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This footage blew us away! Four awesome days in North-west Ireland with three of the best sailors in the world!! Here’s a sample of the action, but for the full 20 minutes of footage, go to SPECIAL FEATURES.
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Swift OUT – again!
Having just returned to competition after breaking his foot in the Autumn of last year, unbelievably, Robby has broken it again. This time at the Pozo World Cup in Gran Canaria.
It’s a crying shame as the boy was ripping. Robby is now back home in England awaiting the Specialists verdict. He tells the story…
Robby:
Why Me?!! |
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“It was about 7:30pm on Friday night and Ricardo (Campello) and I had been sitting in the car watching for an hour or so until the conditions got better. Ricardo told me not to bother going out as it was a bit cold and he was tired and wanted to go back to the hotel. If only I would have listened to him!
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I decided that I would go out anyway just for a little practice and before I went, I told Ross (Williams) and Gonzalo (Costa Hoevel) to watch me as I was going to do a big double for them.
It was really windy and I was a bit overpowered on my 4.0 but I had just sailed past Kauli and wanted to show him a nice double so I went for it anyway. I did two perfect rotations and landed upright but unfortunately I landed on a small wave that was coming towards me making the landing really flat and subsequently re-breaking my right foot.
Kauli jumped in and held my gear for a minute and we decided that the easiest way for me to get back to the beach would be to sail which I did, very gingerly.
Kevin Pritchard took my kit out of the water for me and then he and Finian Maynard carried me up the beach to where Gonzalo had some ice for me. It was pretty obvious right then that the foot was broken and with it went my chances of a good result in waves on this year's PWA world tour.
I am now back in England awaiting an appointment to see a foot specialist to see where I should go from here. I will have more time to heal now before I have to go back into competition again and that will mean that I am totally fit and ready to go for next season's PWA!
According to the doctors in Spain, the break is the same as last time and probably happened because I did not leave enough time before resuming my windsurfing (surprise, surprise!)
From my point of view, it is much less painful and less swollen than last time, so I hope that means that it is less severe, although I think that the healing time is the same either way”
Bad luck Robby – here’s to a speedy recovery.
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Robin Hood in Yorkshire Dales
When: 29/30 July
Where: Grimwith Sailing Club
It’s up in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales for the Robin Hood summer demo. Demo kit on show includes: Starboard, Tushingham, JP, Neil Pryde, Goya, Bic, North, Mistral, Fanatic, Tabou and Gaastra. Grimwith charge £5 for day sailing but you can try the demo kit for free!
Bring your tent: As usual the Robin Hood guys will be camping nearby at Appletreewick and be in charge of the BBQ on the Saturday evening, so bring along some food & drink for a night to remember on top of the Dales!
| For more info: Contact Robin Hood on 01924 444888 and ask to speak to Gump! |
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Meet the Hibbard
When: 7pm, Wed 26th July
Where: Pugneys Country Park, Wakefield
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Robin Hood Watersports and Pugneys Country Park presents an Evening with John Hibbard (PWA competitor/ windsurf journalist). Discuss technique and check out the latest equipment from Tushingham and Starboard as well as quizzing John about life on the Tour. The |
evening ends with a windsurfing quiz. As above, phone Gump for more info on 01924 444888. Tickets are £3.
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Never get your 7.8m stolen before a Super X event…
 More
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The following SIX winners will compete at the Fuerteventura ISA Speed event this JULY.
Antonis Wolking – Germany
Tony Attfield – UK
Nigel Spriggs – UK
Alexander Verhage – Holland
John Benemati – Italy
Markus Emanuelsson – Sweden
These guys get a FREE flight, accommodation & entry into the event. Fancy that? Well you better turn up to the 2007 Tour, dates released this autumn!
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For a sneak preview of 2007 Naish boards go to www.naishsails.co.uk
To see them up close & personal get to your nearest Naish DEMO:
Christchurch: 14-16 July (Spot On Water)
Cornwall: 16 July (West Country Watersports)
Shoreham: 22-23 July (Surfladle)
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RS:X Gossip
The RS:X Europeans was held in Alacati in Turkey. The place is known for its afternoon thermal winds. Consequently a load of Formula sailors entered the event to see how they would match up with the ex-Mistral sailors on this new kit.
The result? Arguments with the race committee, problems with kit, new racing formats and formula sailors going home early. Throw your toys out the pram – its the RS:X Europeans!!
New formats
One of the sailing classes will be taken out of the 2012 Olympics in London. ‘Windsurfing’ (whoever that means) believes that making the Olympic discipline more media friendly will help to keep them in. So first they have changed the kit so it looks the part and now they are changing the format of a race week to make it more exciting. They now have a downwind slalom race to mix it up a bit and the final day’s medal race where the TOP 10 only compete for double points meaning that all can be lost and won on the last day and no one can claim to have the title in the bag half way through the week. It’s more stressful for the sailors but has been welcomed by the media.
Planing or not, they race
That is the spirit of Olympic windsurfing and it has to be. You can’t have an Olympic discipline simply NOT happening once every four years because there isn't enough wind. The show must go on, hence the versatility of Olympic kit working in 5 to 30 knots of wind. However, if a regular thermal breeze was predicted to kick in come the afternoon, as the race officer wouldn’t you put the fleet on hold as everyone prefers a planing race?
