behind in 8th Marcantonio Baglione (ITA) was in hot persuit. He heard Jamie shouting... HELP, HELP... In a split second, Marco had bailed out. Leaving his board on a full plane, he dived in to help Jamie save Luke. They grabbed him and swam him to the nearest board. By this time Luke had regained consciousness and was soon on a safety boat on the way to shore." More

Peter Volwater writes: "Until the 2011 PWA Costa Brava came along with the biggest wind forecast ever seen for an event at this venue. All the slack we have been giving the event over the years, even nicknaming it 'costa nada', finally must have been ENOUGH! before the wind came down with vengeance and furious anger...The next day we woke up to a howling Tramontana, the beast is unleashed. I see Ross Williams the first one out to test the conditions on a 5.7 truly and well overpowered. This is serious stuff!! 5.5 and 85 liter are getting prepared and 2 rounds are sailed in conditions that will go into history as some of the windiest racing ever. Just finishing the heat without crashing means you most likely land in the finals; like riding the bull and try not to get thrown off, but in the heaviest gust its almost impossible to gybe. Some heats were worse then other, how come I keep on being in the windy heats?? Just keeping the rig upright is my goal and I sail into a 9th and a 5th place this day." More

Gorge Cup 2011 Race 1 was cancelled. The first meeting of the series was this June 11,12. Timothy Farell hadn't been in a serious race since 1979. He did pretty well in his comeback event. After the racing was finished on Sunday, he reported "...the sailors were treated to cold beer while we de-rigged. While I was doing so, I saw a sail with a US 3 sticker on it. I approached the sunglass wearing hooded owner to say that I had bought a former professional’s sail and that I had a good way to take the numbers off without damaging the sail. The owner, former resident and PWA world champion racer and wave sailor named Kevin Pritchard, was very polite and said he thought he would keep them on as he was headed down the Oregon Coast for an event in Pistol River called the Wave Bash. He had to register on Wednesday evening at the Curry County Fairgrounds. I wished him the best of luck. He seemed like a nice young man." More

Jeff Bennett of Maui Windsurfing did a brilliant job recording the slalom action at the first of five scheduled races that make up the Maui Race Series. Jeff's full meal video deal features 8 videos totaling 40+ minutes.

The Dakine Classic, the second race in the series, was held this Saturday, June 18; the first video of this race from Maui Windsurfing.

Sunscreen Is it important? I think so, at least for me. My red hair (well now it's grey) and freckled skin, types me as sensitive to sunlight. Did that ever sway me growing up? Unfortunately, no. I barbequed and abused my exterior unafraid of the unrelenting sun. Stupid me. Now I goop on my latest choice for sunscreen which reminds me of Kabuki make up; cover my upper torso with O'Neill's lycra spf 50 longsleeve shirt; wear a custom head band for forehead and ears, mid-calf climbing pants and sunglasses. Kookie enough?

PBS introduced the the new FDA rules for sunscreen: "After more than three decades, the FDA announced a series of changes in what consumers will see on all sunscreen labels by the summer of 2012. Among the changes makers of sunscreen lotion will have to clarify whether their product protects against what's known as UVA radiation, as well as UVB radiation, which was already the case. If it doesn't protect against both, the manufacturer cannot say it protects against skin cancer or early skin aging..." The interview.

The Environmental Working Group website offers an excellent in depth look at sunscreen products that busts myths, educates and allows you to check how your own sunscreen rates. Skin Deep

PWA live webcast from Bonaire - AWT Pistol River on Thursday

2011-06-12T14:59:00.005-04:00

Live webcast from Bonaire started this Sunday and will continue through Thursday with commentary by Ben Proffitt and Andy Chambers. Live webcast will start again on Aruba, June 19. Bonaire has the same time (currently) as the U.S.eastern seaboard. Event information, written description of the heats, results, still photos and live video player, all on the PWA website. Many, many live replays on the PWA website. Even more videos of the PWA action from Bonaire on the Kuma Blog You Tube Channel.

Robby Naish is all you really need to say to promote the Pistol River Wave Bash. Last year he sailed; this year, will he compete? Robby headlines the A List of names, names, names. The second stop of the 2011 AWT will pump it up some more for American windsurfing. If you're not able to attend, follow da action on DaNews. Some photos from last year.

