The July 2014 Issue of the world’s only monthly English-language windsurfing magazine is out now! Subscribe or grab your copy now in either App or Print versions! (Prices include delivery anywhere globally 10 times a year.)
ENDLESS SUMMER – SUN & WIND GALORE
JUICY READS
ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER ‘Two riders were approaching – and the wind began to howl’. JC journeyed to Jimi Hendrix country in Morocco for a mystical trip involving slabs, tree-climbing goats – and two of the most radical windsurfers on the planet, Boujmaa Guilloul and Kauli Seadi.
MOMENTS Freestyle sensation Dieter Van Der Eyken shows a different side to Western Australia, shunning the headline-grabbing surf spots and hunting down jaw-dropping flatwater paradises.
COAST The Motley crew stay in home waters for once with a trip to South Coast hotspot West Wittering.
BOLT FROM THE BLUE JC tells the story on how Tushingham Sails have simplified their range and made gear choice easier with the all-new sail line, The Bolt.
VIVE LA FRANCE John Carter was on-hand to witness a spectacular raid by the French, who darted over the border to Catalunya and claimed the entire podium at the opening PWA Slalom event in Costa Brava.
GEAR HEADS
BOARD TEST Seabreeze Sizzlers: (135L Freeride boards.) Summer fun and entry-level joy – we took the latest toys for a spin.
THE LINEUP FANATIC GECKO 135 LTD GOYA CARRERA 130 JPAUSTRALIA X-CITE RIDE PLUS PRO EDITION 135 RRD FIRESTORM LTD. V2 129 STARBOARD CARVE 131 CARBON
SAIL TEST Ready for Anything: (6.0 X-Over sails.) Crossover sails have the most demanding ‘want it all’ briefs of the lot. But which ones tick the most boxes? THE LINE-UP ATTITUDE SOURCE 5.8 EZZY LEGACY 5.8 GAASTRA CROSS 6.0 GOYA NEXUS 5.9 NAISH MOTO 6.0 NEILPRYDE FUSION 6.1 NORTH VOLT 5.9 POINT-7 HF 2G 5.9 RRD MOVE 6.2 SIMMER IRON 6.2 SEVERNE GATOR 6.0 VANDAL ADDICT 6.0
SUMMER ACCESSORIES GUIDE Essentials to make the most of your time on the water.
The gybe is never really ‘cracked.’ But continual progress comes from gathering more and more tools to help you cope with more and more situations. Peter Hart has a rummage through your toolbox.
MOVE ON UP – SKILLS AND DRILLS Light-wind workouts to polish your technique from Super Coach Jem Hall
BOARDSHORTS
LATEST & GREATEST Early 2015 gear and more tasty toys to salivate over.
PEOPLE & PLACES The Who’s Who and What’s What of the windsurfing world.
SITTIN’ ON THE DUNNY
EDITORIAL We can be heroes – when the wind blows.
AFFAIRS OF THE HART No, he’s not gone all evangelistic on us, but Harty definitely feels lucky to live in ‘God’s Pocket’. Get your copy by App or in Print now!
Passion, or painful necessity, if you’re to sail with any confidence on the rolling sea, jumping is a skill as essential as beachstarting
Fresh from a winter clinic in Jeri, where getting airborne was at the top of many of his clients’ agendas, Peter Hart offers much advice on how to take your flights to new heights. In a two-part series he starts by laying the foundations.
“Who’s afraid of flying? I’m just afraid of crashing. That’s why my face is whitening And my teeth are gnashing.”
Loudon Wainwright’s musical ode to the terrors of airplane travel might as well have been dedicated to the windsurfer, keen to and, at the same time, terrified of taking their board and rig to the air.
Not many kids are afraid of flying. They tend not to dwell on the absurdity of hurtling through the stratosphere in a cigar tube. It’s just a bit of fun and adventure.
Likewise, as they rocket skywards on a windsurfer, they register no immediate threat to their mortality, whatever that is. And if they do hurt themselves, so what? They have no job to lose, no mortgage to pay. They heal in a jiffy and go out and do it again.
This technique feature appeared in the March 2014 issue. To read more features like this first, plus the latest tests and juiciest features, treat yourself a subscription – go on, you deserve it!
Kids jump naturally, because, blessed with ample layers of plump cartilage to cushion their landings, that’s what they do all day long on trampolines, beds and sofas.
The natural joy of bouncing and going high encourages them do all the right things on a board – like extend, explode upwards and make themselves light.
They immediately get the essential concept that they themselves have to spring and then pull the board up to their height. For adults, part of the key to jumping is to rediscover their carefree inner child.
But the other part is to accept that it’s not a daredevil leap into the unknown – although at first it may feel like that. It’s just a blending of skills, most of which they already possess through carrying the kit, waterstarting, pumping, gybing and just sailing.
Carrying the kit, you balance the rig parallel to the ground and let the wind blow under it to support it. That’s how you soar during a jump. Waterstarting, you position yourself upwind of the windward edge and use the back foot to pull the tail under your backside to bear away and increase power.
That’s also how you control the tail and bear away in mid air. Pumping – you direct a pulse of power from the rig into the board through the toes with straight legs and a tight core and then release it to make it cork up onto its planing surface.
You use the same pump and release action to take off. Gybing. It’s when you learn to bear away and embrace speed – not wash it off – that you stop fighting the rig and everything falls into place.
And it’s when you stop braking at the sight of a ramp, that you take control of your direction and altitude. Just sailing along. As you head up and bear away, you move body forward and back to shift pressure between the feet and mastfoot to trim the board level.
All you’re doing when jumping is sailing the board through the air.
FEAR ABATEMENT Of course not all adults are cowering, yellow-bellied flop-artists barricaded into a shrinking comfort zone. However, they are burdened with experience. Learning to plane, everyone, bar none, has suffered the trauma of a catapult.
From that moment on, a gland, which evolved to protect us from the woolly Mammoth, secretes heavily to produce self-preservation impulses and avoid a repeat.
And those impulses, squatting, over-committing to the rig etc., while solving an immediate issue, can, if untreated, corrupt your whole game eternally.
With jumping, it only takes an early crash, probably from trying it on the wrong kit in the wrong conditions, to breed instinctive reticence.
At the sight of a juicy ramp, your logical inner self runs a quick cause-and-effect logarithm – and before you can say ‘reach for the sky’, you’re heading up, slowing down, leaning back, buckling at the knees – and doing all in your power to ensure you clear the lip by a maximum of 2 inches before collapsing into wind in a crumpled heap. So what IS the fear cure?
IF YOU DON’T FEEL COMFORTABLE AND IN CONTROL THE SECOND BEFORETAKE-OFF, YOU CERTAINLY WON’T THE SECOND AFTER TAKE-OFF
Fear generally stems either from a sudden loss of control or from unfamiliarity, i.e., the unknown. The lack of control might be a basic technique issue, but is more likely down to using unsuitable kit in conditions which are too wild, or just wrong.
As for the unknown, it only takes one foray into the unknown for it not to be unknown anymore. The best advice for debutante jumpers is to do it lots. In benign conditions, leap off every hint of a lump.
Familiarity dilutes terror. When you get to the stage where, as your fin leaves the water, your buttocks do not instinctively clench, then you’re ready to tweak and polish the technique.
It’s a two-stage strategy. Part one is the preparation phase. The aim, by choosing the right moment of the right day, with the right kit and right basic skill level, is to arrive planing with control and joyful expectation as you mount the ramp.
Part two is about working on your technique options as you leave the water.
KIT and CONDITIONS ! hesitate to go on too much about kit and conditions for risk giving you a sack full of excuses not to go for it. But here’s a small selection of DOs and DON’Ts that will really influence your day out for better or worse.
KIT SIZE It’s simple physics. A big thing needs a lot more power and energy to get it off the water than a small thing. And when a big thing comes down, it does so with a much bigger clunk.
Here’s the crux. It’s the wind that gives you wings, not the size of the ramp. If the wind doesn’t have the strength to support the board when you take off a ramp (and you will need a ramp), you tend to plummet Tom and Jerry style into the void with no sensation of floating or flying, but a vivid sensation of spinal jarring.
So if you’re trying to get airborne with your 140L all-rounder and an 8.5, it suggests that either you’re short on early planing skills, or more likely that you’re short on breeze.
Meaningful jumping really starts in a force 5 (18 knots) where most people can be using a board under 100L and a sail under 6.0. As long as you have the skills to cope, jumping actually gets easier, more enjoyable and potentially less painful on the joints as the wind increases towards 30 knots and you move to ever-smaller kit.
More wind means more height, but also more lift under the rig to cushion the descent. But much above 30 knots and it all gets a bit frantic and unpredictable.
KIT DESIGN A feature of most sails above about 6.5 with a freeride, speedy bent, is a lot of shape in the battens just above and below the boom, which is designed to drive the board onto the water. The open leech helps that fullness stay low and lend control at speed – it’s actually an anti-take-off feature.
The difference with a wave or small crossover sail is that you want to get away with as small a sail as possible. The leech is tighter and the centre of effort therefore is set higher in the sail to help lift the board out of then water – as well as to put the pilot in a taller, more ‘centred’ stance.
I know, Robby Naish’s famous R.I.P. video from the last millennium showed him flying his slalom kit some 40-ft. above the Pacific. You can do monster jumps on slalom kit if you have a big ramp to redirect the board vertically, at which point the rig falls parallel to the water and acts like a wing.
But three good reasons not to use race-oriented kit as your ‘go to’ jump combo are:
1. Slalom boards are super light and flat-rockered – and so likely to snap on landing, especially if driven to the ground by a huge rig.
2. If you drop a big, cambered sail in the white water, you’ll be lucky to emerge without a broken batten or 6.
3. The footstraps will be mounted outboard – talking of which …
IF YOUR BOARD DOESN’T HAVE INBOARD FRONT STRAP MOUNTS AND THE OPTION OF A SINGLE BACK STRAP, YOU DON’T HAVE THE BEST TOOL FOR THE JOB.
THE RIGHT WIND To jump, you have to hit the ramps nose-on, fully planing. So the wind has to be strong all the way to the beach to allow you beachstart and get on the plane – and be blowing at some kind of angle to the wave. But what kind of angle? Some are a lot better than others.
Side-shore is perfect, if you can find it. You take off across the wind without having to make any adjustments. But often headlands shelter the wind so they can be gusty right inshore where you need full power. Side-on, preferably with more ‘side’ than ‘on’ is the popular jumping direction.
Blowing off the sea, the wind is usually solid right up to the beach. You have to head up a little to hit the wave at 90º.
Dead-onshore. Some places with shallow-shelving beaches, where the waves are well spaced can be a bit of fun, but generally it’s hard work. You have to head right up into wind to take the wave, which kills your speed and power. It’s like glorified chop-hopping.
Offshore Winds. You can jump in offshore winds, but it’s not the pastime of choice. The more offshore they are, the worse it gets. They tend to be fluffy and unstable and force you to attack the waves on a broad reach, where you have the most speed and the least control.
Hence it’s in offshore winds that you see the most nose-dives and catapults. And as you land, the wave you’ve just jumped shelters the wind and you fall into a hole.
Wind Deflection Finally on the subject of wind, jumpers need to be aware of how waves – and the shoreline – deflect the wind (it’s all to do with friction). A wave deflects an onshore wind more onshore.
That means as you approach the ramp, you’re suddenly closer to the wind than you once were and need to bear away to stay powered up.
In offshore winds it’s the opposite. As you climb the face, the wind suddenly swings more from behind (more offshore) and accelerates, meaning you have to head up to soften the power. Another reason why you see a lot of catapults in offshore winds.
THE RIGHT WAVES Size really is not important (the best can double loop off a 2-foot chop if they have the wind) but shape and period are. What’s crucial is having a little space between waves in which to crank up the volume.
Waves which are dumping on the beach, or stacking up behind each other with little gap in between, stop you getting settled in the straps and up to speed. Waves that peak and crash suddenly give you little room for timing error.
Tide has a big influence. In the absence of a friendly outer reef or sandbar, conditions are best when the waves run up a shallow shelving part of the beach, where they’ll tend to peak and break gradually giving you wider window to hit a steep bit.
To get a good jump you must hit an active lip. It’s when the curling crest smacks the underside of the board and is met with tension from the legs that you go up and up.
You need something to redirect the nose upwards. The shape of the wave determines your flight. A steep, vertical wall will, of course, send the nose straight up. That’s the face off which the practiced look to perform backloops or tabletops – or just get massive air.
The best-shaped ramp for learning is a slopey wave with a little kick at the top. It projects you into a longer flight, so you touch down with forward speed, which in turn takes the sting out of flat landings and is easier on the ankles.
White water dominates the marine scenery in onshore winds. A recently broken wave is a deeply unstable jumping platform. It’s a morass of boiling bubbles.
But the thin layer of white water that sits on top of waves that have reformed can give you a very positive upwards reaction.
Waves have the most immediate influence on your fragile mental state. The bigger and further away they are from the beach, the more defensive you’ll be.
Those white-coated reform waves are great for learning because they’re small and close to home. If the wave is of a size and nature that you actually want to jump off it, like those kids at the beginning, you’ll instinctively do many of the right things.
THE MAIN REASON FOR PEOPLE’S FAILURE TO JUMP IS THAT THEY’RE NOT PLANING WHERE THE WAVES ARE PEAKING – COULD BE A TECHNIQUE ISSUE, BAD TIMING OR THE WRONG CHOICE OF ARENA
THE ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUES The three essential skills for jumping are: a running beachstart, early planing and a relaxed, upright stance. The wind is always messed up around the shore, but if you can get going straight away, your apparent wind carries you through the lulls, over the inside slop and on towards the proper ramps.
Multifin boards help in that you can launch earlier.
The technique is to run behind and upwind of the board pushing it along with the rig and then jump on just off the wind with feet in front of the straps making sure that the shock of your feet landing near the tail is matched with the mastfoot pressure created by you sheeting in.
Even better is to hook into those long lines as you land on the board so you immediately commit to the harness, let the mast drop forward and lower the nose.
If you dive into the straps unhooked and half sheeted-in, the board hunts around on the tail before swinging upwind and stopping.
Pluck and guts will only take you so far in jumping (as far as A & E at least). They have to be underpinned by solid foundations. Your stance in the air will mirror your regular posture.
I shy away from trying to prescribe a perfect stance – but there are 4 elements of your posture and trim that are crucial to jumping.
1. The head. Looking forward over the front shoulder, you should have a clear view of the road ahead and in the case of jumping, of the landing strip around the mast. If all you can see is armpit hair, you’ve let the head drop and will be sailing and flying blind.
2.
Front hand. Keep it back on the boom. Leaving it forward by the mast is the worst of all the defensive measures. It leaves you too close to the rig, sheets you out so any backwards movement of the rig tilts you into wind (commonest jumping error).
3. Hips high (feel the toes). Moving from a low to a tall stance, the pressure shifts from heels to toes. You MUST take off from your toes.
4.
Sail between your feet (get off the tail). Shift the hips forward and try and favour the front foot with little pressure on the fin. You can’t pick the tail up and level the board off if you’re sitting on it. The least satisfying jumps are those where the nose projects up but the tail stays down.
TAKING OFF – THE FLIGHT INDUCING FACTORS
Here are the lift devices available to you:
Board Speed. The faster you’re going, the higher you will go – so long as you can redirect that speed.
The lip hitting the underside of the board.
The wind blowing under and lifting the board.
YOU pulling the tail up and upwind to level the board off and bear away in the air.
YOU extending knees ankles and toes and actually jumping.
Sheeting out momentarily to release the nose as you take off
The rig angled over to windward and directing the power upwards.
Those who achieve jumps seemingly disproportionate to the conditions co-ordinate ALL those lift devices in one explosive second.
That’s the problem – the time available. Hence, at the extremes of the dodgy technique spectrum, you have those who do too little and those who try and do too much.
The over-active squat and pump and heave as they launch, flying into the air with all the tight control of four bits of cooked spaghetti connected by a lump of jelly.
The under-active, on the other hand, look as if they’re driving their car off the pier into the sea. Nothing changes.
The ideal approach to begin with is to do as little as possible – but just enough to keep the board online. Then get more active and explosive as you get a feel for what’s going on.
I leave you this month with one thought as you heads towards a peachy lip …
Air offers NO support. Think what would happen if you fly off a ramp and do nothing. With the nothing to grip, the fin will shoot off downwind. Are you in a position to take the pressure off the fin and hold the tail online?
With nothing under the nose as it leaves the ramp, the weight of the rig will surely drive it down. Can you instantly depower the rig without losing your shape, or angle it where it lifts the board?
So next month we dig deep, looking at case studies, where it goes right and wrong, how to vary the jumps and go really big.
Harty continues the theme next month.. To find out about his life-changing clinic schedule for 2014 check out www.peter-hart.com . You can email for his newsletter on harty@peter-hart.com and get updates by liking his Peter Hart Masterclass Facebook page.
