Some awesome footage in this beautifully edited clip of Thomas Traversa and friends riding a big wave spot in Galicia! As usual Thomas goes All-in!
Via Thomas Traversa
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The brand was started by Udo Schütz, who was an industrialist based in central Germany close to Frankfurt. He was a successful motor racing driver, actually a test driver for Porsche at the time. In the beginning Fanatic was very much a German company, very focussed on technology. They had their own moulds and produced all their own boards using materials right from the start that were pretty high-tech, like a lot of honeycomb materials that Udo sourced with his industry connections, and they were able to put a lot of value into the boards. They were building production boards by literally putting in raw material at one end and it would go over a fully automated production line. The last couple of steps to sorting out the rails or doing a few things were done by hand, but otherwise it was really automated to produce huge volumes of high quality boards. Obviously back then moulds were really expensive, but the philosophy of the brand was to really spend a lot of money on technology to give the product a very unique selling point. It was really high-end technology, and from my point of view, the first time I ever saw any Fanatic boards or owned any Fanatic boards, the graphics were always a little different to what everybody else had, a lot more colourful and risky, edgy colours instead of the classic corporate design, so I think that is something through the 40 years to even today we have managed to adhere to.
My very first Fanatic board was a ‘Racy Cat’ that I bought. It was actually my first racing kit, and quite a legendary board, everyone had one. And I was amazed back then by its light weight, technically it was unbelievable. And of course, just as impressive was the name and optics. And then I remember later, when I was working for F2 from about 1986 onwards, we were testing with Werner Gigler, who taught me most of the stuff I know about testing back in the day. He would get a bunch of boards for cross testing against his own products and the Fanatic was just like, optically in terms of the graphics and the weights and technology, was just ridiculous compared to the rest, it was a real mind blower and that kind of stayed with me. The next big impression for me, and I can remember the moment really clearly, was watching the World Cup event in South Africa. Cesare Cantagalli did the first cheese roll in competition at it; that was quite a moment for everyone. It was just after the Aloha Classic where there had been a few killer loops and stuff. But Cesare came over to South Africa with a few other World Cup’ers like Robert Teriitehau, and he was doing these amazing, beautifully landed cheese rolls and that was his big moment, that’s when he shot to fame basically at the end of the 80s and early 90s introducing that move. He was riding for Fanatic and he had that ‘Mosquito’ board with its incredible design.
That was a big defining moment for me, and I remember my friends and I watched it live on TV, and we went out in Langebaan afterwards. We were flat water sailors aged 16, and immediately tried to do a cheese roll on not really the right equipment for trying that stuff. So Cesare’s performances were a defining moment for the brand and there were generations of riders who sort of drove Fanatic’s image through the years. In the early 80s it would have been Philip Pudenz and shaper Marco Copello initially, and then came the generation which started with Cesare Cantagalli, Fabien Pendle, Torkil Kristensen and Nik Baker, and that carried on through to the 90s. But Cesare was one of the guys who really drove Fanatic in terms of wave image back then. He flew around the world to all these amazing locations with his ‘Globotour’, bringing back incredible images, at a time when there was no GoPro’s, so it involved lots of mountings. Cesare helped move Fanatic away from the image of a German technically oriented brand into a more wave image. He was a very stylish character on the water and still is, and his time at Fanatic was a pivotal moment for the brand.
There were some massive characters on tour back then, guys like Robert Teriitehau and so many others. Maui Meyer was one of them, and he was using ART sails and Fanatic boards and his whole setup just looked amazing. The next guy who would have made a huge impression was Nik Baker, also riding for Fanatic and ART. Nik was one of the first professionals who really took it seriously with training and his equipment. And he had great backing, huge outside sponsors, like Sega, Red Bull and Oxbow as well as Fanatic and ART right behind him. He was one of the first guys to put up a serious challenge to Bjorn in the 90s, even though he was quite a bit smaller than him, and winning all those indoor events. So he was a great brand shaper for Fanatic and, in fact, in the mid 90s Fanatic went a little bit in the direction of calling themselves the ‘Boarders company’, making wakeboards, surfboards, kite boards and all kinds of stuff. They cut their massive world cup team at that time, but kept Nik as a sort of ‘waterman’ to promote all that gear. He was one of the key players for the brand from 1994 to the end of the 90s.
Around that same time, shaper Sebastian Wenzel started working with Fanatic. He began with the company in 1994 and became the exclusive shaper in 1997, and that’s when things started changing also a little bit, especially in our company. Klaas Voget just did an interview with Ralf Bachschuster, who was also one of the leading guys for Fanatic in the 90s, and he was mentioning how much money pros spent on custom boards back then and how they could just order a board from anybody and get the stickers put on it and not be involved in the R&D. Fanatic did involve the riders a bit more, but basically when we started with Sebastian when I joined the company in 1995, they had an idea of having 3 shapers and letting myself and the rest of the testing team review the boards and then decide which shape would be the best, so it would be like an internal competition. And that lasted for about a year and a half and then we decided after splitting the range between three shapers to work with Sebastian exclusively. Then in 1997, we decided as a company that it would be important, instead of sending people money and stickers, to involve everybody a hundred percent in the development process and we made it mandatory for all riders to use Sebastian’s boards and they weren’t allowed to use anything else. And that’s been our business model for the last 23 years, except for a short period when Francisco Goya was in the team and was allowed to get extra boards from Keith Teboul. He won his first title riding a Wenzel shape and kicked off an amazing series of Goya Pro Models by Fanatic, a real brand shaper for us for many years.
Making sure riders work with the shaper is a key element to success. If you’re going to pay somebody to promote your product, they’ve also got to believe in the product and use something that’s been made by your shaper, so that you can actually improve your shaper and make your marketing more authentic. That was something I pushed even stronger for when I became a brand manager in 2004. So we continued with that policy until today. It’s cost us a few potential team riders a couple of times, who wanted to have boards from other shapers and we just didn’t allow it. But that’s been quite a good thing for us because we’ve seen Sebastian obviously growing as a shaper and getting better. Letting riders go off and do their own thing, that’s just a waste of resources because they can give really good feedback if they are channelled properly.
Fanatic was sold at the end of 1999 to the Mistral group where you had Mistral, F2, Fanatic, and the sail brands, ART, North Sails and Arrow sails, as well as the snowboard and accessory brands. In 2000 Boards & More was founded through a merger of F2, Fanatic and Mistral, and they decided to restart the marketing away from one rider doing all the sports, which was Nik Baker, and then later Rush Randle, who was sort of seen as the ‘waterman’ for the whole company. So there was a push again to get new riders. They kept Rush Randle and gave him a pro model, which had a skull graphic on the nose! That same year Francisco Goya came into the team and got his own pro model with the sun graphic on it that he did with our graphics agency and helped us a lot to gain back some image in terms of the wave market. And we launched the very first freewave board, which was absolutely groundbreaking at the time, because that was the first time someone had made a wave board that was really good in onshore conditions.
The sport has changed a lot from the days of Nik Baker, where it was all about doing three disciplines and lots of equipment, to where it is today where you have the specialists in each field, like Gollito for freestyle and Victor for waves etc. And now we are stoked to have a guy like Marc Paré on our team, who’s going to be the guy taking on the baton for the next 5 to 10 years. That’s really also something that I believe in, is working with riders for a long time and integrating them into the brand as part of the family.
