Maui Monthly no. 35. March 2008

no. 35. March 2008

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Photo : PWA/John Carter

nod in the end. The doubles took place in secondary spot, “little Hookipa”, and the double elimination whittled down to the top eight. They were unable to run due to lack of either wind or waves on the following days. In the end, Cabo Verde delivered another epic event and the government is excited to bring it back.

Aloha from Cabo Verde The month of March has been jammed pack full of action.

Started the month here in Cabo Verde making sure the Cabo Verde World Cup was ready in place and all set to go.

We kicked off the trials on March 1st, and I personally saw every wave of the trials ridden and I am amazed at the level of solid waveriders. The level of guys that were battling to get into the PWA main event was extremely high and it was clear that they deserved their spot in the main event, with guys like Kai Katchadourian climbing up to the top eight in the main event through the trials.

The World Cup kicked off on the 8th, straight into masthigh Ponta Preta. We sailed the whole event except for the finals which were held the next day. Although there was a drop in swell on Sunday there was still enough to deliver an exciting finals and with a world´s best lineup of Jason Polakow, Kauli Seadi, Robby Swift and myself, it was sure to be full of action. With four guys jockeying and battling for wave priority it was a tactical battle on the peak as well as a battle of nerves with the aerials just inches in front of the rocks. In the end, it became a two-horse race between Kauli and myself exchanging rides, with Kauli getting the judge’s

Two days after the event, I was off to Boston and New York with my wife for our anniversary, and a long promised vacation that has taken many years to deliver. It was our first trip leaving 3 1/2 year old Noah at home, and we took advantage of an unregimented schedule of shopping, eating, shows, cruising and hanging out. Of course, no vacation is complete without a bit of business, so I stopped by to see Rick Whidden in Cape Cod and picked up more MauiSails gear for our windsurf center in Cabo Verde. Rick said the forecast was good for the next day and he was going sailing, but I was looking forward to the warm winds back in Cabo Verde.

End of March here in Cabo Verde, the club is in full swing, the wind is blowing, and the swell is up. I am leaving tonight for Oslo to promote Cabo Verde and Watersports in our country. I’m going with a group of heavy-hitters from our country, so am very excited about this three day trip.

Hopefully I can find somebody to tie my tie for me. But before i leave I am headed out the door to sample a new secret spot some of the local boys started sailing yesterday...

Yoo hoo!

As this month tapers off, I can only count my endless blessings and be extremely thankful for this blessed lifestyle, a healthy family, a great career, and God´s continued graces.

Much Aloha, Josh www.mauisails.com | 0

Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 35. March 2008

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Aloha New Greek fromrecord.

Cabo Verde Since my leg is broken I had lots of time to prepare myself for the coming racing season. Based on this winters’ tests we have been finetuning gear. Luckily I will be on the water very soon again and I will be prepared for the Dutch Championship at the end of this month. The Driven by Wind event didn’t get the anticipated perfect conditions up till now but two MauiSails riders stood out of the crowd with great performances. Dirk set a superb new Dutch record and is the current leader of the event. Philip Adamidis found the throttle as well and set a new Greek record. Here is what Philip has to say about his big day: On day 3, two days before the Greek record I entered the water late when the wind was totally crazy! Gusting up to 60 knots on the wind meter. I tried to go for a run but it was impossible – I was totally out of control with my 5,1. The guys that entered the water early, where rewarded with very impressive speeds and Dirk made a super GPS session and National Dutch record. Congratulations!

But I learned my lesson and on day 4 up from 6.00 am, I entered the water real early right after Dave White and that paid off. It was just my warm-up run to check the conditions. I asked Dave - is the video running? He said yes and I hit the water like crazy, forgetting to loosen up my outhault! A silky smooth run in the first part, It felt really easy touching 47 knots max but… what a rodeo in the end! I hardly managed to hold on and crossed the finished line on 36 knots – Bummer! I had 44,00 knots in GPS 500 but only 42,81 on the course and then it was all over again because the wind shifted further!

I ended up with mixed feelings, feeling pretty stoked for taking the day, touching 47 knots and improving my previous National record by 2. On the other hand I am quite disappointed for not having the chance to “sail my guts” all day and see how high I can go. But what can I say? This is how it goes with record attempts. It is impossible to “order” the conditions you just need to be prepared for when that magic moment comes, you need to be on the water and really go for it.

