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Yesterday definitely had some swell at Ho'okipa but not really the kind to get excited about due to the combination of onshore winds, lump on the face, and the overall short period nature of the swell. Some people were ripping it up but I couldn't figure it out... I blame my board. We have had some good days this winter but no long period big swell yet, hopefully we will get some soon.
Very nice video.
I saw recently on the PWA site that Scott McKercher is retiring from competition because his hip is all messed up. Can't be too much of a bummer though when you are scoring waves like that instead of sitting in Sylt.
We got our first taste of big waves this week. Monday was the peak of the swell and a bit sloppy even with the lack of wind, Tuesday however started off looking much the same as Monday but super offshore southeast trade winds picked up and quickly transformed the slop into groomed lines with a side offshore sailing set up. The was very little wind on the inside at Ho’okipa keeping most people off the water but the offshore winds allowed for epic down the line rides on the bomb sets, I remember getting 5 turns in the pocket on one such wave which is unreal for Ho’okipa. Definitely the most fun sailing I’ve had sailing in the past 6 months, can’t wait for more!
Sharing the surf with other sailors is a critical aspect to wave sailing. Courtesy, respect, and safety are common themes.
But as with all things in life, there are grey areas, and its probably impossible to document every scenario that's could possibly happen out on the water.
Case in point, a great session we experienced in Hatteras back in September. I'd like to give you my experience and perspective.
So here is the way the events unfolded that day. Mind you, I’m a newbie out in the waves, so to some extent, you might understand how my vision is rather narrow, grip is often white knuckled, and I may or may not be aware of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE that is in my immediate proximity. It just the way it is as you pay your dues and figure it all out. You’re not entirely cognizant of everything you should be, and ultimately will be, as you gain more experience and time in the surf. It’s just the way it is.
Now having said that, here is how it went down. There where five of us out sharing the waves that session. I was coming in toward the beach, looking for a wave. I found one, pumped, bent the knees, tried my best, but missed the darn thing, and fell out the back. Now this day the surf had some size, and when you fall out the back in bigger surf in side off conditions, there is frequently a wind shadow behind the wave, and I dropped in like a dumb ass. To complicate this, I was on like the first or second wave, meaning there were more coming. And as I said they had some size. So the anxiety and heart rate is increasing. You with me?
I’m down in the water, I think I had the sail cleared, in the water start position, and I look behind me. You guessed, the next wave, bigger than the one I missed, was walling up and bearing down on me. Get up and go right! Yep, I was able to water start before getting mowed. But wouldn’t you know it, just as I was able to stand up on the board, my friend was just at the top of that wave, literally right above me, ready to drop in on this really sweet wave. Put yourself in his straps. You’ve basically caught this great wave, ready to drop in and go down the line, but you couldn’t see that I was down in the water and out in front of it, and I pop up right as you’re about to catch. It all happened so fast.
From my perspective, when I was down in the water, it was a no brainer. It was water start asap or you break your gear. Plus, I couldn't see him, and in fact didn't know he was there. I was after all down in the water, and you really can't see much more than the macking swell about to mow you. As I said the waves had size. From his perspective, I could see how he could think I snaked his wave.
All I heard was a certain expletive as I water started and caught what by all rights was his wave. To add insult to injury, it was a really sweet wave, one of the best of the day, and I came away giddy. When I kicked out after the 4th or 5th bottom turn, I knew that I was gonna have to apologize. But I must also admit I was smiling. It was after all a rather unique geo-political incident, and that wave ride was so sweet. I'd gone from gettin mowed and possibly breaking my gear, to catching the best ride of the day, all in like 30 seconds, albeit at someone else's expense
So I ask you, who had the right of way?? What would you have done?
As it turns out, we had a good laugh out of it (I think). But what I found out later as to who had right of way may surprise you. It did me. Basically, I screwed it up, by missing my wave. So it was on me to take the punishment by getting mowed. I was wrong to take Ken’s wave. Or should I say, Ken didn’t deserve to get his wave taken because I screwed up and missed my wave. Two wrongs don’t make a right so to speak.
So by rules, next time in a similar situation, I should stay down in the water and take that wave on the head, and pay dues for missing the other.
SURF ZONE FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
900 AM HST SAT OCT 11 2008
OAHU-
900 AM HST SAT OCT 11 2008
Surf along north facing shores will be 1 to 2 feet through tonight, building to 6 to 8 feet Sunday morning and to 14 to 18 feet late Sunday afternoon.
Outlook through Friday Oct 17. High surf above the 15 foot advisory level will continue through Tuesday, before slowly diminishing Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Kauli sealed up his third wave world title in Sylt by finishing second in the single elimination bracket yesterday. Its funny how in windsurfing very few people win just one world title, it is always a dynasty… Robby Naish, Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Jason Polakow, Morenos, Seadi… The Morenos also once again dominated the women’s fleet in Sylt. The conditions looked very cold and less than inspiring but at least they got a result for the first time in a while. Kauli appears to have won because he can match jumps with the best of them and step it up a notch on his wave rides. His sponsors must be stoked for a return on their investment after that big shake up at the beginning of the year.
