CATEGORIES

Moroccan Heart

Sam Bittner, organiser of the IWT (International Windsurfing Tour), recently ran a competition in Morocco that left an indelible mark on her life. Read on as she shares her experiences of the mystic magnetism of Moroccan life.

Foil FAQs

To help you navigate the world of foils we’ve compiled a buyer’s guide to some of the latest offerings on the market, but first Sam Ross gives us the answers to some foiling FAQs

Oz In Three

A once in a lifetime trip to Western Australia is top of the bucket list for most wavesailors around the world. Normally a trip to W.A. involves meticulous planning, flights booked months in advance and a detailed plan to take in all the best spots over at least a month to 3-month period. So how many people would think about travelling to Western Australia on a forecast for a 3-day mission? We know of only one - Severne team rider Timo Mullen; buckle up as Timo tells his tale.

Lost In The Van

Going against the grain of forecast based windsurfing trips, Sylvain Demercastel casts plans aside and in an act of spontaneity takes a wrong turn but ends up exactly where he needed to be. Read on as Sylvain shares his story of an unexpected but memorable session in Asturias , NW Spain.

4x4

One board, four sails, four sailors = 4x4 windsurfing. The crazy frenchies are at it again with their bid to be the fastest and funniest windsurfers in the world. Raf Filippi brings us behind the scenes for a not so serious look at the entertaining engineering and endeavours of the Quadem project.

I Swiss Army Made Wave Boards

Testing wave boards is never a real hardship, particularly when it is the sector of the sport for which all the testers, without exception, have a true passion for. The difficulty in testing them around the UK shores is chasing down consistent conditions to reach meaningful conclusions. That said, there is significant value in testing these products in ‘real world’ conditions - conditions that the vast majority of the magazine’s readership experience at their favoured break.

Severne Fox

Severne have been making waves with their entry into the windsurf board market. We catch up with Severne head shaper James Hooper to get the lowdown on their new freeride board – the Fox.

BWA Contest Quivers

From cross-off to dead onshore, competing on the British Wavesailing Association tour can take in all the conditions a UK wave sailor can expect to face on home shores. The pros have to be equipped for all conditions and all weathers; so how do they plan, choose and tune their quivers - John Carter investigates.

Lowdown - Compact Windfoiling

RRD’s international marketing and team manager, Matteo Guazzoni, gives us the lowdown on their new compact wind foiling range.

Photoventura

Flo Jung reports from behind the scenes as the Gunsails team explore Fuerteventura during their annual photo shoot and gives us a mini guide to some of its main windsurfing.

Past Perfect

Harty ponders if history lessons in our sport should be compulsory for all windsurfers?

Slalom School

Over the last 8 years the TWS slalom training in Tenerife has become one of the places to be for aspiring racers, whether you want to finish higher at a national event, are pushing to make the PWA top 10 or even win it outright. John Skye has been a frequent student of the Tenerife school of training, read on as he let’s us know more about its benefits and illustrious pupils.

50 @ 50 With Bjorn

Bjorn Dunkerbeck was born on July 16th 1969 and during his illustrious career has achieved legendary status as one of the greatest windsurf competitors of all time, racking up an incredible 42 world titles! John Carter caught up with the big man in Gran Canaria during his 50th birthday celebrations for an appropriate return of the ‘big 50’ interview!

Finding North

German PWA star Leon Jamaer is as happy in a heat as he is on the road. A Red Bull Storm Chase finalist, he has the skills to backup his lust for adventure. His latest travels took him to the far northwest of the UK to the islands of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland; Leon recounts his trip and gives an insight into the origins of his passion for exploring.

Search

I always thought windsurfing gave me an advantage in geography at school.

Fanatic FREEWAVE STB TE 105

WEB WWW.FANATIC.COM PRICE STB £1699 TE £1999 TEXTREME £2299

Improving Targets

This is perhaps the time of year where many of us think back over the past year and consider what we might do differently in the next year. It is inevitable as both the calendar and seasons change, so with this in mind I am going to give you the targets that a sample of sailors I have coached have on their list, as well as their clinic experiences. I also turn the spotlight on my own sailing and explain what I will be targeting personally in 2019.

