It goes without saying that every sailor, whether it be racer, freestyler or recreational sailor, wants to get the most out of their equipment. Racers in particular will continuously be tuning and tweaking their race set-ups for optimum performance, but anything over and above this is strictly prohibited.

Previously this rule had been adhered to, however now we are led to believe that some sailors and brands are taking the next step and making physical changes to their equipment. Should this be allowed? Is it giving riders that are altering their equipment an unfair advantage? Where should the PWA draw the line? Where does careful tuning, become unfair adjustment?

Have adjustments been made to the bottom of Arnon’s board?

As new equipment is put into production and the top racers get their new quivers dialled in, many would like to change aspects of their boards and sails but who is actually doing it? As you can see below, it appears that Arnon Dagan has made adjustments to the bottom of his board – rumour has it that the double concaves used to plant the board on the water are in fact hindering the performance; riders are chosing to fill in and then sand the bottom of their boards to loosen it up and give it a slightly livelier feel.

Should this be allowed? What do you think? Answer our poll and share your thoughts in the comments below…

One event down on the PWA slalom tour and already we have a new face to watch out for: Point7’s Alberto Menegatti. We say new face, but is he really? Surely someone cannot come in and land straight at the top of the rankings? Of course not. Alberto is a very talented racer that has taken youth world titles and been in the top ten for over 10 years, so what has changed? How did 28 year old Alberto (or Bambi as he is, or maybe now was, known on tour) go from top 10 to leading from start to finish in Korea?

As you can see here it’s all about the winter training. 

Like many other competitors Alberto is a natural on the water, always known for his incredible early planing and smart tactics, plus at 194cm tall he’s built to race. This alone maybe enough to win a race, but taking an event win is a whole other matter. Alberto obviously decided at the end of the 2012 season to re-evaluate his training and take an even more serious look at exactly what he needed to do to win. In came more dedicated off water training, whilst on the water El Medano bay became THE slalom training ground with bouys, starts and many, many races held in all manner of conditions.

This wasn’t just some equipment tuning with a training partner, this was day in, day out, fully focussed racing on the water complimented with a completely structured, functional training programme off the water.

In short, putting the hours into a structured, focussed training plan has clearly worked wonders.

This begs the question, if more racers adopted an increasingly serious attitude to all aspects of their training could we see some further new faces at the top of the rankings? 

Just windsurfing isn’t enough anymore to win you need to be a true athlete, which obviously Alberto has come to realise. Who else could be at the top if they followed in his footsteps? Did the lighter winds of Korea play into Alberto’s hands, or was it a fluke win? Will Antoine and Bjorn reign supreme as the season continues?

Who do you think has the talent and determination to make it onto the podium in 2013?

And which riders have the potential but need to take a closer look at exactly how to make it to the top?

Share your views in the comments below!

Next time Boardseeker will take a look at how the 2013 PWA Wave tour is shaping up and how a whole host of new events could really shake things up at the top. 

Being on the road as a pro windsurfer can, to many people, seem like the dream life. And in some occasions it is, but before the reward, there is really hard work. And before you can get to enjoy amazing conditions somewhere out there in the world, there is all of the work you put in to make a trip happen, be it for a travel story or a world cup!

As many know, during the European summer, the world cup season is at its high, and I have taken out a week in August when making the trip down to the town of Alacati in Turkey where the warm weather and constant make it a perfect place for a sport like windsurfing.

The story begins back in Copenhagen a couple of weeks earlier. I am sending out emails to friends from the tour to hear about going down to Turkey about five days before the event to get used to the conditions there. Some days later, we are a group, and through contacts that we have gotten over the years we are lucky to find a place that can accommodate all of us at the same time.

I remember just having gotten some new sails and boards in, and I decided to pack all of it. The main sponsor for the event is an airline and we have an amazing equipment deal through them, so I don’t think too much about what I am packing, everything goes in the bags; five windsurf bags and two normal bags later, I am ready to fly the friendly skies. In the summertime I base myself out of Copenhagen as I have a great set-up there and it‘s easy to fly around Europe.

Bags in airport

Not long after I hit the airport terminal, I am already in the air and ready to take on this new trip which will be a mixture of good friends, good times, good food and of course lots of fun racing! For events like this, it is very rare that I travel with others as no-one else usually flies out of Copenhagen, so the first bit is always a bit quite before hooking up with the rest of the boys. A nice little quite time is good before hopping on to the windsurfing bonanza of world cup for a whole week.