PHOTOS: Hart Photography and Red Bull Content Pool.
OVERVIEW The T4 has been a long-standing fixture in the Tush range for some seasons now and sits alongside the Lightening twin-cam and their Edge FSW and concept ‘light freeride’ models.
Outline One of only two 6-batten frames in the test selection, the T4 has a pretty tall outline with a medium-to-low-cut foot and a small dropped clew. There’s also a ‘kink’ high in the leech near batten #2. Dual height outhaul cringles.
Build Quality Tush deliver good value with hidden seams in the foot, x-ply leech, abrasion protection, two-part luff sleeve and generous, elasticated and padded tack fairing (Block and pulley compatible cringle).
Rigging and Tuning For light to medium wind settings the T4 is easy to rig, but you will need some downhauling assistance to tune it for higher wind. There’s a wide tuning band, but for a ‘rig it and leave it’ setting, for all points of sailing, we liked it with just slight positive outhaul and a fairly tight leech.
BRAND POSITIONING ‘Built to excel at blasting and gybing, we really struggle to find words that do justice to this Ken Black masterpiece. Low-end is smooth, yet powerful, while effortless rotation in manoeuvres and stability through a massive wind range … Popular for its simple rigging and tuning, paired with easy efficiency on the water, the T4 unleashes top performance to all levels of windsurfer.’. (Sic.)
PERFORMANCE Unless you’re as heavy as our editor you won’t have any early-planing issues with the T4 in light wind. As soon as there’s more than 12-14 knots though, anyone of any build will be flying it with good bottom-end speed and acceleration, with the foil being quite drivy and reactive to gusts. It’s hard to believe sometimes that this is a 6-batten number as the stability, even for the big guys, is impressive and generally this 7.5 feels like a much smaller sail in the hands. That’s a bonus of course for manoeuvres, with duck gybes for example being no problem plus there’s an easy to access neutral mode in gybes to de-power and control the angles during turns. So, is it quick then? Damn right it is. Last season we tested the T4 in a much wider range of conditions and water states, but here in Egypt on the flat, currentless water and small chop – on a selection of wide and thin-railed boards – this was the undisputed winner of any drag race on any board throughout the middle range of use. At the extreme top-end there were faster options that giants can handle – and at the lower end of the wind band, as we mentioned, there are other choices specialising in low-end power. But for your common or garden freerider or wannabe racer, we guarantee you won’t be able to pass the T4 for love nor money.
THE VERDICT Unquestionable mid-range speed and super-easy, stable handling. The T4 delivers incredible value for money for all but the heaviest riders in a light package that feels like a much smaller rig. Surely the top choice for recreational racers?
In recent seasons, for mere mortals, it’s pretty much been proven you don’t need cams in a freerace sail.
Yes, advanced racers reap the benefits of the stiffer foil camber inducers provide and speed addicts definitely rely on them in smaller sizes. But for you and I, the convenience of the cam-less rotational sail is liberating to say the least.
NO STRESS
So what does a no-cam freerace sail need to do? Well it has to be quick and easy to rig, not demand a massive, expensive mast (maybe even an RDM) and it has to perform, namely, in this size, in wind from 8 or 10 knots up to – at least – the high 20s.
Added to that, a no-cam freerace absolutely must be manoevrable. Maybe not as much as crossover or freeride sails, but you want to be able to duck gybe it too.
What else? Well these days, and in line with the 120 x 80 Freemove boards we largely tested these on in this issue, they have to increasingly drive wider and wider board outlines.
And we want all that with near racing-level speed yeah? Yep. Fear not. All this – and more – is all sitting on your dealer’s racks.
To read the latest tests and juiciest features hot-off-the-press and before they’re published online, treat yourself a subscription – go on, you deserve it!
WHAT DID WE FIND?
Well, even since last season, we reckon this group have all massively widened their wind range. Plus, powerful doesn’t necessarily mean fast – comfort can often win a race.
But there can be no outright test winner. Everyone’s requirements are so vastly different. You can read all about the individual intricacies of this group in the separate reports, but, for perspective’s sake here’s an overview of the ‘spectrum’ – from ‘race’ to ‘free’ – that this lineup covers.
FASTEST: In all-out top speed, in the mid-range – although mainly for light and medium weights – it’s definitely the Tushingham T4. One of the oldest designs – and just a 6-batten in a sea of 7s – but undeniably the quickest until you hit the …
BOTTOM-END: The Gaastra Savage and Pryde Hellcat both standout in this respect, especially for heavier riders. Not far behind would be the Simmer V-Max.
TOP-END: For all-out speed ‘past’ the reasonable ‘envelope’ you’d expect of a 7.5, the Hellcat will win a drag race, but only if you’re a 100 kg. monster and able to cope with the forces involved.
For lesser human beings, the Severne NCX will have you holding your own – in a more relaxed and efficient manner. Close behind would be the Point-7 AC-X.
PRINCIPAL TEST TEAM James Randall 70 kg. Med. Height
Julian Da Vall 83 kg. 1.95 Tall
Toby Gibson 87 kg. 1.90 Tall
Brian McDowell 98 kg. 1.90 Tall Thanks also to: Kevin Salmon 85 kg. & Kevin Pijl 70 kg.
ACCELERATION: The Gaastra Savage has the ‘gears’ at the low end, but so does the Simmer V-Max.
Also nearby are the RRD Fire, Severne NCX, Pryde Hellcat and the Attitude. (Yes, a new entry to the market!)
MANOEUVRABILITY: It’s got to be the Simmer V-Max, Ezzy, North and Goya Nexus.
EASY TO SAIL: They’re all accessible, but it’s the Ezzy Cheetah, North E_Type, Goya Nexus and Tushingham T4 that initially stand out as the friendliest and least technical to ride.
VALUE-FOR-MONEY: We’ve tried to take into account mast prices when coming to this conclusion too, but, in alphabetical order, we think the Attitude, Ezzy. Point-7, RRD and Tushingham deserve special mention for their pricing, build quality and performance mix. The North and Simmer are also tempting propositions.
THE BENCHMARK (Not printed in original test.) If we had to take one sail from this group to test next year’s offerings against – to truly represent the spirit and feel of no-cam freerace sails in this size – all our testers agree it would be the Severne NCX.
Read on and see which ones stir your go-fast juices!
PETER HART AND DAVE WHITE - 10 STEPS TO GYBING DVD
10 STEPS to GYBING with HARTY and WHITEY
The irrepressible duo have just released a new DVD.
They’ve done speed (‘Faster’), Freestyle (‘Showing Off’) and waves (‘Learn to Loop’).
This time it’s windsurfing’s most essential and elusive skill, gybing.
’10 steps …’ (in ten chapters funnily enough) isolates what’s really important.
At 35 minutes long, it’s detailed without being waffly. Slow motion, freezes, neat graphics, even neater demos, a lucid commentary and a great dollop of humour make this eminently watchable and highly informative.
We’ve watched it and can highly recommend the interesting perspectives and simple solutions these two give over some of the typical stumbling blocks.
Even seasoned gybers could do with watching this to refine their style or learn how to cut different arcs and remain reactive to rescuing otherwise dropped turns.
It’s likely that, in ten year’s time, U.K. wavesailors will look back on the winter of 2013-14 and talk about it in the same tones as a sun worshipper reflects on the summer of 1976 – an all-time classic.
Amongst the recollections of all those wild and windy days we may well reminisce that the winter storm named Hercules provided some of the biggest waves the Atlantic’s ever produced.
Needless to say, the infamous Motley Crew Red Phone went berserk throughout the Christmas and New Year holidays, but on the morning of January 6th 2014, Hercules triggered the rare Code Black ring tone, indicating an incoming mega swell of unknown proportions. John Carter reports.
OFF THE SCALE With climate change seemingly tipping the scales in favour of wet, wild and windy weather, who knows what the future holds for U.K. weather patterns?
But as far as British wavesailors are concerned, I’ve not heard too many complaining! This winter, storm after storm has hammered the coastlines of Britain and Ireland, causing travel chaos, floods and widespread damage that most folk will remember as the worst in several years.
But for the hardy crew that are prepared to brave the elements, there has been barely a day between sessions to heal up those callouses or recover those sore shoulders the never-ending barrage.
The endless flow of massive low pressures was getting so ridiculous we were almost starting to take mast-high waves and 30 knot sou’wester for granted.
But then, one particular blip out there on the Atlantic radar became a kind of huge black boil and was even heralded ‘larger than the perfect storm’!
Pretty much the whole windsurfing and surfing world were talking about it. ‘Winter storm Hercules’ even mystified the weather experts!
Graphs that usually only go up to black signifying 50-ft. waves, forced them to stretch the scale to white and even gold. In fact the swell reached up to 70 ft. at the height of the storm, with an area of over 300 nautical miles of 50-foot-plus seas.
In simple English, this was the mother of all storms and the only real questions for anyone chasing XXL category waves was ‘where shall we go?’
WRONG PLACE RIGHT TIME Hercules promised two days of massive waves that were forecast to hit pretty much every single south and west-facing break in the U.K., not to mention the coastlines of France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, the Canary Islands and every reef and beach all the way down to the Cape Verde islands.
Everywhere was set for a hammering, with many of the forecasts warning that it was simply going to be too big and out of control in most spots and advising all but the most experienced watermen to stay out of the water.
With this in mind, I had made a plan to head to Cornwall with an open brief as the storm hit on Monday morning and then possibly score the Tuesday at The Bluff, which hopefully would be cleaner and better with clearer weather and less chaotic conditions.
With huge spring tides a major factor and 60-knot winds as Hercules hit on Monday morning, we heard from local sailor Ian Black that The Bluff was off-the-scale and pretty much un-sailable.
At this point we were an hour away and pretty much committed to sailing somewhere on the north coast of Cornwall or Devon. Apparently Blacky, Andy Fawcett, Harvey Dawkins and a few others had made it in for an hour on the high tide, but none of them had barely ridden a wave and were all glad to make it back to the beach in one piece.
Bearing that in mind, we made a huge call to head up the coast to Lynmouth, a sheltered point break that promised clean waves, cross-off wind and down-the -line perfection.
Without paying too much attention to any maps we set off in convoy with Timo Mullen leading the line, myself and Ross Williams in the second wagon and Chris Murray ‘Muzza’ bringing up the rear.
To cut a long story short, we arrived in Lynmouth after a three-hour nightmare on the winding roads of Devon to find some semi-decent surf, but barely a breath of wind at the bottom of the surrounding cliffs.
In other words, we’d blown it. To make matters worse, Timo was committed to a meeting in Manchester the following day while the rest of us would have to retrace our tracks all the way back to Hayle and hope we could pull something back the next morning.
Six hours driving on that day of the year was a real killer, but as if the day hadn’t been bad enough, during the tedious journey back to Hayle through lashing rain and horrific conditions, reports were starting to filter through of Alfie Hart and a Welsh crew scoring epic mast-and-a-half point breaks, while we also heard the south coast back home was having it, with every break from Weymouth, Avon, The Isle of Wight, Hayling Island and Pagham all on fire.
Over in Ireland, Finn Mullen had scored in the North West and the final nail in the coffin was Blacky starting to rephrase his earlier report that the Bluff was not so bad after all.
On the surfing side of the news, a crew, that included Antoine Albeau, had posted shots from Belharra, France of themselves surfing 60-foot-plus waves.
Meanwhile down in Morocco, Boujmaa Guilloul paddled into huge surf at Anchor Point, while down in Guincho, Portugal, one of my favourite beach bars had been washed away. (What? No more icy-cold Superbocks? Ed.)
Further afield in the Canary Islands, Danny Bruch was making Social Media headlines, dropping into huge barrels at a secret slab on his paddleboard in Tenerife.
To say we were frustrated would be putting it mildly! Instead of that feeling of stoke after an amazing day on the water, we finally hit the pub in Hayle, merely to eat as a necessity, rather than a celebration of the great day it should’ve been.
I was feeling that low and empty, that even a beer wasn’t going to solve any issues. We were at rock bottom!
JUDGEMENT DAY If Lady Luck ever felt she owed somebody a break, surly we were first in line after the previous day’s catastrophe? All I could do was imagine all those shots I had missed but in all reality, maybe it had been too big and I was just feeling sorry for myself.
Having bunked down in the Travel Lodge in Hayle overnight, we headed to the Golden Arches to load up on Sausage McMuffins before heading to the Bluff.
New Year’s resolutions of a healthier diet were going to have to wait, this promised to be a big day and we had no time to mess about. Outside, the sky looked kind of clear and the trees were still waving around despite the forecast calling for it to drop off later in the afternoon.
Perhaps we were going to score a windfall of epic conditions? Surely after those ridiculous waves there must be plenty of leftovers for the second course?
After all, the call from Magic Seaweed was still giving a six-metre swell with an 18-sec. period. In my books, that’s still massive! ‘Come on Carter’ I murmured to myself, ‘Start focussing and look on the bright side!’
Up in the car park, the local crew were all sat in their vans and cars pensively checking the conditions. Andy Fawcett, Harvey and Blacky – the usual suspects – are always there when it’s big.
Fair play to these guys. With the tide right up to the rocks, the wind on the edge and pumping eight-to-ten-foot close-out sets, I already was thinking the worst.
That this was going to be one of those frustrating days when the elements don’t quite play ball the way you want them to. But Andy Fawcett and company looked pretty optimistic and were already starting to rig, ready for their second day up against the Herculean Storm.
Without further ado, everything started to click into place. The tide started to slowly recede, the waves were cleaning up and still firing, blue sky seemed to be dominating overhead – and the wind was even looking steadier.
The swell had no doubt subsided slightly from its peak, but there were still massive sets to make for an epic big-wave, Bluff session.
Out to sea, I could see massive lumps of swell marching across the horizon, while the waves crashing over the rocks at Godrevey lighthouse signified that this was no ordinary day.
Downwind I could just about make out a couple of brave punters headed out at Mexicos, but the Bluff seemed a little more cross-offshore and cleaner, so it made sense to stay put.
Within an hour everyone was out in the thick of the action, playing mental poker with their wave selection decisions. Choose the wrong one, get caught out by a bone-crunching set and for sure it would mean game over and one long swim back in.
Hayle breaks either side of a river mouth, so with the outgoing tide there’s also a nasty current that can drag you back out through the waves if you’re caught floundering with broken gear.
Ross Williams was simply not messing around and making no bones about picking off the biggest sets and charging hard from the word go!
After yesterday’s fiasco, it looked like he had a score to settle and was smacking aerials and powering out huge hacks as if were 3-4 feet rather than mast-high, top-to-bottom close-outs.
Andy Fawcett bided his time wisely before cranking out some huge aerials on the meatiest of sections, while Blacky was deep in the thick of the biggest sets and throwing down some full-rail turns when he could find a decent section to dice with.
By early afternoon both Harvey and Ross had broken masts and, for most of the crew it was game over, as the heavy waves dredged onto the shallows.
Muzza had also been revelling in the thick of the action though, ironically, his only equipment damage came when he slipped up on the rocks on leading back to the car park, poor guy.
With the tide racing out, the waves began slamming down on the sand bar, a situation Blacky refers to as ‘low tide death’ and it was time to trade places with Alan Stokes and a gang of Cornish hot shot surfers who had come down to film some huge barrels and challenge Hercules on their terms at The Bluff.
Despite a few hiccups along the way, Lady Luck had finally shone down on us and I reckon we must have been in one of the best spots to accommodate this Richter-Scale swell.
Every trip I take around the country on our quest to explore the best the U.K. coastline has to offer, I always come back armed with a few extra titbits of useful information, which is all useful knowledge for the future. Maybe Lynmouth goes off on its day in extraordinary conditions, but as far as I’m concerned, I won’t be heading that way for some time to come.
Next time a massive storm of this proportion comes along, I have a few spots in mind where I’ll be headed and North Devon won’t be on the list!
Having said all that it was a beautiful spot and, for surfers, it’s one of the best breaks in England when most other beaches are maxed out – it’s just that at the time we were there we weren’t exactly in the frame of mind to appreciate the scenery!
HERCULES VS. NEPTUNE – THE AFTERMATH After causing ‘Polar Vortex’ havoc in the USA, Winter Storm Hercules certainly left its mark. In Porthcothan, Cornwall a huge rock arch formation was smashed by pounding waves, while up in Wales, the seafront at Aberystwyth was pummelled by the storm surges as the sea defences failed to cope with the waves.
On the South Coast, at Portland, the flood siren was sounded at Chesil Beach as powerful swells hammered the manmade defences. 70 mph. gusts at Sennen, near Lands End, helped fuel waves to crash over the whole town, while spectacular surf at the lighthouse in Porthcawl made the front page of most of the tabloids.
On the Continent, set waves in Portugal breached sea walls, flipped cars and tore down harbours, while many homes all along the Atlantic Coast were flooded or lost power.
Over in Ireland, one surge actually burst open through a pub door, imagine that, when you’re sipping a pint of Guinness in front of a log fire, although actually, in Ireland maybe they didn’t even notice?
