Roberto Hofmann is a strong voice for windsurfing, teaching hundreds of new and upcoming talens each year, but also commenting to the hundreds of thousands of fans as he hits the road with the PWA every year. He competed on the Professional Windsurfing Tour between 1990 and 1995, so racings in his DNA, and in 2012 won several important races in Italy and the IFCA Slalom Worldchampionship in the G-Master category.
Read more about Roberto over on star-board.com
Hot Sails Maui continues to grow there team. and recently announced the signing of Irish ripper Katie McAnena to the international team. In the last year she’s been all over with appearances in the AWT, BWA, IWA and PWA tours.
More about Katie at the Hot Sails Maui Blog.
The Loft Sails are happy to announce that Israeli freestyle expert Yarden Meir joins our international team for 2013!
Yarden was ranked 11th PWA in 2011 after 6 events that year, but last year he was not able tocompete due to an injury that kept him out of the competition season. He is back in 2013 with Loftsails, and targets the podiums on the PWA. Yarden is currently training in Vietnam for 2 months and preparing a new action movie.
Best of luck to Yarden in the 2013 season !
Hot Sails Maui is pleased to announce thatUk speed sailor, wave sailor and fin designer Steve Thorp has signed with them. Steve who is one of a handful of people to sail at over 50 knots will be working closely with designer Tom Hammerton and team mate Martyn Ogier as they all prepare for a mission to Luderitz 2013.
Steve joins a growing team of talented riders at Hot Sails Maui as the brand continues to develop and move into new markets.
Fanatic International announced yesterday that German wavesailor Leon Jamaer is being promoted to their International Windsurf Team. Leon is a very talented youngster from Germany and been part of the Fanatic National team for a few seasons. He finishes his schooling in 2013, and will be 100% dedicated to windsurfing, and Fanatic is looking forward to his great potential in both German National and PWA events. Leo in a radical “no fear” sailor, and just competed in Mission 1 of the Red Bull Storm Chase.
“It´s great to have Leon in our Fanatic International team now. If you ever had the chance to watch him free sailing in pretty much any conditions, your first reaction would be: “that guy is nuts”. When he sails he just goes for it 200% and the energy on his moves is unbelievable. Together with Alessio Stillrich, Arthur Arutkin and Noah Voecker-Roche, we will are building our next wave generation to follow in the footsteps of Victor Fernandez and Klaas Voget. – Craig Gertenbach, Fanatic Brand Manager
“I´m really happy to be part of the International Team now! I hope I can spend in future even more time with my team mates on the water, especially Victor, Klaas, Alessio and Arthur, travel around the world, compete and improve my sailing. I hope I can finish my studies this summer and then start improving my skills throughout the contest season and fully attack the PWA tour.” – Leon Jamaer (G-208)
Leon Jamaer also recently joined Project Black Fins, More on that here.
Video: Leon Jamaer in Ponta Preta
More about Leon Jamaer on Fanatic on fan
Windsurfing Fin manufacture Black Project fins announced a few days ago the addition of Leon Jamaer to their ever growing team. Here’s what they had to say on blackprojectfins.com.
We are extremely pleased to be able to report that up and coming German ripper LEON JAMAER has chosen to ride for Black Project Fins in 2013. Leon who broke into the PWA top ten for the first time last year in Denmark and finished 16th overall for the season is looking to find his home securely within the top 10. Leon has just returned home from Cape Verde, despite the limited action he was able to get these great photos and produce this thought provoking video. Known for his video prowess, Leon is a new bread of windsurfing professional who is active both on the water and in the media. He makes the perfect addition to the team as we look to develop the German market this year.
Hot Sails Maui is pleased to announce former three time Worl Wave Champion Kauili Seadi has joined there team.
Kauli joins the innovative Hawaiian brand at a time when development is at its fastest pace in years and he will immediately be working closely with our renowned and talented designers Jeffrey Henderson & Tom Hammerton in Maui. Together Kauli and the team aim to further develop the wave range in the coming months and subsequent seasons. Kauli is well known as an innovator himself and working with Hot Sails Maui will be a perfect fit. The addition of Kauli to this closely knit team, will generate fresh ideas and give a new energy to all in the Hot Sails Maui Ohana worldwide.
Hot Sails Maui has been gaining a lot of attention recently with products including the Firelight, theSuperFreak Maui Edition and most recently the QU4D, which all stand out from the crowd on the water for their innovative designs and exceptional performance.
Kauli is stoked to have Hot Sails Maui support his new project ‘My Dream Tour’ with the aim of inspiring others to travel, dream, and share our wonderful sport with new friends and in new places. The first project on his agenda is his Gostoso adventure, which you will be hearing far more about in the coming weeks and subsequent interviews. With this new move Kauli plans to scale back his PWA appearances in 2013 only competing in waves events with surfing style conditions.
In the months ahead Kauli, Jeff, Tom and the team at Hot Sails Maui will be focused on developing new and exciting products which will push your sailing further than ever before.
