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What a session with my friends! When the atlantic ocean is on fire, he can delivery some awesome jewels, and not so far from your place sometimes…;p) A powerful wave, where you need to stay closed to the curl… We will never forget this intense ride!

One more time a special big thanks to Christophe from “La Tama” & my friends for the filming

Enjoy & Aloha

Wesh

Credit photo: Leo Lefebvre
Artiste Music: Svinkels / Le club de l’apocalypse

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Rick Jendrusch freestyling at his homespot Brouwersdam.

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Finally some quality wave sessions in Lanzarote!!! Just before I had to leave for new Adventures. We scored 2 days of great conditions at Jameos del Agua sailing only with few people! In this weeks VLog I feature action from Philip Köster, Noah Vocker, Tristan Algret and Timo Mullen, if you watch carefully you can also see JC windsurf swimming with his camera trying to get some shots for his stories in windsurf magazine ! The wave in Jameos is beautiful, BUT it brakes on very sharp lava Rocks and there is only really 1 narrow place where you can get in and out of the water. If you break something and have to find another way back to shore you need some guardian angels to get out without destroying everything and yourself. Also there are strong currents pulling out and away so this place need to be enjoyed with care and really is dangerous… as you can see Noha, Tristan, me and our Kit all became victims of the Rocks… Rockstars in Jameos 😉

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Jason Polakow decided to go and find the perfect wave for that unforgettable windsurfing experience. Reaching Indonesia on Rote Island might have been the best decision he ever took.

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One board, four sails, four sailors = 4×4 windsurfing. The crazy frenchies are at it again with their bid to be the fastest and funniest windsurfers in the world. Raf Filippi brings us behind the scenes for a not so serious look at the entertaining engineering and endeavours of the Quadem project.

Words  Raf Filippi

   //   Photos   Horue Movie

Originally published within the November ’17 edition.

Windsurfing has always been a highly individualistic activity. It is very hard to share our sensations; many even refuse to share their wave! We felt that windsurfing as part of a team, sharing our joy and our problems could bring a new dimension to our sport. I started it nice and easy a few years ago with Régis Bourdon, doing the Défi Wind together on a tandem. I then welcomed a third crewmember, Matthieu Vinceneux, on an even longer board and confirmed that the motto “the more the merrier” can also be successfully applied to windsurfing. So why not push it a bit further hey? The idea of the Quadem was born.

The SCIENCE
The Tridem had transformed the way we conceived windsurfing as a team and offers nothing comparable to riding on a tandem. Building the board was a technological challenge that Pierre Bracar successfully faced, but what a stress it was. Since we wanted to go fast, we forbade ourselves to train with less than 40 knots of wind… probably not the best option overall. The sailing also got extremely tricky and technical, synchronizing the action of three riders becoming a serious headache. We spent a lot of time training last autumn, discussing at length after each session the potential of our Beast and our dreams of speed records. The main idea was pretty simple. We started from the scientifically accepted fact that the speed of a sailing vessel is defined by / depends on the total sail area, the overall weight and the total wetted area on the bottom shape. After many calculations that kept us all very busy during our winter evenings, we came up with the conclusion that we had to get a fourth rider. In our eyes, it was then clear that the Quadem would become the fastest sailing vessel of all time.
Xavier Huart, ex pro rider of world class level in waves and slalom and now based in the Pays Basque, was dreaming of making a comeback onto the windsurfing scene – and not just any sort of comeback – but with a performance that would blow everyone away. The new team was complete and we were already starting to dream about standing on the highest step of the Défi Wind podium and taking the trophy away from Pierre Mortefon and Antoine Albeau. The Tridem was well and truly buried in our minds and we now needed to find the ultimate dream team to help us build a revolutionary 4-man board like nothing ever made before.

SHAPING BAY
It is thanks to Fabien Vollenweider, a famous shaper, that the Quadem became real. We met in November on Maui and I could feel his interest for this new approach – over a few beers, we discussed it all, tandem, tridem and studied the available options. That is exactly when we should have stopped the whole project! No one around us believed in the potential of a board 6.5 metres long and 90 cms wide, the ideal measurements according to Fabien to feel comfortable at high speed. To draw this board was a challenge even for his talent but the 3D shape was ready within days. Craig Gertenbach, the boss of Fanatic, almost fell off of his chair when he opened his emails in the beginning of December. He had in front of him a pure jewel born from the heart of the Tramontana and ready to explode records … if you could find someone to actually build it.  I was already convinced that Xavier would be proud to be the pilot of this rocket, and I could already picture my loyal Tridem mates Régis Bouron and Matthieu in their brand new tight red latex suits. Yeesssss. It took a few more mails to get the budget together and the adventure could get started. It is in Thailand that all of our problems really started – just trying to find an EPS core of 6.5 metres long and a tree tall enough to build a stringer of the same length! Not to mention the metres of cloth and the kgs of resin that Dani, Fanatic’s product manager, had to requisition. We also had to find a workshop long enough and a cardboard box size XXXL to pack the whole thing in at the end. The whole team flew there and tested dozens of prototypes before validating a shape of astronomical dimensions delivering busts of acceleration that would scare the living hell out of Lewis Hamilton.