Flying high

Today the destination is Izmir, the closest airport to Alacati, unfortunately there is a stop in Istanbul along the way, but it will give you just enough time for some Turkish coffee and sweets before taking the last flight down to Izmir. After exiting the flight and making it down to baggage claim, I am met with a big pile of equipment, which means one of the boys made it here before me. It was Finian Maynard who had beaten me in bringing the most amount of bags by far. He had built himself a small fortress in the arrivals hall and was waiting for the rest of us. We were all flying in within a couple of hours of each other. The next person I see at the baggage claim is Peter Volwater who, like me, has not gotten his bags yet. It usually takes a little while at this airport so we join Finian on the floor for a bit of chilling out. It will be a while before our bags and the other guys arrive, so there is nothing to do other than to just relax for a little while.

Pile of bags

Turkey is great at this time of year but it is also amazingly hot and I remember us talking about the wall of heat which will be hitting us once we hit the airport curb outside the doors.
After a while we see our equipment coming out and we give the airport staff a little hand dragging the heavy bags out. By the time we had dragged out our bags, Gonzalo had arrive together with Marco Lang, and we were now just one guy short of being ready to leave for Alacati.

After some more time of chilling and a little coffee session we were now ready to leave the airport. We had arranged a big truck to come for our gear and a mini bus to bring us all into town.

Packing up the truck

About an hour later, we are at our hotel and we finish of this crazy day with a round of cold  beers. May the week begin!

View from the hotel

The first order of business when you wake up on a morning like this, is to try and find your space to set up for the week. So even though it’s early we all head down to the beach and try to set up our equipment somewhere for the whole period of time we are there. After some heavy dragging and carrying, we are all set and it’s lunchtime. Once you are set up, things are easier really. You have much less stress. You are already there, your equipment is set up, and now is finally the time where the fun can begin: you can start hitting the water.

The next couple of days, there were really just one objective, to spend as much time on the water as possible. We had been joined by some of the French guys who had decided to come down earlier as well, so there were lots of guys on the water, and as the days progressed, more guys showed up. It is fairly normal that most guys show up a couple days before an event starts.
Most of the time we tested out our bigger equipment making sure that it working out in the marginal conditions, which we compete in sometimes. Especially at this spot, it is not unusual to do many races on the biggest equipment we have.

We also managed to squeeze in a Fanatic boards presentation with the whole racing team and the Turkish distributor as we had just gotten the new 2013 slalom boards, so everybody were pretty excited.

Preparing the big sail

The evenings are spent, either at our hotel eating dinner and hanging out, or at one of the local restaurants. I simply love the food here, and it’s incredible how much it boosts my motivation having amazing food. Everything from breakfast to dinner. After a couple of nights, we found a place really close by with great food, so we eventually ended up just spending the evenings there, before heading back to the hotel for some computer work, emailing, organizing etc.

I must note that at this time, I had not gotten myself out of here first as I was thinking of spending a couple of days more sailing here before going back to Denmark. Next stop for me was the Danish championships and with great sailing here, I was trying to organize getting into Denmark just a day or two before the next event!

The inevitable day came and we were now to compete. This first day always bring great excitement. Gonzalo and I were sharing an equipment tent, and we had it top tuned and organized for the first day. It was really just like a windsurfing center. Just grab a rig, downhaul and go. This brings great peace of mind, so we were pretty chilled on the first day.

Chilling out at beach

After a couple of days, the competition was really on a high. It was getting close to the weekend, and more and more people were turning up on the beach to check out the action. I had had some good races during the week and was fairly happy with the level I was keeping.

View from the beach

In the morning, while I was taking my rigs down to the beach, I saw someone’s sails flying around by the beach thinking “amateurs”. By the time I got to the beach I realized that it was actually my 6,2 and 7,0, which had been taking a tumble through tents and stands, and my 6,2 was damaged. Instead of having a quite morning, I now had to drag the 6,2 back to my tent to repair it. It all worked out well though, and the sail was back on the beach after a short little while.

Carrying sail down

This year, like the previous year brought lots of wind, but also very shifty wind, so I had everything from 6,2 to 9,5 on the beach ready to go. It was all in all just amazing racing. The atmosphere here is really relaxed on the beach which also gives you a relaxed feeling out on the water.

When the days are done, even the crew will hit the water for a blast around the bay.

Racing from above

Proffitt rigging my sail

More people had now found their way to our usual evening spot, and before we knew it, it was the chocolate brownie heaven, and boy were they good! I like it when the boys get around for a little bit in the evening just to talk about the day and the experiences out there before going back to bed and recharging for a new day.

