Running from 14 – 17 January 2016, the Lancelin Ocean Classic is delighted to confirm attendance from several pro-athletes from the world stages of windsurfing and kitesurfing – ensuring stiff head-to-head competition next weekend in Lancelin, Western Australia.
For the first time in the event’s history, both windsurfers and kitesurfers will be competing simultaneously in the marathon events, which stretch between Ledge Point and Lancelin, making for the largest starting and finishing lines in the event’s history.
Coming to Lancelin for the 2016 Classic will be a range of local, national and internationally renowned sailors, including:
PWA’s 2015 #8 Overall Waves, Robby Swift (UNITED KINGDOM)
PWA’s 2015 #1 ranking Wave Man, Philip Köster (GERMANY)
JORDY VONK, ARRIANNE AUKES & SARAH HÉBERT JOIN FANATIC
JORDY VONK, ARRIANNE AUKES & SARAH HÉBERT JOIN FANATIC!
Fanatic is happy to welcome three new team members for 2016: Jordy Vonk and Arrianne Aukes from Netherland as well as watergirl Sarah Hébert from France!
Jordy Vonk is a very talented Slalom rider from the new generation and has a lot of potential. He will be helping PierreMortefon and Marco Lang with the development and also represents our brand working together with TWS/Slalom Clinics in Tenerife.
Arrianne Aukes is a great action girl mainly competing in Freestyle on the PWA Tour. Besides she will organise some clinics using her collaboration with Telstar Surfclub in Holland, however she will be also running some International ones in Fuerteventura, Brazil and Bonaire, so stay tuned.
Sarah Hébert is a French/International adventure girl. She has been travelling around the world with her parents for 11 years. She’s famous for her attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a Windsurfer or adventures like her SUP
Amazonas Expedition. Sarah is also joining the SUP International team as she got more and more into SUP adventures and SUP Surfing and she’s spreading the SUP Yoga vibe on her Fly Air Fit.
Our Wave Team will be led by 2015 PWA Wave Vice World Champion, Victor Fernandez, eager to claim the title this season. Victor is supported by top PWA rider Klaas Voget as well as Alessio Stillrich, Arthur Arutkin and Adam Lewis and last but not least our youngster Noah Voecker-Roche. Our girls Alice Arutkin and Maria Andres have now Sarah Hébert as new mate.
Our Freestyle Team is as always led by our six times PWA World Champion Gollito Estredo and Adrien Bosson followed by Max Matissek and Yegor Popretensky. Arriane Aukes will now uphold the girl power together with Yoli de Brendt.
Finally our Slalom Team will be one of the strongest ever with PWA Slalom Vice World Champ Pierre Mortefon, Marco Lang, Maria Andres and now Jordy Vonk, all charging for the top places on our renowned Falcon Slalom boards and Pierre for sure has big potential for the world title this year!
Leaving the team are Matteo Iachino, Max Rowe and Maxime van Gent, we wish them all the best for the future and
thank them for all the input and effort they made for Fanatic!
More specific info on our new team entries and existing riders: www.fanatic.com/windsurfing/team
When the king of windsurfing, Robby Naish, calls a session his best ever, you know it must be special. When the wind and waves align at Fiji’s famed big wave, Cloudbreak, Robby calls it one of the greatest windsurfing waves in the world. Read on as King Naish recounts a day when the magic happened.
Words Robby Naish // Photos Glen Duffos
(This feature originally appeared in the October 2015 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!)
HISTORY The first time I went to Fiji was almost thirty years ago, when I flew with Pete Cabrinha and the rest of the Gaastra crew to shoot the windsurfing movie “Angle of Attack”. You can find the intro on www.windsurf.co.uk/angle-of-attack …a time warp into the days of windsurfing past with short shorts, bright fluoro colors and a new sport that was taking the world by storm. At that time the “island” of Namotu was just an atoll with a few bushes and one or two coconut trees on it. We stayed on Plantation Island and took a boat out to Namotu each day to sail the barrier reef break now known as Namotu Lefts. The wind is side–shore (though not always strong enough to windsurf), the waves are long and clean, and it is normally warm, sunny and beautiful. I have been there many times over the years since that first trip, for windsurfing competitions, waterman multi sport events, family holidays (even over the millennium in 2000) and photo shoots, kitesurfing and stand up paddling. But this last trip was my all time windsurfing score.
I have been working with a Dutch film crew called Eyeforce on a kitesurfing documentary film, and we wanted to include a trip to Fiji and more specifically Cloudbreak into the project. Initially the idea was to shoot with Naish team rider Kevin Langeree along with Pete Cabrinha and Keahi Deaboitz to kind of pair up some first generation kiters with some younger blood. The Cabrinha crew and the filmers would be on a big catamaran for a couple of weeks and Kevin and I would fly in if and when the conditions looked firing. Unfortunately, for the two week window that was planned, the wind and waves never really got sweet enough to justify flying all the way to Fiji. Then the forecast changed. A really solid swell with strong winds appeared just after our holding period. So they extended their trip and I packed up my equipment. This was a kitesurfing trip. But I could not go to Cloudbreak with the forecast that I was looking at and not bring some windsurfing gear!
BARE MINIMUM I love windsurfing. But after decades on tour traveling with massive amounts of equipment, I really don’t like traveling with windsurfing gear. So I packed up the bare minimum: an 82 litre wave board, two 5.0’s, one mast, one boom, and one base and stuck it all in a single layer fitted board bag to make it as small and light as possible. It didn’t even look like a windsurfer it was so small. Stoked. Traveling these days is not what it used to be. I checked in with Air Fiji and as the roll of the dice would have it, they decided that for my three bags (one fairly large duffle bag with my kites, fins, harness, clothes etc., one small surfboard bag with two directional kite wave boards and my tiny little windsurf bag) I would have to pay $630.00. Darn it. I hoped the conditions would justify the expense.
FIJI AT LAST They did. I arrived in Nadi along with Naish kite team rider Jesse Richmann (Kevin missed the window and had to compete in Tarifa) and his friend Patri McLaughlin from North. We jumped into our little shuttle vans, theirs taking them to Surf Fiji where they were staying on the mainland, and mine driving me to the dock where the Namotu boat would come and pick me up. Namotu and Tavarua are the two most famous surf resorts in Fiji. Tavarua is much bigger, hosting close to a hundred people on the island. About a mile away is Namotu, which at low tide is only about two hundred metres long and a hundred metres wide…and quite a bit smaller at high tide! It sleeps around thirty people if fully booked. Owned by Australian ex professional windsurfer Scotty O’Connor and his wife Mandy, Namotu has slowly evolved, grown, and transformed over the past thirty years from a rough and bare bones surf camp into a high end, comfortable, unique and very exclusive resort. It is a snorkeling, diving, fishing, surfing, kitesurfing and windsurfing paradise. Though the island was full, and because I was only going to be there for three days, and I knew the majority of the guests on the island (mostly kiters) and they had ok’d it, Scotty was able to squeeze me in!
WARM UP SESSION My timing was perfect. Arriving mid morning allowed for an afternoon kite session at Cloudbreak. Fellow pro kiter Ben Wilson was also on the island, so we shared one of the open deck outboard boats and made the two–‐mile upwind trek to Cloudbreak from Namotu. If you think rigging windsurfing equipment on a boat is tough, you should try kiting. You have to lay out your lines on land, pump up your kite, connect your lines, deflate your kite, very very very carefully, wind up your lines onto your control bar, pack up your kite and carefully stick it in the boat. Once at the break, you have to back the boat into the wind, carefully pump up your kite, have someone knowledgeable hold it while you even more carefully jump in the water and swim out your lines…then have them launch your kite – hoping that your lines are not twisted etc. etc.! What could possibly go wrong?! The wind was just strong enough to get around and catch some waves on a kite, and the surf was three to four feet (Hawaiian, which means just over head to double over head on the sets) and it was a solid warm up for what was forecast for the next day.
CLOUDBREAK TURNS ON You have all seen the articles from Jason Polakow and his sessions at giant Cloudbreak. Sick. I tried to get him to come along on this trip but his shoulder injury had not quite healed up yet so he had to pass. The wind at Cloudbreak is normally pretty light, and almost always quite offshore, making it pretty sketchy for windsurfing. You can get into the waves once out in the lineup, but getting back out can be difficult, and getting caught inside is a session ending event. The reef is VERY shallow and very sharp…and once you get caught inside you are not getting back out. The second day of my trip, the wind was already cranking at breakfast…quite unusual as it normally builds through the day. It was also more side–‐shore than normal rather than offshore. And the swell was pumping and forecast to pick up all day long. Things looked promising for a windsurf session. We arrived up at Cloudbreak around 9:30 am. In the boat with me were eight pro kiters and photographer Glenn Duffus. Eight kiters is already a crowd in the surf, especially at a point or reef break. Once you get your kite up when boat launching at Cloudy, that’s it. You have one session because landing your kite and getting your lines sorted, put away, and re–set to go again later is near impossible. If the boat is anchored you can leave your kite in the water with your bar attached to the boat…but out here the boat has to stay moving the whole time.