Although I had to cancel my wave trip to Western Australia in order to take part in DrivenbyWind, I don’t regret it. The place, given the conditions, has huge potential and I am part of a wonderful group of people. I only hope that by the time it is over, I will have my “magic moment” and see how fast I can go.

Aloha

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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 35. March 2008

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

I’m so tired everyday because I went sailing for a few hours, and after I go to the gym in Haiku with Kauli and my brother.

They are my partners at the gym. We have a nice schedule.

Sometimes I go for a bike ride in the morning. At night I sleep like a baby, to recharge my energy for the next day.

But I like this routine, as it’s the best thing I can do to be prepared for the tour. I’m very heavy now, but feeling more energy and power everyday with this training.

I tested the new TR-4, and these sails are unbelievable stable and fast. I’m very happy with the performance of these sails and looking forward to compete with them. I tested some sizes and I’m completely sure that these sails are amazing.

Good job Phil, Barry, and the Mauisails team this year.

Now the wind is back again, full power everyday. My brother finally arrived here and I had the best news ever, my dad is coming to Maui!! I’m very happy with that. Sailing everyday with my family and friends is very nice.

Now I’m looking forward to have another month like this, sailing everyday. Josh Angulo is also coming here and I think we will do some nice slalom training with everybody together.

See you on the water !!!

Aloha, Gabriel Browne - BRA 50

Gabriel’s dreams coming true on Maui.

March is gone and with it, many good things I remember did this month. I went sailing almost everyday with Dan Ellis and Phil, and it was nice training with them going around buoys at Kanaha. I really like the team I’m working with. Great people, great energy. I also had few good wave sailing days with my Global and Legend at Hookipa with my Brazilian friends.

This month was so exiting for me. All the things I wanted to do one time in my life, I did this month!!! Sailing with the best people in the best place in the world, it’s my dreams coming true here.

Photo : MauiSails/Cropas

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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 35. March 2008

The new Men in MauiSails - Dan Ellis.

Wow. What a month March was. I can put my hand on my heart and tell you it was the best of my life, and now that I’m on the MauiSails team I get to share it with all of you on the World Wide Web! I’ve been in Maui for the whole winter and it was officially the windiest in fifty years! So I’m pretty pleased with my decision to leave the “old country” and come out here, not only for the amazing sailing, but also for one other very exciting reason. On the 29th of March, I got down on my knees and asked my beautiful girlfriend, Jessie, to marry me and she said yes! So with the magnitude of that, it’s going to take me a little while to think back and remember what else I’ve been up to.

So here goes…… I started the month off just north of San Francisco in Marin County, where Jessie grew up. We took a ten day trip back to “the mainland” (after six months on Maui, that’s how I have to call the rest of the US!) It was good to have a little break away from windsurfing after so much sailing. We had an action packed ten days of seeing family and friends and checking out the sights of San Francisco. We also sneaked in a couple of day’s snowboarding up in the Sierra Nevadas with Jessie’s little cousins. But we couldn’t stay away from the beaches altogether and I saw some great coastline, which I’d describe

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

as a mix between the west of Britain and the south of France, with plenty of places to sail if I’d had kit with me.

One of the beaches was at Crissy Field, just under the Golden Gate Bridge. The four or five times we drove over it there were always windsurfers and kites out underneath. So after a trip out to Alcatraz (really cool), we checked it out and it looked like a great little spot for slalom. Next time I think I’ll pack a board and sail and go for a spin.

Since I returned it’s been full on training mode, both on the water and in the gym. I’ve been training at the MPG gym, where Scot Sanchez has been putting me through my paces. On the water it’s been great to team up with Phil and Gabriel and put the TR-4’s and ourselves to the test.

We’ve had some really productive sessions at Kanaha where we drop a couple of buoys and do practice starts and laps to sharpen up our gybing and set us in good steed for the rapidly approaching race season. Having those guys to tussle with on the water and Barry coming down to see what we’re up to and how the sails are looking is cooler than you could possibly imagine. Up until last month the MauiSails monthly news just popped up in my inbox and I browsed through it, and now here I am after my first month with the team sharing my most amazing month with you. Now I really I can’t wait for the e-mail to arrive!!!!!

Aloha, Dan.

Photo : MauiSails/Cropas

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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 35. March 2008

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Trade winds came back to Maui.

