Competition Summer: SLALOM!!

Slalom:

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PRO KIDS

		When: 3-6 August Where: Bonaire Competitors: 95 kids Winners: 1st Kiri Thode (16yrs) 2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (16yrs) 3rd Mosje Vingerhoets (15yrs)

The future of windsurfing is bright if these young Caribbean sailors carry on as they are doing! This now annual event brings together all the best freestylers under 16 in the world. At the top of the pile, we have flat water loops, one-handed spocks, shove its and puneta’s but this contest it not all about who can do the best tricks, it’s about getting as many kids into windsurfing as possible.

In the spring, qualifiers were held all over the world for this contest. Among the winners were Max Droege from Germany, Charlie Chauvet from France and Vincent Tremblay from Canada who came early to train and mingle with the local hot shots.

During the event, the trade winds were perfect, the crowds were cheering and DJ Paco from the infamous Mambo Beach in Curacao was pumping out Reggaeton, techno and local hits.

Check out the preview for the up and coming Pro Kids DVD.

For your windsurfing holiday to Bonaire go to: www.bonairecaribbean.com and let Ann Phelan sort it all out for you!

[460K Video Stream - Audio ON]

Pro Kids: Win [3.39MB] Mac [3.54MB]

Donkey Of The Month: Lost at sea in Sotavento

This Month’s most prestigious award goes to UK Sailor Simon Pettifer.

The Naish rig - never to be seen again!		Simon was on hand to help out his mate, Simon Cofield, at the Sotovento World Cup. But after a day, he was itching to get on the water and asked the Boardseeker Features Editor, Clyde Waite, if he could borrow his Proof wave board and shiny new 4.7 Naish Rig.

Clyde, an easy going chap, said, ‘Sure, just don’t break anything!’ Ninety minutes later and Simon Cofield, Clyde and Boardseeker Cameraman Alfie Hart, were pacing the beach trying to spot Pettifer. Unbeknown to the boys, Simon had broken Clyde's mast way out to sea.

Fortunately for Simon, someone in one of the hotels had seen him in distress miles out to sea and alerted the rescue. After two hours of

Simon missing, a duo of jet skis was spotted making their way back from the horizon, complete with one person, one board and erm, no rig. Over to Simon (who at the time was so glad to be alive he was hugging everything in sight)!!

Simon:

The lesson to be learned is: don’t sail a mile out to sea on cross offshore winds in the middle of the Atlantic! Simon – you were very lucky – but you’re still a donkey!!

Scotland to Ireland in 5 hours - on ONE tack!

When: Wed 9th August Where: Troon to 'somewhere north of Larne', Northern Ireland (76 miles) Preparation: None. Given 20 minutes notice by rescue craft.

Kit: 6.1m sail & Quatro Freewave board (85 litres).
Who: Scotty McDowell, Scotland ’s greatest windsurfer.

click on map to enlarge

Scott: My friend, Barry McGhee, wanted to raise some cash for CLIC, the children’s cancer charity as his son was ill with the disease. He decided on a Troon to Ireland dash with him on his kite & me on my windsurfer. We raised lots of sponsorship money and then just waited for the right conditions. Last summer, we gave it a go but we got 10 miles into the trip and the wind died.

So the last thing on my mind on Wednesday 9th was to windsurf to Ireland! I had worked the morning (I’m a builder) and decide to have a fry up at a local Troon café (something which I rarely do). About 1230, I got a call from Barry who said, ‘It’s on – now!' Slowly realising what he meant, I rushed back to my house, grabbed my kit and went to Barrasie beach where Barry was waiting for me. Looking out to sea, it looked kind of windy, coming from the north-west which meant a broad reach to Ireland. Not wanting to be underpowered on the trip, I rigged my 6.1 Neil Pryde Search and took my biggest board (Quatro Freewave 85) and off I went.

A lovely Scottish summer's day

I did one tack to get past Troon harbour wall and then headed down the coast, sailing between Ailsa Craig & Arran before heading off into the Irish Sea. The NEW Kintyre Express ferry/rib was our rescue cover but we were way ahead of them to begin with.