The wind was solid and the surf was already mast high. Until the waves get mast high or so, Cloudbreak is too crowded with surfers to kite or windsurf. But once the waves reach a height where paddling in becomes difficult, it becomes one of the best wind and kite waves anywhere. I was going windsurfing! I get seasick on a boat faster than lightning. Even having taken Dramamine, I needed to get off that thing after just a few minutes of putting around watching the conditions. I rigged up as quickly as I could (just thinking of looking down rigging my sail on a boat makes me want to puke) and got out there. I planed right off the boat with a 5.0, which is really unusual wind for Fiji. The summer in Hawaii has not been the best, and I have not flown to Oahu to windsurf Diamond Head even once. So the last time I rode my favored tack was Kona wind Lanes several months ago. I sailed out back and waited for a set.
DIALING IN! The outside peak at Cloudbreak is big and fat as it pulls off the deep water, then builds up speed, power, and cleans up as the wave wraps in along the reef. By the time it reaches the inside section it is a roping hollow wave with almost straight offshore winds. From my very first wave I felt at home, surprised that my board, fin setup etc. felt so comfortable after so long standing the other way. It’s like riding a bike. You can take a break, feel a little apprehensive at first, but after a few minutes you are back to riding wheelies. Although I was not smacking the lip or doing aerials, I had a blast. I laid down some bottom turns that felt like they were pulling several G’s. If I got the second or third wave of a set, the wave was so smooth it felt like you could almost ride without fins at all and still be fine…just carving off your rail… no bumps, no chop at all, and a perfectly peeling and predictable wave with no closeouts or sections. It is almost too easy, yet at the same time extremely intimidating because you know that if you do go down or get caught behind the section and have to straighten out… your day is likely done. Most waves were in the five to eight foot range, but a couple of sets looked like small
Peahi turned into a left…something I normally only dream about.
DREAM SESSION! I sailed for at least a couple of hours. In fact I sailed longer than I should have. I shared the waves with the kite crew, but was having so much fun that I didn’t want to stop. As with many waves around the world, the tide plays a big part in determining when it is good, bad, or even un-rideable. I windsurfed right through the best period of the day, even though I was there to shoot a kitesurfing film. The photos don’t really do it justice because with one photographer sitting on a boat, you can only capture one part of the wave…from the peak…and everything inside of that can only be shot from the judging tower on the reef. The crew was shooting video from there, but not stills. Eventually I had to call it a session, and headed to the boat, de–rigged, and set up my kite for round two. That afternoon and the two days that followed were kite only…but that couple of hours of windsurfing all alone (except for some good friends on kites) at one of the best waves in the world was one of my best ever windsurfing moments. At 52, and with 41 years of windsurfing under my belt, it’s pretty awesome to be able to say that. Aloha, Robby Naish.
Three years ago, windsurfer Mikey Clancy sadly passed away, friends remember Mikey’s memory in words and video.
Katie McAnena – ”I’ve always found it impossibly hard to say much about the loss of Mikey Clancy. It’s 3 years to the day since my dear friend passed away. Three years have seen some spectacular highs and equally some tragic lows in the world of windsurfing. Mikey was the definition of all that it is to be Irish and all that it is to be a windsurfer. His warmth, openness, kindness and sense of humour were all enhanced by his motivation, drive and love of being on the water and sharing his progress with the windsurfing world. He helped shape Irish windsurfing and showed us all that hard work, talent, love and a very thick,warm wetsuit could open your life to endless possibilities on the coastlines of Ireland and farther afield. Although he was 4 years younger than me I found myself looking up to him as an inspiration as to what was achievable. He paved a path that was unique and will never again be replicated.
There is not a single session on the water when I don’t think of him. If the conditions are sick and I’m sailing well I’ll look up and say ‘cheers Mikey’, but for the most part the conditions are vicious and cold and I’m wiping out and I look up and smile and again say ‘cheers Mikey”, because I know he’s having a great old laugh watching me flounder.
Today let’s celebrate a life worth remembering. A life cut too short but so rich in achievements and talent that it will forever be feted. Mikey you were a legend.
So whatever your day amounts to on this, the 6th of January, whether you’re stuck at work or ripping it up on the waves somewhere, smile widely and proudly in the celebration of one of life’s best characters, Mikey Clancy.
Our love and thoughts extend to his family Michael, Bernie and Sean and all his extended family and friends around the world.”
Pic – Katie McAnena and Mikey Clancy
Mikey getting back windsurfing after a long layoff due too injury – www.youtube.com/user/mikifier1
A tribute by Peter Hart to Mikey Clancy, the amazing young Irish windsurfer who died in January. Peter remembers the week in Donegal back in 2005 when he coached him as 15 year old.
Some clips of the late, great Mikey Clancy – Aeolus Production (aeproduction, a Welsh based film business, specialising in wind sports and surfing.)
This is a tribute to young Irish wave sailor Mikey Clancy, who sadly passed away much too early on January 6th. No wave was too big for him!
It is a short video about one moment in Mikey’s life riding big waves on this beautiful day in Puertito, Fuerteventura and sharing his stoke with us and his friends. – Continentseven.com
KLAAS VOGET JOINS NORTH The transfer season continues as Klaas Voget G-4 joins North Sails International Windsurf and R&D Team. Klaas: I’ve been sailing on Fanatic Boards since I’ve started windsurfing and with my close relationship with the brand, the relationship to North Sails also got closer and closer over the years, as both brands are working hand in hand within the Boards & More group. We’ve had several talks over the years about this move and for 2016 it was finally the right time. I’m super excited to work with Kai and Victor on the development of the new Wave Sails. North has a super professional R&D Setup with a loft on Maui and a development center and headquarter in Germany. New Protos are built from one week to the next in production standard and we can try new design ideas immediately. The Masts, Booms and all the accessories are of the highest standards and the best and lightest you can get on the market. I’m really looking forward to become a part of this team and push my own sailing and the equipment even further! I’m in Chile right now and already have a bunch of protos here for the 2017 development. My first impression is super good, i can’t wait for the wind to return for my next session!
DEETS Sailnumber: G-4 Date of Birth: 24.04.1979 Birthplace: Aurich, Germany Currently living in: Hamburg, Germany Started windsurfing in: 1992 People you like to sail with: Victor Fernandez and the rest of the North/Fanatic Team, as well as my friends from Kiel and Hamburg. Favourite spot: Chile Favourite food: Avocado Favourite magazine: Windsurf, Surf, Wind & all the other Windsurf and Surf Mags!. Hobbies: Surfing, Tennis, Photography What do you want to be remembered for? As a person who likes to charge when condtions are firing and as someone who pushed the sport of windsurfing. …and as a good friend and daddy of course!
Results 8 x top 10 PWA World Tour Ranking Constantly top 3 German Windsurf Tour since 2001 • 10th pwa world ranking 2015 • 5th pwa worldcup denmark 2015 • 1st surf cup sylt 2015 • 2nd dwc summer opening sylt 2015 • 8th pwa world ranking 2014 • 7th pwa indoor worldcup warsaw • 5th pwa worldcup tenerife 2014 • 5th pwa worldcup gran canaria 2014 • 10th pwa world ranking 2013 • 1st supremesurf big days 2013 • 1st german tour wave 2013 • 1st dwc summer opening sylt 2013 • 1st german tour wave 2012 • 10th pwa world ranking 2012 • 7th pwa worldcup denmark 2012 • german vicechampion 2012 • 7th pwa worldcup gran canaria 2012 • 2nd red bull soulwave denmark 2012 • 1st summer opening sylt 2012 • german vicechampion 2011 • 7th pwa world ranking 2010 • 7th pwa worldcup denmark 2010 • german champion 2010 • “sailor of the year 2009” action sports awards • 4th pwa world ranking 2009 • 2nd pwa worldcup sylt 2009 • 7th pwa worldcup gran canaria 2009 • “sailor of the year 2008” action sports awards • 6th pwa world ranking 2008 • 3rd pwa worldcup sylt 2008 • 7th pwa worldcup gran canaria 2008 • 1st dwc tour 2008 • 1st soulwave denmark 2007 • 7th pwa worldcup brazil 2007 • 9th pwa world ranking 2004
He doesn’t work for ‘Relate’ but Harty reckons a regular dose of misery is the means by which you keep the passion alive.
It was a soggy afternoon as we drove into the campsite in Normandy and onto our pitch at the side of the lake. My wife suggested that, given the depth of the mud, a spot up the hill away from the shore might be more practical – but I wanted to wake up by the water so there. Backing in, I crunched into a knee-high stump, cunningly placed just below a van driver’s field of vision. Driving forward with just a touch of petulance, I took the wing mirror off on a low-lying branch. The tent erected in the shallower of the 2 puddles, we bedded down for the night. At 2 am, a gentle whistling revealed that a mouse had eaten a hole in our inflatable mattress, leaving us lying on the bare ground at the very moment the heavens opened and a river the size of the Seine washed through our living quarters. As a protest vote, both kids emptied the digested contents of their young stomachs into their pyjamas.