That was the basis of the argument between the Formula sailors and the organisers at the Europeans (see Steve Allen’s interview below ). But the counter argument is that the windsurfing location at the 2008 Beijing Games is renowned for it’s light, non-planing winds (nice) and Olympic races start at a certain time, they don’t wait for the wind (good heavens, what a stupid idea!!) If the idea of all these RS:X events are to prepare sailors for that one competition in 2008 then it makes sense. But if it’s about getting good windsurfing events for the sailors and of course the media, then surely you want the fleet to be planing? Jury Out.
The Kit
Oh, boy, this argument is still raging. It all started off when 2004 Olympic Gold Medallist Gal Freidman just couldn’t stand any more of his RS:X kit breaking and vented his anger on the Neil Pryde forum because of numerous breakages. Other sailors joined in the thread which was consequently removed because, according to Neil Pryde, it contained offensive language. It has since moved onto the Starboard forum. So what is going on?
There were bound to be teething problems and it’s hard to say that more kit is getting broken at a week long regatta than usual, although we tend to believe Gal Friedman who takes his Olympic campaign very seriously and had problems with the boom, the mast, the board, the fins…. One suggestion is that lots of stiff carbon can’t cope with the rigours of a week of pumping, whereas the IMCO was softer and could cope. We know that Nick Dempsey (who won the event) tried a lot of kit before choosing a set that worked best (and has a new £400 boom nearly every month). Aren’t they all supposed to be identical? So who do we blame?
Blame ISAF? They are the ones that choose the board. Did they demand a ‘jack of all trades’ board to work in 5-30knots that is actually not up to the job?
Blame Neil Pryde? For not delivering on the goods or producing a board and sail that doesn’t match the rigours of a lightwind, pumping RS:X racing week.
Blame the sailors? They like to moan when the wind is light. They also work the hell out of the kit. But then that’s what they did to the IMCO and it didn’t fall apart.
Whatever the outcome of this debate we feel the need for some harmony. The RS:X board is the Olympic kit. There are clearly some kit problems which Neil Pryde should put right. Then everyone can work towards their long term goal. For the sailor, that elusive Gold medal in 2008, and for the sport - that decision before the 2012 Games to KEEP windsurfing as one of the sailing disciplines. Sort it out guys!!
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Mini-interview with Steve Allen at the RS:X Euros
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Firstly, as a Formula and Slalom sailor, why did you enter this event?
As I am thinking of having a go at the Olympics, although Australia offered me very bad money to do this so I would have to invest a lot of |
my own money which I am still wondering if it will be worth it when I have to make my living from windsurfing.
Did you just have a shocker (as 35th is not the usual Allen standard), or was it the light winds?
At this contest 80% of the races were in non-planing conditions for the upwind leg. You had to use the dagger board and pump most of the time to make this board move. It was completely different to Formula and even in the full planing races it also had many differences to the Formula board. I was quite happy with my results in the planing races where I had two thirds. You have to remember that I had not sailed this board for around 5 months and then for only 6 days during a contest in Australia in January. So I still believe with training, learning a better technique in non-planing conditions and less weight I would be competitive. I also need time to remember how to sail on the dagger board up wind as the last time I raced such a board was in 1992! (Ok, Steve, you’re forgiven!)
What did you like about racing RS:X kit over Formula?
Nothing, just that if I worked really hard I may be able to compete for gold at the Olympics.
What did you NOT like about racing RS:X instead of Formula?
That you really need a lot more wind to get planning. When you pump there is almost no reaction to make the board move. It also breaks your back carrying it to and from the water, together with the non-stop pumping in non-planing conditions. There are more points, but in general it is hard to believe that the largest company in windsurfing could make such a heavy piece of crap. I think if one of the board companies had won the bid, the board would be much better as if it was so bad it would reflect more on them, but as Neil Pryde don't make boards, maybe it doesn't affect them as much and maybe they care less about this board.
What is the ideal weight for an RS:X sailor, in your opinion?
I think 75kg is the ideal weight. Together with the right skills you could be top 3 in all conditions. Either side of this weight the sailors seemed to be much better in either stronger or lighter winds.
Do you think more Formula sailors will cross over, lured by Olympic funding and the ultimate gold medal?
There were quite a few Formula sailors at the last contest and after they saw how it was run I would say that you will see a lot less of them competing in this class. As Formula sailors (and I believe anyone who windsurfs) we like to windsurf in planing conditions and with this class as long as there was a wind direction they would start the race on time.
Explain more…..
The organisers could have had a similar amount of races by placing the race course in the more windy zone and just waiting a little for the wind. Then race an inside/outside loop course so they could run every fleet at a similar time getting the full number of races in and with the best wind. But at the RS:X Europeans they raced each fleet one at a time, taking the whole day to get the races in and all in different conditions. So you started the race with just 2 to 3 knots at the time posted the day before. There is just one nice thing about this, you can prepare yourself to be ready for racing each day at a certain time.
Check out Bryony Shaw’s column for her comments on the RS:X Europeans.
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