The power and the dangers of the sea should never be underestimated and, even though many of us like to think we can cope with the big stuff, always weigh up the dangers when sailing in big storms, never sail alone – and watch out for your mates!
Even if you go along to watch a storm armed with a flask of hot chocolate and a camera, beware of standing too close to breaching waves and if you see a huge set coming, while you’re on a vulnerable promenade – run like hell!
ROSS WILLIAMS “I got so excited when I saw this last massive low pressure directly in the firing line for the U.K. All signs were pointing to this swell being The Big One! The night we drove down I don’t sleep at all.
“I kept thinking about what it would be like. Unfortunately the first day didn’t go according to plan and the hours of driving around the Devon and Cornish countryside crushed my spirit. That night I tried to relaxed and rest up ready for the second day.
“Though we had missed Big Monday, the actual forecast was looking amazing for the next morning and we were not disappointed. It was high tide at The Bluff when we arrived, but it was showing all the signs that it would turn into an epic day.
“By the time I was ready to set foot on the water most of the local crew were arriving too and rigging.
“I really don’t think we could’ve asked for more perfect conditions. I think they were the best waves I’ve sailed so far at The Bluff. There were still some big old lumps to chicken gybe around and equipment-breaking lips that made my heart pump.
“I remember hitting the lip just right on a few waves and I could feel the focus of the wave chucking me skywards – now that is one of the best feelings in windsurfing!
“This has been my first full winter in the U.K. in many years. It’s really brought home to me how good our own country can be on its day. I’m not sure if we’ll have many more sessions like this for a while, but I hope so!”
IAN BLACK Honestly, the last thing I needed was Hercules turning up on our doorstep! I wasn’t really up for it! I’d literally spent the last two weeks getting relentlessly beaten trying to keep up with ‘Marky’ Mark Meardon who seemed completely oblivious to the fact that every day was serving-up mast-high, dredging close outs!
‘Yeah it’s going off’ seemed to be his daily take on the situation!
After checking the forecast, Daymar looked like a definite possibility. But, for ‘the biggest swell of the century’, surely somewhere would be sailable other than Daymer?
Would the wind be too offshore for ‘over the river Bluff’? I took a chance along with the rest of the local crew and rocked up to check it out.
We were greeted by doom close outs, even at high tide. It looked like a no-win day, just like the other recent days I’d sailed and got slaughtered – but this time on steroids!
Everyone seemed keen Was I missing something? There were no excuses, the boys were rigging and heading out …
I’m glad I sailed, just to say I was out, but it was one of those frustrating days. The wind was just a fraction too offshore, certainly for the size of the swell.
Five degrees more to the west and it would have been off the scale. As the tide dropped out, the waves actually became more makeable – some of the best surf I’ve ever seen in Cornwall – but so many slipped underneath you, dam it was annoying!
Oh what a stupid, crazy sport! Still, we survived. I think all of us came close to getting The Bad News. There was a whole load of water moving about out there and in hindsight it was all a bit sketchy!
The following couple of days always looked the best on the forecast and, sure enough, it went off. The next day at The Bluff the Gods were kind to us and, for about an hour or so, was as good as it gets.
The Bluff, when it’s on, is as good as anywhere. Glassy, reeling lefthanders in the river mouth just like ‘the good old days’, the stuff dreams are made of! Just ‘INSANE’. These days really do make windsurfing the best sport in the world!
This sail range changes design with size, with a 4 batten lightweight sail in the lower size range to a twin cam powerhouse in the large sail sizes.
We have already rigged the 5 batten Freeride and twin cam Freerace Bolt ready for guests to use on their watersports holiday in the Greek Islands.
We really like the idea of one sail range that does it all, along with the look and construction The Bolt it is becoming a favourite amongst both our guests and staff.
With improved materials, the sail is super durable and the simple added features, such as the pulley tack system, makes rigging and tuning really easy.
Here in Vassiliki we have tested the Bolt in the light onshore winds, as well as in the hectic cross-shore, and the sail always feels in control and balanced in a massive range of wind strengths.
Experience the Bolt for yourself on windsurfing holiday with Ocean Elements at our range of Beach Clubs in the Greek Islands with free RYA tuition included!
In the second instalment of his jumping guide, Harty goes deeper into the technique of sail-powered flight, describes how to take it to the highest level and tackles the common failings.
One of my favourite reads is ‘Freakonomics.’ One of the authors, Steven Levitt, is an economist who addresses a variety of hitherto unproven questions like ‘why did the crime rate drop so suddenly in the US in the late 90s?’, ‘Why do most drug dealers live with their mothers?’ And, interesting as a parent, ‘what factors really influence your child’s development?’
The difference with Levitt’s approach (and he is, by his own admission, a little weird) is that he can only see the world in terms of numbers. He seeks the solution to every puzzle in hard statistics, not in highfalutin theories.
It sounds a little dry, but the results are astonishing, fascinating and turn received wisdom on its head. Here’s one example from the book. Mr Smith from the USA has a daughter. S
he has 2 local friends but he won’t allow her to visit one of them because he knows her father keeps a loaded gun in the house. But he’s happy to let her play with her other friend who has a swimming pool. Sounds entirely reasonable – except that private pools cause over a 1000 times more child deaths than loaded guns.
Raw statistics so often contradict our instincts. It’s interesting to apply the same numbers game to windsurfing. Ask someone why their gybes are a little lacklustre and typically they’ll focus on a technical detail. “I bend my arms/approach too slowly/lean back etc.”
But the real reason may just be down to statistics – like the amount of practice minutes and the nature of that practice. Take the plight of a weekend freerider.
This technique feature originally appeared in the April 2014 issue. This and other premium content is available first in print and app versions.
Say he (but it could be a she) gets 25 planing days a year and sails for about 3 hours each day. Being a blaster with horizon issues (he’s magnetically attracted to them), he only puts in a gybe every 5 minutes.
Each gybe, taking into account a few premature endings, lasts on average 5 seconds.
Let me help you with the maths – the total time spent actually gybing in one year is just 1 hour 15 minutes. That is not the amount of practice time needed to change behaviour.
On top of that, it’s bad practice. The gybes are too far apart. Imagine you were getting a lesson from a tennis coach who only hit a ball to you every 5 minutes.
You wouldn’t learn a thing. It’s only when he repeatedly drops the ball in the same spot, time after time that you can begin to drill the stroke, learn from the last shot, adjust your sights, tweak the skill and discover a little flow.
With jumping the practice scenario is even direr. Most jumps, from take-off to landing, last less than 2 seconds and, thanks to the vagaries of the environment, opportunities are even scarcer.
Last year in Ireland I came across a guy I knew from home. He was complaining about his jumps. It was the wrong tack for him. During a sandwich break I watched him.
It was a cracking day, side-on wind, and head-high breaking waves. In the space of one hour, he attempted 6 jumps. That equates to maybe 10 seconds jumping practice.
What the hell can you learn in 10 seconds! “Any thoughts?” he said when he came in. “Absolutely,” I replied, trying not to be glib. “Do some more!” Jumping is primarily a numbers game.
The Session
In the last issue I tried to lay solid jumping foundations suggesting which kit in which combination of wind and waves and with what basic skills would be most likely to bear fruit.
This month we look more deeply into the technique. But I have to start by asking you a question. As someone striving for higher, better or just safer jumps, have you ever had a concentrated jumping session?
My friend in Ireland was not having a jumping session as such, he was just sailing around in waves hoping that he might improve them by osmosis. There was a palpable lack of intensity.
That’s the problem with jumping. It is intense. Faced with a whole day’s sailing, people might back off the jumps to start with because it’s a bit risky.
They might fall where waves are breaking, get washed around, lose ground, break kit, break themselves. Unwilling to ruin the day before it’s started, they vow to give them a lash at the end by which time they’re too knackered to do them properly.
Without an intense focus, they perform as half-heartedly as the intermittent horizon gybed. My first and most potent tip of the month, more potent than any technique related golden nugget, is to create a proper jumping session – where jumping is the sole focus.
THE DEVIL’S TACK
Some jumping windies are so biased to one tack that they’ll choose their holiday destinations according to the prevailing wind direction. “Why can’t I jump on the other tack?” They bleat.
Because you never do it on the other tack! Just like if you’re right handed, you won’t magically learn to write with your left hand unless you actually do it.
I have yet to find any reason why physically people should favour a jumping side (unlike wave-riding where people naturally surf left or right foot forward). It’s purely a numbers game.
Windies of the UK south coast where the wind prevails from the right, if you want to get better at port jumping, go on holiday many times to Pozo where it blows from the left!
TAIL DIVING
The least satisfying of all jumps is where you project the nose high but never get that feeling of floating. Instead you seem to stall and then drop vertically out of the sky, tail-first like a stone. It’s down to letting yourself rotate upwind on take-off, so the sail depowers and your body drops back over the tail, so you can’t pick it up.
Indoor imitation
In Jeri this past month, we had wind and waves every day, but it was during a golden half hour where the group made the most dynamic jumping progress. We created a session. These are the special ingredients.
Ideal conditions. We’d waited for a couple of days until the strongest wind of the day (12-2pm) coincided with low tide. In Jeri that means the wind blows over the inside waves unhindered and the waves themselves are small, but well spaced.
Conditions have to inspire the right performance, suck you in, place you on the right side of the terrified/adrenalised frontier, make you want to spring. Crucially, the best jump-able waves were close to the beach, in full view of the crowd, in waist deep water, where the ‘what happens if?’ factor was negligible.
Best launch spot. There’s a spot in the middle of the beach where a channel pushes in, allowing you to launch early in flat water and hit the first waves motoring.
Good company. We were a group. There was banter, a little competition and a lot of mutual support.
Happy Pressure.It’s all about creating the right sort of pressure. There were the peers. There was also a video camera. Being observed, recorded and cajoled can make you go the extra yard.
Basically we’d imitated an indoor windsurfing arena. Indoor windsurfing and, especially, jumping off the metal ramp, is the closest our sport gets to being a ‘closed’ skill, where, like gymnastics, the apparatus is fixed and you can replicate the same action time and time again.
During our golden session, like the indoor set-up, the team formed an orderly queue and went one at a time. This had extra benefits.
* They didn’t want to waste a turn. So they studied the wave patterns and began to time their launches as the sea opened up between sets. And they really worked to get going. The rest between gos meant they were re-charged. However cute your skill, it takes energy to plane early and to spring.
* Thanks to the shallow-shelving beach, the waves peaked gradually, meaning that, if their timing was right, they’d hit perhaps 5 jump-able waves in one run. Knowing they were soon to get a rest, they’d go for the lot. It’s when you get a series of ramps that you can find some rhythm, start correcting things as you go, relax into it, stop thinking too hard and react instinctively and even lift the head to admire the view.
* The ‘how many jumps can you get on one run?’ challenge is a strong incentive. If you mess up the first ones over the smaller inside waves, land too tail heavy or into wind, you lose all your speed and miss out on the peachy bigger ones. The desire to land on the plane encourages the right spirit and the right technique.
And one more key element of such a session is brevity. After half an hour, we were done. Conditions were still good but, as soon as I felt the intensity drop and performances falter, we called a halt. With the right arena comes genuine desire. Like the kids I mentioned last month, when they genuinely wanted to go high, they instinctively discovered the best techniques. Create the right arena on the right part of the right day with the right mates and the jumping bit will take care of itself … almost.
AND SO ONTO THE TECHNIQUES …
The Jeri team started getting some decent jumps. But when you start getting a little air, you want more. Then you want a lot more. Euphoria is gently replaced by frustration as you see the video or photo and realise that the jump that felt like 5 metres was more like one and a bit.
Yes you took off. The fin was clear … but you came straight down. Too many times you lost all your speed on landing. You absolutely didn’t soar. You’ve seen the good guys do it where they seem to get that secondary lift.
Inside the head, arms and feet of the high flyer. So what’s happening when the average jump height of Geoffrey Holiday-Maker is just a couple of feet, yet the little (but actually not always so little) chap who does it for a living is frequently peaking at 30 foot or more?
It’s the same day, same wind, similar kit, same breakfast and probably the same volume of Caipirinhas the night before. Well it’s not one thing, it’s lots of little things perfectly combining into one perfectly crafted moment.
Lets dissect what’s going on and then perhaps you can estimate which elements of his performance you’re failing to imitate. First understand that the pro, despite tendons like hawsers, cannot jump 30 ft every time.
He too needs the special environmental moment. But he’s totally clued into the spot, knows the frequency of the sets and exactly where the best waves peak – so is very good at finding those moments.
He’s not just eyeballing what’s in front of him but clocks the distant scene. Tacking on the inside, his peripheral vision picks up a swell some 200m away. Like a slalom sailor timing his run to the line, he knows how long it’ll take him to get there, except that this line is moving towards him, which makes the timing even trickier.
He steps straight into the straps and gets planing immediately by working the sail, holding it right forward hooked into long lines. That takes strength, energy and fitness.
It’s a position from which he can best negotiate the inside waves. Taking those inside waves at full tilt is a hidden skill. Every one demands a different tactic. The unbroken small lumps he’ll squash just by lifting the knees to keep board water contact.
The next one is a bigger reform wave with a little white water on top. It’s impossible to absorb without sheeting out and slowing down.
So he goes for a long jump. He seems to do nothing but stay hooked in, sheet in and pick the tail up. But if he just did that, the nose would stick into the white water or drop straight into the trough on the other side.
So, almost imperceptibly, just before the nose hits the wave, he sheets out by pulling in the front hand. That releases the mast-foot pressure (M.F.P.) so the wave bumps the nose up a little.
He can then pick up the tail and level out without nose-diving. He lands slightly off wind, over the board on his toes, favouring the front foot being especially careful not to:
a) overload the fin and spin out.
b) Fall back against the rig and oversheet.
A few yards ahead there’s an inside wave which is folding over – a mini dumper which could break on the nose and kill all his speed.
So he pre-jumps it, doing a little chop hop to bounce onto the white water rather than crash into it. Through the mush he bears away for maximum speed.
Speed remains the high jumper’s biggest weapon. Knowing where the wave will peak is not an exact science but the more speed he has, the more scope he has to veer up and down wind to hit the sweet spot.
As he bears away, the rig pulls his hips upright and forward so he’s balanced between his feet (not sitting on the back foot). The pressure moves from his heels to his toes.
A few metres before the ramp he unhooks, heads up so he’s across the wind and bends the knees but stays on his toes. Rewind a few frames and a little way back he will have sized up the shape of the ramp, gauged out how much power he has and worked out which jump will be best.
For the purposes of demonstration, he’s nicely powered, the wave is steep with a curling lip and he’s just going for maximum height. This is where it gets complicated. Get your notebook ready.
As he starts to climb the face he sheets out by bending the front arm. As with the little jump, this releases the nose and stops it sticking into the face.
He climbs the face and as the lip hits the underside of the board, he pumps the back hand and straightens the legs (jumps!), pushing off his toes, tightening his core and lifting everything up.
He favours the back foot so there’s a feeling of driving off the tail and then releasing it (but without leaning back). He does the same with the rig. No sooner has he pumped than he opens out again to release the power and the nose.
All the time his shoulders have stayed upwind of the windward edge. His momentum combined with the collision with the lip and the wind getting under the board, projects him skywards.
He now gets as compact as possible, pulling the rig down parallel with the water to turn it into a wing, bending the knees to pull the board right into his body.
To get the board to soar and not just drop back on the tail, he levels the board out nose-to-tail, by easing the hips forward to lean on the mastfoot and pulling the tail up. The wind now supports the board.
When the rig is parallel to the water, he pumps it to get an extra bit of lift and delay the drop. He doesn’t want to bear away any more or the M.F.P. will send him into a nose dive/forward loop.
From a high jump he’s coming down with little forward speed. To avoid a flat landing, he lets the board drift into wind by dropping the rig back and sheeting out a tad. The tail drops first, sinks and cushions the impact.
So much happens in such a short time – the cognitive computing of all that info is impossible but let me try and distil the essence of the technique.
The best jumps feel explosive but effortless. It sounds a bit nebulous, but don’t fight the forces. Let the wind and the wave do the work.
Make yourself and the kit suddenly light by powering and then releasing it. Still, I’m sure you have some questions. Ok, you at the back …
Case study 1 – Paul
“The first challenge was getting on the right kit. Going for a ‘gruntier’ sail made a lot of difference. In the end I preferred jumping with a single fin over the multi-fins because I felt I had more to push against on take-off. From a technique point, the problem for me is that I’d spent 20 years trying NOT to airborne and catapulted. To begin with I just needed to concentrate on the core skills. Thinking of it like a waterstart helped, staying upwind so you can pull the tail upwind.
