CATEGORIES

Reasons To Windsurf

A suggestion of quitting windsurfing was the best motivation reader Michael Fairrie ever received. Read on to find out why.

Olympic Aspirations

Did an extraordinary Olympics for team GB give you Olympic aspirations? There’s no harm in a little dreaming.

Size Matters

The size of successful slalom sailors in the modern era has moved away from the giants of old. Advances in equipment have levelled the playing field and podium places are no longer the preserve of the ‘big guns’. We asked a selection of the world’s best slalom racers for their thoughts on body weights and if size really does still matter!

Lauren O'dwyer-buckland Living With Arthritis

Living With Arthritis

Windsup Skills

WindSUP doesn’t just offer a light wind alternative, but also a gateway back into some potentially long-lost longboard skills, once the target of all windsurfers! So while you’re eyeing up those summer breezes, let’s look at a few top tips to make the most out of your WindSUP this summer.

Kids Rule

Whatever sport you look at, there is no doubt youths are the future. They will ensure the survival and the development of a discipline, especially in windsurfing. In the past, perhaps this was forgotten in terms of specially adapted and efficient equipment for youngsters. Today though, kids can finally find boards and rigs that will boost their progress. All they have to do is to spend time together in the water, because kids loving being with other kids and pushing themselves to progress. So ignoring the rule of never work with children or animals, I organised a mega trip for a bunch of talented kids in their school holidays, with the aim to get everyone on the water as much as possible, this is the story of how my ‘Water Academy’ went down!

Rig Tuning Basics

In keeping with summer, the high season for newcomers to windsurfing, we go back to basics this month and look at the fundamentals of rig tuning. Getting your rig to its optimal state is all about finding a base to work from and then tune, experiment and reflect from there. This piece is not going to disappear off in a haze of luff curve, flex response time and other fancy jargon, but rather provide you with the basics that I have seen benefit hundreds of people I have coached. The main areas we will cover are: harness line length, spread and position, boom height and the main trimming variables of both outhaul and downhaul.

Flying On The Edge

High wind foiling with big sails is not for the faint hearted. The 2019 Catalunya Costa Brava PWA World Cup saw some of the wildest professional wind foil racing to date as sailors battled raging Tramontana winds. On the flip side, the opening day of the event saw some of the lightest winds yet encountered for professional foil racing and then, later on in the event period, for the first time in the PWA, the sailors competed in slalom foiling. The event put the sailors on the edge of foil performance in a variety of conditions; John Carter asked the pros their opinion of the limits for foil racing being explored to such extremes?

Life Of Dorian

Thirty-year-old Dutch windsurfer Dorian van Rijsselberghe is the proud owner of two RS:X windsurfing Olympic gold medals. He won his first at the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth, and second at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. And needless to say, he has his eyes set on number three in Tokyo in 2020! Dorian gives us an insight into his life, thoughts on foiling and the PWA and just what it takes to be an Olympic champion.

Defi Diaries

‘DéfiWind de Gruissan’, is the original ‘DéfiWind’ event and doing a ‘Défi’ has become a must do on windsurfing bucket lists. Seasoned ‘Défi’ dude John Skye and first timer, Karo van Tonder take us behind the scenes of the world’s largest windsurfing race with their ‘DéfiDiaries’!

Island Of The Winds

Mykonos may be known as a playground for the rich, but it’s also famous for its consistent winds. Chris Sammer tells us why it’s ideal for a family windsurfing trip.

The Simple Beauty Of Sagres

One sail, one windSUP and the simple beauty of Sagres – Franz Orsi gives us a guide to this beautiful corner of the southern Algarve in Portugal and reflects on why windSUP is one of his preferred modes of travel.

The Life And Times Of The Windsup

In keeping with the windSUP theme this month, Harty relates his personal 13 year relationship with these overgrown surfboards.

Starboard Hyper Nut 4 In 1 7'4

WEB SUP.STAR-BOARD.COM PRICE £1325

Sealion WINGS 7'6

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Inside The Fish Bowl

Sofie Louca and Paul Karaolides A.K.A. Fish Bowl Diaries are award winning photographers, recognized as some of the top shooters in the windsurfing industry. Until very recently, the couple have been based in the UK but have just moved to Maui full time to be closer to the island that has inspired so much of their work. To find out more about the talented duo, we caught up with Sofie to learn about their life, photography and how they came up with the ‘Fish Bowl’ moniker!

Foundations Of Fun

Small freeride boards have their work cut out for them. The demand on their ability is high, but from two potentially very conflicting directions. The word ‘freeride’ gives it away in the first instance - the boards should be easy to use. Easy to step on, easy to plane and comfortable for long periods of use (including over varied terrain). They should glide through carving transitions as if on rails, tutoring those that are at the stage of progressing their cornering, and forgiving clumsy footwork or misuse of the rig’s power. But in addition to all this, the boards NEED TO BE FUN! After all, that is why we windsurf isn’t it - to have fun? And striking that balance right between ease of use and a fun captivating ride is the million dollar conundrum that is often hard to assess at the developmental stage, not least because the goal posts are different for every sailor.

