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!