Yes, that's the ferry!

The wind was up and down: sometimes I was not planing for 15mins and then I would be overpowered. However, the wind was about a Force 6 with 8-12 foot swells when we got into the Irish channel. This is when Barry had to stop because the swell was quite erratic and he was getting hammered on his kite. Still, he did 52 miles!

I carried on to Ireland where the wind and swell eased off. I sailed until about 30 feet off the Irish shore line and then had to wade through really thick kelp beds. I got to the land, kissed the shore and then headed back out to the rib, de-rigged and had a bumpy ride home!

Yes, that's Ireland!

The next day I was a little stiff but not too bad. Day three however, and I couldn’t move – my shoulders and back were killing! Good fun though!

Scott & Barry would like to thank www.kintyreexpress.com for their support. They run a NEW ferry service between Troon & Campeltown and Scotts sponsors, Quatro Boards.

A Threesome

When we showed Remko de Weerd’s double spock a year ago, we were impressed.

Not surprisingly the Bonaire boys have taken it one step further – welcome to the world of triples.

Here is Taty Frans doing a ponch into double flaka AND Kiri Thode doing a switch stance spock into clew first, switch stance flaka into gecko!

POP UP GALLERY: Slalom

GET IT BOOKED!!

It’s time to get the house booked and the ferry sorted for the 2006 Tiree Triple Crown event.

It’s a week of awesome sailing and long, whisky filled nights with a whole week’s worth of entertainment, no matter what the weather. Enter if you like – amateurs this year are doing waves only with the first start at 2pm each day so you can freesail all morning. But if not, just be there – guaranteed lots of wind, lots of laughs, lots of memories.

Get it Booked

Getting There

Antoine kills it!!

The big man was on fire this summer. He won in style in Pozo winning 11 out of the 12 races, took the crown in Sotavento and then came second in Alacati. With one more event to go in Sylt, Antoine Albeau is the hot favourite for the PWA Slalom title come September.

Well done on destroying the fleet in Pozo! What were the reasons for you dominating the event?

Antoine: I think it was a combination between equipment, sailor and girlfriend - all working together perfectly!

What sizes were you sailing on in the 4 sails, 2 boards combo?

Antoine: I actually used all my sails and boards in Pozo: 7.2/6.7/6.2/5.4 Neil Pryde RS6’s and the Starboard Isonics 105 and the Sonic 85.

You still won in Fuerte but not as crushing a victory as in Pozo - what was the difference?

Antoine: I think that the conditions were way more easier in Fuerte so that means that more people were able to come closer to me. I just really liked the conditions in Pozo.

RS:X: Neil Pryde answer back

Following the furore over kit problems at the RS:X Europeans, we asked Neil Pryde for an official response. It didn’t come in time for last month’s issue, but here it is now:

Neilpryde response [349 KB]

Red Card Ricardo

		Another event and another fine for the notorious Ricardo Campello!! In an age where pro athletes are being criticised for becoming 'boring', 3 times World Champ Ricardo is collecting more red cards than a Columbian football team!

The stage was the Sotovento freestyle event on a windless day. Looking for something to do, Ricardo Campello and partners in crime Kauli Seadi and Marcillo Browne asked if they could borrow the safety jet ski. The answer, as you would expect, was no! The cheeky South Americans snuck off with it anyway and went for a bit of a cruise.

As you can imagine the PWA were furious, the lifeguards were furious, and as this was a practical police state, the authorities got involved.

Kauli and Brawzinio were fined and duly apologised, Ricardo was fined again, but refused to apologise until the PWA threatened to kick him out altogether!!

Ricardo also had other problems to contend with...

Polish Style!!

Undetered by the gallant efforts of Finian, Bjorn & co to break the 50 knot record, a Polish sailor (who wishes to stay anonymous for obvious reasons) has developed a new sail to tackle the challenge.

Photo: Karol Nawrocki

Preliminary testing revealed that the sail rigs easily, is light in the hands, has a great 'top end' and rotates effortlessly. 

Unfortunately, the top speed fell slightly short of 50 knots which was put down to the design having too much fullness.....