And it’s the same with the internal teams, Sebastian’s been here since 1994 and I joined in 1995. I was working for Neil Pryde and F2 before that and I joined as a rider, working mostly in R&D and moved into the office in 2000 to work on product management. I moved to Germany then and worked my way up through the company, step by step, learning each kind of position, and then became the brand manager in 2004. Karin, my wife and head of international marketing, has been with Fanatic since 2000, and she worked for Neil Pryde eight years before that. Klaas Voget, who’s our marketing manager and works with my wife, has been with the company since 1999. Dani Aeberli, who worked at F2 before, has been with the company for seven years. So it’s a really consistent team and I think that makes also a big difference, everybody knows each other and they have experience, it really works well. I did an interview recently and was asked about Fanatic being very conservative and not jumping to trends, which I would say to a point was relatively true. Although at the time when we had just switched to CAD design we got quite a lot of flack for it, people saying they’re not shaping the boards anymore by hand and not following standard practice, but that gave us 5 to 10 years before the rest caught up and gave us a huge advantage. But in the beginning there was a lot of a lot of negative sentiment towards it. And, yes, we are a little bit more conservative; it’s probably somewhat to do with the fact that our company is set up differently to many others. Fanatic is really market oriented because we are based in Germany, the biggest market in Europe. And we also have a very efficient, centralised warehouse in Austria, but we also know what the market needs, we can see the trends because we’re really close to it. And there’s no point in making things just for the hype, we have never been that way. As personalities, Sebastian or myself, we’re not big, outgoing personalities that have to be in the middle of the action all the time. And that’s also the kind of team rider we choose, somebody who’s maybe a bit more professional and is going to work with us for a longer time. Someone who is really into the sport, but let’s their sailing on the water do the talking.
That consistency and not to just jump on the bandwagon and believe in our products has been key for us. Sometimes it took one or two years or three years or five years for certain things that we did where people were saying no to the ‘stubby’ or whatever it was. You know, we came up with it and immediately a bunch of other people sort of tried to claim it as their own idea, or they tried to write it off, and it’s been a proven winner for us. Boards like the ‘Blast’, we’re going into the fifth year of production of that board. We´ve tried unsuccessfully to better it with various prototypes, which obviously shows we did something right at the beginning. We see what the result is of trying something new, but also testing it properly and making sure that it’s ready for the market. That is also something really important for us, not just to make a product that’s new and hip and put it straight into production.
So I think that’s been very key and also my background is more product development and R&D, where it was always very important to have a product that was 100% developed and ready for the market, and it’s still like that today. I don’t try to micromanage, with all the new products coming out I don’t have the time for it, but for example I was wing foiling yesterday, then out at Lake Garda last week testing slalom and wind foil gear and I test all the prototypes in Cape Town. I try to just give a little bit of a guiding hand, I don’t really have to because Klaas and Dani handle the R&D for us and they’re really good at what they do. We are a small team of people, we involve the team riders as much as we can, but it’s important not be sitting at the office desk all the time. It’s also nice to be out there on the water, trying the stuff and staying motivated for your work.
Being involved also in all the other sports, like SUP, surf foiling and wing foiling also helps because even though the workload is increased, it gives you some distance from windsurfing to help see the bigger picture and be more relaxed. You get a lot of synergies and the opportunity to work with a lot of other media types and events and that brings a fresh approach, instead of just being stuck in one way of thinking. It helps us to spread costs as well, so we can do a lot more things that we couldn’t do before because we are spreading out staff or agency costs over two or three different sports on separate budgets. So it’s actually been quite refreshing I have to say, working with the different sports.
SUP is great for me as I’m not a very good surfer, so instead of going surfing when there is no wind, I can SUP and have so much fun on the water, and it’s great to do as a family. And also here locally in Germany we can go for a beautiful paddle close to home; there are 300 lakes in Bavaria alone.
Wing surfing is great too. I started windsurfing in 1982, so after 38 years you’re definitely not getting better, you’re just trying to hold your level. So it’s really fun to learn something new and the whole wing foiling thing or even wind foiling is a little bit like windsurfing back in the day, people are super keen to get out there and try it. The more people we get onto the water, regardless if it’s wing surfing, SUP or even kiting, the more chances we have that they’re going to discover that windsurfing is a fantastic sport. So initially, while wing surfing might hurt windsurfing sales a little bit, I think we all know when it’s 20 knots and there’s nice waves or even flat water, and you’re going double the speed with a windsurfing board, sooner or later, you’re probably going to say, well maybe I should try windsurfing, or I’ll go back to windsurfing, or I’ve never tried windsurfing.
It definitely opens things up a lot more, not being just a windsurfing brand. We also work with Duotone kiteboarding quite closely on all the foils and get access to a lot of engineering knowledge that we wouldn’t be able to tap into with just doing windsurfing. And it’s the same with all the different producers of the inflatable SUP boards, you just open things up a lot more than before. So overall I feel the other sports are a positive for the brand, it doesn’t affect our performance in windsurfing, if anything it gives us better tips and feedback. And it obviously works as our success in board sales, tests and world titles speaks for itself!
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My career as a team rider is definitely over, and I am now fully focussed on sail and product design at RRD. My work not only covers the design part of the process, which is for sure the most interesting, but also includes following through for the complete production cycle. This includes sourcing materials, communicating with multiple factories around the world, working on packaging, visiting factories, co-ordinating the graphics with our team in Italy, then obviously testing, development, working with the team riders and finally putting it all together into a complete product that arrives in the customers hands. Now 90% of the travelling I am doing is work related – China, Italy and Cape Town, with a few trips for promotional events on top. It’s good, but I really miss the fun trips, like going to Maui and don’t really do any cool surf adventure trips now. The great thing is that if I want to, I can still sail every day. I have tonnes of equipment to test all the time and we have a lot of windy days in Gran Canaria. In the past years I have probably sailed slightly more slalom than waves, but honestly I love the challenge of designing a race sail, plus sailing full power on slalom gear is pretty hardcore when the conditions are tough.
What I probably miss most is a little bit of variety in my sailing. Before with all the travelling and competing, it was always a mix of cultures, climates and best of all for me, conditions. Now in comparison it is much more fixed, and particularly in Gran Canaria we don’t get a huge range of different sailing. Coming to Cape Town every year to do the photo shoot is a really nice change and I get to sail a greater variety of conditions. Luckily, I am still needed in the shoot and this year I had some of the best sailing I had had in months. Especially when we were shooting waves it is nice to go out, have fun and push myself. We now have three kids on the team – Takara Ishi, Francesco Cappuzzo and Baptiste Cloarec, who are all really young and all competing against each other to get the best shots, and I was kind of drawn into the battle. I miss that little bit of drive I used to have when I was competing and my usual sessions now are just doing back loops all day long because they are kind of safe and relaxed. I am certainly not going to throw myself into a sixty-foot-high stalled double anymore! However, doing the shoot with these guys gave me a bit of a boost and the competitive side of me kicked in, wanting to show the kids I am not over the hill just yet!
This year, before the Covid-19 situation hit, we were planning to introduce a fully moulded sail made in a completely new technology for windsurfing. We are working with a company from Florence in Italy, they have been developing the technology with yacht sails for a while. The whole sail is pretty much one piece, including the batten pockets, and for the most part the sail has no stitching. Only the border reinforcement, the monofilm window and details like the batten tensioners and tack pulley are stitched. The production is really high-tech and the sail is made under laboratory conditions. The various layers are cut first on a plotter, then the sail is laid up according to our precise specifications and finally put into a mould which heats it to 110 °C under around 9 tonnes/m2 of pressure to bond the layers and this is then held for over an hour. The temperature is carefully monitored with multiple points over the whole sail to control every stage of the curing. As a result, the sails are coming out really strong and between 10 and 20 % lighter.
The feeling on the water is incredible. They are super soft, with a very forgiving power. We tried it first of all for freestyle, but after testing it was clear it was much more suitable for wave sails, so we immediately started developing that idea. The plan is to introduce a moulded wave sail first and then depending on the market, think about introducing other sails later. So far, all the riders love it and they are holding up really well. I think this could be the future of high-performance sails. No other companies are using this technology. The standard membrane sail that other brands have are basically made up with separate panels like a conventional sail, and then stitched together like normal. The only benefit is that the reinforcement is built in, so they don’t need to add extra patches. Our new sail is just one piece, so that is where we really have the advantage. Obviously with the main production being in Florence, the whole project was hit really hard this spring, but hopefully we can get back on track quickly and bring it to market.
