Maui Monthly no. 38. June 2008

no. 38. June 2008

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Photo : PWA/Carter

A lot of traveling for Josh in June.

It’s June 30… last day of the month and I’m writing this on a charter flight from Manchester, England to Gran Canaria.

The whirlwind month of June started with a five day strike mission to Pozo to get some early training. Conditions weren’t all-time, but the trip proved to be invaluable as I got my waveboards tuned up and feel very confident with the performance of my boards in Pozo.

I jumped home to CV for three days with the family before heading to Costa Brava for the first windy slalom event of the year. Although I didn’t get the results I hoped for, I had a blast doing the races and learned a lot as it has been quite a few years for me. My only wish was to get more racing in, but I’m sure Pozo will quench some of that built up hunger.

After Costa Brava, I had a whirlwind of meetings , one day in Hamburg, half day in Brussels and half day in Lisbon before getting four more precious days of family time in Cabo Verde before bolting back onto a plane to Gran Canaria.

This time I flew through London to have a meeting with some interesting people. I was able to only spend a day and get a flight down to Pozo. My arrival in Pozo coincided with some decent conditions. 4.2-4.5 wavesailing and slaloming on a 5.1 TR-4. Slalom sailing on a 5.1 with a 54 cm wide board and a 30 cm fin was pretty dang exciting and exhilarating.

That was just a pre-cursor of what should be going down during the Pozo event. I only had four days there and the last morning had the best waves, I got a good two hours in, had one of my best sessions there ever and then bolted to catch a plane, which went to Fuerteventura, then another to Manchester than on to Chicago and finally making it to Portland.

I arrived in Portland just in time for new Windance owner Dave Nunn’s big BBQ bash. It was a great gathering of industry honchos , Gorge legends , and windsurf enthusiasts from all over the US. I then got one day of Wind-less Fest under my belt which consisted of mainly clinics and gear showing. For me it’s always a pleasure to get back to the US and doubly nice to be able to visit the Gorge, by far one of the prettiest places in the world. I’m at the end of that trip from the Gorge back to Gran Canaria a trip that was filled with cancelled flights, delayed planes, airport sprints, grumpy airline people and none of it matters. If you are reading this Maui Monthly it’s probably because you windsurf. If you windsurf that means you are rich. Yes, we all have bills and financial stresses, but if we even have time to think about a luxury such as windsurfing, let alone do it. We are richer than 95% of the people in the world. I feel doubly blessed as I am about to arrive in Gran Canaria, where the forecast is looking great. I have a garage full of the best equipment in the world prepared for the competitive challenge that lies ahead. And by far the best is that my wife and son arrive tomorrow to do the Canary Island competitive leg with me.

Aloha, Josh www.mauisails.com | 0

Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 38. June 2008

Canaries tour upon us.

As we pass the half way point of 2008 the race season is really starting to hot up with the Canaries tour upon us.

I have spent most of June here in Gran Canaria training on the small slalom stuff and getting to grips once again with the most challenging slalom conditions on the planet.

I came over strait from Costa Brava where I had a very disappointing event, we only had 3 rounds and to cut a long story short I had 3 bad starts and suffered the consequence. On the up side even starting from the back of the pack I managed to work through the field putting all the gybing practice done back in Maui into practice.

Gybing practice and starting practice was once again the main aim once I got to Pozo. The first thing I did when we arrived was round up all the necessary bits and pieces needed to set up 2 marks out on the water. There were 4 or 5 of us here early including Gabriel and we set up the buoys and for the first 10 days ran start after start. After that the wind took an unusual break and has only come back in the last couple of days. This was pretty good timing from Mother Nature as it gave me a little time to relax and regain full strength ready for the Pozo World Cup that starts tomorrow!

With that in mind I’m gonna round up my monthly report and get some sleep for what is guaranteed to be a month of full on balls to the walls slalom action.

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

June The month of Training and Events.

This month was the beggining of the real action. I spent the the first days of the month at my house in Brazil. Is always good to stay a little bit with the family and relax. But also there I went out many times with my TR4’s Formula sizes. We did some local races and I was going fast with my TR-4 12.0.This sail is very nice. The light feeling on hands is unbelivable.The upwind you can keep constant angle and speed on the downwind is super fast.

The second week of June went to the PWA Costa Brava,for the first event with good winds.This event for me wasn’t good. I was anxious and nervous with the first event, so in the end I didn’t start as I want.But now I’m feeling more mentally strong for the next event in Gran Canaria.

After Costa Brava I decided to go straight to Gran Canaria for training before the event. Here we are doing some nice training. We bought some buoys and we are doing jibes and starts everyday. Also here is the first time testing the small TR4’s sizes (5.1,5.9,6.3). They are going really good in the conditions we have here.

Now I’m here writing from the windy Pozo and waiting for one more day on the water.