“I feel unstable as I run towards the wave.” As a precaution, people hook out too early. It takes a lot of core strength to sail fast and steady hooked out. As people unhook, they tend open out (sheet out), squat to hold the power, go a bit floppy around the midriff and drop onto their back foot, which is the worst take-off stance. As they lose speed and M.F.P., the nose starts to lift and they start the jump leaning back. The trick is to stay hooked right up to the last moment (and maybe even as you fly – more about that later)
Case study 2 CHRIS – TAIL to NOSE
“For me it was all about the take-off. I was taking off into wind – that’s the road to ruin. The best tip for me was about pulling the tail to where the nose was. That’s when I started landing on the plane.”
Case study 2 – Alex (the victim)
I actually do have the statistics to hand and can reveal that jumping is far from being the most dangerous windsurfing pursuit. According to A and E reports the biggest culprit is running aground, followed by ramming another craft.
Jumping, at a reasonable altitude, is no less risky than entering a speedy gybe – and far LESS risky than most new school tricks which involve delivering shock loads to twisted and vulnerably-loaded joints.
However, nothing is 100% safe. “It wasn’t even a very big jump – but I committed the cardinal sin of sitting on my heels and dropping the windward edge.
The board went into a nosedive. I got thrown forward, the back foot came out and I landed just with the front foot in the strap. I see now that my straps were too small.” Happily Alex just tweaked a medial ligament and was able to get back on the horse 2 days later.
I always land into wind and usually spin out. You and a thousand others … it’s the most popular ending. I refer you to the answer above. It usually starts with a dodgy approach. If you take off on your heels, leaning back heading towards the wind, into wind is where you’ll to end up.
Take off more downwind and hold the hips outboard so you have room to pull the tail upwind under your backside and bear away. And look at the rig angle. It has to be tilted to windward if you’re to use M.F.P.to bear the nose away.
Landing into wind is bad if you want to maintain speed after a long, fast jump but fine if you’re dropping from a height. But spin-out is never good.
It comes from delivering a lateral hoof to the fin from landing with your body away from the windward edge. To prevent it make sure you’re right over the tail as you land and the pressure is going downwards not sideways.
I’m a habitual nose-diver Painful stuff. Sounds like you’re ready for a forward! Take your pick from these:
You’re taking off too broad, a fault on the right side I might add. Off wind, you get pulled onto your front foot and there’s so much M.F.P. that it drives the nose down as soon as it clears the lip.
If you weight your heels and drop the windward edge on take-off, the wind will smack the deck of the board and drive it down. If your rig is too upright and not tilted to windward, it will just drive the nose down rather than off wind.
Sometimes nosedives arise from doing nothing. If you just sail off a slopey ramp, which isn’t steep enough to direct the nose skywards, you’ll dive into the trough.
Are you a bit of a freestyler? It could be you’re mistaking jumping for freestyle ‘popping.’ In the ‘pop’ you bounce up off the tail but immediately lean forward on the boom to drop the nose and pivot round on it.
In jumping off waves, you first have to get the nose up, then bring the tail to the same height. Talking of which.
I’m honestly not afraid of it but I never get the feeling of soaring and every photo I’ve seen of myself the tail is always down.
The hips and body have dropped back. If you’re sitting on the tail, you can’t pick it up. Anything that throws you onto the back foot stops you soaring.
Heading up and bending the front arm before take-off are the common culprits. In your eagerness to get high, you might be trying to kick the nose up with the front foot, which also throws you backwards.
For the rig to help you soar it has to be parallel with the water. If it’s bolt upright, it’s just dead weight. Make sure you’re not folding on take off and just squatting under the boom.
Remember you have to extend and bring the board up to your height, not drop down to its height. One of the best corrective remedies is to try tail grabs, where you stay hooked in and after take off, release the back hand and grab the tail.
It makes you get your weight forward and pick up the back foot. But the soaring problem could also be an ‘old school’ hangover.
I’ve been doing it for years. I do get pretty high but I fear I’m a bit old school. The big move when I was learning was the ‘tip dip’ where you try get the tip of the mast to touch the water behind you.
I know the move well! It’s a cracker and got the biggest cheer of the day at a recent Ho’okipa wave event. On the earlier wave boards, the mastfoot was much nearer the nose so nose-diving was an ever-present threat.
Hence upside down, nose-up jumps were favourite (table tops etc). With that history, you probably initiate every jump by pulling back on the boom and kicking up the front foot.
You have to change the trigger. Start with your body more between your feet and start the jump by extending the front arm forward rather than back.
I stay hooked in during almost all my jumps. Is this a mistake?
It’s only a mistake if you crash constantly wearing the rig. If not it shows you’re doing a lot right. A common mistake is doing a starfish impression after take off, extending arms and legs and going all loose about the core.
Learning to jump hooked in is a good way to cure all that. Your hips are held high and you stay compact and connected to the rig. It depends what’s in front of you.
Over small waves and going for long jumps, stay hooked in by all means. You save energy and land back in your planing stance.
Confronted by a meaty vertical ramp, hooking out gives you more freedom to move the rig around and to bail out should the need arise.
The heightened summary With all this wordy explanation and analysis, I haven’t been true to my ideals, which is to think less, feel more and do it lots.
Remember the numbers game – once you start counting your annual flight time in hours rather than seconds, then you know you’re getting there.
Learning to jump well is like sprint training. I leave you with some wise words from Steve Black, rugby star Johnny Wilkinson’s trainer and mentor.
“To learn to run fast, you have to do lots of fast running.” It’s all about intensity. To learn to jump high, you have to jump high – and as often as you can.
You can get the same words plus actions from the horse’s mouth by joining Peter on one of his internationally acclaimed, game-changing clinics, catering for everyone from planing novice to jumping, riding fanatic. Lots of info about the 2014 schedule on www.peter-hart.com. And get regular updates by liking his Peter Hart Masterclass page.
PURAVIDA TENBY CALDY ISLAND RELAY AND DEMO WEEKEND
PRESS RELEASE
2014 PURAVIDA TENBY CALDY ISLAND RELAY AND DEMO WEEKEND
Windsurfing has been buzzing again this last few weeks with some wind at last and the excitement is building as Puravida Boardriders prepare for the biggest local water sports event in Wales this year!!
The Tenby Caldy Island Relay will be run as always across the last August Bank Holiday on 24th/25th and 26th. The main demo and race days are Saturday and Sunday with free clinic time from our stars, stacks of kit to try out from the latest ranges across the brands and the fun race itself – the Caldy Island Relay.
This will be a fantastic family event with Windsurf and SUP gear for all members to enjoy from the kids upwards……and this year we will also be including Kitesurfing for the first time with thanks to North Kiteboarding!
The famous Saturday night BBQ is firmly in place and there may even be a live Rock Band!! Tenby town is a great place to be over the summer holiday with o shortage of nightlife to enjoy…….
There will be stacks of demo kit on hand and some ripping pro sailors to join your teams as we do every year…….each team will get assigned a top sailor to boost their chances and provide some top notch kit! Some of the confirmed guests already:
Nik Baker – Fanatic North…..TOP SEED
Simon Cofield – Fanatic/North – BSA Slalom tour leader
Kev Greenslade – Simmer/Tabou – Past speed champ and top 5 slalom seed
Si Pettifer – Simmer/Tabou – BSA Slalom top 5 seed
Chris Muzza Murray – Tushingham Starboard BWA & PWA Wave tour ripper!
Fanatic/North will be there with Nik Baker on hand to offer some free clinic time, kit advice and stacks of the latest gear for you to try! Both the Windsurf & SUP range will be on show all weekend.
Simmer Sails and Boards will be there, as well as some of the Mistral range with helpful tips and speed tuning advice from legendary Farrel Oshea as well as teamriders Kev & Si
Tushingham and Starboard have Chris Muzza Murray and their big demo wagon to get you out on the latest kit and join the weekends fun! both windsurf & SUP.
This year for the first time there will be a Kitesurf section in the race as well as kit demos and ‘intro to kiting’ from the North UK team.
Thanks to everyone who puts the time aside to join one of the most fun events of the year, and please help us spread the word and encourage others to come along!!
The entry for the entire weekend to join the demo and take part in the fun racing and fancy dress comp will be £30 per person. This includes your event T-Shirt and all the proceeds will go to Cancer research. So please help us raise some money for this great cause……
Really Look forward to seeing you there from all at Puravida and the Tenby Windsurfing Club
FIT TO DROP – FIT FOR WHAT? – MASTERCLASS TECHNIQUE
Élite windsurfers are supremely fit. Lesser performers often aren’t. But, at recreational level, is fitness so very important in a sport, which is fundamentally about technique? If it is, what aspects of it are relevant and achievable to the common man or woman?
Peter Hart still has no need for a mobility scooter despite 35 years of windsurfing, so he must be doing something right.
PROPER FIT? Windsurfers have an interesting, cyclical relationship with fitness. As they start out they are acutely aware of the physical challenge, especially as they move into the pre harness, semi-planing stage.
“You need the arms of Thor and the palms of a coal miner for this lark”, “I have aches in places I didn’t know I had places” they cry.
Then, as they discover the harness and hook into a fresh breeze for the first time … bliss!
The transformation couldn’t be more stark if they walked from a torture chamber into a Turkish boudoir lined with shapely masseuses holding pots of strawberry yoghurt and wearing nothing but a suggestive grin.
Suddenly windsurfing isn’t such a brutal physical challenge. “Perhaps I can do this and drive a desk for a living after all?” they muse.
“I’m not saying some free-riders are lazy – but some free-riders ARE lazy.”
Modern, well set-up kit allows you to sail fastwithout too much effort. I don’t mean to be rude.
Of course it does take a degree of strength andcommitment but it’s a passive, anaerobic effort, sitting, resisting and generally not moving too much.
The way to move off the blasting/free-riding plateau, you assume, is to engross yourself in the minutiae of technique. With better technique you can upgrade to more specialized equipment that allows you to work on slicker moves in more challenging conditions.
With better kit and more technical tools in the box, your confidence rises and suddenly you’re the real deal. If only … Progress, in my experience, is directly proportional to physical fitness for the job.
Without it, you’re struggling on so many levels. It influences every aspect of your performance from decision making, to your state of mind, to your ability to actually function.
In truth most, throughout their journey, register the need for fitness and regret their lack of it. But they still underestimate its importance.
Equipment. The windsurfer, who is, or thinks he or she is, unfit, selects equipment on which to survive rather than excel. If they doubt they have the endurance to keep on waterstarting, they opt for the barge ‘just in case.’
Those high on fat tend to rig too big because they need the extra power and volume to waterstart and get planing. Those short on muscle tend to rig too small for fear they won’t be able to hang on. A lack of fitness forces you onto unsuitable equipment.
Technique.A lack of conditioning corrupts technique. If you don’t have the strength to hold your body weight on your arms, you’ll stumble into tacks and gybes the moment you hook out – and so initiate them off balance with arms bent.
The fitter sailor will hook out and take a moment to balance and let the board settle. Unfit wave-sailors ride waves hooked in. That’s not the way to rip.
To get planing the flabby sailor will resort to the more idle technique of sitting in the harness and hoofing against an over-sized fin, rather than pumping.
Windsurfers who are unfit/stiff/tired tend to work within a very narrow cage of movement over the board because they don’t have the strength or confidence to hold themselves in dynamic positions.
And how many falls do you see where people get trapped in the harness from staying hooked in for too long as they run into a lull?
Skill. It’s that ability to move and balance instinctively and efficiently. Yes it’s partly genetic – some do it innately better than others, but fitness has a large influence. When you’re fit you have better proprioception.
Your muscles contract faster. You balance better. The most effective way to balance is by flexing the feet, ankles and knees. But the legs contain the largest muscles in the body and so use the most energy.
When you tire, you stop flexing them and balance instead by pecking at the waist and dropping the shoulders, which is the quickest way to lose orientation.
And at the higher levels, it’s when you stop flexing the knees and ankles that you lose control of the edge in carved turns.
Your mind. The suspicion that you might not be fit enough for the job destroys you mentally. If you’re tired, your vision closes in and you just react to what’s in front of you.
If you’re fit, you tend to relax, lift your head, anticipate, make plans and take in the bigger picture.
The unfit person confronting tough conditions for the first time only has survival on their mind, whilst the fit person enjoys the challenge because they know they have the strength and endurance to cope with a crisis.
The tactics Your level of fitness determines your tactics on the water. Free-riders who sail 4 miles before gybing usually do so because falling and restarting big kit saps all their energy.
De-tuned wave sailors, if they make it out through the break, keep going for a mile because they need to hook in and take a breather.
Hence their wave count is low and their whole performance lacks intensity. The fear of a rinsing and an exhausting swim forewarns them from spending too much time in the crazy zone.
So to improve at windsurfing it absolutely helps to get fitter. But how?
At the end of the very first advanced ‘funboard’ instructor’s course in 1984, I asked the candidates to fill out course feedback forms as per RYA protocol.
The comments were reasonably favourable apart from a collective rant about the pre-breakfast 5km run. “I started the day knackered.
By day three my hamstrings were so tight I couldn’t waterstart.” Wrote a youthful Simon Bassett. “I took up windsurfing because I hate running. What was the point?”
In retrospect, it wasn’t well conceived. The run was too strenuous and too early before the sailing session to be a useful warm up.
And as a general attempt to make everyone fitter for windsurfing, it was a very blunt instrument. For those who didn’t run as a way to keep fit, it was way too brutal.
For those who did (and there were a couple) it barely changed their heart rate.
In my defence the general aim of the run was to serve as a wake-up call to basic instructors who spent a large portion of their working day sitting in a boat wrapped in a duffle coat, with a cup o’ tea and loud hailer bellowing at beginners to keep their bums in.
Windsurfing, and coaching, at the more advanced levels is physically very demanding. It’s a daily triathlon of sailing, swimming and sprinting around the beach.
Get fit or go home … but not necessarily by pounding the streets of Cowes. Training, the volume, intensity and type, has to be relevant to the individual and what they want to achieve.
PERSONAL FITNESS JOURNEYS The fitness world is a commercial jungle. Exercise gurus with a magic product may claim to be able to give you perfect abs in 6 weeks (and produce a study and a ‘Doctorate of Ab-ology’ to back it up). But they can’t.
For a start that study didn’t include you did it? And what sort of fitness are they selling? Pert glutes and plump pecs may be desirable, but will they help you plane earlier?
So perhaps the best starting point is to consult expert windsurfers? They might not have the right letters after their name to be able to offer the definitive windsurfing work out, which doesn’t exist anyway, but they will have anecdotal experience of what has worked for them.
“ What the true experts seem to agree on more recently is that the body is a far more complex instrument that many give credit for and that we all respond to exercise in very different ways. The trick is that, without ignoring every scientific principle, listen to your body and discover what really works for you”
I was sat last week at a conference with a handful of icons of the sport past and present, including Ross Williams, Nik Baker and Dave White, who have reached various pinnacles with very different body types and attitudes to training.
The following may seem as logical as getting Hitler to deliver a sermon on racial harmony, but I’m going to give the first word on fitness and training to speed phenomenon Dave White.
Whitey, for those who haven’t had the pleasure, has the dancing feet of Nureyev, but the physique of Mr. Blobby. That’s unfair.
He just has a classic endomorph body – solid, heavy boned, strong but prone to putting on kg. easily (and then reluctant to get rid of them). He’s waged a long and bitter war with his weight, which currently he seems to be winning.
Having indulged in a myriad of diets, from Atkins to protein shakes – and exercise regimes – he has this to say about conditioning.
“The answer I’m expected to give is ‘get fitter, lose weight and your windsurfing will improve.’ It’s very good advice. But imagine standing outside a divorce court and saying to every bloke who came out: ‘you should have treated your wife better.’
That’s good advice too (although a bit late). But the answer they’re likely to give is: “If I was enjoying my marriage I might have.”
There lays my problem – no not my marriage – I didn’t enjoy the training I was doing and so I didn’t carry on.
Right now I’m on the fitness path, not from outside pressure, but as the result of some great sailing on the right size and style of equipment that fills my every waking moment with thoughts of windsurfing.
No, that’s not sort of subconscious RRD advertising, I’m just suggesting you ask yourselves, do you have the right gear to make the most of where you live?”
If someone puts you on a diet of llama’s intestine and boiled swede, however much weight you may lose initially (probably through retching), you are very unlikely to make such a regime part of your life because you’ll dread meal times and will surely revert and regrow.
It’s the same with exercise. In some perverse way you have to look forward to it.
The Laidback Waterman Back at the conference and I’m about to have a chat with Ross Williams when Amy Carter (coach and herself a Crossfit fanatic) enquires incredulously “you’re going to talk to Ross about physical training…?” inferring, I guess, that he doesn’t do much.
I have a lot of time for Ross. If the PWA still offered an overall crown he’d be favourite. He rips in the waves but is perhaps best known as a slalom and Formula racer.
Have you ever hung on to dedicated slalom kit in race conditions? You should try it once. The forces going through every cell of the body are brutal.
