CATEGORIES

Powellin' Around

Lake Powell is the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States, situated on the border between Utah and Arizona… and completely offradar for windsurfing! Kevin Pritchard gets his redneck boots on for a sideways look at its beautiful scenery.

Pol - 1111

Justyna Sniady has become one of the world’s best women wave sailors despite being born in Warsaw, Poland, working a full time job and breaking 15 bones over years of trying to make it to the top. Her journey is an unconventional one, but testament to her strength of character and passion for windsurfing. Finn Mullen and John Carter caught up with the talented Polish sailor to find our more about her success.

Jack Of All Trades And Master Of One

Are You Better Off For Having Not Windsurfed From The Cradle? Harty Champions ‘Generalism’.

Fuerte' Or Bust

With three days to complete a photo shoot and a last minute diversion across continents, Geraldton based photographer / fireman, Mathias Moerman, charts how a mission to capture Severne’s team and 2020 product in action turned into love at first sight with the island of Fuerteventura.

ITA - 2111

Francesca Floris, ITA-2111, is an insiprational Italian windsurfer who doesn’t let age get in the way of ability. In her late fifties she competed earlier this year in the PWA freestyle event in Bonaire, winning heats and finishing a very respectable 6th place overall. She gives us an insight into her life and how she started freestyling at 47!

Chasing The Dream

Ricardo Campello, V-111, has been chasing his dream of becoming PWA overall wave champion for many years now. Last year in Sylt he came agonizingly close to winning the title but lost in a super final to Thomas Traversa in tricky conditions. In 2019 he started the year without a sail sponsor, but through his own resources managed to make an online appeal to find backing. After kicking off the season with an emphatic victory in Pozo, an event dominated by Philip Koester and Victor Fernandez for over a decade, is this the year when the gifted Venezuelan can finally fulfil his dreams? John Carter caught up with Ricardo to hear his thoughts on the title race and a whole lot more.

Front Hand Rules

Want to improve your windsurfing? Then start with your front hand says Sam Ross; he tells us why.

Freeride Foil Test

AFS W85 FOIL AND AHD TOPAZ 127 BOARDWEB WWW.KAISPORTS.CO.UK / WWW.AFS-FOILS.COM / WWW.AHD-BOARDS.COM PRICE FOIL: £1199 F-800 WING: £549 BOARD: £1499

Caribbean Travel Guide

If you’re looking for a windsurf holiday destination, somewhere with warm, windy turquoise waters and no-stress vibes is a pretty good place to start, and that’s exactly what the Caribbean specialises in. From the butter smooth waters of Bonaire to idyllic Tobago, find out more about some of the best destinations in the region with our Caribbean travel guide.

Back To The Future

Former PWA world wave champion Scott McKercher needs little introduction, but if you have been following his latest adventures, you’ll know that outside of running his board company ‘SMIK’, he’s been frothing on all things foiling. Read on as Scott charts his journey form reluctant foiling participant to fully fledged fan and why he thinks foiling’s evolution is happening at ‘back to the future’ speeds!

Are You Going Yet?

Whether you’re a racer, wave sailor, trickster or a strong wind ‘newbie’, the ability to get planing and strapped in early and without fuss remains the most potent of all the skills. Harty sheds much light.

All In

When Cloudbreak, one of the world’s heaviest waves, looks set to rock with wind and waves, you can be sure one man has his eye on sailing it – Jason Polakow. Teaming up with the Brazilian powerhouse, Marcilio Browne, the duo packed their bags for an ‘all in’ strike mission to the legendary Fijian break; this is their story.

Team Work

Behind every brand lies a team of dedicated specialists whose job it is to design and bring to market a range. John carter lifts the lid on the inner workings of northsails and the men behind the scenes that have kept them among the elite of the windsurfing industry for over twenty years and continue to fuel their reputation for innovation.

Slick Sticks

In days past slalom boards used to be precocious beasts, demanding constant attention and input from the rider, and if they caught you off guard for a moment, they would buck and spit until you relented.

South American Dreams

The vast continent of South America has long been the backdrop for adventures. Inspired by its coastline’s potential for windsurfing, young Italian sailor Federico Morisio hit the road with the International Windsurfing Tour to compete and fulfil his South American dreams.

Slick Sticks

In days past slalom boards used to be precocious beasts, demanding constant attention and input from the rider, and if they caught you off guard for a moment, they would buck and spit until you relented.

Wings Of Change The Great Foil Debate!

Foiling – are you in or out! It’s the debate that’s raging across our beaches. Judge John Carter presides over the hearing as an assembly of professional windsurfers voice their opinion on foiling, for and against!