The wave tour competed in Sylt, Pozo, and Cabo Verde this year down substantially from the number of events last year. It will be interesting to see what they can put together for next year.
It looks like they have run a few wave heats in Sylt; the conditions were straight onshore making both jumping and wave riding appear quite difficult, check out the video on the PWA website. Not too much of interest has happened yet seeing as they haven’t even completed the first round. The two young guns in the contest Phillip Koster and Kai Lenny have yet to sail but it could be interestesting if they make it through their first round heats because they will run into power houses Kauli Seadi and Boujmaa Guilloul. Being small seems to have been a big benefit for the freestyle guys thus far so we’ll see how it works out for the wave guys. If Kauli goes out early it would leave the door wide open for Josh Angulo or Victor Fernandez to take the wave title. Notably absent from the event is Levi Siver who I saw out at Ho’okipa yesterday.
Day after day of waves last week had me thinking winter arrived early; this week however is back to reality with hardly anything on the reefs... Today there is small swell but once you get a taste of the real stuff its hard to go back.
The PWA competition in Sylt is starting this weekend with a somewhat promising forecast. Maybe they will they actually run a men’s wave contest this year. If they do it will be the third contest of the “world tour” and could actually determine the world champ if Kauli goes out in the early rounds. Only time will
Maui has been getting a nice run of north swell the past few days giving us a little taste of winter. Pretty much every day has been better than the one before, the only draw back being that Ho’okipa has been super crowded. The big sets have been overhead and pretty playful for the most part but seeing that NW direction does so much for the shape of the waves. Robby Naish was out yesterday and ripping. I saw a big push loop and stalled forward while everyone else was slogging most of the session, not sure how he pulled that off… He was doing some sick in the pocket top turns as well. Mark Angulo has been another standout of the past few days repeatedly throwing a crazy variation of a wave 360s. Today is shaping up to be good as well so I’m off to the beach.
A little taste of winter with some small NW swells on the reefs today, anything seems pretty good this time of year.
Check out this video from E-40, some nice wave riding...
If you haven't already seen it you should check out Boujmaa's new move the "Black Shot."
Here in Maui we've almost made it to the first swell of the season which is forecasted to fill in on Monday, hopeully it will be a good one. Summer was brutal, practically no south swell in all of July or August but atleast its nearing the end now. People usually froth over the first swell so I bet Ho'okipa will be packed which will make things entertaining. We'll see how it goes...
Recently I was paging through a new windsurfing magazine and other than the same lame content that repeatedly fills the pages I couldn’t help but notice several pictures where the rider was clearly not going to make the move. Not that it really matters but it just seems a bit ridiculous that if you are going to go to all the effort of putting together an ad for a magazine you would at least pick a photo where the move is landed. Especially when it’s a move that numerous people can land consistently! Robert Teriitehau launching massive aerials at Jaws, huge superman airs; those are the kind of photos where it doesn’t matter if there is no hope of making it but an 8ft high one handed backloop, give me a break. It is pretty funny how windsurfers(myself included) love to exaggerate their abilities. read more »
Check out the the write up on the Starboard website.
A few more thoughts on contests… One thing that is often overlooked is the number of successful contests that are run on a national level. While national level contest might not always have the best conditions or standard of riding at least they are generating interest in the sport. Even if competition is not your thing events like these are often still fun to attend because competition is often just one part of the event. While there maybe some prize money involved in some of these events it is never much and even so many of these national level tours that exist seem far more impressive than the PWA wave tour is today. read more »
Well it is now official that the PWA has cancelled Tiree event this year. They try and pretend it will be back next year but I’d put the chances of that at slim to none. That brings the grand total events of the wave world tour this year to three with the 3rd event in Sylt being anything but reliable; meaning the “world champion” could easily be decided in 2 events. It’s really a shame seeing as Kauli, Victor Fernandez, and Josh Angulo are all in contention to win a title. It becomes a bit of a farce calling it a world title when all the contests take place in Europe or within a several hour flight of Europe not to mention the conditions that are passed off as wave sailing. If there is only going to be two real events they might as well crown a king of the jumps in Pozo and a king of the waves at Ponta Preta and forget this world champion business. I’ve expressed my views on how a wave sailing tour could be run and seen several interesting suggestions in this forum as well. The “wave jam” style format I think is definitely an interesting proposition and could ensure good conditions. People often cite lack of sponsorship money and interest as reason for the lack of events and while it is true that compared to a sport like surfing, windsurfing is operating on a much smaller budget but think about how many windsurf companies exist and how much gear they produce and how many people the employ. They don’t do this for a laugh so there is obviously a market for windsurfing and it is only logical that there would then be a market for a real tour. Either way something has got to give with the PWA because the way they run things now isn’t working. Its time to try something else or the whole idea of a world championship tour becomes a lost cause.