Ross is built – but he doesn’t look like a gym monkey. If the symptoms of someone on steroids are short-tempered, aggressive, border-line psychotic with veins bulging from parchment skin, well Ross is definitely clean.
Smiley and laidback to the point of collapse, his approach to the fitness question is that of a waterman.
“Whenever I get the chance, I surf – and I will do it because I enjoy it and from a fitness point of view it’s harder than windsurfing!
But for me I relate my performance entirely to the time I spend windsurfing. It’s all about muscle memory and developing the right muscles.
Yes I know not everyone can get out there when the wind blows so from personal experience I would say: don’t be totally unfit – any activity is better than none.
Don’t do just one thing – vary the exercise to keep your drive. And don’t forget to stretch – strength is one thing but you have to be able to move.”
“Whenever I feel like exercising I lie down until the feeling passes.”Anon
Lessons from the Hart From the age of 10 to 16 ½ I trained seriously as a gymnast. Lucky for me my coach, Bert Dooley, was something of a visionary.
Bert believed that all strength and conditioning training had to be directly relevant to the sport and what we wanted to achieve.
Heaving dumbbells around, he said, would just build big, irrelevant muscle. All his conditioning exercises, therefore, used the apparatus and your own body.
For example we’d do sets of swinging dips on the parallel bars, (with ankle weights if he was feeling mean), push-ups from head to handstand.
Leg circles on the pommel horse. We’d do shuttle sprints, but at the end of each have to do a vault or a tumble – and many more.
Each exercise was designed to target a muscle group but because it was part of a balance movement, you were working all the smaller muscle groups as well.
And everything had to be done with a tight stomach. Tension is key in gymnastics, and indeed anything acrobatic or dynamic.
You’ve probably seen the TV bloopers, where a gymnast loses that tension in mid-move, they fall from the sky like a dying spider.
Basically we were doing high-performance Pilates before it was called that.
It was hard but somehow fun because. …
a) He introduced an element of competition.
b) We were actually doing the sport, not just grunting.
c) There was a technical incentive. If you held balance and form, the repetitions were a lot easier.
He also kept the exercise bursts to around 90 seconds, just a bit longer than the length of a competition routine, which these days is called, ‘training above race pace.’ Gymnastic is an intense, explosive sport, so our conditioning training was explosive and intense.
I’ve carried those messages with me into my windsurfing. In all my training (and there really isn’t too much these days) I try to replicate the sport. Keep as close to the water as I can. So in order of preference:
1. If it’s windy – go windsurfing!
Set aside part of the session, perhaps the end, to conditioning. Intensify the session. Get planing without hooking in. Try stepping straight into the straps and pumping from there. Count the pumps.
Try sailing out of the harness for longer and longer periods holding the hips high and the stomach as tight as possible.
Do a series of ‘pops’ or chop hops without hooking in, on each tack.
If you’re sailing in waves, sail in the waves! Imagine you’re in a 20-minute heat and have to complete 5 jumps and 5 rides and stay in the same spot. You’ll crawl up the beach.
The All Black rugby team draw the difference between ‘man strength’ and ‘gym strength’.
Man strength is the natural strength you develop over years from continuously performing a physical chore like chucking sheep into the back of a truck.
Gym strength is just the ability to lift a weight and grow a muscle.
2. Don’t be a WINDGURU SLAVE.
In light winds, still go windsurfing. It’s the same exercise, same techniques but, without a solid counterbalance, it’s potentially even more demanding, if you make it so.
Gybe or tack continuously so you have little time to hook in and relax. Light wind sailing in the waves on a floaty thing can be the most aerobic of all.
3. Little wind – on the beach. So there’s barely enough wind to windsurf. But you can lay an old fin-less board on the beach, fit it with a small sail and get twiddling.
See how many tacks or rig changes you can do in a minute – you’re working the right muscles and drilling a technique.
4. No wind and the SUP.
The SUP has transformed many a windsurfer. Learning to balance and turn without a counterbalance is brilliant exercise for windsurfers who often use the rig like a drunkard uses a lamppost.
And when it comes to cardiovascular training, if you get it as a by-product of doing a sport you enjoy, rather than grinding it out on a static pain machine, you’re far more likely to persevere.
And finally, if the water is not available through weather or lack of general proximity then you do have to find something else to do.
For aerobic training everyone has their own favourite tools, running shoes, a bike, a swimming pool. Personally mine is the Concept 2 indoor rower.
I say ‘favourite’ – I hate the bloody thing, but being a supported exercise it’s easier on my dodgy knee and I have yet to find anything that better mirrors the act of windsurfing.
But whatever tool you’re on, think windsurfing and replicate its rhythm and intensity. It’s periods of relative calm (hooked in reaching) followed by short explosive bursts (a gybe, a jump, a tack, gouging bottom turn).
So if you’re on your step machine, program in hills. If you’re on your bike, find hills. If you’re running, look for a hill or put in the odd sprint.
That sudden intense effort is you fighting to keep head and rig above water in the shorebreak and waterstart before the next dumper. And does it have to hurt? Probably…
Once, after 2 months of heavy gym training I flew to Barbados for a regatta. On the first morning I met up with fellow racer Mike Burt. He too had been on the weights. We compared pecs – it was official, we were both ripped.
We went out into the waves – we came back in 5 minutes later both totally knackered and feeling like we never windsurfed before.
Some regimes, notably heaving big weights around, can actually be counter-productive in a sport that is primarily about balance.
Overload – the one true fitness principle According to the well respected Journal of Applied Physiology “overload is the one overriding truth in physiology.” You go the gym and do the same old circuit, it may have general health benefits, but you’re not getting any fitter.
To get fitter you have to push yourself and ‘overload’ the system and actually damage the muscles and connecting tissues. You’re no doubt familiar with DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).
That soreness is not lactic acid but tiny muscle tears that have brought an inflammatory response. The tissues then repair themselves and become stronger and more pliable – but only if they’re allowed to – which is why rest and recovery is so important. It is the foundation of fitness.
My body reacts far better to high intensity, interval training (HIIT in the trade) than it does to lower intensity volume training.
I’d also rather dive into a freezing swimming pool than edge in inch-by-inch – and pull off the Elastoplast in one rip.
Get it over with I say. I’d rather hurt a lot for a short time, than a hurt a little for a long time.
But overload does not have to imply a ‘sprint ‘til you vomit’ approach. It can simply mean gradually increasing the frequency, length and/or intensity of your workouts.
Are you a ‘Non responder’? As mentioned in the beginning, people respond differently to the exercise. A recent study in Finland put 175 people through the same aerobic and strength program.
After 21 weeks some had improved by as much as 42%, others, not one iota.
Some of you may have seen last year’s BBC Horizon program ‘the truth about exercise’ where the presenter sought an exercise regime to reverse the descent towards ill health, notably diabetes, that had been the fate of his ancestors.
The researchers identified him as a ‘non responder’ to exercise. That is to say he could run or cycle as much as he liked and he wouldn’t change his VO2max – his ability to process oxygen.
However, by obeying a shockingly brief daily routine of 3 X 20 second full sprint bursts on a static bike, he altered positively many of his health markers including his sensitivity to insulin.
The ‘non responder’ label provoked a bit of a backlash in the physiological circles – namely Louisiana State University
“People do respond differently and it appears to be in the genes. But motivation plays a huge role. We have people who come in four times a week but they are not pushing themselves. But there are no ‘non responders!’
Everyone will get fitter and healthier following the right exercise approach, which should be relative to their goals and appropriate to their current level of fitness.”
I do encounter people on courses who love their windsurfing, but who have thrown in the exercise towel claiming that nothing seems to make any difference.
But I’m afraid if you are such a person it is probably that you’re just not trying hard enough in the right way … sorry! Your gym, fearful of litigation, may be to blame.
With notices like: “if you feel tired or hot or short of breath immediately stop, go home, have a little lie down and call a doctor” plastered on every machine, no surprise people remain a little too comfortable.
Mr. Motivator When all is said, motivation is often the elusive ingredient. And it’s the same for the elite sportsman as it is for the amateur. Hence the pro usually trains with a view to peaking at a certain time – like a 3-year plan leading up to the Olympics for example.
The amateur can do the same – just shorten the lead time and swap ‘Olympics’ for ‘holiday.’ It should be a massive incentive.
It’s tragic how many holiday sessions have been wasted because the perpetrator went nuts on the first morning and by day 3 hadn’t got a functioning cell left in the system.
But on the subject of motivation I leave the last word to Mr. Motivator himself – Whitey:
“For me it’s the possibility of maximizing the conditions when they finally arrive that keeps my thoughts positive as I pass (without stopping) yet another McDonalds or when my heart feels like bursting through my chest on a run…. Yes, I did say “run”.
P.S. If you’re interested in the latest fitness science in layman’s language may I suggest you read ‘The First 20 Minutes’ by Gretchen Reynolds.
Harty continues the physical theme in this month’s Affairs of the Hart’ on the back page. Next month he hits the technique looking at the Freemove phenomenon. Many of his life-enhancing clinics are full this year but a few spaces remain. Check them out soon by going to www.peter-hart.com, or by liking his Peter Hart Masterclass Facebook page.
Peter Hart’s 7th Windsurfing Clinic and Wave Sailing Masterclass to Brazil in 2015 is now open for bookings.
Peter’s 10 day Masterclass clinic in Jericoacoara for entry level wave sailing plus general skills for intermediates-advanced is now open for bookings.
Running from 09-19 January 2015, the time of year offers the perfect introduction to wave-sailing conditions. The waves are bigger, the wind a perfect force 4-5 and the whole place noticeably less crowded and laid-back.
Peter described last year’s clinic by saying “OMG!” doesn’t even come close. “If the pousada of Punta Pedra, where most of my group stay, was any closer to the beach, it would be in the sea.
Over breakfast of the freshest fruit and egg combo of your choice, they watch with open mouths as the wind starts to whip the tops of the waves bending in around the point.”
Clinic Price: £2,449pp
INCLUDING
– 7 days Peter Hart Masterclass.
– Return flights from Heathrow (including 2 x bags allowance).
– 10 nights BB Pousada accommodation on twin share basis.
– Round trip airport transfers & assistance.
Land only price £1,399pp. (Includes above except flight.)
International bookings welcome.
WAVE MADNESS:
10 days Board Hire for the price of 5!
To book contact Sportif on:
Tel +44(0)1273 844919 or email info@sportif.travel More information
Since 1977 when Roger Tushingham started up his namesake brand, ‘Tushingham Sails’ have been at the forefront of U.K. windsurfing. The facts speak for themselves. At some point during their time on the water most British sailors have used a Tushingham, while a staggering 70% have actually owned one. Head to any popular beach in the U.K. and most likely you will see one out blasting, as this dynamic home grown brand repeatedly bucks the trends and outsells the bigger known international brands in our domestic market. Amongst the reasons for the brands continuing success, Tushingham have never been afraid to diversify or take bold steps to stay ahead of the pack. In the past the brand has offered an extensive line of designs aimed squarely at the U.K. rider for our conditions. But with the market demands changing drastically, Tushingham are about radically to re shuffle their program by condensing four existing ranges down into one brand new line, ‘The Bolt!’ John Carter investigates …
Words & Photos JOHN CARTER
(This feature originally appeared in the July 2014 issue of Windsurf Magazine. To read more features like this first, Print and Digital subscriptions are available. Prices include delivery globally for 10 x issues a year!)
STEALTH
A chance phone call to Dave Hackford in early January 2014 unleashed the news that Roger Tushingham was in the midst of a covert mission to the Isle of Wight to check over the finishing touches to their new sail line ‘The Bolt’. I’d already heard a few rumours that they were working on a major secret project, but armed with this latest intel, I jumped in my car and headed straight for Ken Black’s sail loft to check out the evidence first hand. Hidden off the beaten track on a road known to the locals as ‘The Undercliff’, Ken’s house is the perfect stealth HQ to carry out the last tweaks and changes to their new range away from the public eye. As I pull up the drive, Roger and Ken already have several of the very latest prototypes unrolled in the garden and are meticulously checking every detail before the new models can be put into full-scale production.
HISTORY
Rewinding way back to 1977, the idea for the Tushingham brand was first born when Roger was an aspiring dinghy racer. Enthralled by the sport throughout his child hood, Roger soon figured that the only way to become semi-professional at dinghy racing was to become a sailmaker despite a distinct lack of enthusiasm from his Yorkshire-based Careers Officer at school. At the time a friend suggested that he use the Jolly Roger skull logo, which was drawn on each sail by his own fair hand in felt tip during the early days of production. Come 1980, when windsurfing was entering its heyday and becoming a household sport, Roger was perfectly placed to roll out the cloth and send the stitches of his sewing machine in a brand new and exciting direction. With a glint in his eye, he recalls the early days when windsurfing was in its infancy “Every man and his dog was windsurfing back then, it was incredible! Windsurfing was the first new adventure sport and everybody got behind it in the mid 80s. The stuff we were making at the time was terrible. But we just didn’t know any better! We didn’t even have clamp-on booms. My first windsurfer had a wooden boom. For years after that we used to tie booms onto the mast with a piece of string! You had to develop this special knot, it was awful. You wonder why all this stuff took so long? I think it’s because we’re not that intelligent!” When Roger made the bold call to embark on his second Olympic campaign, he licensed the brand out to Bennett and Bowler to continue running the business while he was pre occupied with his training regime. A few years later, after the Olympics had passed, they realised that production of the sails needed to be moved to China because of price changes. Chris Bowler didn’t want the commitment and asked Roger if he wanted Tushingham back. Needless to say, the canny Yorkshireman saw an opportunity and the deal was done!
“ WHEN WINDSURFING BOOMED IN THE 80S IT WAS VERY SIMPLE, SO I THINK WE NEED TO MOVE BACK IN THAT DIRECTION ”
THE TEAM
At the same time Dave ‘Hackers’ Hackford joined the Tushingham team from NeilPryde bringing in a much-needed driving force behind the sales and marketing side of the company. When Dave heard Roger was thinking about acquiring Tushingham back from Bennett and Bowler, he was keen to become more involved in the design, marketing and sales of the equipment and called to see if they could work together. The deal was struck, they both became directors and Dave moved up from Brighton to Yorkshire to get Tushingham re-launched. Roger will be the first to admit that he’s quite laidback and Hackers’ competitive side was essential for them to grow in the market. Incidentally ’92 was the only year that NeilPryde sold more sails in the U.K. than Tushingham, so bringing Dave on board proved to be another shrewd move from the Yorkshire businessman.
The next natural step in the evolution of the brand was to enrol the services of multi-talented sail designer Ken Black in 1993-4. Ken was so busy at the time making his own brand ‘Ken Black Sails’ he barely had time to work on his real passion of design. Roger realized Ken’s talents were wasted so he brought him on board with the sole role as designer while the sails were manufactured in China. So with all three of the main members of the team using their individual talents to their best effect, Tushingham has continued to flourish over the past two decades.
Paul Simmonds joined up in the late nineties and brought on board his windsurfing skills, enthusiasm and general business and organizational skills. Now he is one of the backbones of the team alongside, Luke Green, Sam Ross, Peter Hart, Chris Murray and former British Champion John Hibbard. Now based down in ‘sunny’ Devon (although Roger will beg to differ about the ‘sunny’ bit), an important aspect for choosing their location was so that the offices are close to decent conditions. With virtually every member of the Team a passionate windsurfer, it’s important to the brand that their workforce are able to test sails and catch those epic sessions – even if it means a few late nights in the office to catch up on daily business.
DISTRIBUTION
A major reason that Tushingham have continued to grow, is their hugely efficient distribution network. Rather than sit on their laurels as a standalone sail brand, the company has diversified by becoming importers of Starboard windsurf and SUPs, Severne sails and the Red Paddle SUP brand that specializes purely in inflatable boards. The team in the warehouse is now eleven strong and, despite Britain just about clawing its way out of the depths of this almighty recession, Tushingham have proved to be one of the stronger forces in the market with a healthy market share and an efficiently run business that is all set to ride the wave of recovery.
However, all the team have taken note that the overall size of the windsurfing market has shrunk during the last decade. Roger thinks it’s become way too complicated and hard-core. “I mean, sailors own a 5.5, but they don’t have a van full of 5.5s optimised for different disciplines and conditions. If it’s 5.5 weather, you need a sail that will do-it-all to at least 95% perfection. We wanted to make the recreational sailor’s choice easier, so we’ve taken this bold step to dramatically reduce the number of models in the range”. Gone will be the Storm, the Edge freestyle range, the T4 and the Lightning, all to be replaced by the ‘Bolt’, which they aim to combine the best of the previous models into one simplified range. The smaller sizes up to 5.25 will feature four battens, then five battens up to 6.0, then six and seven battens and twin cams for the bigger sizes up to 9.4. The characteristics of the sails will change as the sizes increase and Tushingham have kept key features of their existing sweet sizes from the previous ranges and incorporated them into the new designs. All the sails will be lighter and Roger reckons you should be able to rig the whole range using three mast sizes. All sails will have an ideal mast but will also be rig-able on the mast size either side of it.
