SEA CHANGE

"The pressure our seas are under are greater than ever"

LATEST AND GREATEST

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CATERINA STENTA

Caterina Stenta, I-662, is not only a top ranked PWA wave sailor, but also a vice world champion in SUP racing! The Italian all-rounder is known for her hard work ethic, on and off the water; she tells us more about her competitiveness, love of windsurfing and her PhD!

AWD: ALL WEATHER DRIVE

The crossover sail, by virtue of its sizing and job description, has to be the most versatile of all sail types. Whether its DNA has roots in the wave arena, no-cam freerace or high-wind freeride, the idea of one sail adapting to different roles makes it a popular choice for many. We handed over eleven of the latest designs to the team to put through their paces.

MAKING A CHANGE

Ross Williams finished lasts year’s PWA season with a bullet on the final day of Noumea and a credible sixth place in the overall slalom rankings. The new decade, however, will bring a major change in his lifestyle after twenty-one years full power on tour. With a baby on the way, due in February, Ross, who also just hit forty, will be taking a slight step off the gas this year to concentrate on family affairs. Read on as John Carter talks to Britain’s most successful racer for this candid interview to find out how he sees the year panning out!

A RAINY DAY(S) STORY

John Carter spins a tale of dedication and frustration as he heads back and forwards to Cornwall chasing a brace of epic forecasts for nuking winds and huge waves, albeit without very little sunshine! Read on for a tale of damp and drizzly carnage as JC recounts his trials and tribulations.

FITTER FOR LONGER…

Peter Hart calls on the knowledge of two eminent medical professionals to establish what the maturing ‘windy’ should be doing to deal with worn joints and decaying muscles.

IT S BEEN EMOTIONAL

A dramatic slalom final in Noumea marked the end of the PWA 2019 calendar, capping offa windy year with some amazing performances, 2019 also saw the continued rise of foiling and an increased profile and pay packet for the women’s fleet, not to mention a nail-biting climax to the wave titles. JC sat down with a variety of windsurfing pros to look back on the year and into the crystal ball for 2020, discussing their highs, lows and future goals.

The New Breed Of ‘Fast'

The desire to go fast and the ability for windsurfing to deliver the addictive exhilaration of doing so, will always be one of the sport’s best traits in the world of watersports. It’s what attracts most people to the sport in the first place - seeing people buzzing across the water, going faster than most other waterborne craft and seemingly having more fun than most too. And I’m sure many of you reading this can still account of the first time you experienced the sensation of planing, no matter how long ago that may have been!

Latest And Greatest

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AQUAMAN

By the age of 15 Arthur Arutkin was European youth slalom champion, these days it’s hard to pin him down to one discipline; he’s one of the very few sailors that competes on both the professional SUP and windsurf tours. A world champion in SUP racing, he’s equally at home in a PWA wave heat and regularly posts videos of himself ripping up his home spot of Wissant in Northern France, not to mention recently windsurfing the famed break of Teahupo’o in Tahiti. Read on as Arthur gives us an insight into his life.

HONESTY

Harty explains why being truly honest with yourself and those looking to help, is the best way to improve.

THE CHOSEN ONES

After a tense and demanding selection process, the British Sailing Team announced who will represent Great Britain in the RS:X windsurfing class at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The chosen sailors were Emma Wilson and Tom Squires, we learn more about the dynamic duo.

NATURAL HIGH

The start of every year seems to be marked in recent times by all sorts of self-improvement articles and TV programmes.

MANIC MONDAY

Thomas Traversa, northwest winds with a monster swell and the famed French big wave spot of Île aux Vaches; put these four elements together and you know there will be a windsurf session worth documenting. John Carter, Timo Mullen and Thomas Traversa tell the tale of a manic Monday in December.

EMERALD PARADISE

The Emerald Sea is a pristine lagoon at the entry of Diego Suarez Bay (the second largest bay in the world after Rio de Janeiro) at the northernmost tip of Madagascar. The origins of its name are obvious with its paradisiacal water colours, but what about its windsurfing? From waves to flat water, Bastien Ramery fills us in on its attractions as he makes a trip there in the company of Jules Denel and renowned photographer, Jérôme Houyvet.

DECADE WAVES

On the eve of a new decade, a XXL swell marched into Maui’s north shore to give 2 days of extreme windsurfing at Pe’ahi over the 30-31 December 2019 and a memorable end to the year for a lucky few. Robby Naish dusted off his big wave guns and showed he knows this wave like few others, Sarah Hauser caught what people are calling the biggest wave ever windsurfed by a woman and Marcilio Browne banged out a crazy top to bottom aerial that is being hailed as one of the best windsurfing rides at Jaws ever. Read on as the talented trio tell us more about their sessions.

