Boasting 275 km of coastline with access to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, Israel enjoys solid wind statistics all year round and offers everything from flat water to waves. It has a buoyant windsurfing community, but outside of the country relatively little is known about it as a windsurfing destination; Eric de Cruz made a trip there with PWA slalom sailor Benjamin ‘Babou’ Augé and Esteban de Cruz to find out more.
Israel has much to offer a windsurfer, starting with the most important ingredient – wind! Originating from Greece during the summer, the winds are strengthened by several thermal effects, while winter brings regular low pressure systems. Israel has over 10,000 windsurfers, mostly in the north of the country and there are many windsurfing schools who enjoy a brisk trade, especially in summer. Back in 2004 Gal Fridman put Israel on the windsurf map with a gold medal in windsurfing at Athens. He had already won bronze in 1996 in Atlanta, but his 2004 Olympic title was the first in the history of Israel, which earned Gal a hero’s welcome on return to his country
Our trip to Israel came about after a meeting with another famous Israeli windsurfer, Arnon Dagan. Arnon is Israel’s windsurf champion who has been a top ten PWA racer for many years. With Arnon enthusing over his home country, we were keen to check it out for ourselves and booked tickets to Tel Aviv, considered the economic and technological centre of Israel. Many airlines fly here, but we found Turkish Airways to be the most board bag friendly one. We flew from Nice and it was just a three and a half hour direct flight, travelling light with three 32 kg board bags!
This story is from the Issue 385 - May 2019 edition of Windsurf.
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This story is from the Issue 385 - May 2019 edition of Windsurf.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
New School
Slingshot’s windsurfing brand manager, Wyatt Miller, has noticed that kids are drawn to playing with wings and puts forward an interesting case as to why he thinks this could help entice them and others into windsurfing.
Changes
Wave sailor Flo Jung reflects on our changed world during his lockdown in Germany.
THE LAST WAVE
Lockdown stirred the creative juices of reader Björn Alfthan, who peers into the future to present a fictional story set in the wild waves of Norway, five years from now.
STILL IN THE GAME
After a horrific fracture in his leg from a crashed aerial in 2018, Alessio Stillrich is back! John Carter talks to the highflyer from Gran Canaria about his move to the Simmer team, recovering from injury and how he learned to windsurf in Gran Canaria!
MOVE ON UP - GET ON THE FRONT FOOT
This month we look at how our front foot weighting can affect and improve different aspects of our main windsurfing moves.
SOUTH' KIPA
Nik tweaking it over home waters.
A NEW NORMAL
On a trip to La Tranche-sur-Mer in France last year, Tris Best estimated over 80% of the windsurfers were foiling. This summer in Portland Harbour, foiling activity has increased dramatically too he reports. With the market offering plenty of choice to recreational windfoilers, our test team check out some of the latest foil offerings.
TACKING – THE SEQUEL
Having given you time to practice, Harty concludes his tacking series by critiquing various tacking options, including the carve tack, as well as offering solutions to common slip-ups.
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Realising we may be about to enter an extraordinary period in our lives, Harty decided to keep a windsurf-centric lockdown diary. Here are some of his choice excerpts.
REDEMPTION DAY!
Renowned for its windsurfing and variety of spots to sail at, Kimmerdige Bay is a wave sailing jewel on the south coast of England. Timo Mullen gives a guide to its shores while reflecting on why a recent session there was a reminder that there is no place like home!