Brownie time

The last two days of the event were a bit more funky wind wise, so there was time to mess around on the water, take some pics and just generally keep it cool on the beach and stay out of the scorching sun. During events, there can be lots of downtime. When you first start doing events, you tend to stress out a bit, but after a while you become a champion chill-out master being able to sit anything out, and this is what we do every now and then. I spent this extra time talking with some of the other guys about staying here some days longer and finally got to the decision that I would not be leaving after the last day of racing.

Gybing mast cam

The last day of racing is always a bit crazy. We race, and then we pack up getting ready to leave the place. There was lots of stuff to pack up, and as I now had decided to stay longer, I decided to divide up my bags a bit, and keep only a little bit of my equipment, and send the rest home with some of the Danish boys who had decided to come down for the racing also.

This is not an easy process. Gonzalo and myself had made a quite extensive mess during the week. Slowly and sweaty things were coming along, and after a good hour or two the gear was packed, and it was now time to end this day with a beer with the boys.

Beer time

The day after I decided to go for a little exploring up the beach with my buddy Sean O’brien and more friends, and we found some pretty amazing places which definitely are worth checking out. Its amazing how you keep finding places that take you by surprise. The first part of the day was spent chilling, swimming and playing beach tennis here before going back for an afternoon sailing session when the wind had finally picked up.

Hidden coast

Cruising gang

We once more finished off the day with a session at the local place with talks about what was about to happen the day after. Apparently a long distance race was being organised, so we decided to try it out. The next day we signed up for the race, but realized it would be a little hard for us to win, as there would be guys racing on formula gear, and the first half of the race was upwind…hmmm… we still decided to do it. Hours and hours later I was back on shore, and I had no idea what place I had come in at, but it didn’t really matter. It was a nice little race, and I headed back out on the water for a testing and tuning session with Gonzalo and Ben Van Der Steen who also had decided to stay

Time was slowly running out. There was only another day left of sailing before I would head back to Denmark. I of course spent the day on the water testing out the new Fanatic boards and doing some filming with Sean. It was just another amazing day here at Alacati. In the evening we went for one last dinner at our spot, and the next morning we were all out of there. I met Sean in Istanbul where we spent some hours together before going our separate ways.

Interneting with Sean

The day after I was in the car with my friends on my way to the Danish championships, and so it continues for the rest of the season. The summer time is packed, and its not unusual that the schedule will be like this for a long time before having some downtime. None the less, like any other trip, this was an amazing one, and I was happy to be able to make it down to Alacati for this stop of the world tour, and hope that I will be able to return to this and all other spots in my future time.

Driving off

Although still not confirmed and not on the calendar PWA Vietnam still remains a possibility for the freestylers, this would create a much wanted 5th stop on their World Tour.

Check out all the proposed stops and dates below…

Ben van der Steen

Name: Ben van der Steen

Sail number: NED57

Disciplines: Slalom, Speed, Formula.

Best results: 3rd in PWA 2012, IFCA World Champion 2009

Sponsors: Gaastra, Starboard  Mystic, Different.

What made you decide to change for 2013?

It’s been great racing on the Lofts but the negotiations didn’t run smoothly and it was time for change. I was looking for a bit more off a long term thing to really work with a brand without the stress at the end of the season and with Gaastra we found a solution for a longer term agreement together with very good sails and this is the way to continue for me.

What new companies are supporting you, and how did their support come about?

Starboard with the windsurfing boards after a good season in 2011 they took me up in the team for racing and for R&D.

Gaastra with windsurfing sails booms and mast after two good years of solid results they picked me up into the team to race alongside Ross and I will work with the guys on the racing designs.

Mystic with wetsuits harnesses and all accessories; I have been with them for more then five years now and I really like what they stand for and their vision on the sports they support.

Different with sunglasses; I am currently working with them on my own model which will come out soon and will be something that’s never been done before

Ben van der Steen

Ben van der Steen

What are you plans for 2013?

Of course I will be doing the whole PWA slalom tour and some GPS speed where I can and maybe Luderitz if it looks like it will happen. I will be doing some clinics around Europe as well to help people with their rigging and sailing skills. Apart from that I am sure I will go to some promo events and visit some places and some shops here and there.

What equipment will you be using and why?

The Starboard 90 107 127 iSonic 2013 I will be

in the waves.

registering for PWA as these are the boards I like the most for my personal sailing style. For speed I have the speed-specials 49 and 44, also I have the formula 167 and for some wave riding the nuEVO 93 and KodeWave82. I will have the full quiver of the Gaastra Vapor for racing and speed and have a couple off the power wave Poison wave sails.