“No worries,” said my wife, “I’ve brought plenty of spares. Fetch me the kid’s bag.” “Which bag is that darling?” “The one I left at the top of the stairs and asked you to put in the van just before we left.” “No you didn’t …”
So there we stood, sleep-deprived, sodden with 2 naked, stinking, deeply unhappy offspring, 200 miles from the nearest Starbucks. Our European neighbours poured yet more salt into our suppurating wounds by threatening to call the authorities unless we stopped bickering. Options presented themselves, easily the most attractive of which was to torch the neighbour’s tent and then head straight back to the ferry port and the green green grass of home, where we could spend 2 weeks luxuriating in the delights of modern living – dry clothes, air fresheners, a flushing toilet, a springy mattress, a fluffy duvet. But no. Britain was not built on such a flabby attitude to adversity. So like sensible birds, we upped sticks and flew south. Twenty-four hours later, after a journey not without incident, we found ourselves on the island of Oleron, slumped into our £9.99 camping chairs on a mound overlooking the Atlantic, a cheeky, local red in hand to toast the golden sun which was setting over the peeling waves of the Cote d’Argent. The acrid stench of kiddy kaka had been expunged from van and nostrils. The kids themselves had been re-dressed c/o of some very special offers at Decathlon in Rouen and were frolicking in the rock pools below as cheerily as the von Trapps (during the happy part of the Sound of Music before the Nazis arrived). And with the tent dry and re-erected in an altogether more summery corner of la belle France, the mood lifted beyond the heavens.
It was a great holiday. It’s what we do every year and every year we have the same conversation on the way home. Is it really worth all the work and discomfort? Apparently yes. The happy memories overshadow the discomfort and you do it all over again. Windsurfing is a camping with kids experience. If it isn’t, I fear you’re doing it all wrong. I read recently that the current high rates of depression are due to the pressure of 21st century life where we spend most of our time fretting about things that we have no control over and trying to plan for unknown consequences. Instead, like our forebears, we should spend more time living in the moment.
That’s what sport is for. And nothing is better at it than windsurfing. So many people have said they love the sport because it’s so all-consuming that they have no time to cogitate over everyday problems. But the therapy only keeps working so long as the experience remains intense. The NWF is always a great time to monitor the overall health of windsurfing. You get to talk to people from every corner of the game from pros to those who took it up an hour ago at a taster session. Like a Party Conference, everyone fuels each other’s happy prejudices and it’s a right old love fest – most of the time.
But the saddest conversation I had was with Bill, alias Eeyore, who said (in a Brummy accent too which made it sound even more depressing): “I’m just doing everything I used to on the water, but every year a little bit worse.” I laid him on the couch and had a word. Had he bought any new kit recently? No. Had he sailed anywhere new? No. Had he tried a new move? Why would I want to do that? I might fall in. His time ran out but my parting gift was to tell him that the thousands of hours he’d invested learning this technical sport, had made it too valuable to give up. Rekindle the magic by getting uncomfortable again. The quest for ever-bigger waves is a dominant thread in this issue. I urge you to read Alistair McLeod’s experiences riding Pedra Blanca, a huge break way out in the southern ocean beyond Tasmania. If you do the maths, it’s about 6 months training and planning for about 30 seconds of action, which may or may not happen. But if it does …it’s basically camping with kids. You have to do a lot of work and handle a lot of sh*t for that special moment. But thanks to all the sh*t, when that moment does come, it’s especially special and therefore highly addictive. I’m not urging you all to head out to Jaws with iron resolve and your will updated. It’s just to remember those early days of windsurfing when you were putting in the hard yards, and when hours of frustration were punctuatedwith moments of unremitting ecstasy. It’s the pain as much as the pleasure that keeps us vital. By the way, they also mentioned that the other recreation that makes us live in the moment is sex; which apparently you also have to keep intense and varied. I couldn’t possibly comment.
Girl on Wave introduces professional windsurfer Sarah Hauser and documents her journey as a New-Caledonian athlete competing on the American stage of windsurfing.
The film includes interviews with world-class athletes, windsurfing champions and other people who have inspired Sarah on her path to winning the American Windsurfing Tour title. Performing at her highest potential in big swells and competitions around the globe, Sarah is leaving her unique mark on the sport.
EchoHouse Films presents “Girl on Wave”
Produced and directed by EchoHouse Films
Executive Producer Steven B Esparza
Assistant producer Angela Obezo
Music by Fit for Rivals
Co producer Luke Holwerda – Arizona/Maui
Director of underwater photography Jace Panebianco
Director of photography Steven B Esparza and Luke Holwerda Maui/USA
Written by Sarah Hauser and Echohouse Films
Starboard are pleased to announce the arrival of Matteo Iachino in there ranks. Matteo has shown great potential in the past years and they are looking forward to seeing what he will achieve in 2016 with iSonics under his feet.
Matteo visited Starboard in Thailand last week and was able to have a quick chat.
” This winter has been full on so far. Unreal to be able to sail Jaws, Kona winds and epic Hookipa during the same week . Soooo nice to be back in Maui ” Marcilio BrowneGoya WindsurfingPirelliMFC HawaiiMormaii
This winter has been full on so far. Unreal to be able to sail Jaws, Kona winds and epic Hookipa during the same week . Soooo nice to be back in Maui ———– Sempre bom voltar pro Hawaii. Esta semana tive a chance de velejar em Jaws, Lanes com Kona winds e Hookipa classico ! Goya Windsurfing Pirelli MFC Hawaii Mormaii FILMED BY : Take Shelter Productions
Fancy improving your wave sailing and jumping? Then join Boardwise for an excellent week of tuition in sunny and windy Tenerife 20th-27th February. Expert tuition provided by our friends at Windsurf coaching.
Kevin takes you through the areal off the lip on the 2016 Ezzy Elite.
“You go out ready to do your first big air. You get to the outside, gybe on a wave, start screaming down the lip ready to boost a huge air, then what? Here is a couple tips to get you through it all”
One day a hero, the next day a clown – that’s the way it is in the waves … but why? In an attempt to clarify and console, Peter Hart describes how different combinations of wind and swell direction alter the nature of
the challenge physically, mentally and technically.
Asked what you imagine to be the most challenging aspect of running wave clinics, you might say it’s constantly having to repair kit or the nursing of a perma-hangover from endless post match beers. You’d be wrong. Kit is so robust that there are surprisingly few breakages these days. And beers are never a problem because wave sailing makes you very thirsty. The real challenge lies in managing expectations. In all fields of windsurfing people tend to have a tick-box mentality. “How did you get on today?”
“Rubbish. I only made 4 gybes and yesterday I did 10.” But crying into their cocktail they failed to compute that ‘today’ a 20° shift in the wind direction had doubled the size of the chop and made gybing at least four times as difficult. Using that algorithm, they’d actually improved. People are notoriously bad at relating performance to the conditions – and especially in wave-sailing where there’s an added mountain of variables.
Climb inside the heads of the keen amateur and pro as they survey the same scene before a session in the swells and you will hear two very different mental commentaries. The amateur. “Must do forward loop … must do forward loop …must do forward loop.”
The pro. “High tide – wind fluffy inshore, waves jacking up suddenly on the shelf close to the beach so timing for jumps really difficult – no time to get up to full planing speed and waves too steep for forward loops – may get in a ‘backie’ but focus on riding. Rig down a bit – wind slightly offshore so could get some cracking aerials on the inside section. Wave very steep – need tight, snappy bottom turn so twinser set-up might work best. Afternoon wind due to swing more onshore. As tide drops and water clears the inside bank, the waves will space out and get ‘slopier’ – could be great jumping.” The amateur had a pre-set agenda that he was going to follow whichever conditions he encountered. In his mind, wind and waves equal jumps (they don’t). If you can jump surely you can do a forward? If you can’t you’re a wuss. And so due to his fixation, he suffers another failed session trying a move that was pretty much impossible given the situation.
The pro meanwhile set the agenda according to the day. His on-board computer had crunched a heap of data that left him with goals and expectations proportionate to the conditions. So coming up is a kind of wave sailing conditions directory. Forewarned is forearmed. If you know how wind and wave combine to produce different scenarios, you’re more likely to try the right moves in the right place; make better kit choices; understand the limitations; refrain from flogging dead horses and emerge fulfilled, positive and smiling. It is a massive subject so in this the first of a two-parter, I’m going to focus (mostly) on how the wind strength over different parts of the sailing area and its direction relative to the waves influence your choices and tactics.
