KING OF THE WESH FINAL

Julien Taboulet is certainly pushing the park side of windsurfing with kickers and sliders at his centre in Leucate.  Here’s the final video from the recent competition to become the King of the Wesh, enjoy!

Team Slowride in Fuerteventura 2012

We catch up with Team Slowride, a group of windsurfers from Estonian.  They are well known for spending months and months in one spot,and their style and progressive approach to freestyle is right up there.  The members of team Slowride include Chris Kalk, Tony Mõttus and Sten Aava.

Fiona Wylde – Recent Times

A clip from Fiona Wylde with some some slalom sailing, wave sailing and wave supping.  Fiona Wylde is a 15 year ripper from Hood River and was the winner of the 2012 AWSI Windsurfer of the Year Award.

Luderitz Speed Challenge 2012

Here is a nice clip produced by Eric Bellande of the 2012 Luderitz Speed Challenge in Namibia.

The Luderitz Speed Challenge is all done, with so many record Being broken and incredible times posted! Antoine Albeau broke the World Record eight times over the competition’s four weeks period, ending with the fastest time of 52.05 knots, setting the new World record. Albeau was joined in making history by the fastest female of the event, Zara Davis of Britain, who posted a windsurfing world record speed of 45.83 knots (made on Production board).

12 national multi-discipline records were broken during the course of the event, which is incredible when one considers that 13 nations were represented. The records were as follows :

  • SWEDEN: Anders Bringdal: 51.45 kts (95.3 kph) which is also the World Record on Production Board.
  • NETHERLANDS: Jurjen Van Der Noord: 51.26 kts (94.9 kph)
  • SWITZERLAND: Patrick Diethelm : 50.49 kts (93.5 kph) and then Bjorn Dunkerbeck: 51.09 kts (94.6 kph)
  • GREECE: Nick Vardalachos: 50.56 kts (93.6 kph)
  • GERMANY: Christian Bornemann: 46.75 kts (86.5 kph)
  • UNITED KINGDOM: Farrel O’Shea: 48.82 kts (90.4 kph)
  • FEMALE UNITED KINGDOM: Zara Davis: 45.83 kts (84.8 kph)
  • FEMALE TURKISH: Lena Erdil: 45.74 kts (84.7 kph)
  • ITALIAN: Alberto Possati: 44.47 kts (82.3 kph)
  • CROATIAN: Boris Vujasinovic: 44.47 kts (82.3 kph)
  • UKRAINIAN: Alexander Goncharov: 40.95 kts (75.8 kph)

All in all seven riders hailing from five different countries went over  50 knots. These were:

  • FRANCE: ANTOINE ALBEAU (52.05kts) and CEDRIC BORDES (50.23kts)
  • SWEDEN: ANDERS BRINGDAL (51.45 kts)
  • NETHERLANDS: JURJEN VAN DER NOORD (51.26 kts)
  • SWITZERLAND: BJORN DUNKERBECK (51.09 kts) and PATRICK DIETHELM (50.49 kts)
  • GREECE: NICK VARDALACHOS (50.56 kts)

These unprecedented performances were made possible not only by the incredible skill and athleticism of each contestant but also by their belief in the event and their willingness to give of their experience to improve the sailing conditions. All the windsurfers agree that this year’s results can definitely be improved, and who wouldn’t, when you consider A.Albeau went three knots faster than he did in 2008, in less wind! The riders are presently leaving Namibia with ideas for modifying their gear in order to return for more action in stronger winds in 2013.

King’s Cup Day 4 Video

King’s Cup Day 4 started with great planing conditions thanks to strong but gusty winds up to 25 knots. At times, the wind was even a bit too strong for some. With 4 races completed that day and 6 in total, it was the most successful day yet and the Phantom 295 riders got to experience the equipment in all conditions.

Head over to Starboards website for a full report on day 4 with pictures.

Retro Flashback – 1980s – Down the Wind

We bring you a retro flash back to the 1980’s, with this clip, “Down the Wind” by Jean-Luc Breitenstein.

Coverage includes the Windsurfer Worlds in 1979 in Porto Hydra Greece. Some early footage of the Wavejump boards called the Windsurfer Rocket. Division 1 and 2 racing in France. A little bit of old school freestyle with railrides, back to sail railrides and duck tacks. It wraps up with footage of the PanAm Cup in Kailua, Hawaii with Robby Naish, Randy Naish and Ken Winner wave jumping. Just !

Watch out for a very young Robby Naish during the Windsurfer Blues song doing some freestyle with a Black and White sail and again in No wind conditions with a Blue and red sail. Also watch Robby uphaul in Kailua waves!

The sport has come a long way since 1980, and I am glad, and thank god we have better music (in most of our videos)! Enjoy watching the people who played a role in bringing the sport to where it is today.

Onboard with GlobalShots

Jay Haysey the founder of GlobalShots takes you on-board wimming & capturing memories at Ho’okipa beach park Maui, in April of 2012.  He has a bit of a close call with Ben Proffitt.  Major respect is owed to the camera guys who swim in the action getting as close as possible to the action to get the shots that make up the amazing videos and pictures floating around this site and the entire windsurfing community!  Thanks Jay Haysey!

EFPT Weymouth 2012

Colin Dixon presents from the final EFPT event in Weymouth 2012.

Kings Cup Day 3 Video

With demanding and shifty conditions from 6 knots gusting to 12, the organizers managed to run two races before the wind died out in the afternoon. Hong Kong sailor Michael Cheng Chun Leung (HKG) is currently leading with an impressive 1-3 combo, but he had to make a run for his money to stay ahead of Chang Hei Man (HKG) 4-1 and Marina Alabbau Niera (ESP) 2-4, separating the top three by only 3 points. Read the full report of Day 3.

Drake fins with Remi Villa

Remi Villa talks Sam Ross though the new ready to race Drake fins which now come as standard on the 2013 Starboard iSonics but can be used with the Futuras.  This is definitely worth a watch and almost everyone can pick up something.

King’s Cup Day 2 Video

Day 2 at the Kings Cup in Phuket started out with very heavy rain and a possible start looked doubtful as there was little to no wind.  Luckily some swell rolled in as the competitors had fun taking part in some SUP sessions and a bit of Beach Volleyball.

Davy Scheffers ON THE ROAD- Croatia

Short clip from Davy visiting Adriatic sea… we checked some spots and filmed on very popular early morning spot in the north of Croatia… Waking up 3AM, driving one and a half hour to the spot… rigging up in dark and hitting the water half an hour before the sun rises… The colors… the picture you get that moment on the water is priceless… There is not a lot of action as Davy “kissed” the boom and we had to drive to the hospital nearby to stitch him up 😛 … bad luck but still we had nice conditions and a looooot of fun! Check it out …

Kings Cup Day 1

The third Phantom 295 event this year is well under way.  More than 19 countries, 40 charter sets, sun, beaches, wind and some of the best youth racers
worldwide are in Phuket, Thailand for the Kings Cup.  Check out the video from Day 1 which had practice races and registration!

FORWARD LOOP POV

An interesting view of a forward loop from Yann Rifflet using the GoPro2 and the Back mount.