Fanatic Boards and North Sails proudly announce 3 all new rookie riders to their International team. Joining the Fanatic North team are youngster Arthur Arutkin, his sister Alice Arutkin, and the beautiful Maxime van Gent. North has also announced the signing of an all new light wind master, Caesar Finies.
The Dutch rider Pieter Bijl (33), currently living on Maui, a very experienced rider who started his profession career in 1998 on the PWA tour. Peter is not only a racer but has worked for Fanatic, NeilPryde and JP to develop many products for the sport. After two year riding and working for JP he’s going to be joining Angulo boards. He joins Angulo as European commercial manager and product developer.
“The fun factor mixed with a very high level of professionalism is what Pieter brings to the table. He and I really see eye to eye on how we like to push things forward with minimum beaurocracy and great expediency . Pieter’s work ethic is probably unrivalled in the windsurf industry and now Angulo and it’s customers will benefit directly from his skill and experience. Also, I’m confident that Pieter will be firmly established in PWA top 10, which is a nice feather in our cap. Pieter and I will work hand in hand to develop the brand and have agreed that focus on the product is off first and foremost importance and our 2013 boards reflect the attention to detail. Welcome Pieter!” Josh Angulo
Arnon Dagon (ISR-1) Is leaving Gaastra Sails after 4 years riding for them, to go back to Neil Pryde. Arnon is also leaving the Tabou board brand, but that deal is not finalized, saying “Yes, it’s not a done deal yet, but it will be for sure a super top company.” Arnon had some ups and downs on the PWA season this year, but had some highlights in other competitions, including athird place at the Storm Rider Wave event in Israel, the second place at the Formula Europeans at Sylt and the second place at the IFCA Slalom Europeans at Rosas, Catalunya, Spain.
Ben van der Steen (Ned-57) is very fasts Slalom sailor and he has the potential to win a worldtitle, beat the much experienced older racers like Antoine Albeau, Björn Dunkerbeck or Micah Buzianis. In the past two seasons Ben placed 2nd on 4 events, twice in 3rd, and wrapped up the 2011 PWA tour in 3rd overall. After two successful seasons sailing with Loft Sails, he has decided to leave the company and signed a contract with Gaastra.
Josh Angulo and Point-7 recently departed ways so Point-7 could open sponsorship money up to younger team members. Point-7’s International team consitintley generated top 10 results over the last season in all disiciplines of the PWA tour. Windsurfing is very much an individual sport with Point-7 goal to change the training dynamic, and have welcomed 5 new riders aboard who will join the team in Tenerife from mid January until the end of April, to work together in improving their skills, tuning their gear, and develop new ideas.
The five new riders welcomed are:
Maciek Rutkowski – POL 23 – Maciek was first seen on the Formula race fields at a very young age. He is the youngest slalom sailor doing the whole PWA tour and is currently ranked on the 27th place overall.
Alberto Menegatti – ITA 4 – Logistically Alberto is based in the same area as the Point-7 HQ in Italy. Alberto Menegatti “I tried the sails, and I was immediately impressed with their performance. The idea of working together with all the Point-7 team, and directly day after day with Andrea in Garda made me sure that this was the right path!”
Bora Kazanoglu – TUR 11 – is multiple Turkish Champion and at times he takes part in PWA events, and currently leads the IFCA Slalom ranking. Bora also own and run an extremely well organized windsurfing school in Alacati.
Enrico Marotti – CRO 401 – Poiont-7 says, “Enrico had impressed with his speed during his first PWA tour race in Turkey in 2012, and we were happy to take him in the Black Team and give him the team support that is needed get him the experience.”
Bruno Martini – ITA 160 -Seriously dedicated, Bruno is another young Italian Slalom sailor, who is very motivated to improve his skills on the race course.
Young Gun Omar Sanchez will ride for Loft Sails in 2013 and 1014. Omar Shanchez is just 21 and debut on the PWA world tour in 2007, at his home spot of Pozo. In 2012 he posted two 17th place finishes at Pwa Pozo Izquierdo and the Pwa Tenerife events.
Omar Sanchez (E-33) will compete in every PWA wave events and target top 10 overall. We wish him luck, and look forward to seeing him in action more often.
Alex Blackmore at only 9 years old has joined Team QSW. QSW is one of the largest and most successful independent windsurf teams in Europe, with six riders competing in everything from the BSA Slalom Series to the BWA Wave Tour.
After just one season with Point-7, and finishing 6th in the PWA Slalom rankings, Josh Angulo has announced he will be departing from Point-7 and the Black Team. This is Josh’s 4th change in 5 years, having most recently left Gun Sails. In an interview on ContinentSeven Josh said “From my understanding, the team budget they do have is preferred to be spent on a younger team. I believe they have some new “young guns” that they will by announcing soon that have joined the team.” So it sounds like money the major factor.
We are unsure whether we will see Josh return to the PWA tour in 2013, but a good chance we will see him at a few contests, when asked of his plans he stated, “It’s hard to get rid of that “competition bug”.”
Josh is a very busy guy, becoming to father to his 3rd child, a recent move to Boston, flying back and forth from Cape Verder to the US, and running the Angulo production board brand.
You can read the full interview with Josh over at ContentSeven.