"
Pistol River Oregon Wave Bash - June 2010 - Images by Roy Ivankoe

Hopefully, you'll find the Danamobile at the AWT Pistol River Wave Bash and you can read it yourself. But in case you don't make it to the Oregon coast, the next best thing is to read what Dana Miller has been writing on his weibsite, Boardhead.

Photo by Olaf Mitchell

"WATERMANS®: APPLIED SCIENCE stands committed to providing quality sun protection products to those individuals for whom life in the shade is not an option. We offer the best, most effective and functional, high-performance sunscreens on the market, specifically designed for high-intensity water and endurance athletes. Our sunscreen is formulated to stand up to the rigorous demands of an active life in the sun, wind and water. Our goal: to ensure a day in the sun doesn’t mean a lifetime of dealing with the consequences." You can find all their products on the website.

Zane Schweitzer made the Waterman's Crew 'cause of his paddling prowess. We also know him as a windsurfer. Catch up with Zane in this Katie Crafts interview.

Our sport's iconic race is the Defi Wind Gruissan and yes, it's in France. The optics of this event are always quite spectacular. No matter where the lens is pointed the image is either the biggest or most ever, you fill in the rest: racers on a start line, racers on a course, racers on a beach. Canadian Carl Spiess reported, "I did meet New York Times photographer George Steinmetz who had flown in to do a photo essay of the Defi windsurfing tribe. I think the action from last year's sunny and very windy event may make for better images, but there is no masking the passion the tribe here has for our sport. I'm very much looking forward to seeing his pictures." Carl reported on his time at the Defi Wind to Windsport, but, if you want, you can read it all on his blog: A Year (Windsurfing) en Provence. For more photos visit Le Defi.

Maui Ultra Fins' new concept fin, the Delta Wing, was introduced via press release this April 2011. So far so good. Keith Misch tested a 14 cm. Delta Wing on a 85 liter, JP FSW. He wrote, "The new Delta fin is a radical departure from traditional swept back wave fins…so I had no idea what to expect. And, truth be told, was somewhat skeptical. But, I was in for a surprise. The handling was superb––the board felt so free and loose in challenging chop to logo size waves. Though a single fin set up, the board’s turniness had a feeling of a twinser and perhaps even a quad. Getting vertical on the wave face was no problem…as simply sheeting in and applying some foot pressure brought the board to a new direction effortlessly. And, the feeling of snappiness was quite enjoyable. In gybes, the fin is also a high performer. I could pressure the rail quite firmly and the board/fin spun a tight radius, whilst keeping plenty of speed. In fact, planning through the gybe was the rule, not the exception. I think perhaps having reduced drag due to this shortened depth, the board speed remains high and also lightens the feel. Getting upwind was also no problem. In sum, extremely happy with this fin...would make it my standard fin without hesitation."

Maui Ultra Fins reports they have tested the Delta fin for Wave (Single, Quad), Freeride and Slalom with good results. R & D continues with their focus now on how the fin performs for freestyle and speed. They expect to put the Delta into production sometime in the last quarter of this year.

The PWA World Tour returns to Bonaire & Aruba

2011-06-05T20:54:00.007-04:00

Update | June 6: PWA Tour Director, Rich Page, confirms live video webcasts at both events.

As of this writing, the PWA has scheduled a record 13 events for 2011. It's been 6 years since the PWA brought the World Tour to Bonaire. Like Maui, the inspirational home of wave sailing, Bonaire has become the inspirational home of freestyle. Windsurfing's hip hop ballet on steroids has exploded with development since the first time the PWA came to Bonaire in 2002. Some, I hear, don't understand it, but man, just watch the action, 'cause freestyle commands your attention.

It must be exciting on Bonaire as they prepare for the tour's return. At the rental spots on Lac Bay, Jibe City and The Windsurf Place, you will find a webcam sponsored by Breathe Bonaire. Clustered with Bonaire's 2 rental shops is the Event Site where the competition will run from June 12 - 16. For more info on the Caribbean, Bonaire and Aruba check out the Leaners guide, Community: Caribbean: Southern Islands.

Since 2002 when Matt Pritchard and Karen Jaggi won the Freestyle World Championships judging has changed. PWA Freestyle competition is now run using a Best Move format. In the new format, competitors perform a maximum number of moves and the judges score only the best moves. For example, the Race Director may specify a maximum of 12 moves in the heat, of which the best 8 will count. This gives the competitors more time to perform their moves and helps the judges to focus more accurately on each rider. 35 men and 8 women are preregistered with prize money set at €30,000 for the men and €15,000 for the women.