There are secondary benefits to this reduction in the sail range. It will be good for the shops with all sizes and colours being available ex-stock and, most importantly, it means Ken can focus on less sails to refine in the design stages and subsequently give each model more intense attention. Hard-core wave sailors will be glad to hear the popular Rock five batten wave sail range will remain in production while the new small sizes of the ‘Bolt’ range will be lighter and more freeride orientated. Tushingham are not expecting their market to rush down to the local windsurfing shop and buy a full set of their new sails but the new system should make it much easier to fill the gaps in the quiver. Rather than further complicate the market, this bold move is to make more all-round sails that cater adequately for the majority of the British market. The new sail line will also be incorporating new high tech materials with designs that have evolved and benefited from Tushingham’s 20 years of experience in the business. Sam Ross, Paul Simmons, Dave Hackford and Luke Green have all been involved in the testing of the new range and full-scale production is already underway.
COMPARISON
As Roger and Ken meticulously work their way through the sails, rigging and checking every detail in the process, he comments to me that he likes to compare the Tushingham in car terms as the VW in the market. “VWs are superb quality and do exactly what they say on the tin. We feel Tushingham do a solid job for the windsurfer on the street – just like a VW!” Utilizing the talents of world-class designer Ken Black, Roger has no qualms that they can match the performance and quality of any other brand in the market. He’s not ashamed to admit that Tushingham are not a Ho’okipa or World Cup race brand, but in the past that has proved an advantage, because Tushingham are more connected with recreational sailors. Emphasising this fact he adds “Normal windsurfers don’t need a World Cup race sail. We tried to rig one up the other day and really struggled, believe me – and we know what we’re doing! Our aim is to make sails that are easy to use, durable, good value, well balanced and with a wide range of use. When windsurfing boomed in the 80s it was very simple, so I think we need to move back in that direction.” By late afternoon the last details have been checked over, Roger has to rush off and catch the next ferry, he’s headed to Warwickshire to pick up a new engine for his motor bike – but that’s a whole other story …
KEN BLACK
I hang around to chew the fat with Ken for a while and pick his brains about the technical side of the sails. With over thirty years’ experience in sail design, working contently behind the scenes, Ken still maintains his logical approach and dedicated work ethic. “This is not like a normal sail range. The new line is aimed at a wide-sector of uses and we’ve introduced new lighter materials, new head rings and new pulleys to help increase performance. The small sails have to cover quite a wide wind range from learners to a howling gale. We’ve gone for four battens below 5.5 so they’re emphasising lightweight and manoeuvrability. We tested the 5.5 extensively and our riders reckon the new Bolt delivers pretty much the same performance level of all of our previous 5.5s from the outgoing ranges. We have three sails with five battens up to 6.0, then 6.5 upwards we go to six battens with a different configuration for a more slalom-type speed feel. They’re all versatile, easy to rig and easy to use, plus they’ll fit a lot of masts too. It helps me having fewer sails to design, so I can spend more time on each sail, I can try and make each one perfect! I just do my bit and make the sails as good as they can be. Of course we still have a bulletproof Rock for the hard core wave guys, the X15 race sail and the race board sail for longboards”.
THE FUTURE
It will be interesting to see how consumers will react to Tushingham’s bold reaction to the way the market is evolving. Surviving solely as a sail brand was only sustainable for so long in the windsurfing retail sector as the market battled through the last recession. By branching out into the distribution leg of the business, Tushingham showed how they can adapt and remain buoyant through difficult times. Now with ‘The Bolt’ they’re hoping this latest step will keep windsurfing sails simple for both the shops and the consumers, allowing them to remain one of the ‘Rocks’ of UK windsurfing for many more years to come! JC
Louis Morris UKWA Raceboard National Champion and Starboard Tushingham team rider gives us the low down on the last event of the UKWA 2014 raceboard series.
The UKWA National course racing championship is a series of 5 events, the final one was at Stokes Bay (Gosport, on the Solent) last weekend.
The forecast looked pretty windy for Saturday, and sure enough, it was very windy whilst we were rigging, but after a lot of rain and a 90° wind shift, we had about 12-14 knots. To avoid the shipping channel, the course was set quite close into the beach, which was great for spectators, but also meant that the inner loop of the course had very fluky wind, with a big hole by the windward mark. Add some strong tide, and you have some interesting racing!
During the morning, the tide was going opposite directions (or at least, much stronger inshore), which meant that left paid best. The wind was strong enough to plane all the way round, and I had good speed and was tactically strong enough to win by a comfy margin whilst Mark Kay, Rob Kent, and Lewis Barnes were in close combat. One of the leeward gate marks drifted leading to some confusion and disqualification those who went through the gate the wrong way (including Lewis).
The wind dropped a bit for the second race, demanding a bit more downwind pumping. And this time the racing was very close with a few lead changes as people got the right gusts and shifts and played the tide correctly or not. I was leading, but after the last upwind, Rob was hot on my tail, and had a better downwind to win the race (I had a stinking cold and just ran out of energy, that’s my excuse anyway!).
Race 3 was no less exciting and very very gusty as the wind started to swing a little more offshore. The tide was very strong now, and even stronger on the left, so it was a case of trying to get the shifts right without heading out into the channel. Mark had a flying start and a perfect first beat, but then tacked on a header at the leeward mark, sending him out into the strongest tide and allowing 4 people to overtake! Myself and Rob got a good shift by the shore that allowed us to leebow the tide and get a crazy layline to the windward mark, so again I won with Rob 2nd and Lewis in 3rd.
The race officer tried to change the course to a windward/leeward further out in cleaner wind, but the wind dropped by the time we started and it had to be abandoned. There was no wind until about 1pm on Sunday, and even then it was about 2 knots, some people just went home, and lots of people started packing up, but then at 3, we had a great finishing race in 8-10 knots. The tide wash pushing upwind very quickly, but miraculously nobody was OCS on the start. I had a good start but gave myself some work to do by heading too much up the middle of the course; luckily I got the craziest long distance with tide layline ever and won the race ahead of Rob and Lewis again.
So I won the event, with Rob Kent 2nd, and Lewis Barnes finally converted his crazy speed into a super consistent set of 3rd places. Mark Kay was as fast as ever, but just didn’t manage to put together a good enough set of races to displace Lewis from the podium. Annette Kent had a really good event and finished 5th overall, first lady by a long way. Jenna Gibson was also very impressive, managing to finish ahead of Harriet Ellis, proving that a skilfully used old Mega cat is still as good as anything!
National Championship series results:
1st Louis Morris (Tushingham/Starboard 377)
2nd Robert Kent (Tushingham/Starboard 377)
3rd Mark Kay (Demon/Starboard 377)
1st Veteran (4th overall) Tom Naylor (Tushingham/Starboard 380)
1st Lady (6th overall) Annette Kent (Tushingham/Starboard 377)
1st Supervet (7th overall) John Pete (Demon/Starboard 377)
1st Youth (10th overall) Rebecca Kent (Bic OD/Mistral Equipe)
Getting up and going is not just a ‘tick the box’ skill – it’s one that should be refined and adapted all the way through a windy career. Peter Hart reveals the fundamentals of early planing.
Right, before we go any further with this subject, lets get the weight issue out of the way. At the very mention of early planing, I wager those of you with fuller figures are throwing your arms in frustration, cursing your genetic disadvantage. I mean it’s simple physics isn’t it? A big thing needs more power to make it move than a little thing.
Hence women, children and scrawny blokes fly around in a fart while you wallow. And so it is you sail like a big person and sit there like a sack of potatoes waiting for the next hurricane gust to shift you. And I should know, because I was (and still am) that big person.
When I started racing I’d throw the towel in the moment the wind dropped below about 15 knots and watch stick insects like Barrie Edgington twinkle towards the horizon. It wasn’t until I started doing a few World Cup races and witnessed 95 kg. man mountain Bjoern Dunkerbeck turbo boost off the line ahead of the flyweights, that I understood that bulk is just an excuse for poor technique or a lack of effort.
Weight, of course, is a factor (in fact it’s the topic of the back page) but shedding kilos is a long term project. It’s not going to happen overnight. So lets focus on the early planing factors you can influence here and now. For a start we need to define what we mean by ‘early planing.’ It’s not just a contest to get going in the lowest wind strength. Whatever the wind, force 3-10, whatever the kit, raceboard or 60L wave board, it’s about how quickly you accelerate, how quickly you get into the straps and release; how much sail you need to do it. (And by the way, big people take heart that the flyweights often aren’t as good at early planing as their larger cousins because they don’t have to be. They’re usually sailing bigger boards relative to their weight so can just get in the straps sheet in and get blown along.)
If you cut the time it takes you to plane AND the amount of power you need to plane, ALL aspects of your windsurfing WILL improve
WHY?
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that early planing is the cornerstone of windsurfing. There are so many reasons to be good at it.
Energy saver. The most tiring place to be is in a state of semi planing in planing winds because there’s so much drag going through body and arms.
More control. If you don’t have to rely on enormous kit to get you planing, you have better control in tacks and gybes.
More practice.
Apologies for stating the bleeding obvious, but you can’t practise planing moves unless you’re on the plane. So much of so many sessions are wasted because people aren’t able to make use of every gust.
New Skool. Moving up the scale, freestyle moves, especially those from the new ‘skool’ of derring-do, are only really achievable with sails under 6.0 (and preferably a lot less than that) – and you need to be using that small sail in a relatively light force 4-5 wind. It sounds brutal, but freestyle if off limits to those who can’t get planing with small sails.
The same goes for wavesailing. Big rigs in the surf limit your manoeuvrability and they break.
Better, more frequent jumps. The number one reason for floppy jumps is that people aren’t planing where the ramps are. In typical beach break conditions you need to be up to full speed by the time you meet the first barrage.
Better Racer.
Part time or Olympic – acceleration onto the plane is a more potent racing weapon than top speed.
More security, less falls. The most precarious place to be is in ‘mid something.’ Mid tack, mid gybe, mid ‘Kabikuchi’, that’s where you’re going to lose it. It’s same with early planing. The longer you spend not quite planing with the board grinding through the water rocking from edge to edge, the more likely you are to catch a heel on the chop and catapult. And if it’s taking you an age to find the straps, you’ll look down and that will be when you get smacked by the unseen gust.
A badly tuned car uses a lot more gas that a tuned one. Those slow to plane are wasting a lot of energy and hence need more of it in the form of more sail and more volume
UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGE
To plane, a board – or boat for that matter – has to overtake its own bow wave. Smaller boards – and boards with a steep rocker line – push more water in front of them and so need more power to drive them up and over. A board needs more power to make it plane than it does to keep it on the plane. It’s like an over-laden speed boat. To start off it’s full throttle, props churning a massive wake, passengers running to the front, carbon footprint growing by the second until finally it climbs over the watery wall. But then as it releases and glides effortlessly (although still a bit noisily) you can throttle right back. If you hook into a 120L freeride board with a 7.5 sail across the wind and do nothing, you’ll need about 18 knots of wind to drive it onto the plane. But when you’re on the plane, you’ll only need 10 knots to keep it there. So to get on the plane in less than 18 knots, you have to do something to create an artificial surge of power. Pumping is one way but by no means the only one. As David Brailsford, Olympic cycling coach, famously stated, their multiple successes came from the ‘aggregation of marginal gains.’ It’s the same deal with planing. A lot of small adjustments can amount to a big advantage. But it has to start with the kit. The ramifications of kit choice and tuning are so vast, that I hope you’ll excuse me if I just hone in on a few specific areas that seem to make the biggest difference to the most amount of people.
A TRUE LITMUS TEST
Early planing tests every aspect of your game. You have to select and tune the kit to an optimum level. You have to read the conditions and coincide your effort with a gust and down slope. It demands a level of fitness. Tight limbs and a solid core are needed to transfer the power directly into the board. In strong winds especially you have to be committed and bit brave. And of course it’s the ultimate test of your stance, power control and trimming skills.
THE MATCH
It seems that this whole conundrum could be sorted with one sentence: “take out a bigger rig.” And for the timorous, that may well be the answer. But it may have the opposite effect, especially if you can’t fully sheet in, or the rig over-powers the board.
On a 12-knot marginal day last week on the beach lay a 125L freerace board with an 8.5 and a similar 120L board with a 7.8. They were both set up well and the carbon content of the hardware was similar. Surprisingly perhaps, the smaller combo planed earlier because board and rig felt a better match. It just slipped onto the plane. Both the 7.8 and the 8.5 rigs fell within their board’s recommended range. However the 8.5 was on the limit for the 130. The ends of the scale are rarely the sizes that work the best.
DRIVE & RELEASE
There are many personal, quirky techniques to help planing like rocking the board from side to side to unstick it, hoofing the fin, shaking the sail to get the air moving etc. Ultimately you’re trying to bounce it onto its planing surface by driving it into the water with rig and foot pressure – and then releasing it. Letting go of the front hand off the boom, as well as being mildly cool, stops you choking the rig and forces you to extend away and drop the hips behind the feet.
// The toes of the front foot press down on the sweet spot of the board just in front of the entry to the rocker. The friction creates lift. The board pushes back against the foot…
// …so as you release it, it pops up and onto the plane. Because the hips are right back, putting the front foot in the strap is just a case of tucking it under your knee.
MATCHING HANDS & FEET
The feet will always try and match the hands. If you commit the cardinal sin of placing the front hand at the front of the boom, the front foot will move forward to keep balance and stop you heading up. But he’s now standing directly over his feet so his weight and all the power from the rig is acting down rather than forward. Planing is now a hurricane away. But if he moves the front hand back, the front foot will move back, the nose will rise and the board has a chance of releasing.
With the 8.5 it felt as if the advantage of the extra power was cancelled out by the extra dead weight, which made the board displace more water and create a bigger bow wave. It was crying out for the support of an extra 10L of volume. Water state also has a big influence. The day before, Irish Ned crawled from the water and declared that his rig, and I’ll quote his own vernacular, ‘felt utter sh**e.’ He was using his 5.7 on his favourite 80L wave board – a combo he loves on his windy, mostly flat, bump and jump patch back home. But in the onshore winds of Scraggane Bay it felt totally different. The relatively big rig was pushing the thin, soft rails deep into the chop and stopped it releasing – and that’s what made the rig feel heavy and ‘sh**e.’ He needed a bigger board. When we’re talking matches, so much depends on the design and, above all, the width of the board and the skill and weight of the sailor. However, in the disciplines where early planing is top of the list, e.g., marginal wind sailing, new school freestyle and wavesailing, a little extra board volume is a more potent weapon than a great tractor of a rig, especially now since bigger boards, of all categories, are so much more controllable. Smaller rigs are also easier to work and pump – more about that shortly.
THE RIGHT SORT OF POWER
I’m all for detailed rigging instructions, but if you’re to excel, there comes a time when you have to dump the fundamentalist scripture and trust your own feelings and instincts. If it doesn’t feel right and you ‘aint going, change something until you do. At risk of sounding like a train service spokesperson, you may have a lot of power, but it may be the wrong sort of power. You sheet in, the sail fills and pulls. Eskimos have 50 words for snow. Practised windsurfers should have 50 words to describe ‘pull.’ Was it a grunty pull? A draggy pull? A jerky pull – or a soft, springy pull? (Soft and springy is good.) If your chosen rig isn’t quite getting you there and you don’t want to/can’t change up, the received wisdom is to ‘bag it out’ by easing off the outhaul and/or the downhaul. More shape surely equals more power. But bag it too much and the sail turns from a foil to an umbrella. The skill is in tweaking and feeling whether the sail is powering you along or just driving the board under the water. My first adjustment is usually to ease off a centimetre of outhaul, which puts a bit more shape in the battens just above and below the boom, where most of the power is generated. If you let off too much to the point where there’s no tension in the back of the sail, on non-cambered sails particularly, the foil billows onto your back hand. With an unstable centre of effort it’s hard to pump effectively and deliver the power precisely into the board. And on boards with titchy fins the tail will keep breaking out. The downhaul needs to be handled with care. Easing it off a little, you put more shape into the top part of the sail and tighten the leech. That can be good. A tight leech is more reactive when you pump. But ease it off too much and the leech stays closed. The sail traps the wind but doesn’t release it. You sheet in, loads of pull, here we go … no we don’t. The sail keeps on pulling instead of softening and becoming lighter as you accelerate. Unless the wind can escape from the leech, you’ll get all the misery of being over-powered, aching muscles, blisters, but none of the joys – instant acceleration and speed. Brendan was out on his 6.0 yesterday. He was slow to get going despite easing off the downhaul. Actually it was because he eased off the downhaul. Big diagonal creases spread from the leech to the mast end of the battens – a sure sign that the leech is trying to open but can’t. Somehow it seems counter-intuitive to increase downhaul when you’re struggling to plane – but in this case an extra inch transformed the sail.