What are you goals for competition this year?

The goal with competition should be to win ! So I will do my very best on the racecourse!! The goal is at least the same as 2012 or better.

Ben van der Steen, sky high on Gaastra.

The final video of the day comes from La Graviere, Hossegor. Looks like Santa was spotted scoring some sweet tubes on Christmas day, we can only assume he was celebrating after successfully delivering all the presents the previous night!

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Well we certainly hope that you all had a very merry Christmas and are looking forward to the 2013. Plenty in the pipeline today, including an announcement about our popular daily news service. To bring you better options we will be trialling individual posts per news item when we kick off in January. You will be able to see straight away on the homepage what interests you and read more with a simple click. We like the idea and hope you will as well. Leave us your thoughts in the comments below.

Video number one for this morning then. Frozen winters are settling in for many within the European realms, for some it is an opportunity to crack away the ice and visit new locations. Well for this duo, it’s more about finding that different location within the ice itself…

Up next, if you are in to your freeride then you will most certainly be in to this nice cruise.

Now for something a little more exciting, the Black Box, Danny Bruch’s baby has been turning a few heads as he really pulls the surfboard concept into the shaping room with this – The Starboard Black Box.

The last of the videos drops in from France. Check out the river sailing on the Rhone, although it is worth bearing in mind that it is almost two minutes until any windsurfing action…

Just to wrap up, a couple of news posts. The first comes from the PWA who have caught up with the pros to give you their best tips in achieving the flaka. Read it here.

Lastly, here is a bit of humorous Christmas cheer from team Fanatic/North, including 5 times World Champion Gollito Estredo.

Name: Iballa Ruano Moreno

Date of Birth: 1/December/1977

Born in: Gran Canaria

Currently living: Gran Canaria

Sponsors: Roxy, Starboard, Severne, Baker &Mckenzie, VW Comerciales, Flying Objects

Disciplines: Wave

Top results: 5 times world champion

Nicknames: Princess Ib

Describe your style on the water: Fluid

Describe yourself off the water: Open minded, friend of my friends and funny

Favourite spot: Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Tenerife

Current favourite board and sail:  70L Starboard QUAD and 4,2 Severne Blade

Iballa Moreno

at home

Best memory from 2012:

Being able to organise the world cup in GC and save the event together with my sister and our club Morenotwins…..

in Pozo,

Gran Canaria

What do you think helped you win the title? Training all year in different conditions. Also when there was no wind, I did a lots of training with my Stand Up Paddle board.

How did you celebrate? We had a little celebration on our birthday recently

What are your plans for the winter? Staying around the islands for surf and windsurfing….keep training

Who do you admire the most on and off the water? My sister Daida for being a champion in the water and off the water!!! Life give us hard times but only you can make it change and go through it…So I’m thankful she is doing well now and has recovered.

What are your strengths and weaknesses? My strengths are the surfing and weaknesses jumping probably…I would like to learn some new jumps!

What skills would you like to have from another competitor?  Daida´s jumps

Image credits PWA/John Carter

Iballa, with her sister Daida.

Wavesailing competition is run on a fairly simple format; there is a timed heat and you are scored on your best specified number of wave rides and jumps. However a lot of factors go into determining how a competition is run and judged. Boards is joined by head PWA and Red Bull Storm Chase judge, Duncan Coombes, who gives his low down on everything from what moves could land you an amateur title through to exactly how they score the top pros.

The running of a wave competition is not quite as simple as some may think. It’s a juggling act, with many constantly changing variables and tricky decisions to make. We have to decide when the conditions are good enough to run, then how long a heat is, plus how many waves and jumps are counting.

Swell period is probably the most significant factor because it tells us how much swell we’re likely to get; therefore, indicating how many waves riders can get

We have to look at the forecasts in depth of course, the swell period probably being the most significant factor because it tells us how much swell we’re likely to get; therefore, indicating how many waves riders can get and the heat length we need to run. For instance, in Cape Verde you could have a 17 second period swell; which means if we ran a 10 minute heat, riders may not be able to get any waves.

Wind strength and how many riders are on the water are also factors to remember. If we’re doing heats with just waves to count and there’s four guys all needing to get a wave when a set comes through, but the set only brings through three waves, we would have to make the heat longer to make sure they all have an equal chance of getting waves.

