no. 42. October 2008
Maui, Hawaiian Islands
Beautiful month at home October has been another beautiful month. At home in Cabo Verde we have had an early start to the winter with the trade winds kicking in real early. October, historically, is a ‘work to the max’ month for me when we are getting our windsurf center opened for the winter. This year has been quite intense, as we have rebuilt our whole center, adding a bigger snack bar service area, a bigger office, small surf shop, big shaded area with lots of chairs and tables and a bigger area for boards. On top of that, we are opening a new store in the Ba Vista International airport. Flying over there tomorrow to put the finishing touches, we have doubled our wholesale due to the opening of new hotels in our islands and a bigger demand for the Quiksilver/ Roxy Destination t’s that we sell. Amongst all that, I found some time to test some new slalom boards , which we may or may not put into production. We are still weighing the economic feasibility. The boards were sick though! I also tested a new freestylewave type of line which we will introduce... One of the easiest boards I’ve ever ridden, should be a big hit this spring when released. My wife is kicking my butt to get in shape for slalom next year and I even did a Claudia Schiffer Pilates tape with her, and my butt is real sore. Today, I’m trying to finish the loose ends of a three year quest to get a water line into my center. Looks like we’re finaly getting it. I’ll be all these days at the beach, getting it all tuned up. Getting the clients on the water and looking forward to my managers arriving November 1st. Aloha, Josh Angulo CV-1 www.mauisails.com | 0
Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 42. October 2008
Maui, Hawaiian Islands
October is always time to stay home In October the Formula Windsurfing South Americans. The event was in Ilha Bela, a beaultiful island in the coast of Sao Paulo. The forecast was really good before the event. We had one day with medium winds 10-14 knots (I was using the TR-4xt 11.0 this day), and the other two days the wind was strong 18-24 knots (I was using my TR-4 10.0). After a long time without competing in big FW events I could see that my speed is very good but I need to be better in the tactics. The guys at home did a lot of FW competitions this year. But I had good speed and did some nice races in 2nd and 3rd place, many times in first place at the first buoy. In the end I finished in 3rd place open and 1st place Youth. That was good training for me for the Brazilian Nnationals and the Grand Prix here in Fortaleza in November. Also it was good because people here in Brazil had the first look at the TR-4 XT, they could see how the sails are fast in FW too. The final results : 1. Gonzalo Costa Hoevel 2. Paulo dos Reis 3. Gabriel Browne ( 1st youth ) 4. Fabio Melo 5. Wilhelm Shurmann ( 1st light ) 6. Mathias Pinheiro ( 1st master)
October is always time to stay home for training and to do some national and local events.Here in Fortaleza now the north swells are starting to come more and more, so we are doing some great wave sailing sessions.This month is a fun combination of waves and wind. We normally can go on the water for waves in the morning and do some slalom or Formula in the afternoon. I’m spending a lot of time in the water again with my slalom gear, because in the begining of November we will have the slalom nationals and the South Americans. This event is going to be held in strong winds and there will be a lot of people. When the wind is lighter, I’m going out with my Formula equipment because I have some new fins to try and I want to make sure I have everything ready for the FW nationals and the Grand Prix here in Fortaleza. Also I’m doing some work in the gym again because I want to keep the weight I have now. I’m feeling much better now with my weight. My aunt is a personal trainer and she helps me a lot with a pro level workout at the gym.We are doing exercises for windsurfing and getting ready for next year. Best regards, Gabriel Browne BRA-50 www.mauisails.com | 0
Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 42. October 2008
Maui, Hawaiian Islands
Sylt, Weymouth Speed Week and Maui At the beginning of the month I left Sylt and headed back to England in an effort to catch the second half of the legendary Weymouth Speed Week. During the last weekend of Sylt Weymouth had the best conditions of it’s 30 year history with Anders Brindal breaking the harbor record with a respectable 38.5 knots so there was a great buzz about the event and at least one record returned from the kites! I knew as I drove down from London, pre-dawn on a wet and windy Tuesday morning it would have to be a miracle to get another record breaking day. I was looking forward to sailing with all the crazy English speed guy’s who always come out of the woodwork for the event. Weymouth also attracts some very strange crafts. It’s the only event in the world where you can use any wind powered “thing” to go down the course and there are no shortage of them. Most of them fail event to make it, but all adds to the atmosphere. A lot has changed since our Barry and Fred Heywood were there in the early days, before the likes of the French Ditch, Namibia or even South End were discovered. Then it really was the place to challenge for the outright world record. Today it’s about peoples desire push personal limits and the passion remains strong for the hundred or so competitors. The