Maui Monthly no. 29. September 2007

no. 29. September 2007

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Š PWA / Carter

Travel travel travel...

This month has been a month on the road. It’s gone by really fast though. I went to Brazil, which went pretty good.

I was lucky to make it there, getting my passport and visa just in the nick of time. Made it there and finished in fifth place with my new 2008 Legends. The sails were working really good down there, and combined with the carbon wave booms it makes such an easy packaged to use. I arrived the day before the event and got out on the water for an evening session. When you have an easy rig to use like this, it makes it great when I get to a new spot that I never been to before. You rig up, you know your gear will take you wherever you need to go. I can focus more on learning the spot than try and figure out the tuning of the gear. That is what I love so much about the 2008 range.

heats run in really bad conditions, but that was it for the waves. No competition would happen in the wave division.

Our first no wind/wave event of the season.

After Brazil I made the trek to Germany. I went from Florianapolis to Sao Paulo to Miami, then twelve hours in Miami, Miami to London, five hours in London and then to Hamburg, four hours on the train to Sylt. A nice day of traveling. In Sylt it was all on. I was ready to go for a number one place in the waves and I really wanted it bad. The racing had already decided the top two places, with me in second there was no stress there. My TR 3’s had driven me to a solid place overall for the season, but I still wanted to take the event win. Right out of the gates there were some wave

Now I am on my way to Tiree for the final wave event of the season. I will be happy when this one is over that is for sure.

It has been a long season with lots of events. Long but good.

In the racing it was one of the most fun times I have had all year. I went to battle with Bjorn Dunkerbeck in all of the races and we were really racing hard. I beat him in one race where were battling for the starting position, and I mean battling. He would go downwind, I would go further, then him further, and then right at the gun I squeezed by him into the pole position on the line. It was great fun. The final race it was a race to the end where he beat me and just got the event third place over me. We battled on all the marks and I just came up short, but it was fun nonetheless.

One more event. ... See you on the water.

Kevin

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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 29. September 2007

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

© PWA / Carter

So Short Month for Taty.

What’s up. What’s up. September sure felt like a short month. I remember coming back from the THE MISSION event in Holland together with Tonky, and one week after we had to book our tickets to Hamburg for the PWA Grand Slam event.

thinking too much of what I should do and started falling a lot. I knew I could have done better. I am having the same feelings that I had last year during the freestyle event in Fuerteventura, so maybe next year you WILL see me again on top.

After coming back from Holland the wind was light. I would say we had probably 6 days of wind on Bonaire and it was either 5.2 - 4.8, or no wind at all.

During the freestyle I was using the Loco 4.8 and 4.5 Global with my Starboard Flare 99.

The hurricanes really effect the wind here on Boniare in August and September. Hopefully we can get some wind in October so that I can be back training more on the water for 2008. Usually the wind stays light until the end of Ocotober and will start to come back by early or mid-November.

The first day of Sylt competition I had such a bad headache in the morning that I couldn’t compete in the first slalom race, and got some medicine and slept till it got better. I guess it was the weather and I didn’t get enough sleep the first days.

Freestyling was fun to compete again and felt good to win some heats, I really didn’t do much training while back home due to wind, but I felt that I sailed okay, The heat I sailed against Golito was kinda weird. It was the first time I didn’t feel any pressure. I started off really good, but then I was

Sylt will always be a big event, the countless numbers of people I see coming to the beach everyday, make me understand how important this event really is. People are asking for autographs, taking pictures, asking questions. It makes me enjoy competing and my time being here.

I don’t care much about the cold. If there’s wind I will be out there sailing, Windsurfing is the best, and I really would like to see more people doing it in the year to come.

The new sails look REALLY nice and you will for sure enjoy sailing with them.

Thank you for reading:) Ciao, Taty Frans NB-9

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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 29. September 2007

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Dirk, Patrick and Philip had a great Month..

September has proven to be a very successful speed month for Maui Sails riders. Belgian team rider Patrick van Hoof participated in the Namibia speed event. Just after the event ended and the timing system was dismantled the wind picked up. Patrick strapped on his GPS, used his TR3 7.0 on a very square course and got himself up to third position in the GPS-speedsurfing Nautical mile ranking. Philip Adamis found himself back in the top ten as well still stoked about his second place in the ISWC production class. He used a TR3 6.3 to help him get up to speed.

