Rewarded

Gollito Rewarded

Gollito may have missed out on the World Title in 2011, but he was back with a vengeance  in 2012. Gollito performed at every event, in every heat to take the World Title with an impressive three wins out of three.

As the champion was crowned the movie by Andre Paskowski documenting the life of Gollito was also released. Rewarded is a true labour of love from the multi talented Paskowski who continues to inspire many with his moving videos. Is this the movie and moment of the year for you?

Philip Koster

World Wave Champs Crowned

Philip Koster and Iballa Moreno were crowned World Wave Champions in 2012; Koster taking his second title at age just 19 and in awe inspiring fashion, whilst Iballa Moreno sailed better than she ever has before to beat her sister Daida in many tense finals.

David vs Goliath

Koster had been unbeaten for more heats that anyone could count, but on one light wind day in Klitmoller he was finally beaten in the double elimination super final by Thomas Traversa of France. In his first PWA event win Traversa scored solidly, whereas Koster couldn’t get a second high ride, this secured the event win for Traversa taking down the man some thought couldn’t be beaten.

Bernd Roediger

Rise of the New School

On the other side of the pond the AWT held a great tour, culminating in an epic event at Ho’okipa. Throughout the series Camille Juban had been the one to watch, he took the overall title, but it was the final of the pro men in Ho’okipa that through up a few surprises. Kevin Pritchard made it through to the final, bucking the trend and using a single fin, but he was beaten in the double elimination final by 16 year old Bernd Roediger. Could the young Hawaiian challenge Koster for the title if event locations were a little more varied?

Josh Angulo and Bjorn Dunkerbeck, collision!

Angulo vs Bjorn – The Take Down!

Every slalom heat on the PWA tour is a battle, with most of the top racers being fairly big, powerful guys who are not going to back down at a gybe mark. Whilst this makes racing very hard, it definitely adds some excitement for spectators. One of the most unbelievable moments in 2012 came from Josh Angulo, who when he was pushed tight at the first buoy by Dunkerbeck seemed to sail straight into him, slicing his sail in two from leech to luff! The image below shows a little but anyone who saw the incident live will remember just how spectacular it was!

Dorian van Rijsselberghe

London (well, Weymouth) 2012

The Olympic racing may not be every windsurfers cup of tea, but in 2012 the RS:X class provided a true spectacle of our sport in Weymouth. Dorian van Rijsselberghe did not just win gold, the 24 year old out performed the whole fleet with an unbelievable amount of bullets giving him the gold with one race to go. Though he couldn’t be caught Nick Dempsey was hot on his tail and took a silver medal to add to his bronze from Athens. In the women’s fleet Marina Alabau stormed to victory in the stronger winds of Weymouth. All in all we think the windsurfing at the Olympics was absolutely outstanding, do you agree?

Olympics Reborn! 

After the despair of earlier in the year as windsurfing was voted out of the Olympics in a shock decision, the sport gathered together like never before to push for windsurfing to be reinstated. After a few long and hard months of lobbying, tough decisions and lots of work from many another vote was taken and in a twist of fate windsurfing took the Olympic spot back from windsurfing.

Antoine Albeau

World Speed Records

Antoine Albeau, one very small canal, one even smaller board and a lot of wind lead to the world speed record being absolutely smashed at the end of the year. Albeau was joined by a couple of others to take the record well over, but it was the big Frenchman that finally pushed it all the way to 52.05knots. For the women Zara Davis also pushed the world record to incredible new speeds.

Now have your vote and use the comments below to let us know your opinions!

Did you tick other? What windsurfing moment made your year that we haven’t mentioned? There are many more windsurfing stars and events that we wanted to add to our shortlist, but unfortunately there just wasn’t room; what do you think should have made it? Drop us a comment below to tell us what your top windsurfing moment of 2012 was.

The second video comes from the world of SUP. There is one or two windsurfing shots in there as well but the SUP action is pretty awesome, big waves, radical turns and a bit of trickery sums it up nicely.

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Good morning all, according to the Mayan Calendar this could be our last week of windsurfing news, so lets make it the best yet. Actually we are not so convinced by all this Mayan malarkey but if you so wish please feel free to leave your comments about it below.

Swiftly moving on then and looking ahead to the 2016 Olympics we have a video of hope from the Bic Techno 293 scene. Many of the stars from tomorrow will pass through the 293 class in their campaign to race for their country so it seems only to appropriate to post this video after the recent reinstatement of windsurfing in the Olympic Games.

From a re-birth to a saddening loss. It was a little under a year ago that the french wave sailor Vincent Mellouet was taken from his family and friends in a tragic windsurfing accident on the south coast of France. In that time many memorials have taken place and now his long term girlfriend Blandine Fort has produced this clip to remember his last trip to Fuerteventura. Sail, My Love… is a moving tribute and a reminder that we should always keep safe on the water.

Moving to the safety of flat water. Well perhaps not so safe after you see this video. Speed sailing has been hot news lately due to the records that have been broken and re-broken during the Namibia speed event. In this next video we catch up with Antonine Albeau as he talks about what it is like to blast down a narrow trench at 52 knots!

The final video for the early update today comes from the Carro in the south of France. A few videos of late from there which can only mean that conditions have been firing. For those who are a fan of the point of view angle then this chest mount gives a great onboard perspective.

That’s all for the early update, apologies for the slight technical issues which resulted in the belated news today but join us later for a few more snippets.

Antoine Albeau

Name: Antoine Albeau

Sail number:F192

Date of birth: 17/06/72

Born in: La Rochelle

Currently living: ile de Ré, France

Sponosors: RRD, NeilPryde, Quiksilver, Ford Autovital, Sosh Orange

Discipines: All

Top results: 20 x World champ, World Speed Record 49.09kts

Nicknames: Tonio

Describe your style on the water: Free but very technical

Favourite spot: Maui, Caledonia, Guadeloupe, ile de Ré

Current favourite board and sail: Right now it will be my 4.8 and my little RRD custom 40cm for the speed !!

Best memory from 2012: My come back for the 1st place in Turkey and Sylt!!

What do you think helped you win the title? My concentration and focus on the race all year long.

How did you celebrate? Lots of champagne!

What are your plans for the winter? A big party again at the boat show on the 9th Dec; you are all welcome!!!

What are your strengths and weaknesses? Strengths I think are my competitiveness and concentration on events, and weaknesses….ask all the others.

What skills would you like to have from another competitor? Hummmmm I don’t know, I think I am not too bad as I got the win !!!

All images: PWA / John Carter.