Finally a reprieve from the flatness of summer time! This weekend we had an out of season north swell bringing Ho’okipa and other north shore breaks back to life. Luckily I managed to catch a really good session yesterday evening at Ho’okipa. It had been super crowded all day with Euro vacationers but I hit the water just as the crowd start to thin and the swell pulsed some good head high sets. As an added bonus the wind had clocked around side-offshore, summertime wave riding here is often plagued by too much onshore in the wind. I had nearly forgotten how fun real wave riding is after almost a month of flatness so I smacked as many lips as I could find and then had to call it a day as the wind died off. Well, it’s back to nuclear winds and small jumping ramps for now but I heard some rumors of a similar swell situation setting up for next weekend. read more »
I've seen footage of this air from young Philip Köster on a couple of websites now and it is definitely worth watching. Massive!
Check out Committed Reloaded on the Mistral.com. Lots of good new footage, I'd say it is much better than the original Committed video.
Check out the videos on here. Especially that filthy late smack from Klass Voget in the Klaas ripping Ho'okipa video!
Free Your Mind Productions
The Moments DVD is worth watching for the footage of Alex Mussolini alone but also includes several other entertaining sections. The DVD begins with an interview of Alex Mussolini. The interview drags on a bit long for my tastes but once the action starts it is first class footage of Alex boosting huge aerials, stylish cutbacks, and big back loops. Alex is the highlight of the DVD however there are also several other entertaining sections showcasing Denmark and Chile that are effective in showing the viewer what it is like both on and off the water in those locations. The extra footage in Moments is also worth watching with Maui Kona conditions and a Nicaragua trip, although most of this footage I had seen before. Moments is also interesting because it was filmed just before everyone switched over to twin fins; you can definitely see a bit of difference in people’s style. All in all Moments is a pretty decent windsurfing DVD compared to many other windsurfing DVDs of the past couple years with good action, a bit off the water footage, and minimal heavy metal in the sound track.
What a weird summer it has been in Maui; no trades for 2 weeks and now waves and rain. It’s more reminiscent of winter although the waves don’t quite have the same power. Ho’okipa was super crowded today even with variable winds and rain squalls. Luckily I didn’t show up until late and everyone started to leave the water right as the wind steadied out, the waves had a lot of east in them but every once in a while a good set would roll through and set up for a couple of turns. Looks like more on tap for the weekend but only time will tell
The Pozo contest wrapped up over the weekend with nuclear winds for the final rounds of competition. Victor Fernandez took the men’s contest for the third year in a row and Daida Moreno took the women’s contest making it seem a bit like groundhog’s day, when is someone going top step up and take the title away Victor or Daida? The men’s contest finished with the sailors on 3-3.7m sails, Ricardo took second place which is a long overdue result in the waves for him. Dany Bruch held onto third which is a great result and I imagine that he will continue to be a threat a Pozo in years to come. Kauli moved himself up to fourth place through the double elimination eventually being stopped by Campello but pulls into first place overall in the rankings for the year. Nik Baker hung in there for the old guys and pulled out a fifth place result which is pretty unbelievable considering the jumping a lot of the younger guys do. Victor Fernandez and Josh Angulo are now tied on points for 2nd in the overall rankings with neither being too far behind Kauli so it could be an interesting finish if any of the other contests this year actually happen. Also of interest is Ricardo’s triple forward attempt which wasn’t too close to being landed but certainly proves that it won’t be too long before is one pulled off.
Photo of Dany Bruch(pwa.com)
It looks like they partially completed the double elimination yesterday in Pozo. Not too much to say at this point but I do see a couple pretty interesting upcoming heats. The first one is Siver vs Traversa; Siver is hands down one of the best wave sailors and jumpers in the world so if he can turn it on in his heat he will be very hard to beat. Traversa is probably the most underrated sailor out there and I could definitely seem him lighting up the conditions that they have in Pozo. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see the winner of this heat making it all the way to the final. The second battle to watch for is the potential heat of McKercher vs Stone. It could be a very entertaining all Australian affair, classic new-school vs old-school. It is a shame the only two Australian wave sailors in the contest are going to have to try and take each other out but I will be curious to see who manages to win. With only a few days left in the waiting period we’ll have the answer shortly.
In less than 300km you will find more than 20 really different spots.
The best places to wave sail are located in the east side of the country, Punta del Este being the most visited (Playa Brava and La Barra).
Also you can find lot of virgin spots near Brazil.
The season is from october to march and the best conditions to wave ride are NE wind (left side) and swell from SE.
With a bit more time I will post more info and more photos.
(Usually the water color is better than the one showed in photos)
Aloha!
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After not having any real waves on the north shore for over a month, we just finished up a run of super fun north swell here on Maui. Summer time swells from the north are pretty rare making the sailing really fun even if it doesn’t quite live up to winter time standards. The first couple of days were pretty light and onshore, also extremely rare for the summer, but I was able to get out and catch a couple of waves and the direction was hitting one of the reefs near Ho’okipa really well. The fourth of July was definitely the best day of the swell and coincided with a bit stronger winds making for more fun sailing. I ended up breaking my mast which I must say a word about… that mast had probably lived through nearly 500 sessions and numerous rock trips. read more »
Well it is July now and time for the PWA to crown the king and queen of the jumpers at the annual Pozo contest. This “wave sailing” contest that has little to do with wave sailing is once again delivering nuclear winds and suitable ramps for boosting big air. So far it looks like they have completed both the men’s and women’s single elimination.
