Max Rowe K 20

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-13T06:44:00.000-08:00

So since my last update after leaving Jeri I headed to Icaraizinho for the Club Ventos press trip. We had an awesome week and got to do loads of cool stuff including suping through the mangroves and some bull cart racing! Luckily we were just spectating the racing as it looked pretty dangerous. I had visited Icarai last year and had forgotten how amazing it was, I was definitely regretting not spending more of the trip there! We also got the chance to do a Heli-shoot which was pretty exciting! I had no idea how close the chopper was going to be and on one occasion had to bail from a ponch attempt because I thought I was going to hit it!! Unfortunately I cant reveal all the pictures yet as the magazines containing the shots are yet to go to print. Try not to laugh watching this poor dog get mowed down by one of the carts! Luckilly he was alright!!

I'm lucky enough when I get home that I can jump straight into some restaurant work over the Christmas period. The 60+ hours a week has kept me busy enough but I have still managed to get out on the water a couple of times! My new ION winter gear was waiting for me at home and its been relatively mild so no excuses. The most interesting session were the two absolutely howling days last week, possibly the windiest two days I've ever sailed. The first was at the Ray, Southend with Reece and Whitey. I was ridiculously over powered on 4.2 but I wasnt the only one as Whitey was attempting to sail a 6.2 with his 63ltr speed needle, he gave up in the end and settled for sharing Reece's 4.2 and 95 freewave and he still got 37kts on that!!!!

The next session which is where the pictures were taken was from a few days later at our local spot Point Clear. I'd woken up late and Whitey was there already waiting to get a few shots so I rushed out on 4.2 as it felt windy. You cant see the water from where you rig so I got a massive shock as I was nearly blown over attempting to walk down into the water. I did two runs max. before deciding that an 89ltr was far too big and quickly ran in to get my wave board. To be honest in the gusts I was still struggling to even go along in a straight line comfortably. It all made a bit more sense when Whitey jumped on my 72 twin and flew off the beach!! All in all a few interesting sessions to keep me entertained before the next trip!
Talking about the next trip I had a bit of a last minute change of plans. We were expecting the first event to be Vietnam in March, however once the PWA calendar arrived Narm had been re scheduled for December!! Happy days this meant I had enough time + money for the moment to justify a trip to Cape Town. So without hesitating the next day I was already booked up for a month from the 23rd Jan. Very excited as I've never been on a proper wave trip before so it should be interesting!! So my next update will be from there!
Cheers to the Whites and Bethany for the pictures!

Jeri done for another year!

2011-12-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

Coming back to Jeri now for the third year in a row I knew exactly what to expect and once again it didn't let me down! Just 4.2 & 4.7 and I probably could of got planing everyday in the last 5 weeks. I've been a bit slack on updating on here as I haven't had internet in the house which to be honest has been a nice change. Also when its windy everyday there didn't seem to be much more to say other than ohh windy again! The level on the water has been ridiculous as well with 10 of the top 20 in the PWA all here at one point!

A few weeks ago we had an awesome trip to Camocim which is a river mouth two hours way. I don't think its possible to find a flatter spot! I visited there last year for two days and it was epic so decided to go back for four days, which is probably about as long as I'd like to spend there. The sailing is amazing but there's not much to do compared to Jeri, its a small city and I think we must of been the only gringos in town as we were getting lots of funny looks! It was nice to get some new combos on the super flat water. Some of the local kids from the spot are absolutely ripping as well which was great to see.

Apart from that and a day trip to Lagoa Azul the majority of the trips been in Jeri. This year we rented a house that was a bit further out of town but we got a great deal on it and I would recommend doing that to anyone who's considering going for more than a few weeks as you can save loads of money compared to staying in a pousada!

I've been working on a few video projects whilst I've been here so there should be some clips on the way soon!

Fortunately the trips not quite over yet as I've just arrived in Icaraizinho for the Club Ventos press trip. I'll spend the next four days here before heading home to sunny England. There's some exciting stuff planned with the potential of a Heli-shoot which could be entertaining!

Sorry for the lack of pictures but the Internets just too slow...

New video!

2011-10-31T07:07:00.000-07:00

England

So since my last update from Sylt I didn’t really expect to report on that much windsurfing action until I got to Brazil. As it happens I’m writing this on the plane from Rio De Jeneiro to Fortaleza where im flying into before spending 6 weeks in Jericoacoara.

Surprisingly enough I’ve had loads of time on the water whilst I’ve been at home. I’ve even managed to compile a video with all my footage of sailing at home from September until now. This is a first for me, as I’ve never had enough clips from home to warrant making a video. Could be to do with the amount of time I’ve spent there over the last few years! But now with more events going on at home and having to travel from home to go to events I’ve definitely been spending a bit more time there.

