Good morning Richard!

In our series of high profile personnalities endorsing watersports advertisements, Sir Richard Branson raised the bar up to out-of-reach levels for us mere mortals. Fun little movie:

Robby Naish, the advertisement star

I was just recovering from seeing Robby windsurfing all dressed up in elegant Tommy Hilfiger business suits, now he's doing a stint for Porsche. Well, Robby has always been fond of cars, so it should be no surprise:

Kelly did it: 10x world champ10n !

Amazing career and achievement for the king of surfing:

 

http://www.aspworldtour.com/2010/11/06/kelly-slater-clinches-historic-10th-asp-world-title-in-puerto-rico-3/

Forget Nespresso and George Clooney, here comes Laird Hamilton's coffee!

If George's Nespresso is too posh for you and you're in the hunt for a real coffee for real men. Or if you want to live the surfing way of life all the way to your kitchen, Laird Hamilton's coffee is what you need. Sip and enjoy:

http://www.lairdhamilton.com/index.php/2010/10/30/lairds-italian-espresso-roasted-in-maui/

World record smashed, first wind powered man at over 100km/h on the water

Kitesurfer Alex Caizergues is the first wind powered rider, to achieve a speed of over 100km/h on the water on a 500m course. Currently racing at Luderitz / Namibia. The images are impressive:

I want my SUP served small, please

Gong SUP shaper, rider, manager, delivery-man, coffee-maker etc Patrice Guénolé seems totally convinced short SUPs are now ready for the market.
Check-out http://www.gongsup.com for a preview of the 2011 board line, which includes several of those short beauties, no longer than 6' and a few inches.

I can't wait to visit him and go for a ride on one of those beauties. Did I mention that the quality seems absolutely heads, shoulders and even hips above anything I've seen on the market? Made of carbon and bamboo fibers (dubbed caribou) and including additional natural components in the manufacturing process, these boards are a step in the right direction towards environment friendliness and are stiff, light, durable and with a mirror like touch!

See by yourself:

http://www.gongsup.com

Whales!

Check out the photo reporter's web site, worth visiting:

http://images.michaelpoliza.com/p920094955/h3c5571a2#h3c5571a2

Cavemen!

Some photos of a nice paddle trip we did, my friend Julio and myself to some caves nearby. Julio is on Inspiro 12', myself on Drops SUP Spirit, with matching red lycras! The Mediterranee is such a nice shore: the ocre of the rocks, the dark green of the pine trees and the deep blue of the sea. We were close to Tamariu on the Costa Brava, at sun rise, because the caves are oriented to the east, so to have some light inside, you must go first thing in the morning. We spent 3 hours exploring this shore:

http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=35216

An unforgettable trip, thanks to the SUP.

Formula Windsurfing way faster than kite-sailors around a race course

Interesting report, about the July 17th CalCup, with a clear victory of Formula Windsurfers over kite-surfers on a regatta course (upwind / downwind). The kiters appear to be faster downwind, but the Formula Windsurfing is so superior upwind that kiters are clearly left behind overall. Some extracts:

"2010 Formula Lightweight World Champion Wilhelm Schurmann (BRA-999), Top French Formula Racer Aurelien Le Metayer (FRA-105), and Spanish Formula Champion Fernando Martinez (ESP-71) were all in town for the upcoming 2010 Starboard Severne US Windsurfing National Championships and were on hand to tune and test with the local Cal Cup fleet this past Saturday at the infamous Berkeley Pebble Carpet.

With Kiteboarders Johnny Heineken, Andrew Koch, and Kevin Richards on hand it was going to be interesting to finally put to rest the question of who was faster around the course. With Johnny being one of the top Kiteboarder racers in the country (4th at the 2010 Worlds) and Schurmann a Formula racer of the same caliber it was high noon for the kiteboards. And to end the suspense now todays results proved it’s unequivocal that the Formula boards are faster. Schurmann was sailing his 10.7 Neil Pryde Starboard Kit while Heineken was sailing his 9.0 RRD Mikes Lab set up. Despite sailing a solid race Heineken was just rounding the leeward mark as the top three Formula boards were crossing the finish line. A result that would closely repeat itself across all five races held on the day.

On the Kiting end of things the only one going faster than Schurmann downwind was Heineken. Heineken’s day was like a see-saw; picking up spots on the downwind legs only to give them back on the upwind. None of the kites ever threatened the leaders and most races saw Heineken finishing just inside the top 10 overall"
Source: www.formulawindsurfing.org

Laird Hamilton is never late, thanks to his Chanel J12 watch

One of the most elegant riders and surfing legend Laird Hamilton just added even more style to his look, thanks to Chanel making him the ambassador of their J12 chronograph!

Just one wave... but what a wave!

A dream wave, beautifully ridden by Belgian SUPer Arnaud Frennet who lives close to the famous  Punta de Lobos wave in Pichilemu / Chili. A 90 second ride, on a perfect, glassy, never ending swell. Enjoy!

Source : Arnaud Frennet

Moonlight ride

Saturday June 26th, we enjoyed a full moon night, calm seas and mild weather. A bunch of friends met on the beach to sip a warm cup of Cremat (made of flambé rhum, lemon skins, cinnamon, sugar and coffee).