UNDERSTANDING WIND DIRECTION For simplicity’s sake, we describe wind direction in terms of the shoreline – ‘onshore,’ ‘side-shore,’ ‘offshore’ etc. But what’s relevant is the wind’s direction relative to the waves and they don’t always roll in parallel to the beach (we’ll look at those situations in part 2). But for now when we say ‘side shore’ we mean across or at right angles to the waves.
Onshore and offshore Wave-sailors and surfers talk in general terms about onshore and offshore conditions. At the mention of each, the memory bank flashes up a very different image of the sea – the former a noisy, foaming cauldron of random wedges; the latter a scene from a Hawaiian postcard – perfect clean swell lines marching in over a smooth sea; their smooth, green, translucent walls held up by the breeze before peeling steadily to rhythms of the Hula Hula girls. The latter appears more desirable but the former is what we tend to get. Like all clichés, they’re based on truth – but are flawed. You can get really clean onshore conditions and really messy offshore conditions.
Let’s start with reality.
People assume an unfulfilling day in the waves is due to their own fluctuations in mood and competence. It may be – but it’s just as likely to be down to a change in the weather.
ONSHORE WINDS ‘Onshore’ describes the direction from straight onshore to within a degree of side-shore. Within that 89° there’s a massive variance – from hideous to
fantastic. In general, the greater the angle between wind and wave direction, the more fun you have.
THE ‘ONSHORE’ and ‘OFFSHORE’ clichés ‘On’ and ‘Offshore’ are terms that provoke spontaneous images in the wave-sailor’s imagination. The former a foaming mess of random lumps blown to shore by a fierce wind, the latter Hawaiian style perfection as
the wind whips the top off translucent peeling faces. There’s truth in all clichés but you can get awful offshore days and amazing onshore days. The overall situation is far more complicated and multifactorial.
The exact wind direction, how on or offshore, the nature of the swell and the shape of the shore and seabed exert an equally powerful influence on your wave-sailing day out.
//A typical onshore scenario, wild sea, white horses everywhere like a scene from Poldark, compared to…
// The offshore wind sea-state – clean rollers rumbling through a glassy sea. But it’s NOT always like that.
Really Onshore. When you get to the water’s edge and can’t make up your mind whether to launch on port or starboard – that’s really onshore. It’s not ideal.
Getting out. Depending on the size of the shore-break, it’s difficult to impossible. If you bear away to get going, you hit the beach. You have to launch parallel to the shore and then immediately head up to hit the waves nose first. To keep the speed up and breach the white water without being washed back is very technical.
Holding station. For all the reasons above, it’s tricky. You get planing along the shore, make 20m upwind; then a wall of white water catches the upwind rail, washes you back in and you find yourself 200m from where you launched. As soon as you catch a wave, on purpose or not, you’re going downwind.
In really onshore winds you can’t use the wave to carry you back upwind. As soon as you catch one, you’re losing ground.
Jumps. It’s difficult for the same reason as getting out – you have to head right up to hit the wave nose first. As you do so, you lose speed and lift, the sail closes, you get blocked over the centre-line, can’t use the feet scissor action to bear away and flop down tail first into wind and stop.
Riding The hurdles are many – the possibilities few.
1. As you bear down it, you’re on a very broad reach, where it’s hard to control speed and power. If the wave is big, it shelters the wind as you drop down, at which point you become mush fodder. 3. The sexy backside riding moves like the lay-down ‘snap’ off the top, are also tricky because it involves carving all the way back up the wave to point the nose at the wind. As for front-side riding, it’s a complete clew first exercise.
Kit Choice In all wind and wave situations, your first priority has to be to get out. In direct onshore winds that means beating. It’s a constant battle against both wind and wave and the only way to win that struggle is to arm yourself with power, speed and resistance – a little extra sail, a little extra volume, bigger fin(s) and perhaps favour the earlier planing freestyle wave over the wave board.
Where you really need that power is in the shore-break where the wind is often a force lighter, so you need to rig big and for most of the session embrace the feeling of being maxed out.
To summarise I haven’t sold it to you have I? If the wind is light and the waves closely spaced and dumping on the shore, there’s no point. Even if you manage to get out, there’s nothing to do when you get out there. But if the wind is strong and the waves are small and crumbling gently over a shallow shelving beach, you can scream up and down on the flat patches in between, hopping, popping and banking off the walls as the mood takes you. I had such a session in a 25 knot westerly at Saunton Sands last month. Was it wave sailing? Not really – but it was a lot of fun and an option if you really couldn’t find a spot with a more friendly angle. Sometimes OK for a bump and maybe a jump. The best manage to rip in Sylt but not without a heap of mishaps. It’s generally to be avoided.
Side Onshore It’s what 90% of wave sailors encounter 90% of the time. Waves are generated and blown along by the wind. Only over big, deep open oceans do the waves roll beyond that wind and become swell. For most, the nearest wave sailing option is to launch off shores that face the prevailing wind and sail on the waves generated by that same wind – but we select a spot on the beach where the wind strikes it at an angle. As the waves make contact with the seabed inshore, they bend in to break parallel with the beach. That small difference in wind and wave angle not only makes life a lot easier but also opens up a heap of jumping and riding possibilities.
Getting out
You have room to bear away to get planing, can sail out across the wind and hit the waves nose on. That’s the theory. However, side onshore winds tend to bend in towards the shore, making them more onshore by the beach where you launch, meaning you have to bear away more than you think. Actually how easy or hard it is to get out depends on the strength of the wind inshore, the spacing of the waves and whether they’re dumping or crumbling.
ONSHORE CHOICES
Onshore conditions are often cast as the poorer, much uglier cousin of offshore conditions. Often they are … but not always. When a proper groundswell combines with a cross on wind, conditions can be glorious.
It depends on whether a sub-aqua hurdle is in place to refract or bring order to those swells. The images show the same wind direction, side on from the right but offering totally different prospects – one survival,
and the other an endless choice of up and downwind riding on glassy faces and jumps.
// A high tide, onshore mess as random wedges of water catch each other up as they run inshore. There are limited gaps between waves to get up to speed and no pattern to the break. You can have some jumping and riding fun but you have to work for it. Don’t expect too much.
// Compare that to the smooth perfection of ‘Mossies’ in SW Ireland. As a groundswell bends in over the reef, the waves spread out and clean up. The 18 knot side on wind is enough to power you into jumps but
not enough to disturb the faces. I can’t tell you how much fun this day was. Everyone was a hero.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A SHIFT MAKES
Same spot, same state of tide but a 20° wind shift during the day turned a classic side off day into a ‘different’ side on one. The onshore wind chops up the surface, stops the wave walling up, meaning you’ll have to start your top turn earlier and/or make it lower on the wave if you’re to avoid falling off the back. Some of the group that day failed to relate performance to changing wind and came off the water complaining they’d lost it. You can only sail as dynamically as conditions permit. But if you alter the tactics and expectations, it can be just as rewarding.
// A marginally side-off wind holding up the faces of an Irish beach break. The longer the faces stay green and the steeper they are, the more you can bury the rail and throw some spray in the knowledge that the wave will project you forward.
// But as the wind swings onshore, it flattens the waves out, sucks the power out of them and messes up the once flat spaces in between. Nothing is made easier by having to carve through chop. Unless you adjust your controls, it feels like you’re getting worse.
Holding station Reaching out, you don’t have to make a violent change of direction to strike the waves nose first so there’s less chance of being caught broadside and being swept downwind back to the shore. Coming back, the power of the wave allows you to point higher than you could on the flat. The more ‘side’ there is in the ‘side-onshore’ the more you can exploit that upwind conveyor.
Jumps The jumping capital of the world is Pozo in Gran Canaria where the wind is actually more ‘on’ than ‘side.’ It’s not the perfect direction (more ‘side’ would allow a faster, more nose-on approach) – but what makes it the capital, apart from the god-like standard of the local residents, is the strength of the wind (nuclear) and the fact it blows all the way to the beach – and so allows you to get up to full speed by the time you meet the ramps. For jumping, wind strength and consistency are FAR more important than size of wave. The waves at Pozo are nothing special. A side-on wind tends to be the jumping favourite because, blowing from the sea, there are no obstructions.
Riding Sailing across the wind back to shore, you naturally ride the waves ‘back side’ – i.e. with your back to the wave. It’s the easiest introduction to surfing a windsurfer; just lean on the heels to carve up towards the wave; pressure the toes to carve back down. However, many get stuck on a kind of ‘just-riding-home’ plateau. It seems hard to get dynamic and throw some spray. You lose power as you bottom turn towards the wind. At the top of the wave you get blocked between an empty sail and the wave and flop back down the wave. The only way to inject some ‘snap’ is to go for the lay-down top turn where you carve hard into wind up the face, lean the rig down the slope, drop on top of it, backwind it and use that resistance to drive the tail round. It’s both technical and ballsy – but LOADS of fun. The more ‘side’ the wind, the more achievable it is. Riding downwind, ‘down-the-line,’ the surfing Holy Grail, is totally new technical ground for many. As you turn parallel with the wave, you’re already through the wind so the whole second half of the ride has to be performed clew first with your feet in the original set of straps. It’s a real test of power control, wind awareness and flexibility.