On the men’s side Victor Fernandez won the single elimination which is no great surprise seeing as he has the best double forwards in the business among many other insane jumps. Dany Bruch came in second which is definitely his best result yet but still not much of a surprise if you’ve seen the video of his port tack jumping skills in his home of Tenerife. Ricardo Campello took third and I imagine that he will be Fernandez’s biggest threat when the double elimination rolls around because he has double forwards dialed as well and is crazy enough to go for anything. Nik Baker rounded out the top four showing once again showing that no matter how good you are if you don’t know how to sail a heat you won’t go anywhere. I always find it pretty impressive when guys like Nik Baker, Josh Angulo, and Scott McKercher get good results in Pozo despite the fact that many of the younger guys boost crazier jumps. These guys really know how to rack up points with their wave rides and hang in there with their jumping scores. I was a little surprised to see that neither Seadi nor Browne made it to the final four but I’m sure they will be big time threats in the double elimination. The big surprise was young Philip Koster who took out both Siver and Mussolini, plus he supposedly did a pushloop-forward. Koster made it all the way to the quarter-finals, impressive! I look forward to seeing what he can do in real wave riding conditions. When the double gets underway I’d look out for Campello, Fernandez, Seadi, and Browne to all be scraping it out for the top spot and don’t be surprised to see the old guard push some of the new names further down the rankings. read more »
A good list of spots re-printed from NZL 727's blog.
What's in the backyard?
There is a saying that goes something like this "don't start exploring abroad until you've explored your own backyard". It is always with a sense of guilt that I board the plane bound for some far flung (In NZ everything is far flung) windsurfing epicentre about whether we are have really put enough effort into finding epic-ness that may be just round the corner. Here is my pick list of spot or areas that I think need some serious effort.
The first group of spots are those that are already well known surf spots. This is a pretty good place to start. Unfortunately the characteristics that make them good surf spots don't necessarily lend themselves to being good windsurfing spots. However, there are a few where all the necessary factors seem to line up read more »
With the conclusion of PWA freestyle contest this week I have seen mentioned how great freestyle is and how it is this universal discipline that anyone can enjoy. I say bullshit, freestyle is the worst thing about windsurfing.
Freesytle… an interesting name for a discipline where everyone tries to do the same thing as everyone else. Freestylers are too dizzy to think straight which probably explains the comments about how great freestyle is and how wave sailing only exists in exotic locales. I would bet that there are far more windsurfers who live in proximity to some sort of waves than windsurfers who can actually do a Vulcan. Then there are the names of all these tricks, give me a break! Who can keep up with that, every time someone adds another sail duck, sail flip, or switch of the feet the trick gets an entirely new name! I windsurf a lot and yet when I see the videos from these freestyle contests I could maybe name and explain 25% of the moves. How can this be something that supposedly all windsurfers can enjoy? On top of this it seems that to win a freestyle competition you must be a prepubescent teenage boy and not weigh enough to make to the feather-weight division. Yes, freestyle is truly the everyman’s windsurfing discipline. read more »
Not much to report around these parts... flat, windy, and sunny. Could be worse. Forecasts are calling for some small kine south swells... On the other side of the globe the southern oceans are pumping out swell after swell and checking the swell finder it looks as if Australia has been overhead for weeks! People seem to be making an exodus out of Maui for places like Indonesia and beyond. I'll be holding it down here all summer hoping for some kind of bump and watching videos when all else fails, which brings me to my next point. I was recently watching an interview from a few years ago with WCT surfer Daniel Wills during which they showed him surfing some pretty nice waves in his home of Byron Bay, Australia. I was surprised to see in several of the shots there were a couple of guys out sailing some sick breaks! Western Australia is usually all you hear about for windsurfing in Oz but it looked like these guys were scoring epic conditions. Does anybody know about windsurfing in Byron Bay?
So I saw a copy of the new windsurfing magazine yesterday and as I was flipping through the pages I came across a very nice two page photo of Jason Polakow and Robby Swift. They are walking down a beautiful bluff to go sail in New Zealand holding their brand new JP 66ltr twin fins boards.... But wait, what is that on the tail of Polakow's board? A big fat Quatro logo, one just like they put on the tail of all their custom boards! Woops, someone forgot to photoshop that out! Just goes to show, even if you have your own board brand you still need to get your personal boards custom shaped by the best shapers.