Afterwards, we jumped on our SUP and went paddling to the next cale, of Sa Riera, a 40 minutes ride from the base of Club Vela Pals. The sea was so calm that we were gliding effortlessly. We were 7 paddlers (Julio, Paul, Román, Ramón, Javier, Víctor and myself), plus  kayak with Laura and Albert, and 2 catamarans skipped by Kiku and Carlos.

One of the hobbie-cats carried a cooler on board, and treated us to a mid-point gin tonic on the beach of Sa Riera, before we paddled back to Pals.

Robby Naish paddling in Venice

Full report in the Italian diary, la Repubblica.

Robby is in Europe these days for Quiksilver: inauguration party of the new European HQ in Saint Jean de Luz, Basque Country / France, and a new Quiksilver Boardrider Club in Italy (Torbole). He took advantage of this trip to experiment a special paddling session in Venice.

More here: www.repubblica.it/sport/2010/05/29/foto/il_surf_come_una_gondola_robbie_gira_venezia-4422403/1/

My first Defi Wind

(For Spanish version click: http://www.windsurfer.es/2010/05/22/mi-primer-defi-wind-alain-enault/ )

This 10th anniversary edition, with 1000 participants, was blessed by Eole the wind god. We had stronger and stronger winds the 4 days. Stellar organization and safety, a very funny race, the windsurfing equivalent of the NY marathon mixed with BBQ parties, Woodstock style concerts, a must.

Very grateful to Philippe Bru, event organizer, the 150 safety guards on the water and all the staff on land: you work like horses for us to have fun. A nice video link here to give you an idea of the event:

www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1296889818512&ref=mf

Anders Bringdal: fastest sailor on the 2010 Défi:

The Spanish colony:

Launching:

 

Back on the beach:

 

Ruben and me:

 

Final results: 248 out of 917. Next year's objective: be under the top 200.

Formula Windsurfing Worlds

After 2 races of warm up on day 1, Antoine Albeau then switched into undisputed champ mode and with 7 victories and multiple podium finishes, he secured the world title 2 races before the end of the championship.

In second place, Brazilian Paulo dos Reis who has been extremely consistent this season, earns a well deserved podium finish.

The fight for 3rd place was a dog fight with several sailors in a few points, but finally Ross Williams in a final rush managed to get the edge.

All in all, a superb regatta, with the maximum allowed of 15 races in a week, a beautiful breeze, smooth organization, can you ask for anything more?

 

Mini SUP

Gong SUP shaper, Patrice Guénolé, insists that a SUP board for a given program should be the same length than a surf board. He proves it here with some photos of him riding a 5'11.

Patrice, 104 kilos, is no feather-weight, so he makes a point here that a short SUP can be for anyone.

If you fancy one, check-out Gong's hand made SUP gear page here:
http://www.gongsup.com/-GONG-Hand-Made-SUP-.html?lang=fr

Who needs a shaper?

Filmed on one winter day, Ryan Burch lays into his 4'10" block of styrofoam. He took a saw to a soft top surfboard blank and voila- no fins, no resin or fiberglass, no stringer, no leash... just a square chunk of foam. More shenanigans coming soon via the new surf film "stoked and broke" a surfari epic on zero dollars.

http://www.vimeo.com/8941685

John Zapotocky: SUPing at 91 years young!

John Zapotocky is a living legend of SUP. The Duke himself gave him some advice on how to SUP decades ago. After a knee surgery, John is back on the water paddling, at age 91. A true inspiration.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7OYrPoiNGA&feature=player_embedded#

And now, Kauli wins in SUP too

After Kai Lenny winning the first stage of the World Stand Up Tour, we now have 3 times windsurfing wave world champion Kauli Seadi winning in SUP too. But mind you, not in a surfing contest, but in a long distance contest! A physical and resistance statement at this long distance in Brazil, sponsored by Red Bull.

Kauli was riding a JP Australia SUP, but not a long distance prototype, despite the lower gliding speed of this allround board, he got the job done. Congrats!

More info:
http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Sports/Water-Sports/001242745960432

Stand Up World Tour

Big waves for the trials and Slater Trout, 15 years old, is coming out on top. No doubt his future will be bright. Day 1 video here:


http://vimeo.com/9314896
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Gj-ie0xVs&feature=player_embedded

And the final day here, with the victory of another very promising youngster, Kai Lenny, 17:

http://vimeo.com/9551306
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb-cbPNCyvQ&feature=player_embedded

Wipe-out festival:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J81iIrBijxw&feature=player_embedded

The battle of the multiple fins

When Kauli sailed convincingly a twinser 4 years ago at Cape Verde, it was a no brainer for most brands to introduce a twin fin design in their product lines (most noticeable, Naish stuck to a single fin design).

Kauli again started a new trend with quad fin design at Cape Verde, last year. This time, there seems to be 2 sides within the market, the quad fins side (Quatro, JP, Starboard, Tabou? Fanatic?) and others who believe that a thruster is actually a better solution (Exocet, RRD, 7th Wave, AHD etc).

Interestingly, both sides are strongly convinced their option is clearly the best, there is a real contrast this time. Time will tell how the consumers react to this situation.

I wish I could try several of these boards to make my own opinion.

PD: As far as SUPs are concerned, I have my back covered with a thruster that can be set up as a single fin, and another quad fin board.