Kit choice With jumping being the focus, you’re looking for acceleration and speed independent of the wave. Hence you choose to be powered up on either a wave or freestyle wave board. Many favour a powerful
central fin (single or with thrusters) for jumping because it offers an instant positive reaction as they drive off the tail to take off.
For riding, the main problem as you turn down-the-line is out-running the wave. That, and because wind-driven waves are often ‘slopey’ and slow, means you go for a board with a naturally tight turning circle – wider tail with perhaps a twin or tri-fin set-up (it’s a huge subject!). The turns must be snappier, less drawn out.
To summarise Psychologically any wind with ‘on’ in the title makes you feel safer in the knowledge that along with all the other jetsam out there, at some stage you’ll end up back on the beach. Just how frustrating/joyful it is depends on how much that wind is affecting the shape and frequency of the waves. The worst onshore session I endured was in a northerly at Ho’okipa. A giant swell was interspersed with random lumps of massive wind chop. The swells were too big to encourage big jumps. You’d flop off the top and then plummet Tom and Jerry style into the void because the gusty 18 knot wind wasn’t enough to support the rig and soften the fall. As for riding, it was mostly a case of trying to outrun hotels of white water over crazy chop, under-powered on a broad reach. My fault for going out – no wonder I was alone. The best was in Kerry at Mossies in Brandon Bay where the reef refracts and cleans up the swell. In a north westerly, you can ride backside and front side across glassy, peeling faces. The swell was fast enough to allow long drawn out bottom turns or ride the lip clew first. It was technical but predictable – and being a reef break, you can take refuge on the flat waters inshore … and Spillanes Pub is but a spit away.
Easiest direction for the basics of jumping and upwind riding – but technically hard to wave ride dynamically, especially downwind.
OFFSHORE – the glorious and the downright dangerous.
Offshore conditions are often visually appealing, but like those sirens on the rocks, they can be deceptive, deceitful and perilous. Really clock the direction – the more offshore it is, the more difficult it is to get out, jump and catch waves. If you’re just riding, strong winds may be a huge disadvantage. The two pics below highlight the wicked and the wonderful. Kerry’s Brandon Bay, 140° offshore, 40 knots (gusty as f***) and a big swell. Really hard to get out, really hard to get on the wave; and if you do get on the wave 40 knots turns to 60 making it impossible to make any turn without being blasted off the back. And if anything broke, you’d be in deep do do until you beached in Newfoundland. On the flip side is Brazil’s ‘Jeri’ where 20-25 knots of solid wind blows a few degrees offshore over waist high friendly, clean ramps. It’s a fine angle for jumping and an even better one for downwind riding and popping those first aerials, which you feel like going for because the curving beach offers a lee shore in the same country.
// The carving 360. It’s all too easy to start thinking about how and where to lay down the rig – but if you stop carving, it’ll never happen.
// Beautifully offshore in Jeri.
Directly (or nearly directly) Offshore To say you’re wasting your time is a bit strong, but most of the time you are. As with direct onshore winds there is a very poor effort to return ratio.
Getting out. You have to leave the beach on a run or very broad reach – extremely tricky on a sinky board and in a gusty wind.
Holding station. Once you’re out you have to beat back. If you can’t make your small board point on or off the plane, you’re in trouble.
Jumping. It’s nigh impossible since you have to take off way off the wind where it’s hellish difficult to control the power.
Catching a wave You have to point to shore directly into wind so can’t generate enough speed to catch the wave. If you do, the wave is taking you straight into wind giving you power control problems.
To summarise One morning in Tarifa I was slaloming around in the direct offshore ‘levante’ by the stadium. After a 200m I spotted a slow, lazy swell, perhaps from a super-tanker, so headed up a few degrees to catch it. I then stayed on that same wave three miles all the way to the Dos Mares Hotel. It was extraordinary – but it wasn’t so much wave sailing as speed sailing with the help of a slope. That’s the best you’re going to get. Only in small waves and strong constant winds could you do anything – there’s usually somewhere better to launch
Side Offshore Now we’re talking. The less ‘off’ the easier it will be to get out and catch waves. Within 20° of side-shore is perfect. But as with every situation so far, so much depends on the strength and consistency of the wind and the size and regularity of the waves.
Getting out The plus is that the waves are likely to be more ordered, arriving in sets with bigger gaps and less white water. The minus is that, having been held up by the wind, they fold with more force. The wind tends to be all over the place by the impact zone. Having travelled across land, it’s likely to be gusty anyway. It also accelerates and turns more offshore as it’s squeezed up the wave face meaning you get a blast of power from behind as you climb the lip and then drop into a huge hole on the other side. Initially catapults are a way of life. The tactic is to turn upwind up the face to soften the power.
Holding station Relatively easy depending how much downwind riding you’re doing. If you catch a wave and head straight to the beach, you make instant ground upwind. If the waves are powerful, you can step out of the straps, park the sail and surf straight into wind back to shore. The big difference between this and dead offshore is that you can reach shore by just sailing across the wind … although not necessarily the bit you launched from.
Jumping So much depends on the nature and exact angle of the wind. In Jericoacoara for example, it’s strong, only a few degrees offshore, the waves are small and at any one time a flock of freestylers will be contorted 30 feet in the air. It’s jumping heaven. In Punta Preta in the Cap Verdes, where the waves are big and powerful and the wind usually light and very offshore, jumping is nowhere on the agenda.
Jumping in offshore winds does catch people out. You’re often forced to take off slightly off the wind. Jumping is all about getting the nose up by momentarily depowering. That’s hard on a broad reach. You have so much speed and mastfoot pressure it’s all too easy to nose-dive. And having been squeezed up the face, the wind above the wave is often wild and unstable.
Power is hardest to control when you’re broad to the wind, so having the wind behind you on the way out through the waves is no advantage.
GETTING WORSE THEN BETTER WITH SKYEBOY
“
The images pumped out of Pozo, the world’s windiest world cup venue where a 3.2 is a common size for big blokes, can seduce you into believing wild is wonderful. But as the wind increases in the waves, the
challenge becomes exponentially harder, physically, mentally and technically. You can’t do a small jump; and to make tight turns on slow waves means your power control has to be exceptional.
// A typical Pozo image. Arguably the more impressive move is Jaeger Stone cracking off the top in a very onshore wind – not possible unless you can sail clew first and switch foot in a force 9. It’s a great spot but not one where you’d go to learn down the line riding. PHOTO John Carter / pwaworldtour.com.
Catching the wave In onshore winds it’s so easy – just bear away. But no longer. If the wind is light (the best riding conditions are often in non planing conditions) and quite offshore, you have to really work, like a surfer, to catch the wave – stepping forward and throwing the rig forward to drive the nose down the hill and combat the accelerating wind which is trying to blow you off the back. The more offshore the wind, the harder it is to catch the wave.
Riding This is what you’ve come here for. Upwind, backside riding is nearly impossible. Your natural reaching course back to shore leaves you facing the (hopefully) unbroken wave. Suddenly down-the-line riding makes perfect sense. It’s easy because if you keep the turns shallow, the ride takes place between reach and broad reach on the original tack where the power is easiest to control. You approach the top of the wave just off the wind, the perfect angle from which to exploit the power – this is when you get that first proper off-the-lip or aerial.
Kit Dilemma, catch-22 and other words suggesting confusion. The board and rig you need to get out (often off the plane) through the break, survive the lulls, maybe uphaul, tack or gybe are not the ones you need to ride the wave with. The hidden skill of the pros is their ability to get out there on tiny kit.
The first habit to acquire is to rig down. If the waves are of any speed and size, as soon as you catch one, they’re carrying you into the breeze and your apparent wind will double. If you can’t sheet in and are fighting the rig, you can’t take up an even footed surfing position on the board and the game ends there.
For pure riding, big board (relatively) and small rig is the way to go. Volume is a welcome psychological safety blanket when the wind is ‘off.’
A wave board carries a hint in its name. Its curves conform to the shape of the wave and allow you to take vertical drops and make tighter turns in steeper places – but that’s the cream. If the waves are not too steep, the glory of the offshore wind is that the conditions are very flattering and pretty much every board (with wave in the title) works so long as you keep the turns shallow.
The first time you go out into offshore winds and a decent swell, it’s like you’ve been asked to rub your tummy and pat your head whilst riding a unicycle backwards – there are so many conflicting forces to deal with.
To summarise It’s the classic wave-riding direction. But riding is the easy bit. It’s getting out half on and half off the plane, dealing with violent gusts, lulls and shifts in the wind – that’s the real challenge. Habitual blasters, who like to drop their bulk against a meaty foil and feel a strong and reassuring counter-balance, instinctively hate such conditions. It immediately finds out dodgy trimming and balance skills.
Wave-riding heaven if you can get out and catch one; technically challenging and thanks to spending much of the time hooked out, physically exhausting. Tricky jumping. Psychologically testing.