LOGISTICS
The beginning of February arrived and the Beast was finished. It was displayed on the floor of the Cobra factory (where Fanatic boards are also produced) and a crowd of proud Thai workers gathered round it, congratulating each other and taking photos of the biggest and most incredible windsurfing board ever made! On the box the address was “Le Marin Surf Shop – For Raf Filippi, Carro / France”.
The transport however was the absolute cherry on the cake. Since the board does not fit in a regular container, it took four months until it made it to Europe and not just anywhere in Europe but to the depths of Austria, in the middle of nowhere, where the central warehouse of Fanatic is located.  I’ll skip the details but we finally received our baby the day before the Défi Wind, on the 24th May 2017!! All this was made possible thanks to the dedication of a Polish truck driver who drowned litres of vodka, and after getting lost several times, finally found our little village of Carro. It wasn’t the perfect timing to get to know our new toy and refine our trimmings etc. but we took the opportunity to baptize our baby on the Lac de la Ganguise, a beautiful lake near Toulouse, with a solid 35 knots of wind.

RECORD BREAKERS
It was during a very festive evening exclusively dedicated to the Quadem at the Fanatic booth at Défi Wind (involving considerable amounts of liquid refreshment!), that we decided to simply go for it and explode the sailing world speed record (after having blown ourselves and the booth away thanks to Matthieu’s Ti’ Punch!) Intensive training started very soon after this, with the objective to go this winter on a proper speed strip to practice. Do not ask us where exactly, several speed bases are fighting to get us. The goal is clear: the absolute world record.

BREAKING UP
The story of the Quadem is currently being written and let us see where the wind will bring us. In fact, last July during a pretty hard-core training session at Etang de Berre we had our first big crash, it didn’t end well. With 40 knots of wind and very rough chop, our board suddenly split into two tandems.We then realized that the tall tree for the stringer might not have been found as we discovered there was actually no stringer inside our board! The two riders at the front ended up  in a slightly tricky position and, without any fin, discovered the joys of the synchronized Spock. The two riders on the back (including myself) kept on going full power. It took us a few hours to recover from that blow, to find all the bits of the board and all the members of the crew – luckily nothing sank.

We are now in a delicate position with choices needing to be made.Do we take the old Tridem out again or re-build a new Quadem. The rest of the story will be decided d uring the winter on one of our heavy drinking evenings, as usual!!

RIDER SPECS
The front rider. He is called “the Monkey”, like on a sidecar, but more due to the very strong physical resemblance between a monkey and our guy. Very agile and energetic, he shouts as soon as the board accelerates and gets the whole crew to piss themselves laughing. He never touches the water unless the board breaks in half. He is more comfortable on stage with his band, the Virtual Slaps, than on our monster board. Régis, that´s his name, and is the only one who has managed to beat Thomas Traversa in a wave contest last year despite body measurements proportionally inverse to  the specs of our Quadem Beast – 66 kilos on the scale with his funky old school banana hanger underwear on.The second. He is the Brain. His role is to give orders and manage manoeuvres. Teamwork is crucial for the jibe when you have a radius approaching the length of a football field! He is a lot heavier than the front rider since he weighs 68 kgs, pretty impressive huh? He stuffed himself all winter long in order to gain 2 kgs and avoid being the front rider. He could be used as a relay between the other riders, but unfortunately he sails with earplugs. So there is absolutely no communication between all 4 riders, which makes every manoeuvre highly technical and highly unpredictable!
The engine. He is the fattest but also the least fit of us all. To make him put on extra weight quickly, we developed a special diet based on beers, Ti’ punch and burgers. His only role is to sheet in and most importantly to shut the hell up because only number 2 is supposed to give orders!! 105 kgs for 1m85, a nice baby.
The pilot. As on the Tridem, the pilot is the furthest back and cannot see anything of what is happening at the front. I will let you imagine what would have happened if we had made the start line at Défi in the middle of 1400 fellow windsurfers. We gave this critical task to Xavier because he is the best at hitting start lines right at the horn and to nailing the inside line at jibe marks. According to our calculations though, we won’t need the inside line at the jibe as we will be so far ahead of the pack with our supersonic speed. 85 kgs of muscle and testosterone on the scales to wrap up the crew.

QUADEM FUN FACTS
• Wearing a helmet is compulsory. Four helmets on the Beast because danger looms everywhere!
• We haven’t tested jumping it yet even if we are all wave riders at heart.
• The board is crap in the surf and the rail sticks on the bottom turn, even at super high speed.
• Transport, as you would suspect, is a nightmare.
• In order to simplify things and save on weight, we didn’t put on any non-slip. A big mistake that we will correct next time!
• With each crash you destroy at least one sail.
• The Quadem offers the best weight/power ratio in windsurfing history. You can load between 16 and 24m² of sails with 45/50 knots of wind on a board that has relatively very little contact with the water.
• We hesitated for a long time about the fin size. We went for a 44cm because we had it on the Tridem and had nothing else! Given the overall rail length, we could use a much smaller fin but we fitted it with a hammer and can’t get it out anymore. Anyway, we’re losing 1cm each session through grounding so by next year we should be down to a 28cm. We’re currently considering a foil system, but that is top secret.
• Our top speed was 55 knots (on the highway) and around 26 knots on the water. That shows the crazy rate of progression that we have. After all, this is just the beginning of the Quadem story!