The main spot featured in the video is Point Clear, St Oysth, Essex. It’s not a spot I sailed once whilst I was growing up but after getting to know Whitey ( Dave White ) he couldn’t understand why anyone would bother going anywhere else. So I checked it out a few years ago, I rarely sail anywhere else if I’m at home. It is amazing as far as flat-water freestyle spots go. The rest of the footage is from the south coast whilst I was down there for the competitions. Big thanks to everyone at West Wittering as they’ve been extremely accommodating in letting us sail there and helping out with photographers etc. Check out www.2xs.co.uk yet another amazing spot. The best day we had there I sailed on the waves at high tide with some epic jumping conditions before the tide dropped to reveal the freestyle “trench”. The other main spot is the Esso Garage on Hayling Island.

Anyway so I hope you enjoyed the video! There will be another one coming very soon after this trip.

Right so by the time I post this I will have hopefully of had my first session in Jeri. I’ve only packed my 4.2 & 4.7 as every time before I’ve never ended up using my 5.0. Board wise I’ve got the Skate 89 and Newave twin 72 so better hope its windy!!!

PWA Sylt 2011

2011-10-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

No wind at all for the final PWA event of the year in Sylt! Not even enough to complete one round of waves, freestyle or Slalom. Definitely the contrast to the conditions we normally get on Sylt it as it was sunny all week. I made the road trip down together with Bubble and Bryan Metcalf Perez and we had fully loaded the van with three suitcases full of the warmest clothes we owned ready for the trip!

Even though there was no wind the event organiser put on a few tow in sessions to entertain the thousands of people watching on the beach. Unfortunately for me its pretty difficult to get your name on the list to compete in these and I just missed out on the first one. Lucky enough for me on the second one they let a few more people get involved. I have been training the tow in a fair bit over the last few weeks so was stoked to get a chance to do it. I didn't get through to the final but still had a good go at a Burner but forgot that you cant turn out 540 if you haven't got any wind in the sail!!!

Unfortunately the conditions got harder as the tow in went on and the PWA decided to reduce the fleet back down to 12 people as it made the show faster!!! There was a great buzz about the tow in because of the weather maybe the beaches were even more crowded than normal it put on a great show for everyone! There were definitely more people watching than if it had been 5.7 weather onshore and raining and the moves were probably more spectacular!!

The rest of the week was mainly filled with a lot of waiting around and a fair bit of partying! Back in England now and the forecast looks pretty good. Hopefully going to the south coast for the next few days then back to Essex for the weekend!!!

This means I finish the year in 19th overall which is ok but not as good as I was hoping! Would have been great even to finish a single elimination as I would of been able to discard my 25th place from Aruba! Pretty happy still considering the level on the tour at the moment. Just booked my flights to Brazil for 6 weeks at the end of October so hopefully with a bit more training I can get in the top 16 overall next year.

My results for the PWA season were.

15th Vietnam
9th Austria
13th Bonnaire
25th Aruba
17th Fuerteventura

Pics by JC/PWA

1st place UK freestyle championships, Poole

2011-09-14T02:16:00.000-07:00

Managed my first ever event win this weekend at the Poole windfest. It was great to finally have wind at the event as the name has plagued it for the last several years! We got in three full rounds of competition in 20-25 knot winds. I took the win in the first round and then 2nd in the following two rounds which was enough to take the event. I was neck and neck with Bubble before the third round as we both had a 1st and a 2nd, fair play to Sims who was sailing well and beat me on a split decision to get the win in that round.
I think the week of wind before definitely helped me get into the groove of the UK conditions. The first day I was sailing on my 5.0 & 5.4 ID's on the skate 99 which was a great set up even in the gusty choppy conditions. On the second day it was a bit windier with some more swell about. Nik Baker was out in the morning doing some wave 360's!!!! I was using the Skate 89 and my 4.7 ID all day which has to be my favourite set up at the moment.

Unfortunately I couldnt make it to all the events this year which meant I finished in 3rd in the overalls. Well Done to Sims for taking 1st and Bubble in 2nd. Hopefully next year I will be able to get to a few more!
The wind has still been relentless in England and I've been out the last few days full powered on 4.2. Ive started getting into the starboard tack jumping a bit more now so thats been fun. Also I had the best freestyle session ever at West Wittering the other day in the trench with loads of guys there that stayed down after the competition. I think the only spot that rivals how good it was is Camocim in Brazil and that's only cause you dont need a wetsuit!!!!! Lots of it is on Camera as well so hopefully the video will be coming soon.
Thanks to
Josh Wilmott
Gary Mercer
Bethany Mercer
Trevor & Carole Hibdige

For the pictures!