French Score

Thomas Traversa is without doubt the man to follow if you want to score the most extreme windsurfing on this planet. The unassuming master of the art of scoring, he cements his reputation as he takes on a hefty Atlantic swell in Brittany in the company of friends. Relive the adventure as John Carter captures the incredible action and documents the session.

Race, Ride, Rage, Repeat

Windsurf culture flourishes in the festival type atmosphere of common gatherings like NWF, Defi Wind and the long running Lancelin Ocean Classic. Combining competition with a healthy social scene, the Lancelin Ocean Classic (LOC) or ‘Lano’ to give it its colloquial name, kicks off the windsurf event season in style. With Western Australia enjoying one of its best seasons in years, the stage was set with an epic forecast for the battle of bragging rights to Lancelin’s crowns. John Carter and an ensemble of competitors give us the lowdown on the action on and off the water.

Storm Ophelia

The business end of the season has arrived in the UK. As the leaves fall offthe trees and the days grow shorter, the Atlantic has finally started lighting up with a barrage of huge low-pressure systems battering the UK coastline. And of course, once this time of year comes round, then the infamous Motley Crew red phone starts bleeping. John Carter, Ross Williams, Jamie Hancock and Fergus the dog headed to the West Country to chase Ophelia and bring us their account of the first big storm of the season!

Adam's Good Year

Adam Lewis started his 2017 PWA campaign with a serious  ankle injury and ended it with a career best of 5th in the Men’s wave rankings. It may have been a surprise to some,but not to anyone who knows the dedication of the 29 year old Englishman to his sport and ambitions. Adam is testament to hard work brings results. From humble beginnings to a place on the Fanatic / North international team and a  result that puts him amongst the world’s wavesailing elite, Finn Mullen sits down with Adam to talk about his stellar year and rise to the top.

Travelling Man

Seasoned traveller Klaas Voget gives us the benefit of his experience with airlines, excess baggage and why he loves to explore the globe.

Move On Up

With the windy season well underway, this month I take a look at how to gybe when it is getting wild out there. You may feel that the gybe is quite a complex move but actually it is just a sequence of key positions that should follow in succession whilst, as ever, employing a clear strategy. It is simple but challenging and when it cuts up rough, is a physical and mental test. A positive self-dialogue alongside a lot of self belief and resilience will see you making way more gybes and especially so when you are fully stacked! You will also be better placed to up your gybe success rate by being cardio fit and physically strong, as when it is windy, sailing in a straight line is more tiring and once you unhook the sail it has a lot more power coming through it and thereby you! When you are gybing fully powered up you really need to be precise and be ready and able to control a lot of power! On my recent Ireland clinic we took on Storm Ophelia, when the wind was somewhat manageable, and I gave my crew some top tips on gybing and some of their responses were along the lines of ‘Yeah, yeah that might work in Rhodes but …’ This made me consider how they went about their business and also look at what really worked for my gybing whilst stacked on a 3.4 and so compile the tips to present in this feature.

Adam And Oz

Adam Lewis traded his usual winter haunts for Western Australia this year and wasn’t disappointed with his decision! Read on as he brings us his tips for a successful trip down under and how he fell in love with the place and its people.

La Palme Speed Challenge

Les Salins, La Palme, France was the location this spring for a world speed sailing record attempt from March 12 - April 30. Sanctioned as a private record attempt by the WSSRC (world speed sailing record council). World and national speed sailing record holders and a select band of invited sailors made the journey to the South of France to try out a new canal by its designer, UK speed sailing legend, Erik Beale. We caught up with Erik and fellow Brits, Zara Davis and Farrel O’Shea to learn more about the new addition to the speed event calendar.

All Or Nothing

Known for his all or nothing approach, Antoine Albeau needs little introduction. Multiple world titles and an icon of our sport; he is and always will be a windsurfing legend. Last year saw him lose his PWA world champion crown but gain a son. At such a significant time in his life, a reflective Antoine shares his thoughts with John Carter on the current state of slalom, foiling, winning and family.

Quick Learner

It’s a popular public misconception that learning to windsurf takes a while. Reader Elise Gire shares her own rather faster track approach of learning from up-hauling all the way through to short board sailing, water start, harness, footstraps and jibing in 50 days on the water! Granted this was in Maui, but it still shows with some dogged determination what can be achieved! The story doesn’t end there; Elise is now sailing in the waves and planning to enter her first wave competition. Read on for excerpts from the diary she kept during the first fifty days of her windsurf journey and an inspiring tale!

Getting Kids Hooked

Can you remember the first time you stepped onto a board? As a wind surfer seeing your children taking their very own first steps into the sport can be magical - those moments that plant the seeds we hope will blossom into a future love for windsurfing. With equipment, instruction and clothing developing all the time for younger children, knowing where to start can be a bit of a minefield. Fortunately the RYA have it covered, here are some fantastic opportunities which will make it easy for you to get your little people out on the water and loving it.

Nostalgia Ain't What It Used To Be

Harty warns against the imagined joy of the good ol’ days of the travelling windsurfer.

Foil Design

Designing foils is throwing up fresh challenges to the windsurf industry. Starboard’s head of brand and design, Tiesda You, gives us an insight into the innovation and process of foil R&D.