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.

FW board by JP Australia

A longstanding rumour is getting more real by the day. A Formula Windsurfing board will appear in JP's product line, with obviously some serious input by multi-world champ Antoine Albeau.

The round pointed nose is a quite unlike the trend towards "square" noses displayed by the other major brands. 228 cm long, 100cm wide, 168 liters, full carbon deck, not much data yet, but the pictures are superb!

Tramontana sessions

This past Easter and beginning of May, we enjoyed a nice breeze in Pals and emptyied our stressed minds with welcome exercise.

On the photos: Jordi Riera, Alex Serra, Ruben Serra and myself.

I'll take my SUP ice-cold please

Check this one out