This has little to do with windsurfing but it is something that affects many windsurfers. Here in the Northern Hemisphere it is boardshort time of year, the importance of a good pair of boardshorts is not to be underrated. A bad pair of boardshorts can lead to all sorts of unsightly problems such as slipping down when you’re sailing, chafing, and/or tearing. I’ve tried to save a few bucks by buying bargain brand boardies before but I never end up being satisfied with what I get. Maybe I saved a little bit of cash but I have to struggle every time I wear them afterwards. The logical solution is to just cough up the extra cash for a pair of name-brand boardies that will provide a much higher wearing satisfaction but I just can’t do it! $60, $70, I’ve even seen $85 for one pair of boardshorts and most of them have some terrible design to top it off! How can this possibly be the price of something with so little fabric and that is so simply made? While the name-brand product is truly superior with light, stretchy, quick drying, non-abrasive, and durable materials someone must be able to come up with a way of making high quality boardshorts for cheap. Companies like Billabong and Quicksilver are laughing at us, the consumers. They’ve transformed from small time surf companies into multimillion dollar corporations that rake in the cash and send their executives and team riders on luxury yacht trips around the world. While it’s cool that these companies are doing well we need an alternative that doesn’t empty the bank account. Until I find a company like this it’s going to be either a very small rotation of shorts of the continued frustration inferior quality boardies.
What boardies do you prefer?
Recently I’ve seen a number of advertisements/articles in magazines and on the internet advertising the new boards for 2009. It is all a bit of a farce if you ask me. First off, board companies don’t even change their boards every year nor should they, all that happens is they slap on a new paint job maybe some new foot pads and then they want everyone to run out and buy it. Board lines should be the same for 2-3 years minimum and when a really good shape comes out it should be around for even longer. A good shape is relevant for a long time. The other funny thing happening is they advertise all these new production twin fins as being the board that Kauli or any pro for that matter rides. More than 90% of pros are riding on custom shapes. A lot of production shapes are made by some shaper who knows very little about wave sailing let alone actually goes wave sailing. read more »
Style, what exactly is style? Do windsurfers have good style? There are a number of different ways that one could define style in sports but I believe the simplest and best way is this; style is making that which is difficult appear easy. There are also other factors that affect style as well, this is where windsurfing got a bad reputation with all the neon and spandex of the late 80s and early 90s. I will say in windsurfing’s defense, at least we don’t wear shpants like kiteboarders! However that is a whole different topic, I want to examine riding style. So where does windsurfing sit… we don’t look like a dog being dragged around on a lead like kiteboarders and yet we can look pretty kooky compared to a Gerry Lopez soul arch deep in the pit a Pipeline. So what makes good windsurfing style? read more »
Premier Productions
2004
Unleashed is the tale of windsurfing on the beaches of Maui from a dog’s perspective. I’m sure the creators thought that following a dog around and narrating the video in the dog’s voice was a pretty hilarious idea. I’m also fairly certain that they were extremely high… Nonetheless the video delivers high quality Ho’okipa action featuring all the top wave rippers, Josh and Jason Stone’s section being a particular highlight. There is also a section featuring blasting way offshore on slalom gear with a helicopter in chase. It provides an interesting and different perspective than what is found in a lot of windsurfing videos. However all this is of little consequence compared to the Jaws and south shore sessions captured in Unleashed. The wave they get on the south shore is truly one of the best windsurfing waves on the planet and the size they got it at only happens every few years. Epic! Polakow, Josh Stone, Anders Bringdal are all ripping but I could watch a wave with that shape and water color all day even if no one was on it. They also capture some huge Jaws footage with all the guys charging hard and some big wipeouts to prove it. Unleashed may not be the latest footage but it certainly has enough epic sessions that you can watch it again and again.
read more »
Check out this little video of the action at Ho'okipa this winter.
About: Every spring all the top pros come to Maui to take photos of all the new gear for next year. Everybody is trying to get the best shot so their picture will be published in ads magazines and brochures for the next year. All the pros are on the water at the same time jockeying for waves and trying not to run into each other. While it’s not a contest it’s pretty much the best way to see who is ripping and who is not. This is how they stacked up this year.
Conditions: The conditions for the photo shoots this year were pretty interesting. There was a BIG East swell running which is unusual. There were also several good pulses from the NW, the typical swell direction, that made for interesting combo swell conditions. The wind was also exceptionally strong meaning that it was mostly sub-4.7 conditions.
Check out these videos of the action: Video 1, Video 2
1. Marcilio Browne
One day in particular sticks out in my head, Brawzinho was sailing Lanes with the rest of the Mistral team. He was making them and everyone else on the water look like amateurs, his sailing was at a completely different level. The biggest back loops, table top pushies, and stalled forwards were stuck with absolute precision in conditions where no one else was landing anything. He also charged the biggest lips of the entire photo shoot period, and threw takas off the lip when it was smaller. Job well done I’m sure there will be some great shots of him coming out this year.
2. Graham Ezzy
Graham Ezzy wasn’t actually around when most of the companies were doing their photo shoots however he was in town a few weeks earlier and he definitely deserves a mention. Basically Ezzy was ripping harder than anyone, boosting huge aerials with nice style and throwing in a good mix of wave 360s and goiters as well. This is all the more impressive when you consider the fact that he has been away all year and hasn’t sailed much. His powerful wave riding style makes many so called seasoned PWA sailors look silly. We’ll see what he has in store for us in the future.