I am really proud of the RRD Compact Series; I really think it has been one of the biggest revolutions in the last 10, if not 20 years! If I think back to when I first started windsurfing, I remember the first mast I ever bought was one of the early two-piece masts. Before that, all my dad’s masts were 1 piece! That felt like a huge breakthrough at the time. You didn’t need to carry a 4-metre-long pole on the roof with you anymore, suddenly you had half that length to deal with. The Compact Series is taking that to a whole other level. The really important thing that people need to understand is that the performance is amazing. I still think some potential customers perceive it to be a bit of a gimmick and only consider it useful if they were on a boat or somewhere where the rig really needed to be compact. For me, honestly I am happy to use these sails for all of my sailing. I have absolutely zero issues using a compact, no matter where I sail, and this year I think my only sails will be the Compacts. It is a really cool concept and I just want to keep showing everyone that the performance is the same as any other wave sail. It can do everything the same as a normal sail, and most of the time I even roll it up like a normal sail, but at the same time you have this convenience when you need it.
The basic concept is to choose three sails, for example a typical 5.3, 4.6 and 4.1 wave sail quiver, and then have one rig pack with 2 sizes of mast for each rig pack. So in the wave version this means having a 340 and a 400. The performance and flex characteristics of the compact 400 mast are the same as a standard 400 wave mast, so you have top performance for the larger sizes. Then when it is windy you take one section out of the bottom, which gives a nice soft 340 mast, which is perfect for the small sizes of sail. So there is no compromise either way. The same applies to the larger freeride sails, with a 430 mast for the larger sizes and a 370 for the smaller ones. The boom has been improved a lot this year. Previously we had a clip in the centre of the boom which sometimes got in the way a bit, but now the join is invisible, so again there are no compromises at all. The only small compromise with the whole system is a very slight weight increase in the mast weight, but this is not even noticeable on the water.
The whole concept has evolved loads since we started. The first year we were just getting the product to market. We are now in the third generation, with a new batten system, improved carry bag, better boom and more. We have ironed out all the weak points and I really believe it is a great product for a lot of situations. It is obviously great for people with campervans, boats and families with tonnes of stuff in their car, or guys with small apartments, plus for many it is just so nice to have everything you need in one small bag. Just throw it in the car and know you have everything.
Normally I do two trips a year to China to check production, check the quality of the sails and work directly with the guys out there. At first the trips were amazing as everything was new and exciting, but now the novelty has worn off a bit and they are pretty much just pure work trips now. They are important though as everything is so much easier when you are there. They can make quick modifications to a design and you can re-rig them later in the same day for instance. Also for certain things it is so much easier in the factory. For example a new sail bag, it is so easy to go through all the sample materials they have in their warehouse, get pricing for them on the spot, make a test version quickly, modify if necessary and get it right straight away in a day or 2. That would be much harder to do remotely and often costs a lot in shipping samples around the world. Another example is when we are making pre-production sails, quite often the graphic on the computer looks amazing, but when you see it for real it might not look so good and needs a few graphical tweaks. Again, when you are there it is so easy to get it modified quickly and get all the final touches perfect ready for production.
Keeping tabs on the quality is critical, and also meeting the guys you are working with on a day-to-day basis. It is so important to have a connection with these people and I am very lucky because the team in our sail factory are amazing to work with. They all speak English really well and most importantly they are all, or were, windsurfers, so they understand what they are building and most importantly why they are building it. The main contact I deal with the most is so into windsurfing at the moment. He is at the early stages really but unfortunately for him there is not so much wind where they are based in China, so progressing is difficult and slow. However, whenever I am there, he is always asking me a million questions about technique, gear setup etc. It’s really nice to see that passion, and I think in the end that passion carries through the whole factory!
Covid-19 has affected the factory’s schedules a lot, but the launch of our new gear this year was planned for later anyway, so overall it has not really changed things too much for me. We were very lucky this year that we had everything completely finished and under control way before the virus hit, even our photo shoot and dealer meeting were done. I do need to go back to China in the next month or two though, and honestly I am pretty worried. Not so much about catching anything over there, as I think it’s probably safer over there than here at the moment, but the situation is changing so quickly it’s hard to make plans and so easy to have them really messed up with changes to regulations or travel advice.
I really enjoyed the challenge of designing the Compact Series. Not only did I have to work on the performance, but also, I had to go a lot more into the engineering side, which had its own challenges. That side to me is really interesting. The race sail is especially motivating. The project is always moving forward and it’s a little bit easier to define what we are looking for and evaluate performance. A wave sail is more subjective, with everyone having their own personal preference. One rider might love a certain feeling and the other guy might want it different. My job within that is to make a nice compromise that covers everything. We have one wave sail to cover all conditions, so it has to cover onshore all the way to wave riding. The race sail development is much more objective and clean-cut in its direction. I also really enjoy working on the freestyle sail. It is pretty much the only sail that I cannot develop/test on my own as my freestyle skills are not up to it, so the challenge becomes taking the feedback from the team riders and converting that information into something that works for them. It is actually a very different challenge to designing the other sails!
I work with a specific windsurf sail CAD program, so making changes is relatively easy now and all the designs are stored on my computer. There was a lot of learning in the beginning though. I had done quite a bit of CAD at university with boat design, but that was over 20 years ago, and the technology has changed somewhat in that time! So firstly I had to brush up and update my skills, and then start to take things forward. When I first started sail design, I put a lot of time into learning all the computer programmes. The knowledge was very useful to understand how the sail goes from the computer to the factory and is then made. My goal now is to control better the more advanced 3D programs. They are not necessary so much for the sail design, but it would be nice to be able to work more on the accessories, like boom parts, cambers etc, and design everything myself. Something like a boom head is a pretty complex thing to do on the computer.
When I first started designing, I paid a lot of attention to the other brands and the trends that were happening. I would not say I have ever copied anything, but definitely used them as a reference. The best example I have is when we were making our first Move sail, which is supposed to be our powerful five-batten freestyle-wave/bump-and-jump sail. One of the early versions I tested I thought had way too much power. Before changing anything though I went to the TWS centre in Tenerife and tested it against a few other equivalent sails. I soon realized that actually our sail sat in the middle of the bunch in terms of power, so I knew our sail was good as it was, or could even be more powerful. If you are just on your own, then you might fall out of place to where the market is, so I like to try and jump on as much gear as I can.
I also like to check the opposition graphics to see the things I like and don’t like, both on and off the water. Sometimes things look great on the beach and disappear on the water, and vice versa. Using all the other sails as references helps me decide what looks good and what doesn´t. This year before we started working on our graphics, I went around all the local rental centres and comprehensively checked all the other brands, observing details and taking loads of pictures. I then sat down with the graphics team and we went through the shots, discussing pros and cons, and most importantly what we thought would apply well to our sails and fit with our corporate look. It’s not only windsurfing influences though, I look at everything for ideas. We even once took a concept for a graphic element from a design that was on a computer case!
The graphics of RRD products is really important to Roberto and he often has very strong views about the direction we go in terms of the look. I don’t always agree with his decisions and sometimes we will have big discussions about it. However, one thing I will have to say is that he has such a good eye and instinct for that sort of thing. Even sometimes if I strongly disagree, we end up going with his concept and he is nearly always right. Since I started with RRD the sail graphic has slowly evolved, and we put a lot of attention and effort into it. If you put all the sails together from old to new, you will see a really nice graphical evolution, keeping the same design DNA through the line. I love how the changes are often small, but visually they are a big jump forward. A lot of this comes from our excellent in-house design team in Italy.