When Dirk Doppenberg heard about Patricks’ speed he was eager to beat him on the nautical. Just before the end of this month predictions looked good for La Franqui, the famous speedstrip at Leucate and he decided to take the risk and make the 1200km trip to this high wind venue. He teamed up with Dutch Fanatic/Neil Pryde riders Dylan de Jong and Gerlof Hansma and they got on their way.

to be successful. Dirk just called and reported a nautical mile of 39.5 knots knocking back Patrick one spot. The three Maui riders are now in third, fourth and eighth place.

It seems the search for the perfect spots is in full force right now with people willing to drive huge distances to either defend or better their rankings. It’s truly fulfilling to see that the virtual races we set up a couple of years ago appeal to the masses and even better to see that long time buddies in speedsurfing are currently finding the sixth gear and are literally racing up the international GPS speed ladder.

Speed is not only about going fast but also the commitment to find the right spot and be there at the right time. The search for venues outside of the know racing venues will become a truly important factor on short term.

Martin van Meurs.

The first practice runs in lighter windspeeds ended in a speed of 35.5 knots, the second day the wind picked up and Dirk got up to 38.6 knots. Just before they had to leave again the wind came in full force with gusts up to 60 knots.

Dirk just reported back that even the 4.3 was a handful in the end, but his personal quest to beat Patrick turned out

© PWA / Carter

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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 29. September 2007

Trip to Factory.

This September I made a trip to our sail factory with Barry.

It was a worthwhile step to getting the new designs into production as well as an interesting experience.

It was great to actually meet all the people with whom I have been communicating design data via email. It seems that no matter how many detail drawings you send, having a face to face meeting is still the best way to ensure that all the information has been interpreted correctly. We had a chance to examine the final versions of all the freeride sails and they were looking great overall. We made any necessary adjustments and now the sails are off to production.

While at the factory I also got to see samples of the new batten tensioner, which we had been working on for a while.

The design goal of the new tensioner was to eliminate the subtle “pinching” effect that most batten tensioners have on the leech of a sail. By eliminating this detrimental condition, diagonal wrinkles are reduced and the sail sets up more smoothly. I had a chance to test the new tensioners on the water in a 5.0 Legend and found a noticeable impovement in how clean and smooth the sail looked under load.

Back on Maui, we welcomed the first NW swell of the season. Not that I felt too deprived, as it had been a pretty good summer of sailing, but it sure did feel good to drive that first bottom turn and feel some power from the wave when coming off the top. Looking forward to a great fall.

Aloha, Artur Szpunar

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

September leads to the Harvest Moon.

Tonight is the Harvest Moon. In a Buddhist place, it’s a holiday called Poya Day. In China they have a day for the Harvest Moon, not so oddly called the Moon Festival, and they eat boxes of Moon Cakes and make family gatherings.

In rural America it’s time for hay rides and barn dances. All together, a good month for celebration.

With second place in the PWA racing confirmed (a good step from third last year), and a strong showing in the waves and freestyle, we’ve been doing harvesting of our own. All recreational sails have been approved and a long trip to Asia was the centerpiece for me. A ‘return’ to places I haven’t seen in three years was an eye opener for sure. Broad boulevards with shade trees and wide sidewalks hummed with heavy traffic of scooters and work vehicles. New cars were everywhere in an area that only a few years ago was a dusty dirt track with lots of bicycle carts. We can only hope they take up windsurfing with the same enthusiasm as they show for the automobile.

Around Maui the weather has been fantastic for sailing.

Before I left on my trip I had four really good days trying out some of the new Global and MS-2s. I’m finding the MS-2 to be ideally suited to my cruising attitude, and was really happy with how they felt. It’s been awhile since I’ve taken the time to enjoy the water, but I’m sure glad to know that it’s pretty much like riding a bike. You never forget how to do it and why you love it so much. I am so looking forward to a great deal more ‘testing’ and generally being on the water more.

This month we also welcomed aboard as distributors, Ultrasport UK, who will be handling MauiSails for the United Kongdom. Gordon and Ken Way are friends from the ‘old days’, Gordon having set the tandem board speed record with his partner, Glenn McKinley at Weymouth in 1983. And they were also the UK distributor for that ‘other brand’ since 1980, so we had plenty of background to go on when the opportunity presented itself. We’re looking forward to working with them again.

Aloha, Barry.

Gordon Way and Glen McKainlay flying at Weymouth in 1983 to a new ‘A’ Class record of 25,38 knots on their Black and White tandem. We thought that was so fast that time. Photo : D.Edmund-Jones. www.mauisails.com | 0