Maui Monthly no. 17. August 2006

Maui Monthly Our Experience Your Reward

no. 17. August 2006

Time to Relax a Bit...

The month of August was a great one for me.

I stared off in Turkey with a 3rd place in the PWA/IFCA Slalom42 World Championships and finally after two solid months on the road got to go home, back to Maui for a much needed break from competition.

I had some time to reflect on the season and I was pretty happy with the way it went. I started off really good with a first place finish in both Portugal and Costa Brava, and then stayed inside the top 3 for the rest of the events. And after the two month stint of competition was done, man, did I ever feel relief. Event after event definitely takes a toll on your body and mind so I was definitely in need of a vacation.

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

So after one week of being at home and relaxing, I was back on the airplane again, but this time to TAHITI!!! This place is unreal. I don’t know why people say there isn’t any wind down there because every time I go there I have epic windsurfing with noone else out. I usually have to beg people to go out and sail with me. I managed to talk Jason Prior into going down with me and we just had a ball of a time. The first day we got there, we went straight up to Teahupoo and had some big waves up there! It was way too scary for me to have fun, more like just surviving! But now I can say “been there done that”! From there on out it was pure fun.

We went sailing, surfing, tow in surfing. I couldn’t have asked for a better time. It was more like a full on mission trip than a relaxing one, but boy was it fun!!

After Tahiti it was back to Maui to start up on the testing of the TR 3’s and getting ready for Sylt. It has been all slalom this month as the waves on Maui were non existent!

Wish me luck for the final event of the season in Sylt. I am currently sitting first in the waves and second in the Slalom42 for the PWA World Title. I am focused and ready to capture the title! The pressure is on so lets hope I get it done!!

See you on the water.

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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 17. August 2006

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Sarah - Pro Kid Freestyle Champion

had everybody sail as many heats as possible. We finished mostly around 7pm.

After the Canaries I went to Bonaire for the starboard Prokids Worlds event. There were kids from nine countries including Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Holland, Aruba, Curacao and of course Bonaire.

The third day the wind was up for almost all day and this was great! I won in my category of girls 14-15 years which meant I had to compete against the winners of all categories, including the boys.

It was great to see all the young talent on one place and all on the water already doing some amazing tricks, including spocks and grubbies. Even though the wind was very light in the morning it didn’t stop them and in the afternoon we were treated to a real show by the local pro’s, Taty, Choko and my brother Quincy.

In total we were 9 kids, so we sailed 1 heat to narrow it down to 3 competitors.

Aloha Sarah-Quita.

The second day we had about the same conditions but we started early so we had some good wind in the morning. The races were directed by Suzie and Tinho Dornellas, who came from Florida, and did a really great job. They wanted the kids to get as much competition experience as possible so they

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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 17. August 2006

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

The fight for the National Title was really close between Ron Ruiter (NED1111) and myself, so anything could happen during the races. This weekend we got in three really nice races and with my results I was able to retain the National Title and also win the final event of the season. This was one of my goals for this year so I was really happy and had a big celebration.

After a long trip I’m now in South Korea for the Formula Worlds which happens during the first week of September.

Hopefully September is as nice as the end of August and I get some great results here in Korea.

All the best, Dennis

Dennis The Dutch Champion This month was an exciting month for me because I could win or lose my Dutch racing title. And of course I didn’t want to lose so I trained hard to be sharp for the race.

Unfortunately I got an injury just a few days before the event, but thanks to the good work from my Physiotherapist (sponsor - Body Guard) I was quickly back into shape again. A couple of days before the event I went together with Femke to the North to train Formula. The wind wasn’t really good so we didn’t sail a lot but at least my mind was ready for the races. www.mauisails.com | 0

Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 17. August 2006

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Good month for Phil.

Another great month staying on Maui. We had the US Nationals here in the first 10 days of August and it was much anticipated by the local sailors who all had a point to prove to the visiting mainlanders. MauiSails was well represented at the event, in fact one day we counted 61 Mauisails on the beach at one time. I sailed a consistent regatta and ended up winning the Course Racing in some wild conditions and also placed second in the slalom to Micah Buzianis. Unfortunately we had to race in our age groups so we didn’t get to line up against some of the other younger pro’s at the event.

The rest of the month was focused on finalizing the freeride sails, catching up on some computer work and just keeping the whole business running smoothly. We are now well into our selling season for the 2007 wave sails and so far so good. We have recently seen some great test results from the UK windsurfing magazines and all our importers are pleased to see the improvements in the Legend, Switch, Global and our new freestyle sail Loco.

We are now looking forward to wave season over here and getting into the development of the TR3.

Aloha Phil.

Also a Good month for Barry.

The end of summer (at least for those of us in the Northern Hemiphere), and always a time to put things in perspective.

It’s always been the month where we assess the various competitions and are deep into the development of the remaining freeride sails and the race sails. This year, we have put a lot of time into the smaller race sails, especially since slalom is now showing signs of life on the competition circuit again. We had the U.S. Nationals here and there was a strong fleet of around 85 competitors, and our results throughout the fleet were excellent and gave us a solid starting point for the development for 2007.

Details and weight have been a focus in the design of the TR-3, and adjusting leech tension to get the best

compromise between power and handling. We made several interesting versions of an adjustable clew fitting that works like the pulley ears we had developed for the other guys, but this one is even more functional and light.

On Maui, hauling our boat out of the water is a matter of being ready for when the slip master says it’s all OK. You just have to go when he says. Period. Or you don’t go. We had appointments five different times since April, and something always stopped it. Emergencies with other boats needing the only trailer they have, or boats that got in and didn’t finish as planned, or no tide window (we need a +2.5 feet to float onto the trailer). Finally we got the call and simply had to go do it.

You can see we enjoyed the last day in the water on the way to the haulout, then entered the hell of the boatyard.

She looked pretty good coming out of the water. And now that a week has gone by, she is looking better. Launching is scheduled for September 7th, and she will not look the same. I’ll post some pictures of the Girl after her trip to the beauty shop in next month’s newsletter. No more scrubbing the bottom, no more leaks, and lots of other small improvements will make it possible to do more interisland exploring for some unusual places to windsurf. Nothing like sailing to the place you are going to sail!

Aloha, Barry.

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