RRD FREESTYLE WAVE V5 LTD 104

WEB WWW.ROBERTORICCIDESIGNS.COM PRICE BLKRBN £2379 LTD £2099 LTE £1741

SEVERNE DYNO 105

WEB WWW.SEVERNESAILS.COM PRICE £1899

GOYA ONE PRO 106

WEB WWW.GOYAWINDSURFING.COM PRICE £1949

Operation Barzan!

Sharp eyed readers of Windsurf magazine may have noticed that our intrepid correspondent John Carter has a mild obsession with shooting windsurfing next to large ships, well actually massive ones to be more precise! Back in 2014, in our ‘Pirates of the Solent’ feature, ‘JC’ and his accomplice Scott Gardener tracked down the Marco Polo, which at the time was the second largest container ship in the world. This issue our senior ship spotter has been at it again with the mighty ‘Barzan’, 400 metres of steel and deadweight of a whopping 199,744 tonnes! Read on as Captain Carter tells his salty tale!

Forgotten Paradise

Sarah Hébert explores the small island of Barbuda in the eastern Caribbean, part of the sovereign Commonwealth nation of Antigua and Barbuda. She finds a paradise resurrected after hurricane Irma and perfect conditions for foiling. Read on as Sarah tells us more.

K - 700

Nic Hibdige, K-700, leads the UK charge on the PWA freestyle circuit and his 9th place finish at the Sylt leg of the 2018 tour shows he has the ability to break into the top ten in the world. We learn more about the 23 year old sailor from the south coast of England this month as he talks with Loris Vietoris about scoring, finance and future plans.

Movement

“Movement is life; and it is well to be able to forget the past, and kill the present by continual change.” Jules Verne.

Jem Hall Technique

My technique pieces mainly reflect on how best to go about nailing a certain move or employing a strategy to ‘move on up’. This month however we help you identify the barriers to your improvement. The most important insight I have is you have to WANT IT! I will go onto identify the main areas that may not be maximising your potential and then look at the key moves and where I see frequent mistakes. I am drawing on my 25 years of coaching and also what I observe on many beaches around the world. Understanding much of this will help you become better at self-coaching, which is one of the key ways to improve and enjoy your windsurfing more.

The Gentle Art Of Being Coached

There are good and bad teachers. But there are also good and bad pupils. With the holiday season upon us and many heading to centres home and abroad, Harty, with a few thousand coaching hours under his belt, offers much advice on how to get the most out of tuition.

The Black Rock Yacht Club

Summer is here and festival season is well underway, and if you like your festivals eccentric, few come weirder than ‘Burning Man’ in northwest Nevada. So what does a desert rave up have to do with windsurfing and what is the Black Rock Yacht Club, Kevin Pritchard tells tale.

Benefits Of Windsurfing For Kids

The RYA explain why windsurfing helps develop positive character traits.

Cowboys And The Indian Ocean!

With Perth experiencing its coldest winter for at least two decades in 2016, the wild men of Western Australia based brand Severne knew it was time to round up the horses and head to sunnier climes for some warm water wave rides and R&R / R&D in the Indian Ocean waters of Mauritius. Along for the ride with the posse, was our very own ‘gun for hire’, John ‘Shooter’ Carter and his trusty Canons, primed to capture the Cowboys on tour. Long serving Severne rider Scotty McKercher tells the tale of their adventure and shares his memories of an epic trip.!

Langebaan

Langebaan, just 100 minutes drive north of Cape Town has become increasingly popular as a windsurfing destination,offering great free ride conditions and even wave sailing sometimes. Local windsurfer and the fastest women wind surfer in Africa, Karo van Tonder, gives us a guide to her home waters and an insight into her windsurfing and lifestyle.