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VIDEO: Tonky Frans 2013 Kit Review

Editor — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:03:28 +0000

Tonk Frans recently spent a few weeks in Tarifa and whilst he was there he hooked up with DSPromotions. DSP are already well known in the windsurfing world for their work with Davy Scheffers, now fellow Tabou/Gaastra rider Tonky has a new video of his own, check out his round up of his 2013 gear as well as some classic Tonky style, humour and big floaty air time.

Tenerife Boost Clinic with Mussolini

Editor — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:57:14 +0000

You will have to think fast on this one as there are not many places left. Alex Mussolini is offering up the last spaces on his Boost 360 clinic in conjunction with Tenerife Windsurf Solutions. Taking place on the 27th-31st May it is only just around the corner. Perfect for anyone craving a windsurf fix after this long winter that Europe has experienced. At just €600 it is also a steal to receive coaching for 5 days from this world class wave sailor. If you are flexible on your dates and fancy staying a little longer then flights are looking sub £200 return from London.

You’ll find all the details on the poster below and be sure to email info@tws-windsurf.com to reserve your space or find out more details.

Want to see Alex in action, here is his latest video of him shredding in Tenerife!

VIDEO: Around The Table

Editor — Tue, 07 May 2013 10:58:19 +0000

Around The Table is the latest edit from Jamie Hancock about his time in Cape Town with Tabou/Gaastra team riders Phil Horrocks, Ross Williams and Alex Mussolini. They naturally scored a whole range of conditions and for those who are following Jamie Hancock’s blog you will know exactly what we are talking about. Judging by the video it was a nuclear winter and as per usual Jamie pulls out a real quality edit with some real nice shots, check it out.

with Jamie Hancock, Jack Hunt and Alfie Hart

Amy Carter - Editor — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:03:41 +0000

The latest Boardseeker podcast, filmed and produced by Alfie Hart.

PWA Korea Event Preview

Editor — Thu, 02 May 2013 15:45:39 +0000

The official PWA event preview has been released, read all about what is in store below as we head into the first stage of the PWA Slalom Tour.

Event Preview: Prepare for adrenaline-fueled slalom as the PWA returns to South Korea

Between the 4th to the 10th May the opening slalom event of the year will see the fastest sailors in the world heading to South Korea’s famed Jinha beach, which is situated just half an hours drive from the bustling metropolitan city of Ulsan.

Jinha beach has quickly earned itself the reputation of being the top windsurfing destination in the country, due to it’s beautiful white sand beaches and reliable trade winds, which blow consistently between May and June. South Korea often proves to be one of the most challenging stops on the tour, which guarantees an enthralling week of warp speed slalom. Expect tempers to flare as the sailors try to take the highs with the lows.

What’s the Deal?

Seven days of fully charged slalom as the fastest sailors in the world go head-to-head in the opening slalom event of the year, as they battle it out for those crucial early season world tour points.

Ones to Watch

Men

After a long winter break it’s going to be interesting to see if anyone can break the old rearguard consisting of the reining world champion Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and his arch nemesis Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Dunkerbeck Eyewear / Chris Benz) who have dominated the slalom scene in recent seasons. Dunkerbeck will be looking to exact revenge against his biggest rival, after Albeau snatched the world title from beneath the terminator’s nose in the final event of 2012.

Micah Buzianis (JP / Maui Sails) enjoyed a fantastic season in 2012 as he returned to the overall podium for the first time since 2007. The American will hold fond memories of South Korea having claimed victory here last year and he’ll be hoping he can replicate the same form again over the coming week. Buzianis has a wealth of experience and is one of the best starters on the tour, so he’ll certainly be in the thick of the action.

Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) showed his true potential over the duration of last season. Not only did Quentel demonstrate that he is one of the quickest sailors on the tour, but he also showed the level of consistency that is needed to challenge for top honors. The man from Saint Maarten enjoyed his best year to date in 2012 – claiming fourth – and he’ll now be looking to earn himself a place on the coveted podium.

After completing his winter move to Gaastra it’s going to be interesting to see how Ben van der Steen (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic / Different) performs in the first event of the year. The flying Dutchman is without doubt one the quickest and most talented sailors on the tour, and he’ll be looking to combine his straight line speed with fully planing gybes to claim a place in the top three by the end of the week.

Josh Angulo returned to Gun Sails during the close season, after his well publicized split from them in 2011. Angulo has finished in the overall top ten for the previous two years and we see no reason for this to change. Having finished ninth in 2011 and sixth for 2012, the two times PWA wave world champion will be hoping to continue his trend of moving onwards and upwards as he goes in quest of a third world crown.

Other sailors who will all be vying for a place in the top ten come the end of the week include the ever consistent Jimmy Diaz (Starboard / North), who tends to revel in the challenging conditions that the Sea of Japan produces. France’s fiery Frenchman, Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne / Mystic) made a slow start to the season last year, but if he can show the sort of form he produced at the backend of last year, he’ll certainly be challenging for the top spots. Peter Volwater (Fanatic / Avanti) is one of the most competitive sailors on the tour and he’ll be hoping to replicate the form which saw him finish eight last season. Also the trio of Australia’s Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne), Spain’s Ludovic Jossin (Patrik / Loft Sails) and Itlay’s Alberto Menegatti (Starboard / Point-7) will all be battling it out to force their way into an extremely competitive top ten.