The current graphic we have is a really good example of Roberto’s creative instinct and how he is flexible and not afraid to change his mind. Two years ago, when I started working on the 2019 sail graphics, Roberto wanted everything orange, pure solid orange, so we had a pure orange colourway that everyone agreed looked amazing. Then on his first freeride foil board he put some different coloured stripes across the deck so people would know where to put their feet when foiling without straps. He really liked this look and asked me to make a sail with the same concept. It was really late in the development process and I told him it was not possible in the time frame, but we pushed it through anyway and it came out great. The orange colourway was supposed to be the main line that year, but as soon as we saw the striped sails on the water, it was really clear the stripes were the one, so we made a sharp turn and went full power into the striped colour scheme. It has now become our company look across all the products. When we are at the dealer meeting with all the different gear on the beach, all matching, it just looked stunning. Now on the water it is really clear which sail or kite or board is an RRD. That is a great example of Roberto’s influence.
When I first started working for RRD I was working from home. Then when our kids came along, I found it was really hard to be productive. There was too much going on in our house, plus I found myself working ridiculous hours. In my position there is nearly always something that needs to be done. When you are at home and the computer is there, you get drawn into never switching off from work. I was working all the time, but at the same time not really so productive with all the distractions and lack of continuation. One of the best things I have done was to get a proper office about half a mile down the road. Once I had that I started to go to work and come home from work, which was great. When I am at work, I am really productive without distractions. I can rig sails or measure masts or whatever in the office. Then I finish work at around 5 or 6, I come home, switch off and have some proper family time. It is a much nicer balance. Most days, once everyone has gone to bed, I will go back to the computer and work a bit more in the late evening from home. As China is 8 hours ahead of us, working late at night is often more productive.
Right now, I am really happy. I have two wonderful kids, who are at a great age, and I love my work. I have a lot on my plate and put in a lot of hours, but I am totally free to put in those hours when I want or from where I want. That for me is gold. After being a pro sailor for fifteen years you get used to the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want and to switch suddenly to a fixed 9-5 would be killer for me. Last year Nayra was working 9 to 2 for a while and I saw how restricted she was, even with those hours. I can pop off for a quick sail or surf anytime I want and make up the hours later. I am not sure I could really cope with fixed working hours!
For me to be still working within windsurfing is just amazing, and if I think back to day-dreaming as a kid what I would do for a job, I could never have imagined this. Maybe the only slight negative is that I find it hard to switch off from windsurfing as a job. I love it, but whenever I am on the water I am always thinking about the product, whether it’s the sail or the boom or the mast or whatever, and it’s quite hard to just go sailing and enjoy it simply as pleasure. That is why I value those rare classic days so much more now, as they seem to be the moments I forget about everything and just enjoy the sailing.
I love the variety in windsurfing, and most of all I just love the feeling of planing. It sounds really stupid, but it was that feeling of planing that got me hooked in the first place and I still love just flying over the water, no matter what the conditions are or the equipment I am riding. A slalom board right on the edge in high winds is just amazing and now you can even get that feeling with foiling in the lightest of winds. When I think back to my time learning on Brogborough Lake, to have had a foil back then would have been life changing! Obviously wave sailing is also amazing, both jumping and riding, and is still my main passion, but the variety of windsurfing is what I love the most. Blasting speed runs at 35+ knots, jumping fifty feet in the air or even foiling in 8 knots, they all have their own place and are great feelings.
I grew up in Hertfordshire sailing on Brogborough Lake, which was a lovely childhood, but I always knew that I didn’t want to settle there. When I started doing trips, I always had one eye on every location as a place I might like to live. I spent a year in Fuerteventura after finishing university and I really liked that, but it was just a bit too slow for me. It’s a lovely place to go on holiday, but when you live there, and are used to somewhere on the outskirts of London, it was a bit too chilled for me. Australia was really nice, and there were quite a few of the UK south coast crew over there when I went. I really loved Maui and Swifty and a few other guys from university all ended up over there, so that was another place on the list.
Then I met Nayra and started spending more time in Gran Canaria. The conditions were not quite as good as Fuerteventura, but it was really consistently windy, and actually the lifestyle is great in Gran Canaria. It is a fully functioning place and a lot more practical to live in than Fuerteventura. I can sail pretty much every day of the year if I want and it’s very, very, good for testing. It is quite possible to test a 7.5m sail and 3.7m sail on the same day, getting lighter or stronger winds by moving up or down the coast. There are not many places where you can do that year-round, so from a work perspective it is perfect. We also have great surfing right in front of my house, which is a great way for me to disconnect and I think it’s a great place for the kids to grow up too. It’s also a short and inexpensive flight home to the UK, which is really nice to have, even if I don’t go back so much now.
For now I am just keeping doing what I am doing. I am in a happy place at the moment. My family is happy, and I love working for RRD and Roberto. He is a great boss and gives me the freedom to do what I want, and he trusts me to do that. We normally have two or three meetings a year where we sit down and discuss our objectives, then he mostly lets me get on with achieving those targets. That is a great feeling. I don’t feel like I have a boss breathing down my neck, but I know that he is watching what I am doing. On the whole it is a great relationship. Beyond that, from my experience in life you never know what is around the corner. Just look at what is going on with Covid-19 and we have no idea of the consequences in the short, medium or long term. Whatever happens, my ethic is to keep doing my best at whatever I am doing. Keep my eyes open and evolve to whatever is needed.
The post JOHN SKYE: SKYE DESIGNS appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
The Hawaii big wave season keeps delivering and Kai Lenny has been cashing in, sailing and surfing every swell that hits Jaws in Maui! Check out his latest clip where he windsurfed last weekend!
“A mystical Maui day it was with lots of weather that brought rain, wind, rainbows and some big surf. Kapukaulua Pe’ahi turned on once again with some solid barreling waves for all the Pe’ahi Hui to enjoy. February 13th 2021!”
Filmed by MROD MAUI (Marcus Rodrigues), PACIFIC ISLAND DRONE (Keahi Bustamente) and LYNTON PRODUCTIONS (Aaron Lynton)
The post PE’AHI BIG EXTREME WINDSURFING! KAI LENNY appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
Maaike Huvermann braves the clod to bring us this chilled freestyle clip from the Netherlands!
Last week there was a cold front hitting The Netherlands and the country went into code red. From one day to the other, the country turned into a majestic winter wonderland. The cold front also came with fairly strong easterly wind. The perfect opportunity to go out and try sailing in the snow. I had prepared myself for it to be a mental game against the cold. But actually, for most of the session, it was really doable. I came in regularly to warm up, until at some point my boom froze and it became quite hard to sail. When sailing back upwind to the car, the cold really hit me as you will see at the end of the video
The post SUB ZERO: MAAIKE HUVERMANN appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
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My parents had a beach hut at Mudeford, and I used to watch both my brothers windsurf when I was growing up. Like any other kid I was keen to join in the fun and was taught the basics by my dad. I progressed from an ancient longboard and a sail without any battens to taking windsurfing more seriously when I was seventeen after I had recovered from a knee operation.
I love the fact windsurfing is a constant challenge. I like being able to push my own fear threshold. It coaxes me into doing things that I don’t necessarily want to do. And it can be meditative. On a day like Storm Jorge when it is so windy, if you are fully in tune with everything on the water then you are not thinking about anything else and you can get into the zone. When I am in my zone, I can fathom doing big jumps. Right at the end of my session on this day I was starting to lose concentration because I was tired. That was when I started crashing. I knew it was time to come in and should have come in sooner.
I have these moments where I might do a jump and am fully concentrated and know everything that is going to happen. I believe I am going to land safely and know where I am during the jump. I am not really thinking, it is just happening. Which I suppose is when instinct takes over. That is why I find windsurfing almost meditative. There have been a few days recently at Southbourne when I have not really wanted to even go out. I am worried about losing my kit on the groynes mainly. If you lose your kit on a big day at Southbourne when there is a ground swell, you won’t necessarily get it back in one piece. It will just get carried in by a wave and rumble all the way onto the beach and up against a groyne. Sometimes I will be feeling I don’t really want to get involved in this and then I think to myself that I will go out and play it safe, experience it and come back in. That is my chess game. Then later I might go to Avon and have a safer sail. That helps me handle the fear threshold. If I come in fine, when I go back on a slightly smaller day then I can attack it a bit harder. I like that kind of process. We call it iteration.