GET OUT THE STOPWATCH
The surest way to gauge progress is with a stopwatch, real or imagined. In a solid wind, time how long it takes you to get hooked in, strapped in and released fully onto the plane.
If it’s more than 5 seconds, there is work to be done.
THE MAST QUESTION
A last thought on kit: People ask whether the 100% carbon mast is worth it – or will the cheaper one do? With absolutely no support from the carbon growers association, I have to say it IS worth it, for the early planing alone. Power to plane doesn’t just come from a full belly. It comes from a reactive leech. When you sheet in and pump, the mast flexes and the leech opens and the wind exhausts. The lighter, full carbon mast returns more quickly, which allows you to pump faster and more often.
TWEAKING THE SET UP
This won’t last long. Ready. Put the boom up. That’s it. Don’t go silly. It has to be within the range that works, which for planing sailing on 70-cm-wide (ish) board is around nipple to shoulder height – a little higher for wider boards where the straps are further from the mastfoot. With a higher boom, you feel the balance of power shift from feet to mastfoot and the board lighten up. Looking for more power to plane, I put the boom up an inch and release a centimetre of outhaul. Nine times out of ten that does the trick. If it doesn’t, I’ll just hope the pubs are open. And my very last word on the set-up matter before we head to the far more important business of technique, concerns harness lines. The most efficient way to power up the sail and get planing is to use the harness. If the harness lines are short, you’ll drag the rig back as you move to the straps, depower the sail and sink the tail. If the lines are long, the rig stays forward and upright. You’ll power up the mastfoot and the board will stay level – your choice.
EARLY PLANING TECHNIQUE
The sign of a well-rounded windsurfer is being able to adapt her skill according to the kit, the conditions and the moment. For example, a good gyber will shape the arc of each turn depending on how powered up she is and what’s in front of her. The slick waterstarter employs a different rig recovery method depending how and where the rig is lying. It should be the same with early planing. The sequence and technique changes for different designs of board, light and strong winds, calm or rough seas. An obvious example is where someone moving from a big freeride board to a small waveboard tries to get going by sheeting in across the wind and hoofing against the fin. But for all the many variations, it’s best to approach the challenge with broad concepts and relate it to skills you already have.
THE BURST OF POWER
What gets you out of the water in the waterstarts is creating a sudden surge of power. To begin with, if it’s windy, you just bear away. Then you learn to bear AND extend from the shoulders to raise the rig. Then you start pumping as you come up and kick the front leg and time the effort with a gust and as a wave lifts you – until finally you’re popping up in a zephyr. It’s exactly the same with getting planing. You need a burst of power to overtake that bow wave and break free. Success comes with co-ordinating all your lift devices – kicking off the wind on a gust, sheeting in, tilting off down a slope, bouncing the board, working the rig – all pretty much at the same time. And back to waterstarting. When it doesn’t work, the thing absolutely not to do is hang there, arms raised high waiting for the next depression to pass through and blow you up. Instead you have to lower the rig again, head back upwind and create another burst. Trying to plane, if you bear away, go for it and it doesn’t happen, don’t tootle off downwind cursing your ill fate. Turn back upwind and look to explode again.
THINK LIKE A SMALL PERSON
May I crave your indulgence and ask you to imagine you’re water-skiing behind a dodgy, faltering powerboat off the coast of S. Africa. The rope has frayed so you’re being pulled by just one thread. You look behind to see a hungry Great White shark following you with intent. What would you do? Instinctively you would extend the arms, give to the power, come up on your toes, suck your guts up under your ribcage, make no jerky backwards movements against the rope and reduce the drag of the skis by riding them as flat as possible.
That’s early planing – in brief you’re trying to present the board to the water in such a way that it creates the east drag, whilst at the same time maximising the available power. But how do you do that?
SET UP CHECK
A few simple checks on the beach to give you the best chance of getting going with the least effort.
// Set the boom height to the top of the workable range, which for a wave board is around shoulder height.
// Place the board close to the wind and the lines should be long enough that you can hook in with the front foot by the mastfoot. But there’s a feeling of being slightly suspended in the harness with the weight coming off the feet.
// Then, in the straps the ultimate early planing test is that even when you move back into the straps, the set up allows you to stand tall on your toes and hold the rig upright.
LESS IS MORE – UNTIL MORE IS MORE
Coaching lower intermediates in the art of early planing I urge them to do less. Aspiring experts I encourage to do more. Less, in this case means keeping it all solid and constant, committing fully to the harness, holding the rig still and bearing away gradually to deliver a calm constantly increasing force into a level board. That opposed to gyrating hither and thither, on and off the power, rig flying all over the shop so the board surges and stops like a learner driver kangarooing down the street. More, means getting more active, in a good way. You keep the power on but add little surges to help unstick a reluctant board. We’re talking pumping. Pumping – sheeting in suddenly and releasing – is a controversial subject in that while it’s potentially the best way of releasing a board, done badly is also a way to make sure the board never planes ever. The way to introduce yourself into the feel and rhythm of pumping is to do it hooked in. Committed to the harness, the board gets a constant flow. Then give little pumps with the back hand. Every pump creates a surge, which you drive into the board with the toes and then release. It’s as you release the pressure that the board bounces up onto its planing surface. I don’t really want to talk about pumping as it’s like trying to describe juggling. It’s all about feel and timing. Other things are far more important.
Of all the important things that are the most important, this is the most important of all. The key to getting going is working within the wind angles that provide the useable power for that wind strength and the amount of sail you’re carrying. It’s bearing away into a gust that is your most effective weapon – but how much? In less wind you need to bear away more. In more wind you bear away less. Perhaps it’s easier to describe the effects of heading off on the wrong tack. In a marginal wind, if you don’t bear away enough, you just don’t generate the power to get going, simple. On a small board with a small fin, if you don’t bear way enough and start pumping, the surges of power are lateral and you’ll slip sideways. To pump effectively on any board, you have to bear away off the wind. Off the wind the pulses of power drive the board forward. In a strong wind, if you bear away too much, you can’t close the sail and get pulled too much over the board. At best the board lurches from edge to edge. At worst you get catapulted.
KNOWING YOUR BOARD – THE ENTRY POINT QUESTION
Crusty windies from another era have been bamboozled by the planing quirks of modern kit. Back in the day boards were up to 4m long and had a constant rocker line. To plane you made the long journey to the tail, via several sets of straps, stopping for tea and Kendall mint cake on the way, as the board gradually lifted out. To move back a moment to soon was to sink the narrow tail and stall immediately. Above all else you stayed forward. Today, many boards will not plane if you stand too far forward. On the shorter, racier models, the entry point, where the board first makes contact with the water, is only just in front of the straps. If you stand in front of it, you push a curved section of board into the water and stop it gliding. It’s a case of, get into the straps in order to plane. On your own board, feel for that entry point by playing around with the front foot position. A inch forward and back is critical to the trim.
EFFICIENT TRANSMISSION
And so to the body. It is the transmission. It takes the power from the engine and transmits it to the wheels. Ultimately it’s the vital link in the chain. The biggest change occurs though practice and confidence. It’s where people go from being blown on the plane thanks to big kit and a bit of luck with some local weather, to actually driving the board onto the plane. In the first instance, they just stand over their feet and the volume of the board sort of makes sense of the power. In the second, they drop their hips behind their feet, take the power from the sail, through a tight stomach into, the legs and actually slide the board forward.
You can get the same words plus actions from the horse’s mouth by joining Peter on one of his internationally acclaimed, game-changing clinics, catering for everyone from planing novice to jumping, riding fanatic. Lots of info about the 2015 schedule on
OVERVIEW The Bolt is Tushingham’s all-encompassing new line covering 9.5 down to 4.0 that transmutates from twin cams to no-cams for the widest range of use throughout the sizes. This 5.25 is the largest of the 4-batten section of the range – replacing previous favourites such as the Storm – and is intended to deliver all-round wave and freeride performance with the familiar Tushingham feel and characteristics their loyal followers demand. We were pleased to see a pulley block instead of the usual cringle this time, however the block is fully exposed below the tack fairing. Also of note was just a single clew cringle instead of the two the Rock wave sails feature and we also found the mast cut-out fabric a little fiddly when fitting the boom.
BRAND CLAIM ‘An awesome sail for the high wind freerider, bump and jump, intermediate wave rider or budding freestyle sailor. It really does allow you to do anything you can dream of!’ (Sic.)
PERFORMANCE Our first impression was that the BOLT feels manoevrable and compact, with quite an efficient, balanced power transfer without feeling either gutless or powerful. At the low end we also noticed it came up ‘sucking’ on the apparent wind very well and helped pull through some holes and lighter patches when getting going, noticeably more than some of the more obvious powerhouses in the group. Physically it’s nice and light, mostly pulling high and middle-to-aft – although as you get planing you do feel the roach that helps throw you forward nicely to help get over the hump – and it’s also pretty rapid around the park too, settling down nicely once you’re up-and-running. There’s a marked manoevrable, lively feel and, although a few testers felt it was happier in a straight line, as many also reckoned it was eager to be thrown about too. Sometimes we find Tushinghams a little biased towards smaller, lighter riders and often notice those that get the best out of them have shorter lines – and so manage to remain in contact with the fin/s well as a result. The Bolt however pleased the larger testers and ironically it was mostly the smaller riders that felt it less manoevrable. Tuning-wise the news is good, this 5.25 being, bar the fiddly mast cut-out, easy to rig and tune in the familiar Tushingham manner and also forgiving to harness line placement to some extent too. We noticed the battens need some early attention, S-bending on the first tensioning, but once wet and left overnight they settled down and left good skin tension from that point on.
THE VERDICT An efficient, fast, light, manoevrable new offering from Tush that will surprise you with it’s early-planing ability and lively nature in the waves. Representing good value for money, the Bolt is an appealing option for all sizes of rider. As a high-wind freeride option too it will delight die-hard Tushingham fans and new admirers alike.
More marginal wind on a wave test trip had us really testing the bottom-end of this selection of the latest 5.3s for all-round wave sailing use. But actually, that’s a good thing, as you’ll see…
5.3 is the size most likely to be most peoples’ biggest wave sail. As well as it being the largest efficient, workable size for boards down to around the 78-litre mark, without being too big or draggy on a toothpick, the do-it-all 5.3 is also more than workable on an 105-litre freestyle-wave. But, as we mentioned last season, the humble 5.3 has a big brief to fulfill, needing to be a powerhouse for heavyweights at the lower end of the scale – and manageable enough for lighter or medium-weight riders to use on a floaty board in on-the-edge conditions.
So 5.3’s a key size that can span a realistic range of use spanning 14-30 knots. Some of this assortment fall into a ‘feel bigger than they are’ group (Gaastra, Vandal and Tushingham), while others have the sensation of being nearer the physical size of a 5.0 or even 4.7 model – but have the grunt of their actual size. (RRD, the North – not in the group, but read on about that – and the Attitude.) If you want real torquey, bottom-end drive, then why not consider a 5.7? There’s plenty around, but before you go shopping, consider that another advantage of an efficient 5.3 is that its mostly the largest size you’ll fit onto a 400 mast, where most 5.7s or 6.0s will require an additional and/or potentially more vulnerable-to-breakages 430. (Although you could use said 430 on a 7-metre-plus freerace or freeride sail on an 110 or 105L slalom or FSW/small freeride board to widen your range of use and justify the spend.) For now though we’ll concentrate on the 5.3s and see how they got on …
PRINCIPAL TEST TEAM
Chris Rainbow 75 kg. Med. Height.
Julian Da Vall 83 kg. 1.95 Tall.
Brian McDowell 100 kg. 1.90 Tall. Also thanks to: Cormac de Roiste,
Laoise ni Dhuda, Chris Grainger and Robby De Wit.
Thanks also to the various other guest testers on hand in Tenerife who also lent a hand, plus the various PWA pro sailors that showed us the best tweaks on their affiliated brands’ gear and gave opinion on boards and sails from rival manufacturers.
TRENDS Okay so we’ve already stated this group are a bit more subtle than you’d think and how they ‘used to be’ and how a good few 5.3s are now quite ‘efficient’ feeling instead of being total animals. However, this size and the brief involved still often means some pretty slack outhaul settings are required to gain the maximum power, as well as widening the upper wind range by pinning boards down further in hectic sea states. The looser, fuller settings also increase backhand control for tightening-up frontside, onshore riding turns. This year the trend is still quite apparent, but there is a finer entry option (Attitude) that bucks that movement slightly, requiring noticeably more outhaul tension. The Tushingham is also quite outhaul sensitive and only ever needs one or two cm. maximum to get the best from it.
MISSING There are a few key brands ‘missing’ here. There’s always a struggle getting some brands’ gear in time to publish the early release tests you all crave so much. A warehousing staff error unfortunately saw us having the North Idol as the early test leader, until we noticed it was the 2014 model that they’d sent … (On the aero platinum mast which revolutionises its performance compared to the mast supplied last season.) This is a real shame, but we highly recommend you strongly consider both the ‘old’ and new Heros – and only with that mast – for your demo lists. The Hero would’ve rivalled the test winner and, who knows, maybe even have taken the title? But sadly we had to stop sailing it as soon as we found out.
CONCLUSIONS Well this time we have an outright winner. There can’t always be, but this time it was pretty clear to all of us which was the most workable, widely popular and best all-round performer, so congratulations to RRD for the Move 5.2.
Not everyone’s the same, so to help you sort out what’s best for you from the individual reports to follow this is what we found:
Early Planing: The RRD Move had competition from the ‘North that never was’ but emerged clearly in the low-end, upwind and acceleration up-to-speed front. The Gaastra Poison and Vandal Enemy are also pretty drivey, direct picks too.
Onshore riding: The RRD was outstanding in onshore slop, but the Severne Blade is also excellent in this department. The Tushingham Bolt and Attitude Rebel are also very manoevrable on the wave.
Best Outright Wind Range: The Move, Blade and Attitude seem to have the widest overall range, but we didn’t get to really test the top-end enough to be totally honest.
Easiest to Rig: Non of these were in the Ezzy league of easy rigging, but the Tushingham – bar the fiddly mast cutout – is a pretty simple ‘one set’ sail while the Severne, Attitude, RRD, Gaastra and Vandal are all quite straight forward and hard to get majorly wrong.
Which Ones Would We Buy?: If we sailed a lot in sideshore we’d consider the Blade, which has added light weight and construction strength benefits too. For value for money the Tush and Vandal and Attitude are impressive, but, taking into account the reasonable RRD mast prices too, it’s got to be the RRD, especially for mostly ‘real world’ wavesailing and FSW outings. BM
Special thanks to Tenerife Windsurf Solution (TWS) centre for hosting us – the best demo/hire centre in the world, F-Hot/Dave White for the loan of their mast mounts, I Love Meet and Greet Gatwick Parking Services and 211 Components for supplying excellent reduced diameter carbon booms that really helped us feel the max from the sails. (Without any forearm cramp or funny blisters!)
4.7 is popular shorthand for a good session. A boast of 4.7 to your mates makes you instantly hated but who cares, you’ve just been in 4.7 heaven. Designed for the wind speeds when windsurfers really like to play, it’s a serious business for the industry as they compete to develop the ultimate sail for the maximum fun.
This test was originally published in the October issue.
So with the business of windsurfing pleasure in mind, the playground of EL Medano was turned into our test lab as we put the latest 4.7 offerings through their paces. It’s our prime choice for this test because of its blend of great wind stats, accessibility, and what most of the manufacturers would describe as “real world “conditions. This trip we were blessed with marginal winds and small swell, not “epic” but still conditions that would tempt sickies and early finishes at the office. The wind speeds experienced meant we had less time than we would have liked to give each of the 4.7s in this group a thorough shakedown over their top end abilities but the low end and gust handling abilities were certainly tested fully.
THE LINE UP: – “NO LEMONS” Real “duds” are few and far between these days and guess what? We didn’t find any here either. For most of us, any day you get to break out a 4.7 is going to be a great one; I’ll wager that you can remember exactly when you last used your equivalent. The eight models here represent a good cross-section of the market and we have sought to place all the products in context with their competition, offer an honest critique of performance, construction quality, desirability and the overall value based on those attributes. There is a lot of choice of styles on offer today; 3, 4 or 5 battens?
How many battens a sail has is only part of the picture and a little bit like categorising boards by fin count alone. For example the tallest in the group is the four batten Goya Banzai but the shortest is also four batten, the Maui Sails Mutant, so not much can be gleaned from looking at the dimensions alone either. What we wanted to really define is the “flavour” of each of these designs as they were all created to fulfil similar briefs and aid the decision in finding the style that suits you best, within budget!
The key point we would like to make is right now we have the most diverse range of sails for “wave” use than there has ever been; some brands have up to 4 different wave sails in their range! While each product has a well defined niche by the manufacturer we were surprised by how some sails performed so well outside their specified zone.
This reminded us of another finding, everything we tested had a small range of downhaul settings, not more than 3 or 4 cm variation.
