CATEGORIES

Logging In

I am sitting in a tuk-tuk carelessly sneaking through the chaotic traffic of Colombo way faster and way more dangerously than it should be. All around me I pass by thousands of people looking busy with their everyday lives. Drivers, beggars, porters, passengers, policemen with white gloves, buddhist monks dressed in orange, schoolboys in uniform, street food sellers, and hordes of ordinary people just going somewhere. I wonder what they do all day. I wonder what their reality is like. I came to Sri Lanka to experience first hand the spirit of a country in which everyone these days seems to be interested in.

Endurance

A great shout erupts from the centre of fifty neoprene-clad people clustered on the dark banks of Loch Ness. The wind whips and pulls at the group of paddlers, all of whom are fortified by a dram of whisky, as the sound of Scottish bagpipes signifies the first grey light of dawn. With it, the true scale of Loch Ness stretches out before the challengers, as dark, ferocious gusts claw at the surface of the black water and bands of sleet and rain cut at bare flesh.

Le Morne-ing Of The Earth

After 11 hours in a stress position, otherwise known as coach class, Valentin Illichmann and I finally land in Mauritius. Flung out in the Indian Ocean some 800km offof Madagascar with only Reunion for company, its closest neighbour in the other direction is Australia (where interestingly they also drive on the left).

City To Sea

Lena Erdil and Kai Steimer switch plans with the caprice of the Sinop wind on a trip that takes them out of Istanbul and onto the Black Sea…

Between Storms

It’s deep winter. Boots, gloves and hood are ready to go..., but I have been very fortunate and grateful this year (thanks to some awesome support from my key sponsors ION, Fanatic SUP International and Nik Baker K66) to have not needed the aforementioned items – yet.

Redcar Wind Power

The northeast coast of England on its day has some of the best surfing and windsurfing conditions in the UK, but many of the spots are a closely guarded secret or off the beaten track. Redcar though is a well known windsurfing beach and its credentials as a windy spot not in doubt given the huge wind farm just offshore. John Carter, Timo Mullen and Steve Thorp fill us in on a recent Redcar session, one of the North Sea’s top windsurfing spots.

Two Big Onions!

This month Harty sings the praises of Tobago, a very special island.

The Spinny Gybe

It goes by many names, but the basic pivot gybe is not only a practical ‘get out of jail’ card, but also introduces technique elements that should take your regular carve gybing to another level. Harty elucidates.

Project Portugal

Always searching for the best conditions, ‘The Windsurf Project’ have been on the road again, this time destination Portugal and its wild west coast. Chasing an XXL swell and north winds were project stalwarts, Thomas Traversa and cameraman Jamie Hancock. John Carter got the last minute call to join them and gives us the lowdown on the mission.

Sardinia

Sardinia offers conditions for all levels of windsurfer and every sort of water state from waves to flat water, all served with a healthy slice of Italian style. RRD’s International Marketing & Team manager, Matteo Guazzoni, gives us a guide to the island and why it is a favoured base for their distributor meeting.

Redcar Wind Power

The northeast coast of England on its day has some of the best surfing and windsurfing conditions in the UK, but many of the spots are a closely guarded secret or off the beaten track. Redcar though is a well known windsurfing beach and its credentials as a windy spot not in doubt given the huge wind farm just offshore. John Carter, Timo Mullen and Steve Thorp fill us in on a recent Redcar session, one of the North Sea’s top windsurfing spots.

Northern Exposure

With the recent news that the magnetic north pole is on the move and speeding rapidly towards Russia, we’re taking the opportunity this issue to recalibrate our editorial ‘compass’ and review windsurfing’s northern latitudes.

Northern Lure

A land of rugged beauty with stunning seascapes and mountains, the beauty of Norway’s Lofoten Islands drew freestylers Adam Sims and Oda Johanne Brødholt north to explore its windsurfing. Adam and Oda report back on their adventures.

Deutschland Days

Maui born and bred, Graham Ezzy seems an unlikely transplant to Germany, but for part of year the Hawaiian swaps Ho’okipa for Hamburg and Pacific swells for North Sea surf. Graham reflects on his Deutschland days.

Hellenic Odyssey

Jono Dunnett continues to inspire with his epic journey round Europe. We join him this month as he recounts his passage along the Greek coast and onward to Turkey, where after much consideration his journey takes a pivotal step. Read on as Jono reflects on his winter travels.

Ice And Irony

Austrian freestyle pro Max Matissek always wanted to visit Iceland and windsurf amongst the icebergs. To make his dream a reality would not be easy though; a test of patience and an ironic twist to the tale, read on as Max tells us more about his mission.

2019 Mediterranean Travel Guide

Bordered by Europe, Asia, and Africa, the Mediterranean Sea's exotic waters are prime playgrounds for windsurfing, offering conditions from flat water to waves and catering for beginner to pro. Find your ideal Mediterranean getaway as we highlight some of the best spots with our micro guides and get expert advice from Sportif Travel and Planet Windsurf on their recommendations for the region.