WHAT ARE THE IDEAL CONDITIONS?
Ideal conditions are a fully downwind run with 60 knots of wind. We don’t mind the chop since we crush anything coming our way with the two fatties at the back. We do however need a good kilometre to reach our max speed. It’s the reason why we can’t make an attempt on a channel like Saintes Marie or Namibia. Anyway, we always thought that these channels were for chickens that don’t know how to deal with chop.

QUADEM KEY FIGURES
1: Our ranking next year at the Défi Wind.
3: Minimum amount of people required to carry the Beast.
4: 4 riders on the monster, 4 rigs and 4 times more fun.
18: The amount of footstraps.
20: The amount of glasses of rum that pushed us to initiate the project.
27: The amount in kgs of carbon fibre necessary to reinforce the Beast.
324: The accumulated weight of the 4 riders in kgs. Nearly twice as
much as Antoine Albeau but with 4 sails. I told you our weight/power
ratio was good!
480,000: The budget in € invested by Fanatic into the Quadem project.
50 million: The amount of views we want on our video – we want
to beat Despacito!

“ It was then clear that the Quadem would become the fastest sailing vessel of all time. ”

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A session with high seas and frustrated surfers against the backdrop of Brexit. Finn Mullen chronicles facing and escaping reality with some windsurfing liquid therapy.

WORDS  FINN MULLEN  //  PHOTOS  MIKEE HAMILTON

Originally published within the November ’17 edition.

The van is being buffeted by the wind, a good sign I hope. “You can never be too sure if the weather will do what they say it will do,” says the spirited landlady of the pub, sensing I was at the mercy of the elements. I’d stopped for a sandwich and the pub was the only place open. The TV muted in the background showed images of the Las Vegas massacre and the sobering scenes stifled conversation amongst the local men at the bar. A young man stared at his pint intently looking for an answer, it wasn’t there. I don’t have one either, pay the bill and leave looking for a different sort of liquid therapy.

LUCKY
I’m feeling lucky, not because of the forecast, that doesn’t often mean much as the landlady sagely noted, but because I had the day off, the sun is out and there’s motion in the distant seas. I’m living in the moment as mindfulness zealots say, or just living, as I prefer to put it. Another van pulls up beside me at the traffic lights. On the passenger side a tired worker tries to rest his head against the window using his awkwardly angled arm for an uncomfortable looking pillow. His face says he doesn’t want to be there and his body agrees. I feel even luckier to have the day off. Work doesn’t often make you a better windsurfer but it does give a good perspective to make actually going windsurfing feel all the better.

COASTLINES
As I close in on the coast, the hustle and bustle of the road dilutes and the small fishing village comes into sight. There are no boats in the bay today, it’s too rough out at sea and the fishermen are absent, surfers taking their place in the harbour car park. I look around the collection of cars, motorhomes and vans and spot only one Irish number plate, which is a hire car. For European wave chasers, Ireland has become a must-do stop in autumn. Surf magazines, websites and videos sell the Emerald Isle as a place full of waves and bereft of crowds. That it is, sometimes, but not today, not here. It’s the opposite, crowded and inconsistent surf. There’s an uneasy atmosphere from the collective of having been sold faulty goods. They have to share little amongst a lot and that’s not what they planned for. All these visiting riders have come seeking something that banded together they won’t find – solitude. I suppose looking at a map of Ireland’s coastline you could be forgiven thinking that every single Atlantic facing nook and cranny has waves. Maybe they do, that’s the magical curiosity the island inspires but to find those hidden gems requires traversing hours of small country roads. It sounds oh so romantic but soon loses its appeal for most people when they realize that just round the coast on the map takes 5 hours by car, more if you meet sheep on the way to their fields (rush hour). So they abandon exploration and just head to the surf spots in the guidebooks in search of a surer bet. I get it, if I only had a few days holiday in a country I’d do the same, but that means everyone gambles on the one horse and today the going doesn’t look good for this race. I get back in the saddle and leave my fellow (for the moment) Europeans to fight amongst the scraps while I see if I can find a tastier alternative.

BORDERLINE
On the way down here I’d passed a sign for a protest march by ‘Border Communities Against Brexit’. They are a group of local representatives from a range of business, community and farming sectors established with the purpose of countering the imposition of a hard border on the island of Ireland because of Brexit. Working on both sides of the border on a collective basis, they are trying to counter the already seen effects of the Brexit vote in their communities. Whilst European visitors are up, British visitors are well down and in some border towns trade is down by 30% in hospitality sectors. To reach Dublin from the North West of Ireland the quickest route is often through Northern Ireland so any goods being brought to the island’s largest domestic market face the prospect of having to go through untold officialdom and checks. There’s a sense that decisions being made far away in Brussels and London are having a very profound local effect on the ground. The same sense of distrust and unease with distant politics exists here that sparked the Brexit vote in the first place. It feels strange to think that in a few years to enjoy the wind and waves here may require some sort of customs check but I concentrate more on my immediate future and cross a county border hoping to find a duty free reward.