See you on the water, Aloha, Gabriel

Aloha, Dan

Photo : PWA/Carter

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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 38. June 2008

Summer time on Maui.

We’ve officially entered the summer sailing season here on Maui. This month was dominated by flat water and steady trade winds. These conditions set the perfect atmosphere for our free-ride and slalom sail development.

Part of this months focus has been on the recreational sail lines, Pursuit and Aloha. These designs are all about easy power and soft handling. They inherit many of the advanced design developments of the high end wave and race sails but in a more forgiving package. On the recreational sails, we are making some seam shaping refinements to better balance the skin tension and give the sails a super clean profile. We are also fine tuning the luff curves to achieve that perfect balance of soft feel and stability. The sail panel layouts also have updated graphics and increased use of xply to increase value and durability. These sails aim to make windsurfing enjoyable and easy for everyone.

We are getting ready for our TR-5 race sail development.

The ideas are starting to flow and we have begun the recut-test, recut-test... process. Phil has been creating some excitement dominating the local race seen. Despite my usual wave bias I’ve been motivated to spend some time on the slalom gear too. Not only is it important for sail development but it is a great way to keep the flat days of summer interesting.

I’ve had some particularly enjoyable family days this month getting my wifey and daughter out windsurfing. It really is a great way to spend time together in the summer.

Aloha, Artur Szpunar

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Positive TR-4 feedback from everywhere June is a great month. Maui Race Series is back during two weekends, and this is a fine opportunity to see our race sails in action against the other brands. With top-five pros out there the comparisons can be valid. Being able to see shapeto-shape alongside each other is worth the value of a trip to Pozo. It was sad that Mike Yasak was on crutches for the last race, but in slalom racing “S*** happens”. Mike is taking it OK, and now will be setting off the metal detectors with the titanium rod that is in his fibula. He should be sailing again in a few months. I’m sure that all the slalom guys are paying closer attention after witnessing the crash between Phil and Mike, a real wakeup call to remind them of how dangerous it can be to be going thirty knots and have a smash.

I thought we had great speed in the big fleet, and look forward to hearing some results from around the world.

There have been a few encouraging reports from Italy, Japan, San Diego, and Belgium, and the season is just getting rolling. Getting real feedback with observations from as many people as possible always makes it easier to take a range to new levels. With Josh Angulo, Gabriel Browne, and Dan Ellis working together, we have heard lots of accurate tuning and testing results, and now that they are bouy training with each other, they should all get better at starting and rounding.

I was able to spend about a week in San Francisco while helping out my Mom after some surgery, and was able to be at Chrissy Field most afternoons.

There is a growing number of people sailing and racing, and the Bay continues to deliver with those great conditions. I did some tuneup with Tim Thole and helped him get a sweeter ride, and we all enjoyed some uncharacteristic sunny and warm days with good wind. Not many summertime visits to San Francisco will see you in shorts and t-shirts in comfort. Summer is fully in force in Hawaii now, and there is no problem with having those conditions here.

Time now for finishing the next round of development on the rest of 2009, and a good start on the TR-5. July is going to be fun.

Aloha Barry

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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 38. June 2008

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Racing Month Racing was the word for June as I started in the Maui Race series, a Triathlon and a Marathon, not all in the same weekend luckily.

bike and 10km run) and I finished 29th overall out of 400, 4th in my age group and with a time of 2 hours, 55 minutes.

A really fun event.

Plenty of Maui Sails TR4- sails have been on the water for several months at Kanaha getting tuned up for the race series and the first event was the Neil Pryde slalom.

The next Slalom race a few weeks later, saw the return of Micah Buzianis from the recent World Cup in Costa Brava, so this week I had my work cut out of me. I ended up second to Micah in the pro division but was very pleased with the way I sailed in each heat. I ended up leading at the first mark each heat, but Micah had a little on me around the bouys and managed to pass me during the course. Micah had four firsts and I had four seconds.

I had a good first week and won the Pro division from Pieter Bijl and Peter Slate in third. I had good speed using mostly the 7.0 TR-4 and my larger 58cm Carbon Art slalom board.

I had a scary moment during that day when Mike Yasak and we collided heading to the start area. We were on opposite tacks and I ended up hitting him in the leg and breaking it between the ankle and knee. He’s now out of 6 to 8 weeks, so we wish him a speedy recovery.

I passed on competing in my age division on this Saturday as I was competing in a Triathlon on the Sunday, so after winning the pro division it was off to rest the legs and get ready for the 3 discipline race the next day. This was my first Triathlon at the Olympic distance (1.5km swim, 40km

This recent weekend I competed in my fifth Marathon. It was on the BIG Island of Hawaii in beautiful Kailua-Kona.

The 42km course we used was the same course used for the Ironman World Championship in October. The start was at 5.30am so the heat wasn’t too bad. I finished in a very respectable time of 3 hours, 53 minutes, which I was extremely happy about.

Aloha, Phil. www.mauisails.com | 0