3. Boujmaa Guilloul
Boujmaa hasn’t had much competitive success but that doesn’t mean anything in terms of who is fun to watch and he is definitely worth watching. He goes for every crazy move in the book, and even more that he seems to make up on the spot. This go for it attitude more often than not leads to brutal wipeouts and while Boujmaa’s wipeouts are always entertaining I don’t know how he isn’t permanently injured. He also pops some of the biggest aerials in the business and sticks more wave tricks than most pros know how to try. Boujmaa is one guy that I could watch sail all day. read more »
Several weeks ago a clip of Victor Fernandez sticking a nice forward loop off the lip was going around the internet. Check out this one from Josh Stone almost 10 years ago. Which do you think is better? I personally like Josh's, he projects so far out in front of the wave!
Check out Victor's on the WJ TV.
Check out the video collection on the Hot Sails Maui website, Hot TV. There is a bunch of nice videos on there and a pretty funny series from Brian Talma. The sound track for the series is pretty interesting... it is apparently created by Brian Talma himself. Naish also does a site like this called Naish TV, with a bunch of videos some good, some not so much.
Rail to Rail is classic windsurfing video following Dave Kalama and the “strapped” crew in their surfing and windsurfing exploits. This video is a throw back to when windsurfing was a viable part of a waterman’s repertoire. The focus of this video is smacking the lip and charging big waves, no flat water or onshore conditions to be seen. Most of Rail to Rail is filmed in Maui with nice longboarding, good Ho’okipa action, and some classic shots of towing and sailing Jaws in its early days. Dave Kalama throws better goiters in this video than pretty much anyone is doing these days and the crew also makes a trip to Fiji where you see Rush Randle boosting huge back flips on a strapped surf board. Candid interviews with Dave Kalama share his philosophy on life and riding waves as well as a decent sound track keep the viewer’s interest throughout the video. The footage in Rail to Rail may be a bit dated but they don’t make them like this anymore and it is highly worth watching.
Looking around the different windsurfing forums on the internet it seems that one reoccurring theme is people with broken gear getting screwed out of warranties on minor technicalities or pure bullshit. Another reoccurring theme in almost all windsurfing publications is these so called gear reviews that are basically just advertisements and never have a remotely critical thing to say about a board, sail mast, etc. I find the magazine reviews particularly loathsome, they scam you into paying for their magazine only to have articles that really are just advertisements. If you took ten adjectives to describe a board like fast, slow, turny, loose, light, heavy, etc. and then told a computer to randomly order them you could come up with a more interesting and meaningful board review than pretty much any windsurfing magazine. On top of this nearly everyone has different preferences depending on their size, style, and type of conditions that they sail in so honestly what’s the point. To learn how different boards feel try as many as you possibly can, borrow them off friends, take the old ones out of a garage, rent one in a shop or while on vacation. The more you try the more you know what you’ll like and will be able to start to visually identify what will be a good board, although riding it is the only true test so try before you buy. What would be meaningful are gear reviews that test durability and warn people of the lemons out there because there are plenty of them. read more »
Cape Hatteras, NC is the premier US mainland east coast wavesailing destination. We experience excellent wavesailing conditions most of the year with our prime season during the Fall when hurricane and tropical storm swell can produce sizable surf.
Hatteras has a strong windsurfing presence but the level of professional stops to the barrier islands is few. We have our own contingent of local pros, but rarely see any of the big guns visit this place. Likely, this is due to the lack of professional tour stop support/interest. Though from the kiteboarding world, Hatteras does draw top international pros for the Annual Triple S Invitational wave event sponsored by Real Kiteboarding.
All in all, it would be great to see more professional interest in Hatteras as a destination for the professional world tour circuit. Of course, Hatteras does "miss," and there is risk of conditions not happening; however, if timed correctly during our prime seasons, the odds of a miss can be significantly reduced, while the opportunities can be quite rewarding.
For more on the Hatteras wavesailing scene:
Many things can make you want to go somewhere, a random picture in a magazine, a video you've seen or just a story that you overheard. Side off winds with smooth, powerful, peeling waves are what I personally look for. Board short weather both in and out of the water is also definitely appealing. However, the most captivating thing about new places is the search for and the opportunity to experience something totally different from day to day life. Here is my list of 5 places I'd most like to go...
1. Fiji
2. Tahiti
3. Cabo Verde
4. Australia
5. South Africa
What are your top 5? What makes you go somewhere? Post it in the forum.
WIPEOUT!!!(click to see the defintion of getting rejected)
What Happened?
Are you serious!! It makes me sick to see it! I guess I wasn't really thinking...I was just riding the wave and then when I went to hit the lip, it jacked up more than usual and I was like O no and before I knew it I was knocked down! It just hit me and threw me like a ragdoll. It felt like it split my forehead open, but I just got a big bump that drained into a black eye for a week. I still have a little bump… not sure if it will ever go away.
read more »
(Disclaimer: This is not discouraging anyone from sailing at certain mentioned spots or in onshore conditions, the opposite in fact, if that’s what you like you should keep doing it. This article is not disputing the potential of mentioned locations. Please read the entire article by clicking the "read more" link, there is important info. near the end.)