The main name of note missing from the men’s fleet will be Britain’s Ross Williams (Tabou / Gaastra), who finished third here last year whilst claiming seventh place overall. Williams suffered a fractured Talus (ankle bone) at the end of March, and unfortunately South Korea has come a little too soon for Williams to be able to make the inaugural slalom event of 2013.

Finally there will be a whole host of Korean and Asian sailors who have the potential to cause an upset. With their extra inside knowledge about the local conditions, there’s certainly going to be no easy races at this event.

Women

All eyes will be on the reigning world champion, Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou / Gaastra / Mystic), the French star usually excels in the challenging conditions of South Korea, which is further demonstrated by the fact she has won here for the past two seasons. Arrighetti will be determined to complete an illustrious hat-trick of event wins.

Karin Jaggi (Patrik / Severne) came as close as you can to winning the world title as she finished on equal points with Arrighetti in 2012. The Swiss Gem will be looking to exact revenge on her fierce rival. Jaggi is renowned for her outstanding top speed and silky smooth gybes, which make her a serious contender for the not just the title in South Korea, but also for the overall crown.

Lena Erdil (Patrik / Loft Sails / AL360 / Mystic) created windsurfing history last year as she became the first Turkish lady to finish in the top three overall. With an ever improving skill set and the ambition to match, Erdil will be looking to break into the illustrious top two.

Also in contention will be the youthful talent of Delphine Cousin (JP / NeilPryde). The twenty-one year old demonstrated last season her fantastically timed starts time and time again. With a little more composure over the remainder of the course Cousin could easily be challenging for podium honors come the end of the week. Finally Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Loft Sails) and Marion Mortefon (Starboard / Severne) will be hoping that they can break into the top five and above.

Due to her studying commitments the 2011 PWA Slalom world champion, Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins / Chris Benz) will unfortunately be missing from the women’s fleet, which leaves the door wide open for the rest of the women to take full advantage of her absence.

The first instalment of the PWA Slalom World Tour is just days away, so all that’s left for you to do is sit back, relax and enjoy seven days of warp speed slalom. Expect to see tempers flare as the best men and women in the world look to get off to a winning start. The PWA is also proud to announce that you’ll be able to watch the adrenaline fuelled action unfold as it happens via our live stream, which is available on the PWA TV player at www.pwaworldtour.com

Phil Horrocks Takes on Rhosneigr in 58 knots

Amy Carter - Editor — Wed, 01 May 2013 12:26:42 +0000

On the 17th April, Phil Horrocks travelled to his local break of Rhosneigr for an incredible session in storm force wind and waves. Boardseeker catches up with the man himself to find out more about the eventful day…

This forecast was pretty well predicted a fair way in advance, in fact it came off the back of a few windy days before so i had been sailing a fair bit and was into the groove. But I didn’t expect it to come through that strong!

Normally when it blows strong in Rhossy it gets to 3.7m weather, but it is still quite manageable, this day it was at a whole other level; the wind was so strong it was chopping up the waves and making it super hard to keep the thing on the water.

One of the pilots from the neighboring RAF valley gave a phone call through to the weather tower where they were reading a steady 58 knots whilst we were sailing. That’s pretty scary windy! It’s not like the Canaries where it’s warmer and some how softer, this was a full blown cold wind storm!

Because the day before had been a classic 4.7 day, wall to wall sunshine, and would have been great for filming, I decided that today, with the odd ray of sunshine at my house 30 minutes away would be the same. I somehow managed to talk my girlfriend Maike into coming with me, I said, it’ll be just like Cape Town (!!!) where she’s done sterling jobs behind the lens on many occasions before. I advised her to wrap warm as you never know with British weather and so on….. Knowing full well there was a front pushing nearly 60 knots ahead of it!! Add to that the fact that she is six and a half months pregnant and has a stomach like a bowling ball, needs a bathroom every 10 minutes and had to negotiate my way out of antenatal classes for that evening, I thought I did a pretty good job to get any footage at all!!

The sailing was hard work, you know it’s strong when the seaweed is blowing along the beach. I rigged my Gaastra Manic 3.7 and my Tabou Pocket Wave 75, that was the smallest gear I had; the sail felt pretty good in the hands despite the fact that I was getting my arms pulled off! I could always point it where I wanted it to go, I just couldn’t always sheet in with it! It’s rare but days like this is when I need a 3.3! Every jump and piece of white water I found myself unhooking and quickly my forearms got pumped, add to that a few bottom turns and I had arms like Popeye in no time!

On the way to Rhosneigr... Maike loving the conditions! Phil Horrocks Phil Horrocks Phil Horrocks Phil Horrocks Phil Horrocks Phil Horrocks

I couldn’t really do too much, there were some big backloops but even they are super tricky, you pass through the apex of the wind and there is still bags of pressure in the sail, so you accelerate down towards the water and the landing has to be spot on or it’s an explosion!