Wave Board Tuning

I have previously highlighted how one of the ‘greyer’ areas of our sport is kit tuning. So as we welcome spring, I examine how to get the very best out of our wave boards, explaining what we can change to extract better performance across a range of conditions and levels. You can also refer back to previous pieces on tuning Freemoves and FSW’s for reflection and comparison.

Get Hooked On Windsurfing!

The RYA tell us more about their initiative to get more people hooked on the best sport in the world – windsurfing!

Freerace Sails Test

There is nothing quite like going flat out on a windsurfing board. It is very likely to be the reason most of you reading this were drawn to the sport in the first place. In the sport’s brief history, if you took a snapshot from any activity-focussed beach with a variety of watersports going on, it would always be the windsurfer that would grab the attention and limelight. Your eyes (and the cameras) naturally follow whatever is moving the fastest!

The New Dimensions Of Joyride

Fast freeride, freerace or blasting boards - call them what you will, the idea is to go as fast as possible, as easily as possible, no matter what the sea state. It is all about gaining maximum straight-line return for minimal rider input, flattering the rider and leave them buzzing from their session. Freerace was the natural progression when the freeride phenomenon took hold, bridging the gap between the passive freeride (read a propensity for ‘dullness’ in the eyes of experienced riders) and the downright terrifying in a slalom board.

Lauren O'dwyer-buckland Living With Arthritis

Living With Arthritis

Super Kai

It’s not that Kai Lenny needs no introduction, it’s where do you start. Universally accepted as the greatest all-round surf sport athlete on the planet right now, his talent transcends normal human performance. He holds multiple world champion SUP titles, has won a professional big wave surfing contest and is a former kitesurfing wave world vice-champion, not to mention the unofficial king of surf foiling. But windsurfing was what started Kai’s watersports career and to this day he still remains true to his roots and, as anybody who has seen him sail, is still able to give the best in the world more than a run for their money. Gifted, smart and articulate, Kai is a sponsor’s dream and has a list of blue-chip companies who support his class act. John Carter sits down with the affable Hawaiian to learn more about the secrets behind his skills and success.

Size Matters

The size of successful slalom sailors in the modern era has moved away from the giants of old. Advances in equipment have levelled the playing field and podium places are no longer the preserve of the ‘big guns’. We asked a selection of the world’s best slalom racers for their thoughts on body weights and if size really does still matter!

Footloose: Gybing Footwork

This month we look at footwork in the gybe. It is not as complex as you think and specific actions will make you light on your feet and put precision into your gybes. Get this phase right and the nirvana of either your first gybe exit, or even a planing gybe exit, is so much closer! The best news is you can really practice the footwork at slower speeds in light winds and on bigger boards.

Towards Salvation

For their eco-ride series “The Green Wave”, Carine and Manu and their two daughters went on a trip to document an inspiring new initiative: in the Chocó region of the Pacific coast of Colombia, surfing has become a form of therapy as a means to heal young kids’ traumas from often violent pasts. They discovered a project that goes right to the heart of the community. .

Test Reports - Step On

Of the many advantages that a sup surfer has over their prone brethren, one of the biggest and most fundamental is potential water time. You may live several hours from a breaking wave but unlike a prone surfer, time spent on flat water with your new board is not time wasted.

Paddle Science #13 Cold Exposure

Why are we so afraid of being cold? As creatures of habit we’ll always seek comfort over discomfort, a couple of pillows over none, hot tea rather than tepid coffee and a windproof jacket over a t-shirt. With internal heating, thermostats, Primaloft jackets, merino wool base layers and knitted hats and scarves to keep us warm, it’s hard to actually be cold these days. When you think of the guys who used to climb Everest, right back at the beginning, they wore nothing other than wool jumpers and basic coats. They had none of the technical clothing and gear we have today yet still faced extreme freezing conditions well into the sub-zeros.

Wild Pacific

Just over a year ago, four friends with no previous experience of paddle-boarding set themselves the challenge to circumnavigate one of the remotest islands in the world by sup. A year in the planning and with limited experience on their sup’s, business executives Neil, Meriel and Mark tackled punishing surf, rolling swells and fickle wind changes as they paddled around Easter Island on their Red Voyager paddle boards.

Reality Check

It’s fair to say that the average surfer these days is more desensitised to the idea of heavy waves than the average surfer of twenty years ago. That’s not because people are necessarily surfing heavier waves; Philip Edwards first surfed 6ftPipeline way over half a century ago in 1961. But because we’re seeing a lot more of it. It does make you wonder, could I do it? Could I sell the house and live in the tube? What does it take to make a wave at one of surfing’s ultimate proving grounds? The wave in these photos in particular has held fascination since it exploded into the pages of surf mags as ‘the beast with no back’; sucking up from below sea level to throw surreal submarine tubes. We spoke to Benoit Carpentier and Shakira Westdorp (fresh from taking the women’s sup surf world title in China) on the technicality and reality of making it out alive…