EXPOSED
I’m banking on a more exposed part of the coast to my first stop. The shore is stripped bare of virtually any vegetation here with no hills, dunes or trees to block the wind, always a favourable sign for a good windsurfing spot. The view is spartan but the flat fields and stone walls have their own rugged appeal. The roads to the shore are covered in rocks and stones as the sea tries to reclaim its borders with its own sense of anger. Waves are crashing over the harbour wall as a chunky swell meets a concrete end. It’s a small neap tidal range today and I know I’ll only have an hour or two before the tide gets too high and those crashing waves refract back into the break for a confluence of energy I have no desire to meet. I open the van door and a gust slams it back in my face, it’s windy! A river runs out to the sea here and the outgoing water helps stand the wave faces up over the reef. The wind is slightly onshore though and that little bit of an extra vector on the sea has a put an edge on the wave face and sea state. I play it safe with a bit of extra power to push through any current and rig a 4.7 to partner with my 93 litre thruster. I love twins and quads but I’m really digging my thruster setup at the minute. There’s a lot of easy power to tune into which can help a lot in tricky conditions like today.

TACTICS
Launching here is never easy and getting off the rock-strewn shore in one piece feels like reward enough. The trick is waiting in knee depth to keep your footing, then as a set fills more water into the bay and gives more depth to launch over the rocks, catch a ride out on the receding water and make it out the back without leaving half your board and fin behind. Now the fun can really begin. Sailing out through the channel I see what I already knew from watching the waves before launching, it’s a day to play smart. There was a big swell forecast, over 5 metres with a long period, but the day and night before the wind had howled offshore only switching onshore in the early morning. Computer generated numbers can look great on forecasts but it’s hard for them to model local effects or emulate a bit of local knowledge. The swell hadn’t kicked in as big as expected as the very strong offshore winds had kept it out at sea, hence the frustrated surfers earlier. It was bigger round here as the reef / river mouth setup does a good job of amplifying the wave size, especially with some onshore wind, but not without some side effects. There was a lot of water moving round the break and the sets were a mix of long period and locally generated swell on multiple peaks. This wasn’t ABC wavesailing but by watching carefully you could navigate the maelstrom. The white-water trail on the waves in front as you ride in give a good indication of where the wave will break and boils in the face show where it is about to suck and require avoidance. I’m watching how much and how wide the white-water is after the wave in front breaks. A face full of foam is too risky to ride as your fins and rail will struggle for grip in the broken water. It was a session for tactics not turns; chess moves not dice rolls.

END GAME
The sea always dictates the play and this day especially had the upper hand, but I was thankful to have been dealt a few fortunate cards and returned to land with a board and body still intact, happily drunk from a sweet brine infusion. A young American tourist and his girlfriend snapped shots of the angry sea in the car park. He asked where he could surf in a half-hearted way, knowing already the wind had killed his enthusiasm. I couldn’t think of a good answer, I mean wasn’t it obvious what he needed to do? He was happy anyway, he had some shots to insty’, get a ‘like’ fix and any deeper enquiries with me would only lead him to the conclusion I already knew and the answer he didn’t want to hear – go windsurfing!

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At the 5th stop of the PWA Slalom World Tour in Hvide Sane, Denmark, the PWA had to ‘batten down the hatches’ when the sailor’s equipment tent nearly blew away in gale force winds. In some of the wildest slalom racing in years the sailors battled the elements as well as themselves. The colder, stormy conditions compared to the turquoise waters and warmer temperatures of Fuerteventura bring their challenges. Armed with his thermos flask, wellington boots, woolly hat and gloves, John Carter was dispatched to interrogate the world’s slalom elite on how they cope with cold water competition!

Words  Ross Williams, Antoine Albeau, Matteo Iachino, Pierre Mortefon, Sarah-Quita Offringa, Lena Erdil

  // Photos  John Carter

Originally published within the November ’17 edition.

ROSS WILLIAMS
When it is cold I find my fins feel a little bit different. They feel slightly stiffer maybe because of the colder water. The chop in Hvide Sande also required a stiffer mast for me in some races. It helps to come to these cold water events early so you can figure out all these minor advantages before the racing. If you just rock up a few days before, where they may not be any wind, then you are just learning as you go. You need to identify which things are not working the same in the colder and choppier conditions. I try to approach every event the same, warm or cold water. My main focus each morning is just to be ready so I am often the first one down to the beach. I like to be well prepared and cover all my bases. I like to have all my rigs ready, go for a sail early to test the conditions and be in my wetsuit changed and all set to race. For my mind space that is what I need to do. I can also be stressed in other ways but by having my gear all set, then I am free to battle those stresses. I try to limit the amount of things that I need to be rushing around doing so I can focus on racing. The racing on the windiest day in Hvide Sande was so much fun. It was awesome. It was slalom as it is supposed to be. The wind was strong all the way round the course. There were no other factors like weed, lifts, headers or tide to cloud the perfect racing conditions.