Congratulations Bonaire; let the celebration begin !!! I've heard the much heralded, and seemingly forever in the making, Children of the Wind will be using footage from the 2011 event to complete their project. And thank goodness for Kuma Blog, who never turns off the camera; let them show you Bonaire with their recent videos at the end of this text.

Only 86 miles away, the second PWA Caribbean stop, is a slalom and freestyle event in Aruba which starts 3 days later and runs for a week from June 19 - 26. There are 54 men and 17 women preregistered for slalom with prize money set at €30,000 for the men and €15,000 for the women. There are 40 men and 8 women preregistered for freestyle with prize money set at €30,000 for the men and €15,000 for the women.

Background: "In 1988, the PWA (then PBA) joined with the Aruba Hi-Winds Pro-Am, then in its second year. Windsurfing legends like Robby Naish, Anders Bringdal, Pascal Maka, Nevin Sayre and Bjorn Dunkerbeck came to the island to compete. In the early nineties, one of the most grueling events of the entire PWA tour was held on Aruba: the legendary Round-the-Island Race, a long distance race of around 70 miles, which was won twice, in under five hours, by Bjorn Dunkerbeck.

Government sponsorship dried up in the mid-nineties but the Aruba Hi-Winds survived as an amateur event; it was held at the Fishermen’s Huts and welcomed several new additions to its menu: Super-Kids races, Freestyle (‘King of the Huts’) and Kitesurfing at Boca Grandi. Local talents and those from its sister- islands honed their talents and participated in the Aruba Hi-Winds. Taty, Tonky, Björn and Kiri from Bonaire became ‘King-of-the-Huts’ and went on to reach PWA World Tour top rankings, as did Aruba’s own Sarah-Quita, who has captured the title, Freestyle World Champion for the past three years."

Tell the story, grow the sport

2011-05-30T22:49:00.003-04:00

Our passion for wind, water and the gear that brings these 2 elements together is at the core of the story we tell and retell. In beach speak, passion equates with stoke. Being aware of this passion may help the uninitiated understand why we like to windsurf and why we like to report, discuss, dissect, and learn more about that thing we do. Lets face it, news has been around for a long time. Humans are naturally curious. In fact, an interest to learn is the best sign of a healthy, growing sport.

DaNews is a daily gathering of windsurfing news. I call it a digest, in fact it's only a suggestion list. While Europe seems to be well covered, I think North America could use a little more love (no offense Josh or Pete). And guess what? There's a ton of down in the trenches reporting happening everyday...we just need a place to connect with it. Of course, you can get out there and take a look for yourself, but if time is an issue, having a meeting place makes sense...

Since you're here on DaNewsBlog, take a look at the top right hand column. The Calendar, puts in one place, the scheduled events of North America and the PWA World Tour. I'm still learning where event information is hidden.. Dear choir, if you're going to all the trouble of having an event, please find somewhere to post, anywhere with an url, the info online. Facebook has an easy to use event page. Even a forum post is a linkable address. Below the Related Links is one very large blogroll, again, focusing on but not exclusively, North American blogs. There are 116 blogs and counting. DaNewsBlog has been visited by:

Near and dear to my heart is the Community guide found in the left hand column on the Learners guide to windsurfing. Community is an attempt at locating everything windsurfing found in North America (except Central America, which I plan to add this year). Of course the Learners guide covers a lot of information about what we do and how we do it. The LG is still linked as the go to guide on the U.S. Windsurfing Associations website. The Learners guide has been visited by:

These 3 websites are not for profit. I am not trying to build a media empire. All 3 websites throw traffic to the originators, promoting their efforts. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with making some coin for your website, it's just not what I'm doing. This is my give back to windsurfing for all that it's given me. This is my request: if what I'm doing resonates with you, spread the love. Link it up, embed a DaNews player, tell a friend. Thanks for taking the time to read all of this.

About me: I'm retired but not dead, living in east central Florida and windsurfing as much as possible. It's warm here year-round by U.S. standards even though wintertime windsurfing requires a wetsuit. If you can go when there's wind, Florida works for even the nuerotic and obsessed...year-round. Here, mid-state, we get enough waves to grow a Kelly Slater. Warm season seabreezes fire the inland lagoons; cold season fronts supply the engine for wave sailing and tropical storms...you get it. Throw in a formula or a longboard and you just bought yourself an insurance policy for year-round sailin'. Like I said, if you can go when there's wind, Florida works.