Hit And Run

Kai Katchadourian has a long distance relationship with Cabo Verde. He prides himself on keeping his passion for Ponta Preta alive by fly in fly out strike missions for the best swells. He recounts one of his latest ventures on the island nation and the highs and lows of commuting from Northern Europe to Africa in search of wind and waves.

New School

Every sport needs it’s next generation to survive and windsurfing is no different. So how do we inspire and teach our sport to our children. Last year Polish uber-waterman Kuba Gasiewski introduced us to his radical new teaching technique in one of our most popular articles, ‘Child’s play’. Now, a year down the line, he reflects on its success and developments of his ‘New school’ program at ION CLUB Le Morne, Mauritius together with Timo Mullen and Ben Severne’s thoughts on Kuba’s innovative approach.

Charge Of The New Brigade

The cream of the crop, slalom boards are the elite racing machines of the windsurfing world, but does that make them challenging to sail? The test team reviewed a selection of the latest and fastest slalom boards on the market today with some very interesting results. Read on to find out their findings.

Fanatic Grip

Fanatic have a new all-in-one wave board for 2018, the Grip TE, we asked Fanatic Wave R&D Manager and PWA Pro Klaas Voget for the low-down!

Team15 Champions Cup

With entries open for the 2017 RYA UKWA National Windsurfing Championships at Grafham Water on 9-10 September, we take a look at how the Team15 Champions Cup is giving the event a slightly different flavour.

Solo Perouse

Located on the south side of Maui, La Perouse is one of the best waves on the island to surf or sail. Back in the 90’s it was the hot spot to windsurf during the summer months, but with the rapid increase in surfing’s popularity, it has been effectively shutdown for windsurfers for the last 15 years. With a huge south swell forecast however, Jason Polakow couldn’t resist the lure of a session there. Read on as Pozza tells us more in his inimitable style!

Alex Mussolini

Alex Mussolini is one of the best wavesailors in the world, a threat at every contest and continues to be a world title contender. Hailing from surf-starved Barcelona, he has had to earn his wavesailing credentials through hard work and dedication. One of the most passionate sailors on tour, he wears his heart very much on his sleeve and is vocal about the good and bad of life as a professional athlete and our sport is all the richer for his character and skills. John Skye finds out more from Alex about his life, loves and why “windsurfing is like a relationship.”

Cornish Cruncher

The equation of a twenty foot wind swell and bolt onshore fifty knot northerly winds on the north coast of Cornwall for wave sailing just doesn’t add up; unless of course you have a screw loose like the Motley Crew! Aided by Ian Black’s ever reliable on the spot ‘intel’, JC and Timo Mullen drove through the night up the A31 to be on hand for a wild and windy day and the rare opportunity to sail St Ives Harbour, a quality left hander normally loaded with surfers. Once the word spread that this hit and run mission was going down, PWA head judge, Duncan Coombs, couldn’t resist joining the mayhem. JC recounts a day to remember out west.

Action Replay

Successful athletes are renowned for being forward looking, positive people but hindsight is still used in their coaching for analysing replays to learn what they could and should have done better in the quest for improvement. John Carter corners a selection of the world’s best slalom competitors for a debrief on their training and technique; using his photos, they breakdown the shots and give their advice on speed, setup, stance and the all important gybe!

OZ - Search

Western-Australia isn’t the typical location that springs to mind for freestyle but with a huge coastline to explore and a variety of conditions, it’s an area primed for revelation. Severne teammates, Amado Vrieswijck and Dieter Van Der Eyken hit the road with searcher in chief, John Carter, on a mission to find new spots and reboot old ones in a freestyle frenzy.

Lucky Sixes!

Earlier this spring in Maui, the GA / Tabou team, along with infiltrator Timo Mullen, clocked into a surprise late season session at Jaws. The forecast medium sized swell by far exceeded expectations and late in the afternoon there was a golden hour, when the waves pumped over six metres and six lucky sailors scored a rare uncrowded session. John Carter and Graham Ezzy report on a lucky day at Pe’ahi.

JP Slate Pro 86

The Slate remains one of the more defined compact wave-board designs, challenging convention with its turn of speed and involving riding style. For those that like to tinker with fine-tuning and be challenged, the Slate will reward with bags of attitude around a break.

Aussie Rules!

Malcom Bonzer is a ‘true blue Aussie’ and guest ‘fake news’ reporter this issue on a very alternative type of windsurfing contest. Crass, crude and definitely not P.C., read on as Malcom tells us more with his tongue firmly bolted to his cheek.