Ok, it was raining, Denmark is not the Caribbean but you’ll take a bit of cold for that kind of quality racing. It was a classic slalom day. I got a little bit cold. I was using a short arm 3/2 mm suit. Towards the end of the day if you are standing around stop and starting it can get a bit cold so sometimes you need to change out of your wetsuit and get warm again if you have time. For me that was something I could have improved on during the races. Staying warm is important. I had enough wetsuits from Mystic but I decided to stick with the one I had on which can get uncomfortable if you are wearing it all day.

ANTOINE ALBEAU
Normally in a cold place we always use slightly smaller gear because the wind is denser. On the windiest day we were all on 5.6m or our smallest sails but I don’t think it was 40 knots. In Fuerteventura in the same wind we would have been on bigger sails. For the cold I wear a long sleeve wetsuit to keep warm but aside from that there are not too many differences. We just use smaller gear. The first final on the stormy day was super hard; I think that was the windiest. I had a lot of power in my sail. The water was kind of easy to sail on but it was difficult because we were going so fast. We could go full speed in those conditions. I went almost 37 knots on the first reach, which is fricking fast on my GPS.

You go so fast that you arrive at the mark full power, which was tricky as it was so choppy. It was too fast!, then you can lose control. It was super hard to see the buoys because they were yellow. In the brown water with driving rain it was not clear where to go. I just looked at the boats and hoped they were following the marks. I really enjoyed that racing though. I had been hoping for a day of slalom like this from the moment I heard we would have slalom in Denmark. I love the big storms and we can get these in Sylt but can’t race because they can’t get the boats out or they are doing waves. It is a shame for the racers in Sylt because we never get to race in high winds. When we stay a long time in the wetsuit we get cold out on the water. In Denmark we were on the water six or seven hours a day so you need to stay warm. It can get much colder than that I suppose, it was only the beginning of September!

MATTEO IACHINO
In the cold I find it easier to stay focussed in my mind. I am not sure why but it works for me. I feel I get more stressed at warm events. For the body, colder events are more difficult because you need to change wetsuits a lot of times to keep warm somehow. The whole day in a wetsuit is not as easy as it looks from the outside. After testing my equipment I put a different mast on my 5.6m and a different mast on my 7.1m but all the rest stayed exactly the same as the other warmer races. I found some better masts for my setups, on 5.6 a touch stiffer and on 7.1 softer. For some reason my big gear was working much better here. I had exactly the same setup as Costa Brava and it was working amazing. In Costa Brava it was nice but in Denmark I was going very fast. It must have suited the conditions.
I loved the stormy day in Denmark. It was amazing sailing in the strong winds and the fight we had in the first final was awesome. Antoine, Ross, myself and Pierre all arrived to the first mark in the lead all lit up on our smallest gear. It was super close. I love it! It was a proper fight between some very good sailors. It was not dangerous because we all respect each other. It was amazing. That is what we all live for and train for, a big battle in epic slalom conditions. I would love to have it like that every race actually. It is nice to fight with 8.6m and 7.8m but steady 5.6m / 6.2m conditions are the best for racing. The wind was between 25 to 35 knots in the gusts, it was not so windy but really choppy.

My 5.6m was feeling easier, which was a mistake in the last final. I should have been on 6.2m. In the first final of the stormy racing I was on 5.6m and leading at the first mark. All four of us were fighting on the first reach. I was leading but Ross was above me, with Antoine in the middle of us. Antoine slowed down to get the inside while Ross was pushing to be first to the mark. I did not want to give him space so I pushed as well and we both went wide. I went wide, Ross went wider and Antoine just slammed in on the inside. The way out was tighter, that’s what I thought. The wind had shifted a little bit more onshore. I was super tight to the mark so Antoine had control. It happened a couple of times in Fuerteventura already this season. I should have learned from that. I was keeping up with him but I could not make the mark. So I had to slow down to let him pass and then make the mark. Then he was in front of me, I could keep up but I had no chance to overtake anymore. After that the course was kind of tighter. It was an amazing battle, super nice!

 PIERRE MORTEFON
Racing in the cold is a lot harder as you need to wear wetsuits to keep warm all day. You can lose a lot of energy in the cold if it is a long racing day with many hours on the water. It is a battle when you warm up, then get cold on the water and keep doing the same after each race. This makes racing much more  difficult. But we have the best equipment for it these days. The ION wetsuits are amazing now. We also have booties, gloves and hats to keep us warm. It is not my favourite part of the year to be honest. I prefer to finish in New Caledonia than in Sylt that is for sure. But it is like this! Even in south of France it can get super cold so I am used to it. It is not as cold as England though I think!My equipment setup is almost the same as in Fuerteventura. On the stormy day the wind was more intense compared to warmer places. I think in Fuerteventura in the same wind I would have been on 6.3m but in Denmark we were on 5.2m. This is a bit different but just the sail size and nothing changes with the tuning.