We have quite a regular crew that would typically windsurf Southbourne when it is quite extreme – Andy Chambers, Clyde Waite, Phil Anson, Reuben Shaw, Greg Bowden, Gregg Dunnett, Charles Willard, Nathan Drudge-Coates and Nick Beaney are all regulars. There is also a big community going on just down the beach at Avon which is lovely. It gets busy down there with enthusiastic windsurfers, surfers, kiters and photographers. Roger Bushnell set up a Facebook page for the beach (Avon Beach Surfers) and I think it has really driven a big community, which is fantastic. There are about 5 or 6 local photographers who shoot most of the sessions and post pics on the page. As a result, there is normally somebody shooting at the beach when it is windy. So, all in all, Avon is quite a major UK windsurf hotspot. Southbourne less so, but I love it.
When there is no major ground swell, Southbourne works a little better in a southwest or west-southwest wind than a west wind. I prefer the southwest days when it is very windy as the onshore pushes in a bit more swell. Southwest is the more common scenario and the wind swell can build quite quickly. In a west there are still a few good peaks that come through, but sometimes you have to wait a while to catch the right ramp. There can be a lot of hunting around. Storm Jorge was all about extreme wind. In a matter of half an hour we saw it go from 20 knots to full power nuclear. One of the things I like about Southbourne is that the waves tend to wall up really well and break with lots of power. But that can be a disadvantage on high period swells when it’s hard to get down the wave face in time before the wave barrels. If it’s a bigger swell high tide seems to be best or a standard wind swell with a low tide.
I have been with Ezzy sails over a decade now and they are exactly the type of sails that I need. They are strong and powerful, but equally you can rig them to reduce the power. They are manoeuvrable, and they are just reliable and last! The new Ezzy Wave is fantastic. It is quite nice to go out in tough conditions and not worry about your kit. If you stop worrying about your kit, then you can get into your zone.
As for boards, I love the Quatro quad and I love the style of that shape. My board works well in cross-onshore conditions, which is what I sail a lot at home. I really feel I have the right tool for the job at Southbourne. I feel having the quad setup, really sets me up well for jumps. I just have so much control. I can hit a crappy ramp very fast and accurately and take off feeling composed and set up; I don’t feel I lose any speed. Taking off on a ramp for a big jump is really critical for doing the jump successfully. I think the quad totally sorts you out there. The board also turns nicely in side-shore.
What I realized this year is that having as small a board as possible is the way to go. It gives you so much extra control in turning and jumping and makes your sailing more exciting. I typically sail my 82 litre whenever possible. I also have a 98 litre, but mainly tend to use it for super light wind or if I want lots of pop on small wave days.
My ambition in windsurfing is to continue improving. I finished second on the British Wavesailing Association’s wave tour last year overall, so it would be nice to try and win that. But hey that’s a hard ask. I’m very happy to continue working on going higher with my jumps and getting more comfortable in bigger waves. Wave 360’s are delightfully elusive. I’d like those consistent thank you. I would also like to nail a few proper double loops. When I watch Nic Hibdige and Andy Chambers freestyling, it is also really inspiring to me. I would like to get better at the flat water and bump and jump side of things as well. Oh gosh there is so much to learn, and it is all fun.
Over the years of competition, I’ve been very lucky to have so many epic friends to windsurf with, all of whom have influenced my windsurfing, they all have a slightly different style on and off the water. I’ve always enjoyed Andy King’s style. He has a psycho energy on the water and just goes big. Seeing him launch a big pushy makes me smile.
The local crew keep me pumped too, everyone is really motivated and get a lot of water time in, plus they try new moves a lot. There’s some top-class wave-riding going down and it’s great to be a part of it. If people are out there trying new moves, so should I. It’s a fun crew to hang out with. If I had more time, I’d love to just hang out at the beach, windsurf, crack bad jokes and drink beer. In fact, I think that’s what a lot of them do!
I share duties with my wife who normally works in the morning while I look after the kids. Then we swap over at 12:30. My work time is kind of like my work or windsurfing time depending what the forecast is like. If it does happen to be a windy period then I will look after the kids in the morning, then head to work at 12:30, just to check everything is ok and I have nothing urgent to do. Then I will go windsurfing, normally locally and then come back and work again. Then in the evening I have dinner with the family, put the kids to bed and then maybe catch up with a bit more work if necessary. Occasionally I will stay up late or work early if I need to.
I run a website business and also Big Salty Weather (bigsalty.com). I combine those two sides of my business and try and get a balance of earning enough money to live while also doing the things I enjoy. I would work on Big Salty even if it was only me using it. Perhaps it is? Like most people, juggling my time between work, pleasure and family is a challenge. My work was to some extent influenced by my degree in Computer Science in Swansea University, but mainly due to the flexible and remote nature of computer work. My time in Swansea University was great for windsurfing in the Gower. I used to windsurf with the locals at Horton, Llangenith and a few other novelty spots. It’s a beautiful place to skip lectures.
What is evident with working with the Internet is that there’s always a new technology to learn. That is one of the challenges with my time management. I might be asked to do a project, but it might benefit from a new technology. So I have to put the time aside to learn it. It’s sort of ongoing, but it’s fun to create things and solve problems. The main thing is the job keeps me flexible with my time so I can go windsurfing. I suppose it is also slowly turning me in to a recluse!
My wife Lucy is an author (Lucy Clarke). Her debut novel was called The Sea Sisters, which was a Richard and Judy Book Club choice. That helped put her on the map and her latest book is called ‘You let me in’. She writes from her parent’s beach hut and loves travelling, adventure and being at the beach. She has also recently got into surfing too. I’ve encouraged her to start (she also windsurfs by the way) so she can get more from the bad weather we haave during winter. So I might windsurf, then we will go with the kids to find her a little nook where the waves wrap in so she can go surf.
With windsurfing and surfing in the winter, we both have a goal and something we enjoy. If you don’t have that, winter could probably be quite hard work. Autumn and winter is my main time for windsurfing, while in spring and summer I tend to spearfish mostly. That is a great partner to my windsurfing. You really need calm weather to spearfish in our area because visibility gets poor quickly when the wind picks up due to the amount of fine sediment. If I get a patch in the summer with nothing going on wind wise, it could well be that the spearfishing is at its best. The fishing has helped me get to know the coastline a lot more and feel comfortable drifting around at sea. I’m fairly knowledgeable on the tidal movements in my local area on the paths I take. I have learned a lot about the local currents and reef systems. My main concern these days it is getting hit by a boat. I do use a marker buoy, but have had some pretty close calls. My C-Skins wetsuit is epic. It keeps me warm and I can easily fish for three hours and not get in the least bit cold.
Yup, windsurfing and spearfishing, I’d like to do a lot more of that. It will be interesting to see if my kids get into this stuff. It’s so much fun watching them learn things, but to be honest it would be a lot simpler seeing them smash a ball against a wall. But would it be as much fun? I don’t think so.
The post JAMES COX: MR BIG SALTY appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
Duotone and Fanatic rider Maria Andres, who normally loves to travel the world to windsurf and SUP, tells us how she has enjoyed life at home in Cadiz and more about her lifestyle as a content creator!
The post DISCOVER: MARIA ANDRES AT HOME IN CADIZ appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
Green Light for Lefkada on Covid Map
The Club Vass crew are looking forwards to welcoming guests this summer as soon as restrictions allow! The Greek Ionian Islands, including Lefkada are currently deemed one of the safest areas in Europe amid the Covid pandemic. The region is among just a few areas in Europe labelled “green” on the latest ECDC map (European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control). This is great news for windsurfers, making Vassiliki an ideal destination.