COLLATING THE INFO … Wave sailing is as much a game of chess as it is acrobatics. Here are certain real life examples that help distil the above information and make it real.
You need power … from somewhere. To have a good time in the waves you need a source of power to generate speed, which comes from either the rig or the waves. If you have weak wind and weak waves, even the best struggle to do anything exciting. In onshore winds where you’re jumping and riding often on mushy rollers that speed comes from the rig. In offshore winds, and clean, steeper waves, you look to the wave for your speed.
Big wind not always good Because so much of the time we sail the waves generated directly by the wind, people assess the wind with a ‘the more the better’ attitude. Nuclear winds are good for jumping – but you have to be very good, bold and quick healing. A session that was going well can be tainted by a small increase in wind strength. Extra wind means extra speed. You assume it’s a good thing but in slow waves it can throw your timing right off and force you into long turns on the wrong part of the wave – as well chopping up the face.
You need to disassociate wave-sailing from gale force winds and embrace the notion in some situations of being under-powered. As a coach I’ve seen far more wave-riding improvement when the wind has dropped, at which point people slow down, think like surfers and, without the rig heaving them around, take up far better positions. It’s impossible to wave ride effectively if you’re over-powered.
Those sailing JAWS are typically in 10-15 knots of side-off wind but using just 4.7s. If there was 30 knots, the wind they’d experience shooting down the face would be 50 knots or more – unsailable.
Clocking the direction If you’re sailing the same spot day to day, it’s the failure to spot the subtle changes in wind direction that causes apparent technique failure.
“My jumps are rubbish today.” If you’ve failed to note a 10° onshore shift in the wind but are still approaching the waves at the same angle, you’ll take off too far into wind and flop back down tail first with no feeling of soaring. Further up the scale a similar swing onshore can suddenly make you crash your forward loops because you’re pulling the trigger too close to the wind.
“I can’t catch a wave today for the life of me. But when I do, I get munched” A 10° offshore shift in the wind will make the waves that much harder to catch, forcing people to catch them later just as they are pitching.
Small changes in wind direction completely alter the timings of wave turns. If it kicks more offshore, you have to start the top turn earlier; and with aerials you’re more likely to be blown off the back of the wave.
If the wind goes more side shore, you’ll be further downwind as you start your top turn increasing the risk of over-sheeting or getting catapulted.
These are all mistakes where the pilot feels he or she has lost it – in fact it’s just down to the weather.
In the next issue I continue the theme, concentrating more on how the change in wave, size, shape, direction and frequency influences your approach. With 4 weeks in Donegal and Tiree coming up where conditions change by the minute, we shall have plenty of examples!
If you want to see living examples of what you’ve read, check out Harty’s SERIOUS ABOUT WAVES DVD series he made with Nik Baker. It’s available via his new website www.peter-hart.comalong with news of all of his clinics. Email him for his monthly newsletter on harty@peter-hart.com or like his Peter Hart Masterclass page.
A short clip featuring Lennart Brünig, Foivos Tsoupras & Philipp Brons. Filmed during late summer and early autumn of 2015, the entire footage was taken while on a sailing trip to the Eastfrisian island Borkum.
Riders: Lennart Brünig, Foivos Tsoupras & Philipp Brons Edit & Graphics: Philipp Brons
Music: RyX – Berlin / alt-J – Tessellate / M83 – Outro
THE LOW-DOWN The 2016 Da Curve comes in four sizes, the largest being the 96, which remains unchanged from 2015, whilst the three smaller sizes are completely new shapes, evolved from the prototype used by Thomas Traversa to win the PWA wave title in 2014. With a fuller rail, flatter deck and wide point moved further back towards the front straps, the idea was to make the board more versatile in both the conditions it can be used in and the riding style that it compliments. New for 2016 are the heavily swept back Carver side fins that the board is delivered with, said to be loved by the team riders for making the board faster in transition. The board retains five slot boxes so that it can be set up as a quad, yet only comes with the thruster set up for the new season.
BRAND CLAIM
“These boards are so fast! I catch more waves because I can plane even when the wind is light. And on Hookipa waves, the boards accelerate through the turns. This means I can do higher aerials, and more tweaked aerials because I have more time in the air. I can throw more spray too. And the best part is that I can do more turns on a wave because the board is so fast and responsive.” Graham Ezzy
PERFORMANCE Unlike its predecessors, that used to feel smaller than their quoted volume, the 86 Da Curve feels its size, thanks to its fuller rails and flatter deck, making it capable of carrying larger rigs and more weight easily. Provide power and it rises from the water rapidly, accelerating to an impressive speed. It is certainly lively and crisp underfoot, its speed bestowing the capacity for serious airtime and antics. But be aware that Tabou have put their footstrap plugs wider apart than most, whilst their straps are quite soft, so spend time adjusting them correctly according to your personal taste. The Da Curve’s speed is also a definite feature during wave riding, requiring time for some to adapt their style for being so quick on the face. With the board’s wide point in line with the front straps, yet its tail being one of the narrowest in the group, it is easy to understand why any weight transfer between front and back foot has such a crisp and sharp response. It simply loves to be pushed into a full-rail bottom turn, driving hard and gripping through a powerful carve, whilst losing none of its speed for the top turn. In small cross-onshore waves it initially felt a bit out of place, like a Ferrari on a rally car course, but by having the confidence to rock back aggressively on the back foot, the Da Curve responded well, whipping through a tighter turn to make the section.
THE VERDICT One of the fastest boards in the group, the Da Curve takes time to master, but embrace its speed and it rewards with sharp crisp response, and masses of grip.
Test Editor Tris Best // Second Testers Maurin Rottenwalter,
Joe North and Dan Sallows Photos Nick George and Alex Best // Test Location Southwest England
It was always a bit of a gamble testing such small boards and sails around the UK’s shores. Would we get the winds early enough in the season to test the kit in time for the magazine’s deadline? I have to be honest, it was a bit touch and go at one stage, calling upon friends and experienced road-trippers for their best advice on where to go. I needn’t have been so worried! Whilst most of the rest of the country have been lamenting the lack of
summer this year, most windsurfers have been rejoicing at the passage
of cyclones across the country … and simply putting up with
the odd shower or two.
This test was originally published in the November/December 2015 issue.
The truth is that if we could shift the tests back a few months, we’d (hopefully) be inundated with the kind of weather that the likes of us ‘high-wind cravers’ get a little giddy over. But such is the early release of the latest windsurfing kit and the density of the year’s test schedule, that there is no option but to get the kit tried and tested as soon as it is available. Luckily we scored it and were blessed with the test conditions and able to gain a real impression of the qualities of these boards and sails. And the pickings are rich this year…
FINDINGS
If you’ve been windsurfing … and more importantly wave sailing for a decade or so, try casting your mind back to recall the size of the board(s) in your wave quiver 10 years ago. For most, the go-to size wave board would have been an 85L, particularly if your ‘quiver’ could only stretch to one board! With an 85L you could just about stretch your possible wind range to cover any eventuality. Push the boat out to 2 boards however, and most soon traded their 85L in for a large 90L+ bog-out beast, complimented by a 75L high wind weapon. Two boards to cover an even wider wind range – no brainer. In doing the swap, what actually happened is that you found yourself using the 90L+ board most often as the conditions were rarely quite right for your preferred smaller board. Instead, your treasured little wave machine seemed to catch more dust than waves, staying tucked away in its board bag. And what is more, the large board really did feel like a beast on the wave, returning only half the amount of fun as you recall having on the 85L board you traded in! Well, help is on hand.
Today, the top end control and carving versatility of these 80L boards makes them simply fantastic to use on a wave face as the wind turns on, easily a match for boards of around 75L from 5-10 years ago. But the crucial point is that they all possess the added benefit of more volume than that old wave nugget you lovingly kept in its bag, and brought out for an airing once in a blue moon.
Should the wind drop and the power become fickle, (which, lets face it, happens with frustrating regularity during sessions in the UK), these new boards are still useful, saving the time, energy and the heartache of changing. Most wave sailors could now get away with one of these boards as their one board only solution, complimenting it with a bigger board (that perform stunningly now as well by the way … see last month’s test) if they can rub the extra pennies together.
SUMMARY As with the 90L wave board test last month, there is a real mix of performances and set-ups once again in this smaller group. The Tabou and JP stand out as proper rocket ships, with a speed and liveliness that will provide bags of potential in clean cross-off conditions. But change their set-up and you can dramatically alter their feel, making them more applicable for real world cross-on mush. The two Quads of Fanatic and Starboard are both right at the top of their game, providing a truly connected feel and stunning rail-to-rail response, but both thriving on being properly powered to really make best use of their potential. The Severne Nuevo was the only twinzer in the group and brought with it the benefits of a loose sliding nature, without the typical downside of two fins such as struggling to get going or drive upwind. That leaves us with two – the RRD and the Quatro. Both were liked by all who tried them, and for similar reasons. The ability to get going early, feel compact and controllable underfoot, yet lively and inspiring in response during manoeuvres, brought these two boards to the fore. There are plenty of exceptional wave boards out there today, so get out there and get inspired to push your boundaries.