MOVE ON UP AERIAL TIME

This month we look at the frontside aerial as a way to boost your wave riding and your ability to work with the wave. I will outline its place in wave sailing and give you tips to learn and improve this move but some great advice is to just try some. As they say in Punta San Carlos, Baja, ‘You just won’t know until you go!’ I have few regrets in my windsurfing journey and the right moves came to me at the right times, yet personally I really do wish I had worked on aerials at least a decade or more ago, I was too focussed on regular top to bottom riding. With this in mind I really push my wave rippers to attack aerials when the opportunity presents.

TECHNIQUE CONFUSED. COM?

Even for those with their fingers on the button, choosing the right kit doesn’t seem to get any easier as board categories mutate and multiply and new definitions drop into the lexicon. Focussing on the ever-expanding freeride category, Peter Hart, with erudite comments from Windsurf magazine’s chief tester, Tris Best, sheds some much-needed light. By the way … it’s all good!.

FABIEN SHAPES

Fabien Vollenweider is one of windsurfing’s most respected shapers. As the man behind Tabou’s board designs he is known for his high-performance shapes, but did you know he designed the BIC Techno and has been shaping since he was 14 years old. Fabien gives us a revealing insight into his work.

SURVIVE AND RIDE

The 2019 Aloha Classic will go down in history as one of the most extreme float and ride if not survive and ride contests in PWA history. With world titles on the line and plenty of gear destroyed on Ho’okipa’s infamous rocks, the sailors did not hold back. We take a sideways look at the event as Graham Ezzy sets the scene with his take on the proceedings, while JC talks to some of the men and women who ventured into the swell to find out what equipment, technique and tactics they used to navigate a treacherous lineup.

SPEEDY RECOVERY

Karo Van Tonder suffered a serious shoulder injury at 2018’s Lüderitz Speed Challenge that required surgery. Far from setting her back however, she set her sights on entering the 2019 Lüderitz Speed Challenge! Karo tells us more about her accident and inspiring comeback journey.

2020 World Travel Guide

Don’t worry, it’s natural, the middle of winter hasyou looking longingly at the bedroom light bulb, wishing it was a beaming sun and you were lying under the palm trees instead of buried beneath an electric blanket with a hot water bottle. We get it, you need a trip and it needs to be a warm one, so we’ve brought in the big guns for advice - Sportif Travel and Planet Windsurf Holidays give us their top 5 windsurf spots and we give micro guides to some choice windsurfing destinations. Warning – the next couple of pages have nothing but sunny shores to explore, if you can’t stand the heat, it’s probably best to get a pair of scissors out!

Redefining Expectations

In windsurfing, the hunt for versatility in performance is nothing new. Ever since the excitement and freedom of short board windsurfing (or funboarding as it used to be known) took hold, the desire to find a board for all conditions has become an eternal quest. There have been some notable exponents along the way, and as new disciplines emerge, new directions in design have crystallised. There is of course always the risk that, in asking too much during the design brief stage, a product becomes the master of its own demise, fulfilling the undesirable motif of “Jack”, being ‘okay’ in all trades yet a master of none. It’s a place that will ultimately only lead to an end destination of mediocrity and historical obscurity.

Dream It, Do It

Sarah Hauser has had the long lefts of Cloudbreak, Fiji on her bucket list for a while and on the eve of her 30th birthday decided to turn dreams into reality, pressing the button on a ticket to ride its fabled waves. She tells us more about her successful adventure to the South Pacific.

YENTEL CAERS B-16

With a dense population of 10.5 million and a relatively small coastline, Belgium is famous for brussel sprouts, over 1100 types of beer, praline chocolate, waffles, inventing french fries and three PWA freestyle world champions - Steven Van Broeckhoven, Dieter Van Der Eyken and more recently Yentel Caers, who just won the title at the Sylt world cup event in October 2019. Ever keen to get the scoop, JC tracked a tired but ecstatic Yentel down the morning after his maiden title win to find out a few secrets behind this amazing Belgium freestyle success story.

Champion Du Monde

After one of the greatest battles in PWA slalom history, which boiled right down to the final race of the 2019 season, 30-year-old French racer Pierre Mortefon took the world title after an epic showdown with Matteo Iachino. John Carter caught up with an emotional Pierre moments after he had clinched the victory for his initial reaction and we get the thoughts of his sponsors on what makes Pierre one of the world’s best.

THE GREAT ESCAPE

There’s a saying that we travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us. Windsurfing occupies that same space. For most of us it’s a release from the order of the everyday routine; order has its place, but a bit of wrestling with the wind and spray in your face helps keep it all in balance.

The Final!

The British Wavesailing Association 2019 titles came down to the final event in Cornwall and it didn’t disappoint! Mark Dowson rounds up the action and John Carter speaks to men’s pro champion Phil Horrocks.

Waves Of Change

Sarah Hauser wasn’t the only sailor with Fiji on their bucket list. Florian Jung scratched the itch on his desire to make a trip to the South Pacific and tells us how he found perfect waves but left with a changed perspective.