And you can rest assured you will find the usual perfect conditions, top level kit & coaching at Club Vass as well as a chilled and safe social scene. Club Vass are confident they’ll be able to rise to any challenges as they proved in 2020 and they’re looking forward to a bumper summer. What are you waiting for?
clubvass.com 0844 4630191
The post GREEN LIGHT FOR CLUB VASS appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
This is part 3 of Thomas Traversa’s guided tour of the wave spot around Reunion Island. As you might expect, perfect waves and epic action all the way!
“This is the third – and last! – episode from my trip in Reunion Island, and we are going back to Pointe-au-sel for an epic session with local ripper Pierre Godet ! And a little throwback to a similar all-time session I had with Pierre in 2004 when i first came to the island. Images by : Armand Daydé Nathan Baelen”
Via Thomas Traversa
The post GUIDED TOUR REUNION ISLAND PART 3: THOMAS TRAVERSA appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
Check out this different side to Matteo Iachino! In 2020 when all PWA events were cancelled, he took the opportunity to venture on a wave trip with fellow team mate Franz Orsi to the Galicia region of Spain!
“Starboard dream team crew, Matteo Iachino And Franz Orsi explore Galicia! Matteo lachino has spent the last 12 years always on the road, competing, training and working hard to be the best racer in the world. When Covid put a stop to competition season he took some time out to enjoy what he loves most: spending time with friends and riding waves”
The post MATTEO IACHINO EXPLORES GALICIA appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
Dear Friends
We hope you are all well and finding your way through the unprecedented times we have found ourselves in over the last year.
As I am sure you can all imagine, the enormous levels of uncertainty, surrounding travel and large scale events, have had a significant impact on the PWA and the PWA Tour. Despite huge efforts on the part of our event organisers, 2020 saw only 2 events take place, with the very successful 1 Star Slalom World Tour event in Croatia, and enormously popular Youth Wave World Cup in Klitmoller both managing to avoid the worst of the pandemic and go ahead as planned.
Despite the challenges, we have been working hard with our event partners to ensure that top flight windsurfing does not disappear and that we can get back on the water, to compete, as soon as possible.
To that end, we are pleased to release a tentative schedule of events that we are working to bring you for 2021.
Although there are no guarantees as to what will be possible this year, we wanted to let you know as much information as we could at this stage, to allow riders to start to plan, assuming we are able to get back on tour. Where we have relatively solid information such as event dates or disciplines, we have listed them but we must stress that, due to the pandemic, it is still possible that anything could change, and events may be rescheduled to different dates, switch to different disciplines, or change in status from World Cup or Grand Slam to something lower. In the worst cases, it may be that we are forced to cancel events.
We will keep you updated with any changes to the calendar as they develop but, in the meantime, stay safe and we hope to see you on the water soon.
Kind regards
The PWA
The post TENTATIVE 2021 PWA CALENDAR RELEASED appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
The trades are back in Maui and Robby Naish has been making the most of the conditions at Ho’okipa in this latest video edit! Looks like it was not too crowded and Robby scores wave galore his smooth and stylish style!
Via Robby Naish
The post ROBBY NAISH HO’OKIPA SESSION! appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
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To be the best racer is very important to me. Windsurfing is my life; it is what I have been committed to for more than a decade. I just give my all to this sport. Winning is my main focus. To be my best when it comes to competition I work as hard as I can. I like to think nobody can train harder than me. Doing that makes me feel safer and that I have done everything possible. I know how hard I have worked, and I know my potential. I know if I train properly, I can be at the top.
For me it is not about excellence, more just the achieving the best I can. If you excel, then it means it all came together. I think all the top athletes in all sports give their best. We were talking the other night about talent. I think winning is a mix of talent and then how hard you work to use it. Your mindset is also important. If you want to excel in something you just need to put the hours in and have a certain amount of natural talent to work with too!
When I won the European IFCA in 2012, this showed me that I could actually win an international event, which I had never achieved before. I really remember, as if it were yesterday, my first PWA victory in Korea in 2015 when I won an elimination. In the same year I won a PWA event in Costa Brava. Both times I was crying because there was so much emotion associated with winning. I knew right there that I wanted more of that. I wanted to experience more feelings like that. I guess those two PWA wins were defining moments.
I keep making decisions in my life. Either to travel somewhere or not. Taking part in an event or not. Lately I opened my centre in Tenerife – www.surfhubtenerife.com . At the end of the day your decisions just bring you where you are, I don’t know if they are good or bad. It is kind of philosophical what I am saying, but I really believe that good or bad moments make the person you are. If you are happy about who you are and what you do, then there are not really any bad decisions. Last year I almost broke my foot doing an aerial in Margaret River, I could have lost the season. Maybe that was my bad decision! On the other hand, I had time to think while I was recovering. I had a bad event in France, but that was because of the weather and not my foot. I came back strong in the end. Hopefully all of my decisions have been good ones!
I try to have fun every day of my life. I am living the life I was dreaming of when I was a kid. Partly by luck, and partly by hard work. I feel balanced now! Some days I don’t feel it; but I still enjoy every day and do what I love. Right now, for me, life balance is being a professional athlete. I have good people around me and good company let’s say. Life balance is not something you go after; it just comes when you go after your goals. When you achieve some of them and wake up feeling content maybe you have it. Life balance is important but not something you go after I think.
My motivation comes from thinking about winning. I want to win. I want to be the best I can be. I want to be the best on the water. This desire pushes me all the time. When I go to the gym or I go to the water, this is what I am thinking. If I didn’t have this push, then I would not go to the gym or the water so much! In my head I just keep thinking about victory at the end of the tunnel. I want to win. This is the goal I have in my mind all of the time. This pushes me like nothing else.
Stress has been a tough one for me to deal with. It is much harder to train the mind than the body. The body is a machine in the end. If you have a good training programme, like I have with my coach, have a good plan, eat well, and do everything properly, the body will respond to all of this. The stress of competition at our level in our sport is actually pretty tough because you are on standby on the beach and you don’t know when you are going to compete. You are travelling, and nobody is helping you because you are alone a lot of the time. The stress gets so high, that to deal with it you need experience. So as far as stress goes, I never really learned how to deal with it, I just got more experienced at having it. Now I can deal with it a lot better than before.
I like the feeling. I like being under pressure and when competition is in the heat of the moment. The point of it is that it makes me feel alive. Even if the moment is bad stress, afterwards I have great memories of it. Probably the highlights of my life have been those moments under pressure. I didn’t necessarily enjoy them at the time, but I felt alive. Some of those moments changed my life so much. In the end I suppose love the pressure.
The level of adrenaline you gain on a racecourse during a world cup final in high winds is unmatched. So when you are in Fuerteventura with your sail full power fighting with the top guys the feeling is insane. I guess this is a similar feeling to what all top athletes get in their sports. Slalom gives you so much speed and adrenaline it is unreal. From the outside people may not have the same perception of it. But from the racecourse this feeling is really hardcore. I love it.
Being a sportsman, you are both an athlete and a person. So, at the end of the day what you learn from your career on the water, you can bring to normal life. It works the opposite way around too. What you learn in life you can bring to the water, to your career and to the events. I think my strength is that I perform under pressure. I actually sail better during competitions than out of them. I get focussed, I get my mindset switched on, I sleep better, and everything comes together easier when I am competing. This comes naturally. I was a swimmer when I was young and always performed better when I was at a race than in training. I am also kind of steady mentally and don’t have too many highs and lows. This helps me to train and keep focus and a direction. I see many guys that are super talented, but they struggle to keep the same direction for more than two weeks. I can keep it for years. I guess this brought me to where I am now as well.
I try to steer clear of my main rivals and I don’t really like spending time with them. It is something that comes naturally, it is not something that you decide. I have an incredible respect for all of them, especially Antoine, who is older and has won so many times. We can only learn from him. During the event I try not to share too much. After the event we all talk, and it is no problem.
