The Volvo Ocean Race has started again. This big sailing event is always delivering a lot of spectacular moments. Everything about the race is high tech: The sailing boats, the means of communication and the event reporting. I want to talk more about the reporting. Because I am missing this kind of reporting at windsurfing events.
Off course, you can’t compare the budgets available for the Volvo Ocean Race and the PWA World Tour. But still, here is a small comparison between the sailing world and the windsurfing world. Read more about this comparison
Kelly Slater secured the world title for the Ninth time. This surfer is also the youngest and oldest world champion the tour has ever known. Kelly seems to be some kind of Bjorn Dunkerbeck . Not windsurfing related but a remarkable achievement which is worth mentioning.
I spotted the new North Sails Warp F2009 on a french site. The Warp has a beautiful design and there is probably nothing wrong with the performance of this sail.
The top brands in the industry are all producing high quality windsurfing sails and there are almost no sails that are a waste of your money. It all depends on your personal preferences and budget. You can check here all the pictures. Windsurfonline.fr has also posted a short movie (in French) in which they give an impression of the new North Sails Warp F2009.
On the PWA World Tour website you can read an extended report about the PWA World Cup event in Sylt. Bjorn Dunkerbeck managed to win the event with his new board sponsor Starboard.
Continentseven.com (what a great site!) has a short video of each day.
Finally, it’s clear. Starboard will be the new board sponsor for Bjorn Dunkerbeck. There were a lot of rumours about him switching to another board brand. Also here on madwindsurfing.com.
Lately, Bjorn Dunkerbeck was not performing so well. In Turkey he showed he has still a lot of skills, but not on his regular boards. He was windsurfing on the Isonic series from Starboard to everybody`s suprise. In Sylt Bjorn showed that he and starboard is a very good combination. He managed to win the Event.
Josh Angulo has won the second slalom round during the PWA World Tour in Sylt. The wave windsurfer is actively involved in the slalom discipline since this year and he already shows what he is capable of. Here is a video report from the Maui Sails team.
Maui Sails was also kicking ass at the Dutch Nationals. All windsurfers in the top 4 were using the Maui Sails TR-4. Here are the results:
1.Dennis Littel (F2 FX Z / Maui Sails)
2.Marc de Jong (F2 FX Z / Maui Sails)
3.Dirk Doppenberg (F2 FX Z / Maui Sails)
4.Markus Bouwman (F2 FX IV / Maui Sails)
This week was a bit of unfortunate. All the time there was a lot of wind, and I missed it all! Maybe I was in the wrong place…Anyway, tomorrow a new chance!
A few week I was writing about the 100 push up program. A few friends of mine and I started enthusiastic with the push up program. We wanted to gain more strength and a higher fitness level in general. They did it for wave surfing and i did it for windsurfing. They training seemed relatively easy. Doing push ups for about 6 weeks and you are able to do 100 push ups. We were noticing some progression but not enough to do really 100 push ups within 6 weeks.
Several of my friends had light injuries because of the push ups. The trainings program really pushes you to the limit which makes it hard to do the push ups correctly. So really focus on doing the exercise correctly. Don’t over do it! Are you not able to hold the correct posture anymore…stop with the exercise and continue when you are recovered.
It was a nice experiment but I will go back to the gym. Especially now it has been bad windsurfing circumstances, it is really important to have good physical fitness when the wind starts picking up.
The weather forecast for this weekend wasn’t so good. The wind direction was the main cause. In the Netherlands wind from the east is not so good. Windfinder.com predicted a small 4 bft in the north of the country while the winfsurfing spots in my neighbourhood had no wind at all. I really wanted to windsurf so I decided to risk the long drive to the north. The spot that I choose is called the Amstelmeer.
I’m glad that I risked the long drive, because it turned out to be a great windsurfing session! The weather was sunny and I was planing most of the time. The wind was gusty but the sun made is all worthwhile.
This short windsurf video gives an impression from the Mission, a big windsurfing event in the Netherlands. The report starts at 5 min 22 sec. Check this online magazine if you are not satisfied with this report.
Kelly Slater secured the world title for the Ninth time. This surfer is also the youngest and oldest world champion the tour has ever known. Kelly seems to be some kind of Bjorn Dunkerbeck 
. Not 