The PWA wave tour is a sinking ship. They continually go to locations that either don’t have wave sailing or don’t have enough wind to run a contest. The reason for this seems to be the mentality of the organizers and leaders. The model of a wave contest as a spectator event is flawed. The PWA seems fixated on creating large prize purses for events and requiring event organizers to have a huge amount of infrastructure and invest a lot of money in order to run an event. Sports like football, American football, hockey, baseball, rugby, etc. are spectator sports. Large stadiums are built and teams make money by selling tickets to the game. No action or board sports are spectator sports. While maybe a select few events like the x-games draw a crowd, video and media coverage of riders and events reaches a much broader audience and that’s where the sponsorship dollars go. Wave sailing is the most dynamic and viewer friendly part of windsurfing. Wave contests should generate a buzz about windsurfing and get people interested in trying it for themselves or improving upon what they can already do but the way to achieve this is not by having people show up at the events where there is little chance of a contest being run. read more »
A nice little video someone put together while at the 2008 Cabo Verde event. Including some footage that wasn't on the PWA site or elsewhere.
Check out this website, www.hawaiianx.com. There is a good collection of windsurfing videos and videos of many other sports. There is some good footage of Fiji and Nicaragua, two spots that look pretty epic but you don't get to see too often.
Many companies these days offer a board for something they call “real world waves.” By this they seem to mean junky onshore waves. I have always found this name a little curious and it makes me ask “what is a real world wave”. It seems to me that the waves in the real world are pretty good. Ho’okipa is in the real world is it not, so is Ponta Preta or Gnarloo, these waves do not exist on another planet as far as I know. Maybe by real world waves they mean waves that many people live by… read more »
Sailing new spots is part of the fun of wave sailing for me. You get to learn how a new wave breaks, how the wind works, where to take off and where the best sections are. At the very least you get a different view of the coastline. This winter I got the chance to sail three waves that I hadn’t previously here on Maui.
CLOUDY DAYS
Early in the winter we got a big north swell accompanied by north winds which means one thing, Westside. Now I have to admit I have sailed the Westside before but never really scored it good. When I showed up it was overcast with smallish waves with light side on winds, certainly sailable but nothing epic. I rigged up and got out there anyway. I had some fun rides but what I didn’t realize was that it was low tide and shallow enough that my fin was scraping the bottom on the way out! I got a couple more waves before I proceeded to put a ding in a nearly brand new board. Time to go in for a while. A mate of mine broke his mast on the shallow reef as well so it was turning into a bit of a gear breaker. The wind dropped off a bit but I wanted to give it another try so I grabbed another board and headed back out. First trip across the reef resulted in a broken fin, shit! Now I’m up to 1 fin and a board ding. I came back in again. The wind had really dropped off now and many of the north shore regulars were starting to appear out of the wood work and were gathering on the beach. After killing time on the beach for a while the wind started to come up a bit and the waves along with it. Alright, everyone rigs up and heads out again, so I grab another fin and try again. The wind is now blowing enough to be well powered and the waves are reaching up to logo high but there is still a bit of onshore wobble in it keeping it from being epic. In terms of crowds it practically looked like Ho’okipa with everyone making the trip over. The wave did offer up some punchy little sections to smack and some decently long down the line rides but certainly not living up to its full potential. I sailed for the rest of the afternoon until I was beat and packed it in. Even though it wasn’t at its full potential it was still pretty fun and a very different type of sailing than what you find at Kanaha or Ho’okipa so it was a good experience. Scoring that epic Westside session will have to wait for another day. read more »
Peru is located on the western coast of South America between Ecuador and Chile. With 2,414 km of coast line in close proximity to the Southern Pacific Ocean it is no wonder that Peru hosts good wave sailing and surfing. The Town of Pacasmayo is a good starting point for a windsurfing trip.
Overview- The best time for windsurfing will be in spring and fall to take advantage of both the wind and waves. During these months the wind can blow anywhere from about 15-25knots. While the higher wind days are rare there will be sailable wind the vast majority of the time. There also should be regular swells of a moderate size during the spring and fall. Note: There is good surfing in the fall, winter, and spring.
1. Waves- Peruvian breaks take advantage of South Pacific swells for the most part. The South Pacific is most active and making the biggest waves in the Southern Hemisphere winter (May-Sept.) but in reality is active from March-November and can kick into gear at any time.
2. Wind- Peru has a reliable thermal south wind that seems to be formed by the warm desert temperature and cool Pacific water. When it is overcast as it often is in the mornings and throughout most of the winter the wind will be less but as the clouds burn off the wind quickly fills in. The clouds burn off starting in the North and making their way south with the cloud line (and wind line) seeming to stall out somewhere near the City of Trujillo during the spring and fall months. Note: Lima sees no sun for all but the summer months! read more »
About: The Cabo Verde contest this year was run in a variety of different conditions from logo high Ponta Preta to knee high “Little Ho’okipa.” The wind was light throughout with the pros using sails up to 5.8m. The conditions at different times could be described as anything from super fun to pretty shitty. These rankings are highly subjective but basically lay out how the riders did at the contest and how they are looking for the rest of the competition season.
