CATEGORIES

Flight's Primary Ignition

The parameters suggested to the brands for our inaugural wind foil sail test were left incredibly broad and open, for one simple reason. We wanted them to decide which product to put forward, and in doing so provide some understanding of their design direction. A sort of litmus paper test to gauge whether there was a consensus amongst the largest sail lofts.

Action Replay

Successful athletes are renowned for being forward looking, positive people but hindsight is still used in their coaching for analysing replays to learn what they could and should have done better in the quest for improvement. John Carter corners a selection of the world’s best slalom competitors for a debrief on their training and technique; using his photos, they breakdown the shots and give their advice on speed, setup, stance and the all important gybe!

OZ - Search

Western-Australia isn’t the typical location that springs to mind for freestyle but with a huge coastline to explore and a variety of conditions, it’s an area primed for revelation. Severne teammates, Amado Vrieswijck and Dieter Van Der Eyken hit the road with searcher in chief, John Carter, on a mission to find new spots and reboot old ones in a freestyle frenzy.

JP Slate Pro 86

The Slate remains one of the more defined compact wave-board designs, challenging convention with its turn of speed and involving riding style. For those that like to tinker with fine-tuning and be challenged, the Slate will reward with bags of attitude around a break.

Anchor Point

Anchor Point is famed as one of Morocco’s best waves. Situated in Taghazout village, just north of Agadir, it’s along right hander with a rocky launch and rarely works for windsurfing. Boujmaa Guilloul did manage to score it though; John Carter finds out more about his session there and the life of the Moroccan wavesailing master.

Slick Sticks

In days past slalom boards used to be precocious beasts, demanding constant attention and input from the rider, and if they caught you off guard for a moment, they would buck and spit until you relented.

South American Dreams

The vast continent of South America has long been the backdrop for adventures. Inspired by its coastline’s potential for windsurfing, young Italian sailor Federico Morisio hit the road with the International Windsurfing Tour to compete and fulfil his South American dreams.

Slick Sticks

In days past slalom boards used to be precocious beasts, demanding constant attention and input from the rider, and if they caught you off guard for a moment, they would buck and spit until you relented.

Wings Of Change The Great Foil Debate!

Foiling – are you in or out! It’s the debate that’s raging across our beaches. Judge John Carter presides over the hearing as an assembly of professional windsurfers voice their opinion on foiling, for and against!

Hit And Run

Kai Katchadourian has a long distance relationship with Cabo Verde. He prides himself on keeping his passion for Ponta Preta alive by fly in fly out strike missions for the best swells. He recounts one of his latest ventures on the island nation and the highs and lows of commuting from Northern Europe to Africa in search of wind and waves.

New School

Every sport needs it’s next generation to survive and windsurfing is no different. So how do we inspire and teach our sport to our children. Last year Polish uber-waterman Kuba Gasiewski introduced us to his radical new teaching technique in one of our most popular articles, ‘Child’s play’. Now, a year down the line, he reflects on its success and developments of his ‘New school’ program at ION CLUB Le Morne, Mauritius together with Timo Mullen and Ben Severne’s thoughts on Kuba’s innovative approach.

Charge Of The New Brigade

The cream of the crop, slalom boards are the elite racing machines of the windsurfing world, but does that make them challenging to sail? The test team reviewed a selection of the latest and fastest slalom boards on the market today with some very interesting results. Read on to find out their findings.

Fanatic Grip

Fanatic have a new all-in-one wave board for 2018, the Grip TE, we asked Fanatic Wave R&D Manager and PWA Pro Klaas Voget for the low-down!

Team15 Champions Cup

With entries open for the 2017 RYA UKWA National Windsurfing Championships at Grafham Water on 9-10 September, we take a look at how the Team15 Champions Cup is giving the event a slightly different flavour.

Focus

“Athletes Who Are Able to Stay Completely Focused in Pursuit of Their Dreams Are the Ones That Are Most Likely to Become Champions.” - Steve Backley Obe, Former Javelin World Record Holder. as the Competition Season Closes, We ‘FOCUS’ on the Champions and Podium Placers Who Were Successful in Their 2016 Pwa Campaigns. What Was Their Focus, How Did They Maintain It and How Will They Carry It to 2017? Read on for Some Motivation for Your Own Season Ahead.