I think this has a lot to do with who is with you in that moment. You need to be with somebody that talks about something different than the competitions. We need to escape from slalom sailing and racing talk. It is fun and cool to talk about windsurfing, but it is really important to switch off. It is also important to do other activities as well. Do a tourist day, go surfing or something else. Like this you switch off your mind and you come back stronger and more focussed.
If you put it this way, I would answer money, but I think at the end of the day if I get a lot of money from a sponsor and I don’t win, I get so pissed that in the end I would want the best gear to win with.
I eat a lot! I always loved eating anyway. I am Italian! Maybe it’s because of that, I don’t know. I eat a lot at breakfast. I had an eating plan for a couple of years, but it was really tough to keep up with it on the road. We are in different locations all the time where finding the right food is not always possible. I try to integrate proteins mainly when I train a lot. I don’t want to lose muscle, that is the main goal. From all the years’ experience I know more or less what to eat. I don’t have a special power food. I don’t have any special diets either.
I think I have a mix of natural talent combined with hard work. Every rider has his own perception of this. Talent can be a natural thing, but it can also grow with the right mindset. If you work harder than the other guys you can improve. So, what is talent in the end? I think you need a certain amount of talent to excel in the sport, otherwise everybody could be there if they train hard enough. This shows where we have two or three guys fighting for the title every year. That is talent, I guess. If you have talent without the hard work, you don’t go anywhere. In the end you will go further if you work hard without talent than if you have talent and you don’t work! If you mix the two then you win! If you want to win you need both I think.
I don’t run much anymore because of my knees and potential problems. I prefer to go mountain biking for fitness. I go to the gym two or three times a week. On the water it depends. In the winter in Tenerife I sail a lot, nearly every day on the water. We probably sail four hours a day; seven hours in a wetsuit with the breaks. The days we don’t train we still go wave sailing or we do something different.
I think the year my friend Alberto Menegatti died was tough for all of us. That year I trained harder than ever and I won my first final and event. Last year when I got injured, I was alone thinking about my foot and knew I had to work hard. I knew I was not going to be at the top of my performance. I started the season with a 26th in France. It was not easy, but I just switched off my mind and knuckled down. I went to Korea and I won the event. I guess that was another good moment for me. At every competition you can have a bad moment and the way to cope with it is to switch off and go back and do it right for the next race.
I would say, “Go for it!” At the end of the day you just need to try and if you want something you just have to go for it. If it is training, holidays or competition I go for it! Things have to be done, you do it and you do your best! If you go for it all the time you will probably excel!
The post MARK OF A CHAMPION: MATTEO IACHINO appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
Sam Esteve has just released this awesome video from the best moments of his Windsurf Foil Freestyle training in Dakhla Morocco January 2021.
Edit by Baptiste Vignaud
Thanks to my partners : Neilpryde / JP Australia / Pep’s House / Freak
The post SAM ESTEVE: WINDFOIL FREESTYLE appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
Josep Pons tackles some pretty heavy waves at Galdar in Gran Canaria! Some heavy sections and nasty wipe outs as this wave dredges on the inside. Great drone footage too!
The post JOSEP PONS: GALDAR GRAN CANARIA appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
Ever wondered what goes on inside the Starboard HQ? Nico Prien gives us a full tour around this remarkable hive of activity with Svein Rasmussen and other members of the Starboard crew! The Starboard HQ is in quite an interesting location in Thailand with nice architecture, lots of interesting places and of course a focus on sustainability. The roof is covered solar panels so when the sun is at the highest point, the whole office is almost self sustaining in electricity.
The post STARBOARD WINDSURFING HQ FULL GUIDED TOUR appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.
Check out the 2021 range of ION Seek and Amaze Select wetsuits, which they claim are the warmest wetsuits they ever made due to Graphene inner linings!
“We set new standards in wetsuit technology with the use of the wonder material “graphene” as our cutting-edge inner lining. We equipped our premium wetsuit models SEEK Select and AMAZE Select with the Nobel Prize winning Graphene technology. The material is known for its superior heat-conducting and quickdrying properties, making these two models the warmest wetsuits we have ever made!”
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
Graphene has been considered a ‘miracle material’ since its discovery and sounds more like science fiction than reality. Made up of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern like honeycombs, it’s not only the thinnest material in the world, it‘s also one of the strongest. Compared to steel, for example, graphene is two hundred times stronger; it is also harder than diamond. One square meter of graphene weighs less than a milligram and is a million times thinner than a sheet of paper. Due to its physical structure, graphene has unique properties that exceed anything previously used in wetsuit technology. Graphene heats up faster and stores this heat much longer than other inner linings, offering optimal thermal properties. Another advantage of the two-dimensional construction is its high flexibility and stretch. Besides, the extremely strong carbon bonds make the material extremely robust
You can now confidently venture out for a session in colder water and outside temperatures than you had previously been comfortable in. A 20% increase in warmth represents a quantum leap in thermal insulation and wetsuit technology,” explains Michael Schuster, Product Manager at ION. “This opens up a whole new world for watersports enthusiast who dread the cold. With the new ION “SELECT” wetsuits, winter suddenly doesn’t seem that long anymore as many more opportunities arise for time on the water until the milder temperatures of spring arrive!” adds Product Manager Michael.
For more details please click here:
https://www.ion-products.com/graphene/
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“As foil sailing is more popular than ever and developing rapidly, we completely redesigned the F_PACE range. For 2021 it consists of two differently designed models, which up to size 5.8 are clearly described as F_PACE STYLE and 6.4 and 7.4 come as F_PACE RIDE!
Foilsailing is more popular than ever and is developing rapidly. Meanwhile, in addition to classic foilriding, foilstyling as a playful variation with a clear leaning towards freestyle is causing a lot of excitement and unlimited possibilities. Both “playgrounds” have specific requirements that regular fin sails cannot meet. This is exactly why the completely redesigned F_PACE range consists of two differently designed models, which up to size 5.8 are clearly described as F_PACE STYLE and 6.4 and 7.4 come as F_PACE RIDE. But both designs have one thing in common: they are spiked with innumerable, foil-specific design features that have a decisive influence on performance and result in extraordinary characteristics in their respective spectrum.Only 4 (STYLE) or 4 3/4 (RIDE) battens, a super short boom, a reduced luff curve and the wide Dacron luff panel combine to produce a favourably soft and very light foil sail. The high aspect outline with reduced top surface corresponds perfectly with the low water resistance of the hydrofoil and the hardly existing lateral forces. With less movement in the top, the rig remains stable over the board, for maximum control yet very reactive.
The foot perfectly closes with the deck and allows for extreme angles against the wind, especially on the F-PACE RIDE with the extended foot batten – yet thanks to the extremely concave outline without any negative influence to the handling!
The new, externally added SLEEVE INDUCERS combine the best of both worlds: super fast rigging and the rotation of a no-cam sail combined with the optimized aerodynamics of a cam sail. Together with the tight leech, they allow the F_PACE to start flying even with the slightest breeze. Should it really be necessary to pump, the low sail foil tension immediately builds up propulsion and effective acceleration. Especially on the F_PACE STYLE the extremely short boom, 4 super easy rotating battens and the low weight result in a playful handling that difficult manoeuvres and moves require: a lot of propulsion, minimized swing weight and – if necessary – spontaneous on-off. This makes them also the ideal companion for windier days!
www.duotonesports.com/windsurfing/
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My name is Zachary, but everyone calls me ‘Z’. I am 16 years old and have been living on Maui’s north shore since I was 9 years old. I am originally from Washington, D.C., but later moved to Aruba and then south Florida before coming to Maui.
I mostly sail at Ho’okipa, but he last few years I have also had the opportunity to windsurf Peahi / “Jaws” as well.
Windsurfing has always been part of my family’s life, starting with my parents and my two older brothers. We always centred our family vacations around watersports and even moved to Aruba for a couple of years to windsurf. Most of our travel included packing loads of gear for the van or the plane, checking forecasts, and having fun on the water.