TEST LOCATION This test was conducted on UK shores, in everything from cross-offshore port tack to cross-onshore starboard tack winds. With autumn approaching we’ve had a few good ground swells, pushing fun sized waves in at very accessible locations, making conditions ideal for testing. It has meant we’ve been able to get a true sense of the real world performance of these boards and sails in dealing with typical
UK frontal patterns.
” 2015 has been a really special year for me and one of the hardest seasons. I feel really happy for all the things that I’ve lived, all the new people I’ve met, all the places that I’ve visited and all he results that I’ve obtained.
I’m really grateful to everyone that has helped me throughout this season and that has believed in me: my parents, Simmer, 99novenove, Maui Ultra Fins, world of windsurf and my friends. Finally I can say that my dream of becoming a professional windsurfer is becoming true… and this is just AWESOME! Thank you 2015! Let’s make 2016 even better! ”
The first, maybe the last, of a short insight into a few sessions in Cape Town. First up, Graham Ezzy on the west coast…
Entirely filmed within an hour on a windy evening in Cape Town. From the shore it looked great but in reality it was pretty much un-sailable. There was a lot of water moving but given the 30-40 knots of wind it all added up to chaos. Still, the light was nice and even though there weren’t many ridable waves it was still a joy to see the summer swell breaking at such an intimate little beach break. Thanks to Graham for giving it a go – sometimes these types of sessions can prove to be the best, just another roll of the dice.
Words Nick Jones & Jem Hall //Photos Nick Jones, Karel Tyc and Stephan Gölnitz
DA REAL DEAL When one thinks of a visit to a Caribbean island, one tends toward the romantic notion that consists of azure warm waters gently lapping against bright white coral sand beaches that are fringed with tropical trees and plants. The locals are friendly with broad bright white smiles and wherever you go there is fresh fruit and fresh fish being fried or smoked, all to the soundtrack of steel drums or thumping (almost) sub-sonic bass. Around every corner there is the promise of authentic adventures and crazy characters who readily welcome you into their world.
However the reality is often one where the promise of the tourist dollar has transformed the idyll into a ‘Disney’ version – large cruise liners deposit their cargo of flabby and lazy humanity that just want an easy ride. Hawkers harangue them – trying to sell them inauthentic tat or fabricated food as they pass through a conveyor belt route of “must-sees” – each stop on the pre-determined itinerary a plastic version of what was once there. Tired and clichéd experiences that are packaged up and presented to the visitor as authentic – but neither party truly believing the charade that has been presented.
Thankfully Tobago falls into the former, rather than the latter. It retains much of its authenticity, thanks in large part to a local government that keeps a very tight control on development and ensures that the interests of its people and the environment are paramount – resisting the lure of a quick buck offered by outside corporations that may wish to plunder the natural beauty of the island.
DREAM TIME Tobago is a dream windsurfing location. Arriving out of the fag end of a murky, cold and gloomy British winter one is immediately struck by the brilliance of the light and the clarity of the water. The body’s immediate response is to take a deep breath and . . . . BREATHE – as the air escapes the lungs it feels like so much tension is being expelled. But maybe that is a little bit too mystical for you – even so, the Tobagans won’t let you hold onto stress. They are not in a rush. They have T . . I . . M . . E. Time to chew the fat; time to have a joke with you; time to swap some banter. If one’s life in Europe is the equivalent of rushing around in a sports car – well, when you arrive in Tobago you’re cruising around in a classic Citroen Mehari (look it up). At first the change of pace (and style) comes as a jolt – but soon the vibe gets under your skin and you can’t help but let the smile spread across your face and slow down the pace of your gait as you quickly slip into the languid rhythm of the Caribbean.
A quick anecdote that illustrates this culture shock was given to me by a friend who recounted a story from his first visit to Tobago. After the long flight from the UK he and his wife were impatient to get to the house that they had rented for their holiday. So they jumped into a taxi and gave the driver the address – a remote spot towards the north of the island. After 10 minutes or so of friendly banter with the driver, he pulls over by a bar and says he needs to quickly see someone inside, is that OK? My friend, a little exasperated, smiles and says “yes” through gritted teeth.
“What the hell is going on?”, he thinks, “I want to start my holiday”.
After a couple of minutes the driver comes back out to the car and invites them inside for a beer! My friends are befuddled and surprised, but in that moment, they realise the holiday has already started. They are now in Tobago time and so respond with a resounding “yes!” and a lifelong love of Tobago and its people has begun.
BAGO TIME “But Jonesey, what of the windsurfing?” I hear you cry. I was visiting Tobago on a Sportif travel organised trip with a Jem Hall group. We left London in the dark of early morning – all wrapped up against the murk and the cold of a typical March day (it was 5 degrees) and we arrived mid-afternoon local time into a different world – a parallel universe. Goodbye to the rush and hustle-bustle of London and hello to a lightness and a brightness; hello to a more laid back tempo; hello to ‘Bago Time! The temperature was in the high 20’s and we are met by lots of smiling faces as we find our transfer and load up. In a jiffy we are at our hotel, the Toucan Inn, and being shown to our rooms.
“ The prevailing wind is cross-shore and low tide equals very flat water – great for all levels ”
The Toucan Inn is located in Crown Point, the village that is adjacent to Store Bay and Pigeon Point and Buccoo Reef, and it has to be one of the friendliest places I have stayed. Breakfast each morning was a joy – with a slight breeze blowing through each morning and watching the tropical birds flying around and listening to the chirrup of insects or the nearby cocks crowing. Certainly if you want peace, quiet and tranquillity then Tobago may not be the place – wherever you go there is some sort of noise – whether the exotic twitter of the tropical birds in the hotel gardens; the crowing of the cocks or the ubiquitous sound system and its insistent, thumping bass. It seems that Tobagans cannot move without an accompanying bass rhythm pounding out of their cars or from the sound systems that each street seller or bar will have.
WINDSURF TIME “But Jonesey, what of the windsurfing?” I still hear you cry. Pigeon Point is our sailing spot. A short 10 minute transfer or a leisurely 25 minute stroll from the hotel, Pigeon Point is a Heritage Reserve – a national park if you will – and an example of the government’s desire to retain the natural beauty of the island. The previous owner was a local wealthy business man who 10 years ago decided to sell. Once the local government got wind that Sandals were keen to buy in order to develop a resort there – the government then purchased the land to keeps as a nature reserve. Development is minimal. It is a sandy point that is protected by offshore coral reefs (Buccoo Reef). There are a trio of bars/restaurants and the Radical Sports watersports centre and that’s it. The rest is untouched tropical lushness; coral sand and beautiful aquamarine water. Pigeon Point is protected by the large offshore reefs that make up Buccoo Reef – and is the reason that it is an idyllic flat water spot for sailing.
The Radical Sports HQ is a wooden structure set back from the beach in amongst the palm trees with a shaded grassy area to the front and side for rigging. To the other side is the Liming Lounge – a chillout zone with Brazilian bean bags and beach chairs set out under the palm trees. ‘Liming’ is Tobagoan slang for chewing the fat (which is English slang for a chin-wag) – so the Liming Lounge is aptly named – a place to hang out; recuperate with a cold beer; or just stare up into the palm fronds and feel the stress seep out of your body. At one point I overheard a client saying that this was the first time in 5 years that she has had the time to sit down and read a book!. This place – Pigeon Point – certainly gets under the skin; looking out at the crystal clear water, hearing the rustling of the palm fronds in the breeze – any cares seem a long way away. Certainly there is a laid back vibe at Radical Sports that fits with the rest of Pigeon Point. The owner Brett is Trinidadian and has a wealth of knowledge about the island and its history and culture and both him and his team are all really friendly and helpful.
The sailing area is a wide and open water area that is protected by Buccoo Reef system to the north. Buccoo Reef is a marine reserve and so any motorised craft passing Pigeon Point are speed restricted. The prevailing wind is cross-shore and low tide equals very flat water – great for all levels. The flat water combined with consistent winds means learning and improving any transitions or freestyle moves is made a whole lot easier.
One of the thrills that the group experienced out on the water was to see some small rays, beneath the water as they sailed past and occasionally some would breach adjacent to their boards!
OTHER ATTRACTIONS Tobago is a great destination for non-windsurfing partners too. Pigeon Point itself is attractive; after all it is probably the most popular beach in Tobago. Who wouldn’t be satisfied with lying in a hammock strung up between two palm trees; enjoying the breeze, reading a book or having a snooze – occasionally going for a dip in the beautiful water?
“ Tobagans won’t let you hold onto stress. They are not in a rush ”
But should you want something more – Brett has SUPs available which you can paddle around the point. To the left of the sailing area there are small waves available (Sunset Left and Sunset Rights), perfect for first timers taking their first steps in the swell.