1. Kauli Seadi
Kauli is definitely one of the best all around riders out there and that will take you a long way especially in competitions. His style is particularly suited to the conditions they had this year as well with not too big of waves and light offshore winds. He is ultra loose and effortless in conditions like this when many of these so called pros are struggling to do a proper cutback. Even though in bigger waves and stronger wind his style can look a bit too slippy/slidey you got to hand it to him, job well done.
2. Josh Angulo
Seeing as Josh has most likely sailed this spot more than anyone else in the competition he is obviously a favorite. What really sets him apart however is that while many of the other bigger riders were complaining about the light winds he is in his element in them taking apart many of the smaller and more maneuverable riders. One could also make an argument that he sailed the best final as well busting out the most powerful maneuvers, but in the end the judges decided they prefer more turns of lesser quality than a few big hits.
3. Jason Polakow
Jason may not be into competition much these days but he still has the best cutback in the business. You can also count on the fact the he will not back down from any lips. Add these things together and you have arguably the best pure wave rider on the planet without a tour to showcase his skills. Whether its port tack or starboard, you can never count Polakow out of any true wave riding competition as he proved once again this year in Cabo Verde.
4. Robby Swift
I had this guy all but written off after the past couple years plagued by injury and lackluster performances. Only time will tell if this was a one hit wonder or if it is a sign of things to come. Robby does charge some big waves and hits big lips but he just seems to lack that style some have.
5. Thomas Traversa
Thomas brings quite a bit to the table with all the new school tricks and wave riding ability on both tacks. Cabo Verde this year was definitely a good result for him as he often seems to be unable to bring everything together in wave competition. The conditions seemed to really suit him this year as a super light weight. Watch out for him in the future if he ups his contest game because he is as talented as they come.
5. Alex Mussolini
Alex is in the same boat as Thomas Traversa, extremely talented but so far unable to be a real threat to the world championship title. I would go so far as to say that Alex is the best all around starboard tack wave rider out there right now. Like Thomas, Alex also excelled in the light wind small waves of “Little Ho’okipa” and put up a strong result to start off the season, we’ll see what he does with the rest of the season. read more »
I would just like to send out a big congratulations to the PWA on “postponing” the Guincho event this year. Just a heads up, when they say postponed they mean 99% probability of cancellation. This event has been a staple of the tour for the past several years now and while it may not offer the most epic wave riding it did deliver contestable conditions that usually were a good mix of wave riding and jumping.
When well established events are dropping off the tour such as this it should be a red flag that you are doing something wrong. The PWA website cited a reorganization of the Portuguese Tourism Authority as the reason for cancellation. Well if one sponsor pulls back that should not be reason enough for the contest to be cancelled, the PWA needs to structure contests so they can be ran on a minimal budget if necessary. The PWA needs to make sure that their events bring added value to the spots that they are run in and if it is super expensive to run the event then it is very hard. While the PWA did do a good job of adding two new events in Brazil and Scotland last year I think that time may show that the venues do not have reliable enough conditions to get results.
The “postponement” of Gunicho is just the latest in a recent string of inadequacy from the PWA starting with no Maui contest last year and the recent cancellation of the women’s Tenerife contest. On the PWA website it says clearly that the PWA exists among other reasons “organize and sanction professional events.” They need to make sure that they are focusing on organizing and sanctioning events that will provide reliable and high quality conditions to showcase windsurfing to the public. Now I am not one to criticize with out offer some solutions so stay tuned for some thoughts on how events could be run in the future.
Surface tension has to be one on the best wave sailing videos ever produced although it is showing its age a bit these days. This video showcases almost every ripper there was when it was made including Jason Polakow, Josh Stone, Kevin and Matt Pritchard, Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Sierra Emory, Katsushi Shinjo, Levi Siver, Francisco Goya, Sean Ordonez, Ian Boyd, Josh Angulo, Chris Wyman, Robby Naish, and many more. Surface Tension seems to be based around Maui but travels to some epic outer island and North American spots that I have never seen in another movie and probably will never be shown again. The section featuring Isla Vista is a particular favorite of mine. The editing and sound track for this video are also pretty good especially when you compare it to many of the other videos out there. They don’t make them like this any more, this video shows non-stop side-off down the line wave sailing with a great variety of spots and riders. Surface Tension also probably has the best wipeout section of any windsurfing video ever and worth the watch for this alone. This is definitely one to add to the collection if you can get your hands on it and will definitely go down as one of the best and most complete video of all time.
Trow Vision Productions
With a title like The Windsurfing Movie this video has some big shoes to fill however it delivers pretty much everything one could hope with such a title. Top notch action and the best riders in the world including Levi Siver, Jason Polakow, Kai Lenny, Robby Naish, and Josh Angulo among others are featured. Many of the best locations on the planet such as Maui, Oahu, Cabo Verde, and Morocco are also visited in The Windsurfing Movie. All this is set to a killer sound track and built around a story about the evolution of the sport of win