Windsurfing is a huge part of my life. It lets me express myself on the water, especially on waves. As a sport that you can never fully master, I am constantly learning new things to do and also challenging myself on bigger and bigger waves. When I’m on the water, all I think about is riding the wave or doing a trick or a jump, and my mind and energy is concentrated on the moment. The conditions are never exactly the same, and that makes it challenging and exciting. I have met so many great sailors from around the world, especially on Maui, as they all end up here for part of the year, or live here full-time.
My greatest memory is heading up to Jaws for the first time. It was a feeling that was very exciting, but also quite frightening! The size of the wave and the amount of water being pushed around left me with my heart pounding and lots of adrenaline. Catching my first Jaws wave was definitely my most exciting. The thought and actual experience of riding a monster left me with an incredible feeling of accomplishment. My most recent wipeout also left me with total respect for the waves. Unfortunately, I hit a chop on a bottom turn and fell, only to be swept up to the lip and slammed back down. I had to pull my C02 cartridge on my inflatable vest and was picked up by a rescue sled. Looking back, in a strange way, I’m glad it happened as now I know what to expect. I am proud to be the youngest person to windsurf Jaws and was fortunate to also win the IWT biggest wave ridden (44 feet) in the youth and men’s categories in 2019. I also have the proud distinction of winning the best wipeout too!
The other fun things to do on the water windsurfing are tricks and jumps – forward loops, push loops, backs loops, goiters, and stalled forwards. Sailors new to the sport ask me how to learn and I found it extremely helpful to watch other sailors and also watch videos. The most important thing for me was just “going for it.”
Windsurfing, as we all know, takes time and dedication. I always tell people new to the sport to just get on the water regardless of conditions and have fun!!
As a relatively new Naish team rider, I have been fortunate to spend time on the water with Robby Naish, not only windsurfing, but also downwind paddle foiling and wing foiling. The team at Naish including Michi Schweiger and Scott Trudon have been extremely supportive and friendly in all my interests on the water. The Naish organization has provided me with incredible gear for all watersports. On the windsurf side, given my height (5’10”) and weight (140 pounds), I ride a 72 litre custom Naish wave board and usually use a 3.7 to 4.5 Force 4 Naish wave sail.
Competition for me is a great way to have fun and show my skills in a timed event with judges. It puts me under pressure to perform and I do like the pressure. It also makes me have to think quickly and make decisions under that timed pressure. The more I compete and sail at different competition locations, the more comfortable I get with it all. It increases the excitement, and of course making it to the podium makes it that much more rewarding. It’s also fun to win and is a driving force for me, given my competitive personality.
Windsurfing is always full of never-ending challenges. I want to ride bigger waves around the world and perform more jumps and tricks at the highest level I can. To do that, I get on the water as much as possible in all sorts of conditions and travel to different places around the world. Fortunately, I have been able to travel to some epic locations including Baja, California, Mexico, the Oregon coast, Hood River, North Carolina (Hatteras), Tahiti, Florida, the Canary Islands, and other spots as well. I would like to continue to explore. Fortunately, living on Maui I get to be on the water quite a bit, but the world offers so many incredible places to sail.
Life for me has also been a balance of on the water time and school work. I’m in 11th grade and a full-time student, but still spend plenty of time on the water after school (and sometimes before school). Weekends are the best, as I can spend most of the day doing different things based on the conditions. Life on the water has taught me so many things you cannot learn in a classroom, and I feel very fortunate, as I know it will help me in my life at any age! I wake up every morning feeling blessed to live here.
Living on Maui is a dream for a water and wind sport addict. There are many different conditions year-round to get on the water and have an epic time. Summer conditions offer lots of wind almost every day, but the waves are small. It is great for slalom sailing, flat water kiting – especially with foils, and perfect for the new sport of wing foiling. The south and west shores have good conditions for surfing, usually longboarding. Winter season, which starts in late October and goes through to April, comes with lighter winds and tons of big waves. Ho’okipa windsurfing and tow surfing the outer reefs is the main activity. North and northwest swells come with waves ranging in size from 5 feet to double mast high. The last few years have been great at Jaws for windsurfing and tow surfing with waves as big as 50 feet!!
Even though Covid-19 has been very unfortunate as far as Maui and the world goes, it has limited the number of visitors on the island and allowed the people that live here to have uncrowded conditions on the water. During swell season on a good day at Ho’okipa there are usually 50 to 60 sailors, and now it is about 30. For us locals, the conditions are uncrowded and we ride more waves, but I hope the world opens again soon and everyone who loves watersports can experience Maui and all it has to offer.
Growing up on Maui has allowed me to take advantage of incredible opportunities on and off the water. Most days are windy, with an average of five to fifteen-foot waves. On an average day after school I drive down an unpaved road from Makawao to Ho’okipa and windsurf until sunset with friends who include some of the best athletes in the world. Although my favourite sports involve watersports and ideal conditions, there is always something to do on Maui.
With so many varying microclimates, terrains and conditions, living on Maui presents so many other opportunities. Where I live in Sprecks (the windward side of the island), we have constant trade winds with little rain. It can be sunny without a visible cloud in the sky at home, and I can drive just 5 miles toward Haiku and it will be pouring rain. Sometimes it will rain every day in Haiku. Living in Maui with so many diverse climates, mountains, and the ocean, I am always staying busy. When there is no wind or waves, I often go out spearfishing in the morning from my house on the north shore, and hopefully bring home some fish for lunch. In the afternoon, I like to go to Makawao Forest (a forest located just under 3000 feet elevation on the Haleakala volcano) and go mountain biking with my good friend Kevin Prichard and my brothers Max and Jake. When night comes along, the activities still do not stop, I am able to go night diving from my house or at Lanes to catch lobster for dinner. On days with no wind, I also go surfing or tow surfing, depending on the size of the waves. Normally when I go out surfing, I go to Ho’okipa or take a drive down to Honolua Bay, which is one of the best point breaks in the world. When surfing, I sometimes go from my house to the outer reefs such as outer Sprecks, which can be ten to thirty feet.
When the conditions are ideal, my brothers, friends and I head to Pe’ahi / Jaws. We usually launch from my house with our jet ski and rescue sled and it takes about 30 minutes to get to Jaws. Other days when I take a break from windsurfing and surfing, I go to waterfalls or go cliff jumping at various places on the island.
Another great part of living on Maui includes meeting all the people who come to visit from all over the world. Even though it can get crowded at spots like Ho’okipa, it makes it interesting to see everyone’s style and learn from people who windsurf in other conditions. When people come from Europe, it provides an opportunity for me to show them the unique places Maui has to offer and show them what I do when I am not windsurfing.
Since March, Covid-19 has had a significant impact on tourism and basically shut down the island. Surfing these days is an only local lineup. Although Covid-19 has been devastating on so many levels for so many, I do feel fortunate to have been “stuck” with my family and friends on this island. During these past few months, I have been able to progress as a windsurfer, surfer, foiler, winger and kiter. I have been able to catch more waves and focus on my own performance. With winter approaching, I look forward to taking opportunities at places such as Pe’ahi with less competition to catch waves. I look on this year, without a crowd of people fighting for a wave, as an opportunity to develop and get more comfortable in bigger waves and learn from the locals who have been surfing for decades. Even though I have enjoyed Maui without crowds, we are all ready for the world returning to normal. Our economy here depends on tourism and there have been so many local businesses closing, people out of work, and people suffering, we are all ready to welcome back visitors. People visiting Maui from so many diverse places and cultures enriches everyone who lives here. It shows us what other cultures are like, and it allows us to share the island with others. I miss my friends from Gran Canaria who challenge and push me to jump higher and I miss my family and friends on the mainland. Although I recognize how fortunate living on Maui for me has been, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, I look forward to life returning to normal for us all.
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Lighter weight riders pay attention as Starboard rider Blanca Alabau explains her favourite set up for slalom foiling.
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