Waves and jumps have equal significance within the scores; this means that even if it’s two waves and one jump, the jumping is as important. We work this out by using a factor; for example, if it’s two waves and one jump to count, we multiply the jump score by two so that it counts for the same as the jumps.

The maximum score for a wave or jump is 12 points. We don’t give out many 12s, it has to be an extremely well executed complex jump or a wave ride that combines very technical riding and tricks on the critical section of a wave to warrant a score like this.

It’s generally the top eight or so riders on the PWA which are clocking up scores anywhere near the 12 mark. These riders are doing one hand or one foot back loops, quite high. Double forwards, tweaked push loop table tops and push loop forwards. Doing these well, plus super high stalled and one footed forwards, seems to be what the riders need to do to break into the top.

Not every jump landed in a heat counts, only your best ones, and the same jump cannot be counted twice. For example, a one foot/hand forward counts as a forward; so if you did a forward and then a one footed forward, only the best one of these would count. They are just variations on the same move, not different moves.

Whilst I appreciate many of you want to see crazy jumps and the riders going for broke, in my mind expression sessions are the time for people to go big and try and win the money.

It is when a jump turns into a combination move i.e. a pushloop forward, this counts as a separate jump. Combination jumps are the jumps with the highest degree of difficulty, with push forward being the highest scoring jumps at the moment, when they are executed well. To me a clean double would score around 10 points, a few of the judges sometimes go above 10, but that’s my bench mark because if someone then lands a bone dry push forward, which should be about two points more, I wouldn’t be able to score this appropriately. I’m think it was some of Koester’s stalled, full planing doubles that got 11 from a couple of the other judges.

Whilst I appreciate many of you want to see crazy jumps and the riders going for broke, in my mind expression sessions are the time for people to go big and try and win the money. In a contest we are mainly looking for control, it’s the same if you look at gymnastics or diving. We bear in mind the difficulty of the jump, but we really need to see it landed cleanly and that’s what you get maximum points for. We don’t really want to see crashed stuff, it might look more radical but we’re looking for control at the top level.

Of course, we all want to see a triple forward, and I don’t think it will be long before we see one from Ricardo Campello and Philip Koster; however, I do think it is hard for them to do in a heat, particularly when they’re competing for a World Title.

In terms of waveriding, we are specifically looking for a vertical approach to the lip of the wave. The more vertical you are, the more committed you are to the turn; therefore the higher the wave scores. The more severe the turn, the more spray is pushed up too, which we like.

The more severe the turn, the more spray is pushed up too, which we like.
Another guideline is we do not want straight down the line aerials, i.e. a gayrial!

Another guideline is we do not want straight down the line aerials, i.e. a gayrial! To score well for aerials we have to see a bottom turn, a vertical smack on the lip and the rider being launched from this. One-handed manoeuvres on a wave, such as an aerial will increase the score, as will wave selection. Picking up the biggest wave in the set requires patience and skill, and is rewarded.

Whilst wave tricks are becoming more dominant, in Tenerife this year Scott McKercher got through just on solid wave riding. If someone can ride with the same severity, and throw up buckets of spray, they’re still in with a chance but I think to break into the top eight without the whole new arsenal of tricks is almost impossible.

But, how does this compare with the British amateur side of competition? First of all, obviously, we are not expecting or looking for anyone in this fleet to be trying triples or even doubles. We are looking for solid jumping, the current top amateurs are fairly high levels so we are seeing stalled forwards, back loops and push loops, which can score up to around seven points.

If you can land a back or pushloop, and a forward, I would say you stand quite a good chance of advancing into a semi final. And that should be the goal; to be doing these on both tacks, for most amateurs. A lot of the time though I only ask for one jump from the amateurs, so a decent forward could see you advancing through a few rounds.

My first bit of advice, if you are going to compete, would be to start with what you know you can do, before you try something new or risky. You’re better off landing something that you’re competent at, rather than crashing; because you don’t get points for crashing!

However, with jumps the most important thing we’re looking for is full rotation; so if at the end a foot or hand slips, you go into the water but waterstart fairly quickly, then that’s generally recognised as being fairly close to that jump. This would generally score no more that four and a half points.

Competition is not easy straight away, it will take some time to understand how heats work but at the same time contest sailing will improve your riding and jumping a lot. The hardest thing is making the decision to just do it! Then if you can remember to keep calm in your heat, know who your competitor is and always check the notice board to know what heat you’re going in, you are sure to put in a good performance. Also, always remember to warm up, have some spare gear ready and start upwind!