The racing was fun. The stormy conditions were the best day of the event for me. It was the fairest conditions during the week. The wind was steady but the rain was nonstop. It was not so easy to see the marks. There was rain, a lot of chop and super strong wind so the visibility was not great. I could not see where I was going some of the time. But it was still pretty fun. There was a lot of action, a lot of crashes and a lot of good fights. The first final was pretty intense because we all arrived at the mark at the same time. We all nailed the start and were flying down the first reach. I was in the middle and Ross was pushing down on me. At one moment I had to slow down because we would have all crashed. If Ross had touched me I would have hit Antoine. I unhooked about 100 metres before the mark and slowed down a little bit. I passed behind Ross and even then his boom touched the nose of my board. Then we arrived full power but because I slowed down it was easier to gybe. At the second mark I fell so Ross took me again. We had a big fight until the finish but 100 metres before the line I just checked the mark and went full power to the finish. There I could not see anything. There was so much rain and wind! I was going pretty fast. On the first leg of the first final the chop was perfect and we were sailing quite downwind so we were really motoring. I think we were going more than 35 knots!

SARAH-QUITA OFFRINGA
Cold events take more mental effort than the warmer places to get through the event. For me personally it works like that. Because I have to race I don’t really think about the cold anymore. On the stormy day I jumped into the coldest wetsuit but barely noticed it because of the adrenaline. I am cold sometimes during the heats but in the end it is mind over matter. I am from Aruba but I have spent a few winters in Holland and am used to wetsuits. The barrier is a little higher to get in the water but after ten minutes I am fine. My equipment does not change. I just make sure I get it right. The hard thing when it is cold is to tune your gear. Your fingers don’t work as well and any little changes you make are a bit harder. The stormy winds are not my favourite conditions. From past experience I know I am not the greatest in strong winds. Also not when it is that choppy. I was battling to get round the course on the first race. I was trying to survive. Honestly for me I felt I won the day for my standard even though Delphine won the two windiest races. Delphine and Lena Erdil are both very good in those conditions. In the last race I was kind of comfortable.

I started to understand why people like high wind slalom. It was hard-core but fun. I was on my 5.6m sail and 87 litre board. Some guys were on smaller gear so I should be proud about that. It was more survival than anything else. In the end it was fun. I was quite scared in the first race because it was just not my thing. After that I got a bit more settled and tuned in. I set my gear for high wind conditions. I put the boom down and the base forward so I had more control. I was not thinking about speed, I was thinking about being comfortable and staying in control. If you don’t fall at the gybe and can go straight without your board lifting then you can win races in these conditions!

LENA ERDIL
It is essential to have a really cosy and comfortable wetsuit to stay warm. I don’t like having long wetsuit arms because it makes my forearms cramp up. I am really using my forearms a lot racing and when you are stressed as well they can cramp. So I sail with short sleeves. Most of the time I have to cut the arms off my thick winter wetsuit to be able to compete with them. Denmark was one of the coldest events I have competed in especially with the wind chill. Sometimes I did not feel my hands. That makes it a lot more difficult to race, especially at the gybes. It is the same for your feet. In one of the races I was using my small board, which I am very used to sailing in Turkey, and so the footstraps were how I would use them there; but in Denmark I had so much less feeling in my feet and it was a lot choppier so I struggled to take my back foot out. I think it was because I had less feeling or something.Between races the challenge was to stay warm. I was in the hot tub all the time.

The hot tub and the sauna were a saviour. They were keeping me alive I think. At least between the heats I was warm. When I went out after the sauna I was shivering. Jumping up and down is another good trick, just keep moving! My equipment was the same but the guys were saying the mast’s curve is different in the cold. It was crazy choppy and 40 knots so I did not really notice. I never used my 5.0m before so I could not compare it to anything. I love storms and enjoyed the racing. It was tough to see what way to go around the course with all that rain! I made some mistakes but I still enjoyed it!

The post COLD WATER SLALOM – VIKING RACING appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.

First good action from the Morocco Windsurf World Cup 2018. Lets get it On!

Editing: Antoine Martin Windsurfing
Co production: BerkYalgin

Via International Windsurfing Tour

The post MOROCCO WINDSURF WORLD CUP 2018 appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.

Our Windsurfing trip from South Africa a few days ago. Landscape, Riding, Good vibes… It’s South Africa!!!

Windsurf gear:
Boards: Hardcore Wave 68L and 78L
Sails : MK9 HD
Model Camera: GH5S 100-300 & 12-35
Riding, Edit and Camera: MesAtta (Philippe Mesmeur & Helene Andreatta)
We hope you’ll enjoy it.

Partners: side-shore Le shop Brest & RRD international.
Via Philippe Mesmeur °MesAtta Film°

The post SA 2018 MESATTA appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.

HIGH ACHIEVER

Adam Lewis scored his best ever PWA result, 5th place, in the Tenerife leg of the wave tour this year. Here he throws down a mean one-footed back loop during a windy heat in Cabezo beach, Tenerife.

Photo  John Carter.

The post ADAM LEWIS – PERSPECTIVE appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.

The post VICTOR FERNANDEZ ALMERIMAR 2018 appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.