Far North

The Faroe Islands are an archipelago between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic that lie 200 miles north-northwest of Scotland and about halfway between Norway and Iceland. Self governing but part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Faroes are little known for windsurfing but Jamie Hancock, Nic Hibdige and Kenneth Danielsen made an explorative trip to discover more about the islands of the far north.

Happy Days

Does combining a family trip with the chase for epic conditions make for a stressful holiday or enhance the experience. Klaas Voget has been making the journey to Chile for many years and the recent addition of his two small children hasn’t stopped his desire to score the perfect ride on Chile’s rugged Pacific coast. Read how he ensures his annual South American sojourn is happy days for all.

Isonic Man

 Rémi Vila is the man responsible for the design and development of some of Starboard’s most successful boards, most notably, their world championship winning slalom board, the Isonic. No stranger to the podium himself, Rémi is also a world champion windsurfer and his competitive streak transfers into his work “to make the best boards possible.” Read on as Rémi tells us more about his life and craft.

The Magic Of Moulay

Morocco has a mystique that has long drawn artists, hippies and bohemians to its shores. On the Northern flank of Africa, its latitude puts it within easy reach of Europe and before long windsurfers started venturing to explore its potential, discovering the magical town of Moulay. The legacy of these pioneers has been a generation of Moroccan windsurfers who are as talented as the amazing conditions they can call home. Read on for an inspirational tale of how windsurfing changes lives.

Freeing Radicals

This month we bring you the last of our wave equipment tests for 2017 …

Sea Mandala

When it starts to take up all your time and mind, windsurfing can feel like a religion. Graham Ezzy uses an Indian religious symbol to describe his springtime windsurfing on Maui - “Mandala”, a Sanskrit word that refers to intricate geometric designs that represent the universe. Mandalas serve many purposes in Hinduism and Buddhism—from being a visual aid for meditation to providing architectural layouts for temples. Graham references sand mandalas, a Tibetan Buddhist practice that involves monks carefully using small funnels to position millions upon millions of coloured grains of sand into a beautiful and incredibly intricate mandala. This process normally takes weeks. Upon completion, the sand mandala is ritualistically destroyed to represent the cyclic, empty, and impermanent nature of life. Often the sand is deposited in a river to be carried to the sea. What, then, is a Sea Mandala? - Graham Ezzy muses.

Road Tripping

What is it about the agony and ecstasy of a windsurfing road trip that makes it such a quintessential part of our sport? It’s a weirdly alluring combination of pleasure and pain, (with usually more emphasis on the pain) where you leave your comfort zone at home and head out in search of adventure. John Carter muses on the pros and cons of road tripping in the company of Timo Mullen, James Cox and Jamie Hancock as they venture to NW Ireland in the name of research as to what makes the perfect road trip.

The Fatal Lure of Greener Grass

Harty muses on the multi headed beast that is travel. 

A New Breed Of Windsurfers

The RYA give us a guide to the RS:X windsurfers of the British Sailing Team due to compete at the World Championships in Denmark this summer.

Ezzy Hydra

Ezzy Sails have released a dedicated foiling sail with a unique design; we get the lowdown from designer David Ezzy

Fanatic Jag

Fanatic describe their new “Jag” board as “A freerace board set free from the racecourse!” Fanatic brand manager Craig Gertenbach gives us the lowdown on the concept.

Loftsails Skyscape

Loftsails have introduced a well developed foiling sail to their range, the Skyscape. We get the lowdown on their foil program from test pilot Fernando Martínez del Cerro Delgado and designer Monty Spindler.

Pre-Flight Checks

As Harty has already noted in the mag, getting your foil set up correctly is key. Not knowing whether the challenges you’re facing are down to user error or kit setup can make progressing quickly a challenge. Here’s a quick look at making sure you’ve matched your foil well to your board and how to get the most out of your ‘first flights’, and beyond.

RRD WH Flight ALU 85 & Fireride V1 LTD 155

RRD WH Flight ALU 85 & Fireride V1 LTD 155

High Flyers

Foil racing is all go for the 2018 PWA calendar and after a successful start to the season in Yokosuka, Japan it was clear the new racing discipline has a bright future ahead. Old dogs are having to learn new tricks, so we quizzed the pros about their foil racing setups and technique and hear from the PWA race director on the challenges of setting foiling courses.