It’s been a great month of sailing here on Maui. The trade winds came back full force and we had a couple of solid north swells. I recall, on a day earlier in the month, hesitating for a few minutes before rigging as I watched the mast and a half, plus closeout sets coming down like bombs. Quickly got my act together though and ended up getting some great waves with just 2 guys on the water. It was one of those days when a single error in timing would have turned it into a real test of sail (and body) durability. I was happy to not take that test.

We’ve been working away on the design files and the prototypes have been flowing in from the factory. We have plenty of sails to test and it is a good opportunity to spend some time on the water. It’s important to get each sail out in a wide variety of wind conditions in order to test its range.

You know that a wave sail is working well when one day you can rig it with slightly less tension and it powers you up in marginal conditions and then on another day you can add some tension and it stays controllable and easy to handle in full power conditions. We have been refining the profiles of the sails to a more efficient shape. As the shape becomes more efficient then you can reduce the overall tension on the rig and gain a “softer” feel without sacrificing stability when powered up.

to compare the properties of different X-ply laminates in order to develop an optimum structure for our sails. We always strive to build sails that provide the performance advantage of light weight but can also take a beating.

The boys at Quatro set me up with a sweet, light wind wave board so now I’m ready to spend some time on the larger wave and freestyle sail sizes. Testing together with Phil and Josh, the designs will be really dialed in. Ironically the forecast calls for 20-30+ knots all week. Oh well, no light wind, I guess I’ll have to test the 4.7 today.

Aloha, Artur Szpunar

We spent some time this month working on increasing the durability of the wave sails. We developed some reinforcements to the leech of the sail that will make it extremely difficult to tear. We also did some material testing www.mauisails.com | 0

Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 35. March 2008

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Barry Marched into Spring.

This year is simply ripping past my eyes. It’s a good thing i feel younger every day, or I’d be feeling like I could miss something. Just like in nature, this is a time of revelation and regeneration and the challenges of growth versus feeding in the change of seasons are never ending. This Spring, the focus seems most on materials and details more than ever.

This is always so critical for timing because of long shipping transits and the need to be careful about material changes.

Also exciting for this fly by month has been the revving up of our racing training. I have been able to spend afternoons observing Gabriel, Dan, and Phil doing the round and round, and to help them with tuning as well as hear feedback. That has been very encouraging, as both of them are relating improvement in their boat speed and maneuvering. With Phil pushing them hard, they are getting a maxed out work out for both technique and conditioning.

I can say that there will be a couple of new colors for the Wave and Free sails coming in the summer that are going to be sock knockers (as in, knock your socks off). The first samples just arrived in the last week of March, and they are nothing short of highly visible. Our experimentation with one particular fabric produced something quite special, in that were were able to make a material that would normally be slightly heavier end up light and more tear resistant, along with having a unique and exclusive look. When we announce the sails, I will post a full description of the development and special result.

In the loft it is mostly about details. We have been making sure to focus on the small things that people remind us to correct, and to try and make MauiSails always keep it real. So far, the Legends have lost .25kg without touching structure.

Not completely there yet with a few small things, but closing fast. So fast that it seems to be just ripping past my eyes...

Aloha Barry

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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 35. March 2008

Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Photo : MauiSails/Cropas

Phil is Back with his monthly report.

The MauiSails world for March has been exciting and full of positive changes. All the TR4’s have now been delivered into the market and we are starting to see the response expected from this winning sail design.

March in Maui has seen some of the best conditions of recent years, with trades blowing everyday and continuous swells still hitting the Islands.

Wave sail development is moving in leaps and bounds, with the added feedback from Josh Angulo the new wave sails are by far our best work and the feelings being developed on the water has taken our wave sailing to new heights.

Art and Barry have done a fabulous job transforming our feedback into the new sail shapes of tomorrow.

With the recent signing of some talented racers in Gabriel Browne and Dan Ellis we have all been out there pushing the limits in training and tuning. We have had regular bouy sessions at Kanaha on various sail sizes and in different conditions and the boys should be ready for the first PWA slalom 42 event in Korea in May. On a personal level it’s been great to spend extra time on the water training with our new team members and seeing such incredible progress on the new wave sails. It always impresses me that we continue to make changes in the sails which lead to huge performance advantages. But this is only possible with the contribution of our whole group and being able to take advantage of the fabulous windsurfing conditions here on Maui.

Aloha, Phil.

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