Kauli's Odd Looking Quad

I have been following the PWA Cabo Verde event closely. I have teamed up with Skyeboy to bring you some snippets which are posted on WindsurfingMag.com which you might want to check out. But my post is not about that but about Kauli's interesting looking quads. Check out this picture from yesterday.

Pic Carter/PWA

Here is the enlarged version, you can clearly see the shape.

Fins are a long way forward with a strange looking tail shape, forward fins are very close to the rail. Looks like the two back fins are quite a bit bigger than the front which look like big thrusters.

I will see if I can find out some more info.

More to follow...

Speed World Cup Preview - Port Saint-Louis

You would be forgiven for thinking that the PWA Cabo Verde event is the only windsurfing contest this week but just as things are starting to heat up on the desert island (and I can’t wait to see the live video) the best and most dedicated speed sailors are making their way to the south of France to rather less glamorous industrialal town and port annex of Marseille at the mouth of the River Rhône.

The Speed World Cup which started the season back in April with the F2 Gruissan Speedweek (Gruissan France) and has taken in ranking events in France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK before returning to France for the final 2010 showdown which will decide who finishes the year as the world’s #1 ranked speed sailor. While GPS tracks have increased in popularity with sailors competing virtually with each other across continents it is always great to get people together and tackle the same conditions and push each other forward in more traditional competition.

The rankings are currently being led by Anders Bjorkqvist SWE with Steven Flanagan IRL not far behind. Bjorn Dunkerbeck SUI is currently ranked in 8th and I will be interested to see if he makes the journey south. With a weighting of 3.5 this event proves to be decisive and the 5000 Euro prize fund should help to temp a few more of Europe’s fastest sailors who want to end the year with a little bonus going into the expensive Christmas period.

My man on the inside Martyn Oiger currently ranked 14th will be reporting from the event. He has been training hard and after a 3rd place finish at the last event in Weymouth he is poised to challenge for the title and improve his ranking. The wind report looks good for the event which runs from the 16th through to 21st of November in the town of Port Saint-Louis, France.

Not much so far on the event website but I believe that tracks will be posted when the event kicks off.

More to follow…

Wanna Go FASTER - The Art of Speed Sailing

I certainly do! I have now competed in a couple of speed events in Maui. I even made the trip to Molokai to check out a potential speed course protected by a shallow reef but fast speeds remain extremely elusive with my best 100m speed of 33.7 knots which I set back in August. Now back in Bahrain and with the desire to record my first open water 40 knots I decided to enlist the help of a couple of friends more familar with the art of speed sailing and asked them to give me their top secrets to going fast.

Check out my full article on WindsurfingMag.com: Wanna Go FASTER - The Art of Speed Sailing

Deep off the wind is fast but remember that you’ll need to have plenty of power, so rig big, very big. This image was generated using a real GPS speed track, the further the green line from the centre the faster the sailor was going. But be warned, go too far off the wind and your speeds will drop dramatically.

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Weymouth International Speed Week 2010

While Weymouth turned out to be not so windy, Martyn Ogier's account of the week's action is well worth a read especially as he explains the complicated world of international speedsailing!

"The weather forecast leading up to the event was about as bad as it could be, NO WIND! As the week edged closer the forecast started to look better with a slight possibility of some light winds during the week."

Read the full article on the Black Project Fins website:

Weymouth International Speed Week 2010

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You Can Race!

This year my bro Andy decided that it was time to step forward and throw his wetsuit into the competitive windsurf scene for the first time and as the UK 2010 slalom season draws to a close I thought that it was about time to ask him a few questions.

Cold water training!

Check out the full article here:

 “…if you can sail out and back; then you can race!”


on http://www.blackprojectfins.com/

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The Sunset Sessions

I knew that it was windy but didn't think that I would make it back in time for a session. We are so close to the equator that the days are quite short and with it light soon after 5am sunset today was 5:07pm. After rushing home I threw my gear in the back and rushed to the beach - so fast in fact that my gear fell out the back of the car, twice! I arrived at the beach, everyone was packing up but I quickly rigged my 5.6 and dashed out (the Bolt is proving to be really great here). The sun was just setting with the sky golden it was about as beautiful as Bahrain gets! Soon is was dark but I could just about see where I was going to stayed out for a while and had fun splashing around during my freestyle practice. Having not expected to get out on the water today I was super stocked just to get wet and wash off the day at work.

Heres hoping for some more action soon. BTW rushing back home my gear fell out the car once more, maybe I should be more careful! Luckily all that was damaged was my fin and I have plenty of new Black Project Fins on the way soon so that's not really an issue!

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The return of Noon Island

So since arriving in Bahrain from Hawaii at the beginning of September I've hardly had the time to stop and think let alone type, but I guess that I wrote plenty over the summer so maybe it was good to have a rest from the blogging scene for a while. During my 6 week or so break I really did enjoy watching online footage from Cold Hawaii and hope that such coverage continues. More recently I have been checking out p as the winter swells start rolling in. Having left my trusty twin fin with Colin I keep seeing it pop up online (kinda makes me feel a little more connected with the island!)

It has been windless here, totally still for weeks and super hot. Yes I have kept busy, plenty of training, lots of running and even a biathlon last weekend which was somewhat fun. Trying to run between 30 and 40 km a week, keep in the gym and work on my swimming and biking. Work does seem to get in the way but I keeping active and ready as best I can.

At last the weather broke and today we were treated with a decent breaze, perfect for my 5.6 Bolt and 105 Sumo. It was great to see my buddy Carl getting some rides on his kite too. The water was perfect, about 28C with the air in the low 30's. After not being on the water in ages it felt amazing to be blasting about and chucking in some freestyle moves (I mean crashes of course!). As for the title of this post, Noon Island refers not to some deserted spot but one of the big ships that is mored just offshore where I sail here and it was great to see her again close up.

No, this isn't Noon Island!

So here's me hoping that's the longest I'll have to go without wind for a while, looks like to could be windy tomorrow too, heres hoping.

Hope all those in northern climes are not getting too cold!

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