event is all about getting together and sharing in a love for speed and nothing deters them come rain or shine. I rigged up in the pouring rain and a building wind in which by the time we started I was fully powered up on my 5.9 TR-4. The wind was completely the wrong direction for the proper speed course so they set up a 500m run out in the middle of the harbor. It definitely wasn’t classic speed conditions but great, grin and bare it, hang on for your life fun. I got some great runs in, unfortunately on this occasion Anders piped me at the post which I think he was pretty happy about after I did the same to him at the Speed World Cup!! Maui Sails UK Sponsored the event and the 1st amateur looked very chuffed to walk away with a new rig at the end of the week. It was only a brief stop again in England and after Weymouth I spent a couple of days in London with my parents and then headed back to Maui. The main job since getting back has been to move house. I managed to uproot Jessie from the West Side and we have move to a great little flat in Skill Village above Paia. Now it’s just a couple of minuets to the beach and I can see the ocean from bed, which is AMAZING. Being over here is perfect and on the second day of moving in I looked out to see the outer reefs breaking. I headed down to Hookipa for a one of many sessions. Every time a sail there I get a little more in sink with the waves and feel more and more confident to push my limits. Although I still get the odd reminder of it’s power as I’m washed over the rocks every now and again! So from my new vantage point up the hill looking over the North Shore I’m looking forward to lots more in the winter ahead. Aloha! Dan Ellis GBR-52
www.mauisails.com | 0
Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 42. October 2008
October in Maui October in Maui is always of great anticipation of the new winter swells. We have had a few already and Hookipa has been firing with the usual crowds out on a medium swell day and less on the bigger days. It’s been a pleasure to be using our 2009 wave sails on a regular basis and start to think about ways to improve them, which is going to be a challenge. In between wave sailing we have been paying great attention to the TR5 testing, which is going really well. We now have most sizes over here and continue to work through the sizes, getting the feel right, refining the twist and shape. Barry and Art have been down the beach, so the energy level has been fantastic. We have had some light wind days which helps to get most of the sizes on the water and enables us to round out the feel on all the sizes. Aloha, Phil
Maui, Hawaiian Islands
The swell finally kicked in Maui north shore After a somewhat lack luster month, the swell finally kicked in during the final days of October. It’s amazing how the excitement of a solid north swell with filled in trades never fades. Speaking of excitement, it was great watching our 3 year old daughter wide eyed with excitement while trick or treating last night. As the novel concept of going door to door and receiving piles of candy soaked in through her home-made robot costume she profoundly exclaimed “this is fun”! At the loft, we continue to tweak and refine the TR-5 prototypes. We’ve been doing lots of on-the-water testing and the results are proving very favorable. Our GPS testing has been showing the new TR-5’s to have a consistent speed advantage over both TR-4 as well as our competitors. While massive top speed is of course a top priority there are other characteristics that are also critical for slalom competition. The sails must maintain great low end power for maximum acceleration out of the jibes. They must have a soft feel with a reactive twist to respond efficiently to gusts and chop and provide smooth handling. This soft feel also helps when pumping on to a plane. Cam pressure needs to be sufficient for stability but must also provide easy rotation. We are all very excited about the progress on the race sails. Aloha, Artur Szpunar
www.mauisails.com | 0
Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 42. October 2008
Maui, Hawaiian Islands
Halloween says it’s over. October is a month that ends with a wild party here in Hawaii. Lots of costumes and alter egos for the night. It’s also a reminder of how close we are getting to deadlines for race sail production, and as such, our total focus out his month has been on making the little devils run faster and be more fun. Each day takes us into a better understanding of how the changes we are making affect the total performance. The wind was quite steady during October, resulting in some good tests for key sizes against competitors benchmarks. Using GPS to verify and keep the results in perspective, we are finding some clear advantages now. Making the sails softer while still maintaining the handling and top end has been the goal, and so far so good with that. The methodology of our shaping ideas is producing that kind of even leech tension with a nice progressive twist that we look for. I like to think of it as loading up a big spring, and being able to back off that sheeting angle without unbalancing or giving up control. October is supposed to be the Harvest month, but we are going to let this crop go for awhile more to make sure it is truly ready to be the best there is. Next year I expect a larger appreciation of the TR-5 simply because of reported good results with the TR-4 in so many varied places. Aloha, Barry
www.mauisails.com | 0