Embracing the spirit of adventure and discovery, a few months ago we took a gamble to explore the Faroe Islands in search of wind and waves. Situated somewhere in-between Scotland and Iceland it is somewhere that I’ve always been fascinated by. With mind blowing scenery and very little or no information for windsurfing and surfing it was the perfect opportunity to take a small crew of filmmakers and windsurfers and step out into the wilderness.

Most of the research before the trip was pretty much by using Google Earth. I even resorted to searching through Airbnb for seaside properties that sometimes had the odd stormy picture of the ocean, trying to define ridable wave breaks. The problem with the Faroe Islands is, despite its beauty, it has the tallest ocean cliffs in the world which limits swell and wind getting into most of the beaches. I went out a week early to search all over the islands and met the crew the following week for 7 days of filming. We found some wind and swell amongst the absolutely stunning surroundings of the Faroe Islands and it’s definitely a trip we will all never forget.

For all your travel information visit – visitfaroeislands.com
For car / van rental visit- reyniservice.fo

Music: Christian Smith | christiansmithcomposer.com

Film : Jamie Hancock / James Sharp
Drone: Jamie Hancock
Edit / Sound: Jamie Hancock

Supported by: Visit Faroe Islands / Reyni Service / facebook.com/LumixUK / gaastra.com & tabou-boards.com / finisterre.com / atlantic.fo

Filmed with,
Lumix GH5
Lumix summilux 25mm (water shots)
Lumix 12mm / 42.5mm
Lumix 12-35mm / 35-100mm / 100-400MM
Atomos Ninja Inferno
DJI Inspire with X5

jamiehancock.com
instagram.com/jamiehancock1
facebook.com/jamiehancock218

The post FAROE ISLANDS appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.

Join Jem Hall every year and his band of misfits as they work there way to some magic in a little paradise called Tobago.

Via brett

The post JEM HALL WINDSURFING – TOBAGO 2018 appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.

Final video of the Men’s Pro division at the Morocco Spot X. Video by Antoine Martin

Results
1st: Antoine Martin
2nd: Morgan Noireaux
3rd: Boujmaa Guilloul
4th: Takara Ishii

Via International Windsurfing Tour

The post IWT MOROCCO FINAL DAY appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.

Can’t Wait For Summer?

Book one of Ocean Elements Greek Beach Club holidays in June now and save up to £150 off.

Wave goodbye to winter and grab hold of some early summer sunshine right now! Book now and you could save £100 per person on 7-night and £150 per person on 14-night June holidays at their Greek Beach Clubs.

Whether you’re into cycling, sailing, kayaking, running or just relaxing by the pool, you’ll be in your element. Wash away the winter blues and kickstart your summer with an active holiday to remember.

Great prices. So what’s stopping you?

This offer is for a limited time only! See what you can save below and book your place in the sun by 

Monday 16th April using code ‘

HELLOSUMMER18’ at the checkout, or when talking to the Ocean Elements booking team.

www.oceanelements.com

Tel: 020 3949 8363

The post OCEAN ELEMENTS JUNE GREECE OFFERS appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.

JEM HALL

MOVE ON UP – WINDSURFING TECHNIQUE

WATERSTART

The waterstart is a gateway move and hugely important for smooth progression through our great sport.

Words Jem Hall  //  Photo Nicolas Jones

www.jemhall.com

(This feature originally appeared in the August 2017 issue of Windsurf Magazine. To read more features like this first, Print and Digital subscriptions are available.
Prices include delivery globally for 10 x issues a year!)

When coaching I notice with my intermediates that the order of either learning footstraps / harness or waterstarting is different for everyone. I feel the waterstart is best learnt early as it teaches you great habits, builds on brilliant beach starts and gives you more energy to crack the harder stuff and accelerates progress in planing winds. You have to consciously go out there and learn it or improve it. Advanced sailors should also be improving their waterstarts as it means they will stay out longer when gusty and will also have more confidence to do both float and ride and light / medium wind fundamentals.

“ The waterstart is best learnt early as it teaches you great habits. ”

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The Hangover
I often say on my clinics that how we gybe is how we (wave) ride and there is also a strong parallel from our beach start technique to our performance in waterstarting.

The main hangovers from bad beach starts that will deny you smooth waterstarts are:

• Gear gazing: this is looking at the rig whilst waiting to get up and away. This often results in the board bearing away too much and you get pulled over or you miss changes in wind strength and the sail may dump on your head.
• Poor steering: this can stem from the former or just not understanding how to steer the kit with good vision and boom leverage. You need to twist the handlebars (boom) and look where you want the gear to turn.
• Back leg blunders: this can be too straight a back leg (board turns into the wind) or poorly placed whereby it will hinder board steering and control.
• Licking the boom: now we are moving into getting on the board and here if we hold the boom too close we will have less rig power as we move out of the water and the result will be falling back to our starting point.
• Timing: this may be pulling in with the back leg and pausing too long before throwing the boom and following, or twisting the rig without pulling in on the back leg.
• Up and off: this is where you actually make it up on to the board and then catapult as you have not opened the sail and looked upwind after your arrival.