I managed to squeeze in a few pushloop tables but the thought of going over the front into a forward was too much; no way!! I think if you go for it like that everything has to be perfect, otherwise you sheet in and anything could happen!

If nothing else it was good practise ahead of the first rounds of the UK tour in May, it’s unlikely but you never know we may get something like that for the event here, how crazy would that be! After Rhosneigr it’s Ireland and as we’ve seen before anything can happen there.

See you all there! Phil

As always Boardseeker will be providing you with podcasts from all of the BWA events, thanks to our film maker Alfie Hart, so stay tuned to Boardseeker for all the latest footage. You can also keep up to date with more info on the BWA on our sister site www.boards.co.uk and the BWA website here.

VIDEO: ZUSHI Freestyle PRO/AM

Editor — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:06:23 +0000

Recently the Zushi PRO/AM freestyle contest came to its conclusion in Japan. They scored perfect wind with gusts up to 33 knots and there was certainly a lot of action throughout the day. Check out the incredibly high quality video below, featuring many of the big names in Japan right now as well as a lot of new faces. In the end the winner was Yuma Kobayashi (J-100) who, by the looks of it, was sailing on a pretty high level. We hope to see some of these guys on the PWA Tour this year…

VIDEO: On Board with Ben Van Der Steen

Editor — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:42:21 +0000

Tarifa has certainly been making the headlines this winter and now more comes from the slalom guys who were training out there. In particular, Ben Van Der Steen who spent over a month there tuning and preparing for this years PWA. Here is a ‘trailer’ from him for an upcoming movie. The four minute clip sees us on board with Ben for most of the video, so strap in and get ready to feel the speed.

VIDEO: Outage with Markus Caspari

Editor — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:34:48 +0000

A nice quality clip from Markus Caspari who spent some of his winter in Cape Town. Some different angles to the norm which certainly makes it worth a watch and if you’ve ever considered going there but where a little unsure about the wave height then it is also nice to see that the waves don’t always get massive.

VIDEO: Tonky and Sarah Quita in Lanzarote

Editor — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:33:21 +0000

Sarah Quita Offringa recently hooked up with Tonky Frans for a couple of weeks training in Lanzarote. Lucky for us there was someone on the beach filming for a short while and they produced this clip which includes one hell of a Pasko from Tonky and a sweet culo from SQ. Check it out and let us know who you think will win the first event on the PWA this year?

VIDEO: Pont des Basses

Editor — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:25:10 +0000

We often see videos from Fred Bonet about the locations around his home-spot, each one seems to get a little better than the last. This is no different from that theme and captures some great moves from a nice session on Sunday 14th April.

VIDEO: Pacasymo Backy Mount Action

Editor — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:41:47 +0000

Andrea Levorin recently made the trip to Peru to visit the incredible down the line spot that is Pacasymo. In his suitcase was one of the trust K4 Backy Mounts and here is the first video he has made of a nice easy float and ride session.

VIDEO: A Place Where The Wind Lives

Editor — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:58:37 +0000

Egyptian windsurfer Mohamed abu Aid has found a place where the wind lives, that place is the spot that is known as Blue Lagoon. Initially discovered a couple of years ago the spot offers a paradise for freestyle windsurfers. This fast radical cut by Ivan Propretinskiy shows not only what this windsurfing location is all about but also the radical style that Mohamed has developed.

VIDEO: Supertubes Wave Share Fail

Editor — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:23:06 +0000

Jamie Hancock and Timo Mullen had a session at Supertubes in Kimmeridge recently. Getting into a wave share situation they managed to reel down the line smacking one turn after another until a small miscalculation resulted in what Jamie describes as a fail. Yep we’d agree with that one, nice clip and watch out if you find yourselves also sharing waves.

VIDEO – Pascal Toselli in Tenerife by BJ Productions

Editor — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:21:15 +0000

Bartek Jankowski has strayed away from the norm with this edit. His usual fast and furious wave and freestyle cuts have stepped aside and the door has been opened to slalom. A change of pace in the music and the usual high quality filming means that this next video sits right up there with the rest. For those following slalom on the PWA this year, it looks like French born Tabou team rider Pascal is going to be one to watch with perfect starts and a strong technique, he could well be first out the blocks on every race and pushing hard to be well above his 15th overall finish from last year. For those that like waves, well there is still a few clips in there including the lifestyle that surrounds the team who are currently living and training on Tenerife. Oh and yes that is him on his slalom gear in out headline image…

VIDEO: Sal Sodade, Cabo Verde

Editor — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:10:10 +0000

The islands of Cabo Verde have received their fair share of visitors this year and by the looks of it their fair share of swells as well. Pumping over mast barrels combined with 20 knots of wind makes this truly one of the best down the line spots for windsurfers in the world. We, at boardseeker, would love to see the PWA return there now Live Stream is on at all events and Live Scoring is on it’s way. How about you? Leave your thoughts below.

Apologies for the low ‘qual’ screen grab for any of you that came from facebook but it’s not every day we see someone about to get barrelled on a windsurfer…