Elsewhere the island offers a host of other activities including sailing, surfing and scuba diving. Fantastic fishing whether inshore or off-shore. There’s also mountain biking, horse riding or bird watching. There are a number of guides available who can take you to explore some of the other beaches or into the interior of the island to explore tropical rain forest and waterfalls. Mt. Irvine is one of the better surf breaks and that is just to the north of Buccoo Reef and you can see the swell coming in from Pigeon Point.
WHY TOBAGO? So why should you come to Tobago? Why not? It’s a beautiful island; friendly people; great food; not expensive; and the best times to visit for windsurfing are January, February and March – the grimmest times for windsurfing in northern Europe. It’s a great way to kick start your sailing season by blowing away the cobwebs with a solid week of sailing. And should conditions not suit (whether the wind or your own condition!) there are plenty of other ways to enjoy yourself whether SUPing, surfing or just kicking back in the Liming Lounge with a cold beer or margherita!
PRACTICALITIES
When to visit Tobago has a tropical climate being close to the equator and so has just two seasons. The dry season is December to May and the wet season June to November (Tobago is outside of the main hurricane zone). Average temperatures are pretty consistent throughout the year, varying slightly from 29˚C to 31˚C. However, changes in the wind direction can make the summer months feel much hotter than the winter months.
For windsurfing – the best months to visit are December to June.
Jem Hall’s clinics for 2016 are in he first 2 weeks of March with Sportif Travel – www.sportif.travel; +44 (0)1273 844919.
Places to Stay Crown Point is your base for sailing at Pigeon Point. Sportif (www.sportif.travel) can organise travel, accommodation and kit hire packages for windsurfing trips to Tobago.
Below is a selection of property types in Crown Point:
Coco Reef Hotel (www.cocoreef.com) – Upscale hotel with beach front location, beautiful gardens and spa.
Crown Point Beach Hotel (www.crownpointbeachhotel.com) – Hotel overlooks Store Bay with pool and bar. Short walk to the bars and restaurants of Crown Point and Pigeon Point beyond.
Toucan Inn (www.toucan-inn.com) – Good value option in Crown Point with bar and restaurant and pool area. Friendly staff.
Native Abode (www.nativeabode.com) – Homely B&B on a residential street, but close to the bars and restaurants of Crown Point.
Army clothes This is an odd one. Military (style) clothing cannot be worn in Trinidad and Tobago – so to be on the safe side leave the camouflage gear, and even cargo shorts, at home.
Where the hell are we? Tobago is a small island (40km long by 10km wide) just to the north of its larger sister, Trinidad. Crown Point is a small town that is a mixture of residential, hotels, bars and restaurants. There is plenty of choice of drinking spots and eating spots. Each day we had a pre-arranged transfer from the Toucan Inn down to Pigeon Point and then back again in the evening. A few would choose to walk rather than take the transfer, since it is a pleasant 25 minute walk past the colourful street stalls of Crown Point with arts and crafts vendors and fishermen slicing up the morning’s catch.
JEM HALL
Tobago is a very special place for me as I did quite a few clinics there back in the early noughties and some testing too. It also served as the last filming stop on the completion of my ‘Beginner to Winner’ coaching DVD and so it holds a big place in my heart. Heading back there made me excited and I was also anxious to see how it had all changed. I was not to be disappointed as I found the locals, whilst still laid back, had become dare I say it more pro active in their customer focus and there were so many more fun bars and eateries to choose from.
The windsurfing centre has had a major revamp and both the toys and staff were a joy to work with, there were lots of new style wide and easy Freemove boards and a whole host of sails. The atmosphere, and ‘liming’ was also fantastic, and the Radical Action Sports barbie night, with Brett Kenny and his crew, led to a fair few hangovers.
I have always had great results on my Tobago coaching clinics, the mix of windy and lighter wind sessions leads to a more steady improvement across all levels and the flat, shallow and warm waters also make my clients feel safe and more likely to step it up.
The hidden secret is that in the right swell and wind direction there is great starboard tack wavesailing out on Buccoo reef and I have had some killer sessions there. And round the corner from the centre is a hush hush, fab SUP spot with a nice left and a faster right breaking into shallower water channels, nice!! I’m already looking forward to my 2016 coaching weeks back there!
Stylemaster Kevin Pritchard swaps his boardshorts in Maui for a wetsuit in Denmark in December and drops this slick new video of his time there. We caught up with KP to get the scoop on his cold water adventure.
WS: Why Denmark ?
KP: It’s rugged but it’s beautiful. It’s raw but it’s peaceful. The people and places of the Northern Coastline make Denmark a site to be seen. Since my first trip in 2010 I’ve dreamt of returning. I finally had the chance to go back this past December only to have the reality exceed the limits of the images my memory possessed. This type of naked beauty is rare but once more this little part of the world showed me the magnitude of its allure.
Huge thanks to our hosts Siv @visitdenmark, Mark for all the photos (facebook.com/ripandsnap), Lars, Eddie, Sarah for the hospitality and film support, and my good friend Johannes for the love, laughs, and putting together this amazing video masterpiece. Thank you.
WS: Swapping warm Hawaii for ‘Cold Hawaii’ in winter – was there any point in the trip where you questioned your sanity?
KP: Yes from the moment I stepped off the plane. I got off the plane it was sleeting, cold, windy, I was like Ohhhh shit…. what did i get myself into.
WS: Cold water – your coping mechanism?
KP: I used a 6mm Wetsuit. I was too hot then too cold. Really hard to get the temperature thing right.
WS: Three best things about Denmark
KP: People, the nature, and the beauty
WS: The best and worst food you ate out there?
KP: My friend Mark made some mad chili, He put about 10 whole cloves of garlic in it. We had it for dinner and then for breakfast in the morning. You can say it kept us warm throughout the day. As for the worst.. have to say it was pretty good.
WS: Where’s next on the cold water adventure trail ?
KP: Never again. I am sticking to the warmth. Mad respect for the people that sail in places like that.
WS: Carter want’s to know if you are up for some UK action now ?
THE LOW-DOWN This is the first year that Severne have introduced their own board range … although a closer inspection will easily confirm any hint you may have picked up from the board range’s name! These boards aren’t actually new to the market, but are in fact the same Nuevo designs that were in the Starboard range for 2015. Designed by James Hooper of NUDE Australia, the shapes are available in two constructions – either Hybrid in its orange/red graphics, or Carbon as tested here. Both come supplied with new Severne fins, with a shorter base length and reduced surface area than the fins previously supplied by Starboard.
BRAND CLAIM
“The Nuevo is a proven performer. Rather than chase the latest trend or fad, the Nuevo design is a classic. It enables average level riders to do pro-level turns. Available in a wide range of sizes to suit any weight rider. The bigger sizes open up wave-sailing to heavier guys, or much lighter winds. There is no easier board to do full-rail turns on than the Nuevo. It excels in knee to logo high waves, side-shore to side-onshore conditions.”
PERFORMANCE Despite being the only twinzer in the test group (in addition to having a lot of tail kick…), the Nuevo didn’t have any issues keeping up with the rest in the early planing stakes. It gathered speed well and felt incredibly smooth and stable underfoot, the pronounced vee and double concave in the board’s mid-section playing its part. The Nuevo’s twinzer set-up was noticeable at times when pushing upwind (especially in marginal conditions), losing traction on occasion, but adjust your technique to use the rail a little more and the directional stability improves. Severne describe the Nuevo as a ‘classic’ and it certainly feels conventional underfoot, with a super domed deck, rounded outline and pointy nose. And yet its performance around the break endeared it to even the most progressive rider. Whilst not one of the fastest, its planted secure stance on the water helps you to plough energy into it confidently, which, combined with the loose lively nature of its twinzer set-up inspires those that use it to try a stunt on the next ramp or push harder through the next turn. On the wave, you can really feel the grip provided by the fins, giving you time and movement to decide to push harder and tighten the turn, or ease it out and prolong the arc towards your target section. It is quite a rare and unique feeling, as if the board gives you more time to decide how you’d like to interpret the wave, before offering easy redirection on the cut back, the super tuck in the shoulder’s rails ensuring the board never trips.
THE VERDICT The Nuevo exhibits the very best virtues of a twinzer, providing a real connection and understanding of the board’s grip and direction as you carve through the wave. No slouch to get going either, it is easy to see why the Severne team were keen not to let the Nuevo disappear from view.
![JordyVonk[1]](http://i1.wp.com/www.windsurf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/JordyVonk1.png?resize=480%2C278)
![Arrianne Aukes[1]](http://i0.wp.com/www.windsurf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Arrianne-Aukes1.jpg?resize=479%2C319)
![SarahHebert_by_Natasha Gonzales_SUP[1]](http://i0.wp.com/www.windsurf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/SarahHebert_by_Natasha-Gonzales_SUP1.jpg?resize=480%2C321)