The cures and drills for the above ills in the beach start are:
• Hands near the lines: this will help you steer subtly, control power and then it will produce more power in the sail as you move up and away.
• Spend time steering and controlling the rig in the beach start position. This will teach you great habits and also help you develop power control of the rig too.
• Active back leg: understand how important it is as you bend it and hold position and both steer and control power well. You should actually have a slight bend in it as you are about to go up and then it should be really bent in the up and away process.
• Heel down: your back leg should have the heel down and toes up and it should be just upwind of your centreline and midway between the footstraps.
• Explode and power up: pull in hard on the back leg and extend your arms as your head eats the mast foot.
• Easy on the front leg: do not rush to place your front leg on the board. If you are really keen to nail the waterstart then doing a beach start (both ways) with a leg drag will really build skills.
• Look upwind after starting: once you get up, open the sail, keep low and be ready for powering up.

Rig clearance
How you handle the rig and clear it starts in with your kit carrying and beach start habits. You should always be looking to work with the wind, therefore I suggest you know how to flip a rig on the beach so you can walk with it in either direction with the wind flowing under the sail. After launching always look to draw the rig across you with your hand on the mast. Moving forward from this, learn to gybe the board with the rig and turn it around whilst moving your feet around the bottom accordingly and how / when your hands move from boom to mast and back to boom. This will help you gybe the board in the waterstart position so you can go in the opposite direction to how you have cleared the rig.

The main tips for clearing the rig are:
• Relax and assess the wind direction.
• Ensure your mast is 90 degrees to the wind.
• In certain positions, swim towards the wind to get water off the sail and draw the wind under it.
• Hold the mast higher up the sail for lighter winds or bigger sails.
• Draw the rig across and up at an angle of about 30 degrees to the wind so you are using the wind and not using too much muscle.

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1.Swim backwards with the sail, either with 2 hands or 1 on the mast above the boom. Ensure you are at the right angle to the wind. When you can see the water come off the sail, draw the sail across and up to clear it as you keep swimming.

2. Continue to draw the rig across with your front arm as you twist to look upwind and face the boom. Put your back hand on the boom near the harness line.

3. Keep an eye on the wind as you begin to steer the board to across the wind. Move the rig up if the wind is lighter, hold it down lower if it is windier.

Kit and Conditions
Board size and sail size are important for slick starts. Avoid too much volume as these boards sit too high in the water, yet do not go too small so that you know you can uphaul and come home.
The sail size should have good power but not be too big. Too small a sail will not provide enough power and too big a sail will be hard to clear from the water. For most sailors, 110 – 140 litre boards and sails from 4.2 to 6.2 are a good size guide.
Optimum wind strengths are not mega windy or too light; 12 to 25 knots is ideal.

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Stall to Start
I will now highlight again the key tips to the waterstart and I suggest you have a really good look at the pics and understand them as you visualize yourself in these positions.

• Lounging in the sweet spot: after clearing the rig, look upwind and know your position and see the wind. Wait in position if the wind is too light or strong. This waiting position is a good distance from the tail of the board and with your hips and shoulders parallel to the boom.
• Ready to go: get your back foot on (heel down) in the right place! Leave your front leg off and hanging down, this will be both your daggerboard and propeller i.e. it will kick as you move up to assist you.
• Up and away: extend arms to catch the wind as you twist the rig and pull your back heel to your arse. Think eat (mastfoot) and bend (back leg) and then as your rig nears upright, go for the mantra of ‘extend (arms) and bend (back leg).’ And oh yes, kick really hard with the front leg!
• Come up slow and stay low once upon the board. You can actually plane out of a waterstart.
• Sheet out: to avoid catapults, sheet out once upright.
• Relax: it might take a few goes at the up and away process but know that you can and will get on the board.

Physicality
You will need leg and hip flexibility, mobility and strength to do all starts smoothly, especially in the hamstrings (back of leg) and hips.
Independent leg strength is strongly recommended so your starts are good both ways. Step-ups, lunges and walking lunges are great exercises for these.
A good power to weight ratio helps us in all areas of windsurfing.

1.Twist arms to power the rig up as you pull in on the back leg. Your head will have been aiming to eat the mastfoot prior to this. Kick hard with your front leg, hanging down in the water.
2.Maintain the back leg bend with the heel pulling the tail upwind. Wait until the rig is almost upright before placing your front foot on the board. Come up underneath the boom and pull down (not back) on it.
3.Come up slow and stay low, still pulling down on the boom and still with a bent back leg.
4.Sheet out and look upwind to assess whether to sail upwind (chug) or bear away and get planing.

RRD boards, wetsuits, softwear, Ezzy sails and Pro Sport Sunblock sponsor Jem Hall. Get him live and direct on one of his highly acclaimed coaching holidays but be quick as they are selling out – check out his fab site www.jemhall.com for details. You can also follow him on twitter / Facebook / Instagram.

www.jemhall.com

The post JEM HALL – WATERSTART appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.

RRD WH FLIGHT ALU 85 from RRD International on Vimeo.

The post NEW RRD ALU HYDROFOIL appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.

Highlights from Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 of the PWA event in Morocco including an interview with  Sarah-Quita Offringa.

Via PWAWORLDTOUR

The post PWA MOROCCO WINDSURF WORLD CUP DAY 1,2 & 3 appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.