Outhaul, controlling the draught and power point, has a little more variation, 4 or 5cm. We all tune our sails to find the sweet settings but what has become obvious is that we also need to tune ourselves. Our ability to adapt our techniques is much greater than any tuning that can be built into equipment. Feel like you’re stuck in a rut? Then change your style of sail and give yourself a fresh perspective.
CONCLUSIONS Pro riders tear the seas apart on every single one of the sails tested here, which shows how capable they are and the benefit of the time spent in their development. The core test team of Brian Mc Dowell, 99kg, Julian Da Vall, 84kg and Chris Rainbow 79kg, interrogated our broader squad of pilots for their reactions, and some patterns emerged.
Ezzy Taka took the honours in the easy rigging department and is also the easiest transitioning sail here with its luff panel control giving another dimension to the de-power / re-power cycle.
The Goya Banzai was well praised because of its low energy personality that leaves you forgetting about the sail and its build quality and aesthetic that everyone seemed to love. The RRD Vogue certainly shared character traits with the Banzai and is much more than a side shore sail. The Sailloft Hamburg Quad is unique in this selection as it has been developed with freestyle ability on the menu too. It was one of the earliest planers on test due to its pronounced foil depth but you do need an induction period to get used to its feel. Finally the Mutant’s radical outline was a real eye turner and will appeal to the more adventurous of us.
There is great value in all of these sails, particularly when looked at with a quiver in mind, the trend being more range on fewer masts.
Stick with what you know or try something new? On the team, we would all say, try something new. Keep an open mind and don’t judge anything too quickly, experience some new sensations and your windsurfing will thank you for it, even if your bank manager won’t!
Thanks to, The team at TWS, Harco, Bart, Robbie, Guillome, Ronald Cormac de Roiste and Laoise Dhuda.
MISSING As with the 5.3 test last month, the administrative error at North saw us receive the 2014 versions of their flagship Hero. It was immediately removed from test, which was a shame as rigged with their Aero mast produces a ridiculously light handling experience that would have been great to compare directly to the rest of the test group. The Neil Prydes unfortunately weren’t quite ready yet after what looked like some major works going on with their new range and we hope to catch up with them both again in the future. JDV
OVERVIEW The Rock continues in Tushingham’s range for 2015 as a 5 batten control orientated sail complemented by the new, softer, multi-tasking 4 batten Bolt, launched recently and tested last month in its 5.25m size. We have had the pleasure of testing several sizes of the British brand’s wave weapon and have always found the Rock a solid performer and worthy of Tushingham’s continuity of design. With the aforementioned attributes, the Rock stood as a benchmark in test to measure both the style variations of its counterparts and equally importantly, the changes in the Test Team’s feel after a season on the latest board and sail combos under our collective belts. Reliable performance is what you can count on with the Rock.
BRAND CLAIM Super light in the hands with an extremely locked in centre of effort on the wave face and in the air, ideal for spotting ramps and sheeting in as hard as you can.
PERFORMANCE The Tushingham is the only sail here to feature a tack cringle rather than a pulley block. It’s also way easier to attach the boom before tightening up the down haul as the cut-out is very taught when loaded. The build quality is still solid and the Rock’s durability credentials are firmly stamped all over it. We were all interested to feel how the Rocks would fare amongst the group of sails on test. The 5 batten design is extremely stable and whilst 3 or 4 batten designs may be more manoeuvrable, the Rock’s stability make it great for blasting round the break with a draft forward feeling and little backhand pressure. As mentioned, this trip was light on the 25 knot days which are the staple for most 4.7s. So as our usage was more at the lower end, we initially set with minimum downhaul. This certainly boosted the low end- drive and provided more backhand pressure when tuned with the outhaul to balance and extend the natural range of the sail. The Rock is Peter Hart’s sail of choice and he has remarked on the benefit of a slightly lower boom/shorter line set up when sailing them to put you on your toes and give a more connected feel to the fin. In this regard the Rock really woke us up to the fact that we adapt more to what we sail than we thought. In conclusion the Rock is still a great sail that is a very good partner to FSW and faster more directional boards and will please those sailors looking for a no nonsense sail that won’t break the bank either.
THE VERDICT Rock by name and Rock by nature. Tushingham’s well trusted design keeps going, doing exactly what it says on the tin. Offers great value for money with the Tushingham mast and good availability in the UK. Stable with lots of top end control and speed for jumping, well suited for directional boards and typical UK conditions.
HOW TO BE A PRO THE TRUTH BEHIND THE SPONSORSHIP MYTH
There’s a saying in motorsport, ‘’you can make a little money, providing you start with a lot !’’. Behind the glamour of fast cars and fancy logos lies the truth that most drivers outside of F1 actually pay for their drives and it can be equally hard to discern who is actually a financially independent pro rider in windsurfing these days. Windsurfing sponsorship or ability is not directly related to the number of stickers on your sail and the competition for Industry support has never been tougher. Nevertheless opportunities do exist and dreams can come true so we decided to decode the art of sponsorship from top pros to shop support. Read on for our guide from those that have been there, done that and either give or wear the coveted sponsored t shirt !
Intro Finn Mullen // Words Kevin Pritchard // Photos John Carter
Kevin Pritchard Multi World Champion
‘Photo shooting, competition results, social media, writing travel stories, arranging trips, booking tickets, training, travelling, packing, checking in, writing emails. Today’s athlete has little room for error. The art of being a team rider is becoming more and more difficult every year with budget cuts, new kids coming up, and the social media side of things ever changing the game. Combined with the small window of opportunity to be a professional athlete in a very small sport and you only have one shot when opportunity knocks.
So what does it take to become a team rider? Well the best way to get your foot in the door is results. Race results, wave events or some form of proof that you should be on the team. If you are not doing contests or there are no contests around your area, working with a key shop in your area and being the local hotshot on the beach is one of the best ways to get your first sponsor. When the shop that is buying the boards or sails recommends a rider to a brand, it is pretty hard for them to say no. You might not start off with a free board, but maybe a discount to help you move closer to your goal. Next up, start gathering some photos, videos and records of your results or coverage from magazines and websites. To be noticed and achieve exposure you need to stand out from the pack these days so offer Editors a different angle and make sure your videos are slick and clean. I like to keep my sponsors informed as much as possible and send in reports of what I have been up to. I am doing a lot of events throughout the year so it gives me plenty of things to write about. I try to tell them about the events, who was in it and how I did. This keeps your name going through their desk and the next time you come up for contract negotiation they are like oh yeah that guy has been working !
$ Any team rider needs to cruelly consider themselves as a ‘ prod- uct that will help grow sales $Dave Hackford
Sponsorship is pretty cut throat. For the last 20 years, every year around October, its contract renewal time. It is pretty rare unless you are Philip Køster to get more than a one year deal. You know the saying, you are only as good as your last race, well that holds so true when you are trying to keep your sponsorship budget alive. You start thinking about if you did good enough, if you are going to make the team, did I do enough travel stories, is the brand as a whole selling enough gear to keep up with the budgeting. This is stress month, you’re in? you’re out?, do you have another brand who wants to work with you? For me, I always do best when I had a backup plan. If I had a backup plan ready to go I could go in with all my confidence and be like I want to stay with you guys, I want to be loyal to the brand, but this is what I need to happen. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
// It is important to be able catch the shots your sponsors want; KP the consummate pro, at speed on a Futura at the Starboard photo shoot.
This year was no different for me, my contract is up at the end of the season and while yeah maybe I am getting on in age, I still want to keep this lifestyle going. I love windsurfing and I love to do promotions, test equipment and get creative with new designs but how do I justify myself to my sponsors if I am just sitting on the couch all year. As I approach contract renewal, I venture down to the Bangkok Headquarters and straight into the negotiating room to iron out my 2015 contract and hoping to get a raise. Straight away Starboard come in with an array of congratulatory comments on my performances throughout the year, it throws me off guard ! I continue with my game plan and whip out my list of things that I have been doing, current leader of the AWT, writing articles for magazines, being on the web, being on Facebook, making videos, promoting myself as well as the brand. After haggling back and forth I managed to snag some more boards on the old contract and thanked my lucky stars for my 15th year on Starboard’s Dream Team. It has been a good run ! Contracts will typically layout exactly what the brand expects from a rider and what they are prepared to give, what people may not realise is there are also sometimes cash incentives for world titles or exposure (please give me a front cover Mr Editor ! )
So now being in my older years, who do I think is worth the cash money moollah these days? Well as you can tell by now, the playing field has changed a bit. Of course I think that I am worth the most, Ha ha.. Well maybe not, but doing my fair share of internet, videos, magazine travel stories, and actually being able to discuss what a board or sail does or how it works to a potential customer or shop owner I feel like I am in a great position for a brand, because I can rip harder than most people on the beach and can also be a great ambassador for the brands that I am representing. The age, talent and ability to relate to the older cliental that buys windsurfing equipment is a huge plus.
// Chris ‘Muzza’ Murray will pretty much do anything for his sponsors, within reason!
Brands realize though they have to have the complete package. You have to have the riders doing the articles, media, testing the equipment as well as young kids doing the dreamy, insane moves that 99.9999% of windsurfers will never ever do. In my mind I see Robby Swift doing a great job. He has managed to keep a good contract with JP / Pryde throughout his injury prone years and I think it is mainly because what he does off the board as well as on the board. He makes all the JP videos and is filming all the time with his wife Heidy, and the brand can feel a real value coming back in. Sure when he goes out and does a pushloop forward in Gran Canaria, it is awesome and amazing, but if he does it and no one sees it, does it count for his sponsors ?
Boujamaa is one who gets a ton of print coverage. When I was in the office, nearly every mag had him on a cover or double page spread that was just some insane jump with a rainbow behind him. Working with photographers, doing crazy bad ass stuff always gets you a good look.
While so much of the hype is focused on Facebook and web related stuff, sponsors love to see tons of print media. When they pay so much for an advert, it helps them monetize how much it is worth for a rider to be on the cover. The brands spends a large amount of money to place an add on the inside cover, so for Bouj or whoever to be doing something unbelievable with the Starboard Tiki right in your face, that is worth a lot for a brand.
Thomas Traversa and his girlfriend do a great job together, awesome web clips, I even saw her out filming for the GA photoshoot last year. The cost savings to a brand to have these sort of girlfriend film teams is enormous and a real plus as a rider. Sure if you’re Køster, Brawzinio or Antoine you can get by on just being a badass but it sure looks to me like the people that are building their presence through print, web, and competition are the ones that are here to stay. While being a professional windsurfer sounds like all fun and games, you have to want it and make sure you do a great job on all aspects. When my nephew asks me if he should become a pro windsurfer like his dad and uncle what am I going to say. Is it too late to make the millions that the Naish, Dunkerbeck, Polokow, Pritchard, Siver era has enjoyed ? Every time I think yeah, it’s too late, you better start swinging a golf club, I see guys like Køster coming up, working hard, huge talent, getting the sponsorship, and living the dream. If you want it bad enough, and are ready to sacrifice everything you got, you can still do it. Work hard, play hard, and love it from your soul and there is nothing that can stop you.
Dave Hackford Brand Manager Tushingham
Working in the windsurfing industry is pretty extraordinary if you compare it to the cut throat nature of other industries. We all want to be on the water windsurfing, and for that reason team riders will always exist, because they take the brand on the water, and effectively take their sponsor’s with them. There is nothing quite as rewarding as having the phone call from one of you riders on Sunday night to say they have clinched the National title. Apart from winning it yourself! So How does Tushingham work out they need a team rider? The first step is to find out if there is a budget to spend on a rider. The general rule of thumb for a brand is to allocate 5% of turnover directly to marketing initiatives. Those initiatives are spread across diverse areas: For example; photo shoots, advertising, social media costs, exhibitions, promotions, conferences and team riders. So any team rider needs to cruelly consider themselves as a ‘product that will help grow sales by reaching the consumer’. Once that has registered – the goal should be clear.
It is pretty hard to quantify the expenditure on many marketing initiatives, like exhibitions and social media, but good team riders can directly show a return. Back in the wonder years of windsurfing a ‘racing’ team rider could have a direct influence on sales of a board. If the rider won a national race the importer would see sales arrive on Monday morning. Racing participation has dwindled over the years. Tushingham has a core market in the Freeride and crossover sector of windsurfing, so with declining coverage of events from around the UK, it was important for us to consider supporting more team riders to show the products off on the beach in local patches.
// Timo Mullen pulls in more than his fair share of coverage for Starboard and Severne. All those pics are not just a coincidence, Timo works hard at bringing the likes of JC and his brother Tam to photograph and video all the best sessions.
// Dream big…live the dream, Pritchard’s words to live by; seem to have worked for him!
Do’s and Don’ts
by Dave Hackford
DO
1.When getting started, build a relationship with your local shop or windsurfing centre. Every rider I know has started from this level.
2.Understand the raw basics of sponsorship, which is to help grow sales for the sponsor. The sponsor’s job is to help give you the tools to do it.
3. Stay in contact with your sponsor. But above all make sure you contact them more regularly with what you have delivered rather than asking them to deliver more to you.
4. Make sure you know about the equipment before you apply for sponsorship. You MUST believe in the kit.
5. Report back on the performance of the kit. Good and bad.
6. Look to the future. Consider the strength of the company that may sponsor you. A long term sponsorship relationship is generally beneficial. Is it the right company for five years ahead?
7. Understand how social media works, and use it.
8. When in the higher league – report back to your sponsor annually on what you have achieved.
DON’T
1. Assume potential sponsor’s know who you are, or you are looking for support.
2. Choose your sponsor based purely on financial return.
3. Only contact your sponsor when you need something
4. Criticise competitors kit too openly – you never know……..you may be knocking on their door.
5. Do not be seen on another brands kit
6. If you are going to switch sponsors let your old sponsor know well before hand. It’s a small sport so important to keep good relations within it if you want a career in professional windsurfing.
Luke Green Team and Digital Media Manager, Tushingham
Sponsorship has changed a lot, as a brand, content is king, the more the better, populating websites, social media and online videos are the platforms that help us promote our products and we would seek our sponsored athlete to assist in this with rider driven articles to balance alongside our product information online. In compiling our team we seek a diversity of characters so you have people like Muzza who are great online and on demos and people like Timo who are really strong in print and video production. Peter Hart is a great all rounder, he produces content on and offline, engages with customers on his clinics and supports customers questions by email and on our website. Simon Bornhoft is similar and for coaches there is a great synergy as they promote the brand and themselves. You don’t have to have the most talent to be a valuable rider, being approachable and easy to talk to on the beach is important too, our British Slalom Champion James Dinsmore is excellent at this.
Ian Gregorelli Owner Boardwise Windsurfing Shop
We have a long history of supporting up and coming sailors including Ben Proffitt, Byrony Shaw and Nick Dempsey. It shows how support can help people in the early stages of their career and no limit to what you can achieve with the right attitude. That is important to us, we want our riders to be good ambassadors off the water, willing to help other sailors and be influential on their local beach, in return typically we offer deals on kit. A good example of our riders would be top racer Sam Latham who is very active on the internet or Davey Edmondson, who is a larger than life wavesailor from Scotland who really helps get people excited about gear and directs business to our shop. You need that mix of characters on your team. Sponsorship can also come from being involved at grass roots in the sport, we like to support instructors at Club Vass for example and are heavily involved in Student Windsurfing where we help club leaders and bring kit to events so everyone can try our great sport. It’s something I enjoy doing, seeing people get on the water, it actually costs me money which people may laugh about me putting my hand in my pocket but I don’t mind, sponsorship is for the good of the sport !
Jimmy Diaz PWA Chairman
The best athletes I know are the ones who from an early age knew exactly what they wanted and immediately started going after it. I believe to get sponsored and to become successful in windsurfing, or any other aspect of life for that matter, you have to have a deep rooted passion and love for the sport or chosen profession. This is what will give you the fuel to pursue your goals. Once you know you have this then it’s up to hard work and time on the water, although if you really love the sport “hard work” is actually play.
To become sponsored you have to show potential and value to your sponsors. There is a variety of ways to do this in the windsurfing industry. Some of the ways are through competition results, magazine and media exposure, clinics, and equipment testing. The most important thing right now would be to start competing as much as possible at your local and regional level. Set your goals to ultimately start winning these events. As you are getting closer to achieving this goal you can start looking to your local shops or distributors to see if you can set up a sponsorship agreement with them. Let them know as clear as possible your goals and your plans and how you plan to execute them. The clearer the picture you have in your head about where you want to go, the more confidence you will give a company to sponsor you. Start making a resume of your event results and collect any pictures or articles you may get from your local paper, newsletters, or magazines. Present this to the shop or company and let them know how serious you are about achieving your goals. Prove it to them by working hard and also offering to help with things such as in store clinics or demos. Be yourself and remember that enthusiasm, initiative, and being on time go a long way.
MOVE ON UP – SKILLS AND DRILLS Light-wind workouts to polish your technique from Super Coach Jem Hall