Check out Josh Wilmotts Video of the weekend!

More Windsurfing Videos

Windy England!

2011-09-07T13:33:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was the National Windsurfing Festival on Hayling Island (NWF) It was the first time I've been to the event and it definitely wont be the last! It was amazing to see so many sails out on the water, there were over 400 people registered for the event and the majority were freeriders. www.nationalwindsurfingfestival.com For more info! I managed to win the night tow in session and come 2nd in the freestyle event which I was pretty pleased with!

Since the event finished the wind has been non stop! Check the videos at the bottom to see what I've been up to in more detail. After spotting the ridiculous forecast I consulted with Chris "Muzza" Murray and it was decided that I would stay with him on the south coast and not bother going back to Essex. On Monday we headed to Shoreham so I could collect a wave board and also make the most of the wind! Since Muzza was busy at home finishing of the video for the NWF we got to Shoreham a little bit late and the shorebreak was in full swing! Muzza paid the price for that one (Check the Pic!) Whilst packing up we were wondering it it would be possible to sail in the Widewater lagoon! I did a few runs but it was pretty shallow and the lagoon stunk once I stirred the mud up a bit. Check another Vid at the bottom of the page! I was pretty happy to stick a Skopu with only a 5 second run up!!!!

With the forecast looking even better for the Tuesday we decided a freestyle session would be in order, we gathered a big crew and headed off to West Wittering. It was absolutely howling and once we arrived it was hard enough to open the van doors let alone walk down to the water with our kit! It was gusting up to 50 knots and was easily one of the windier days I've attempted to freestyle in. Given the conditions we all landed some good moves but the crashes that went along with it were far more entertaining which is probably why the video got over 3,000 views in under 24 hours of being uploaded.
After the epic freestyle session I knew it was time to keep Muzza entertained and head on to a wave spot for the following day. Hayling Island was the most obvious option as when the tide drops a nice sand bar pops which the waves wrap round creating some nice straight on jumping. Now starboard tack jumping is most definitely not one of my strong points but one of my main aims for the year is to improve it. With Bubble and Muzza going for it I joined in; consequently my left but cheek is savagely bruised!!!! To make matters worse in the hunt for a flat spot I managed to sail over a sand bar that I hadnt spotted! I tried to resist the catapult which is always a massive error when your fins already in the sand and then went round the front so hard I snapped the head on my boom oooops! SO I had a lovely sail back with my boom wobbling around at the bottom of the cut out lashed on with my uphaul ( so glad I put that uphaul on for the tow in!! )
Not content we headed on to Witterings for another freestlye session! It was good but we were all feeling it a little bit. It looks windy again for tomorrow so check back for some more pics and videos!

Cheers to Dave White for the night tow in Pic & James Underwood for the Shaka at NWF pic.

Muzzas NWF video!

Muzza gets eaten at Shoreham!!!

Skopu at Widewater lagoon!!

Wipeouts at West Wittering!

More Windsurfing Videos >>

Advanced plus with Flying fish.

2011-09-01T01:03:00.000-07:00

I've just arrived back in England after spending the last month out in Vassiliki. Sorry I haven't been very active on here but if you check out www.clubvass.com I've been doing some blogging on their site about what I've been up to.

The last week I was out in Vass I passed my RYA advanced plus course which brings me on to how I got in to this whole teaching thing..

How I got into this whole world of instructing which brought me on to competing was through a company called Flying Fish. After going on holiday with Club Vass when I was 17 I was certain that I was going to do one of their courses the previous year. Flying Fish run intensive instructor training courses in Vass, some of them take beginner windsurfers to start instructors in 6 weeks. I did a fast track course of 4 weeks when I was 18 out in Vass and it definitely helped me get a foot in the door and meet all the guys working there. It was also then that I got my first taste for freestyle windsurfing, I learnt to Vulcan that summer and have been hooked on it ever since.
After a brief stint working for Mark Warner in Kos I went to Dahab, Egypt for the first time to complete my Intermediate course. I knew it was going to be hard to get a job working for Club Vass without this qualification and lucky for me and a few close friends I had met in Vass we had the perfect opportunity to do it. The guys heading the operation up in Vass Andy Barnes and Becky Ellis were running the course and we all had an awesome week. So with my Intermediate planing course under my belt I approached Club Vass pretty much begging for a job.

Its been five years nearly since I passed my RYA Intermediate planing course and for the last 3 years I've been trying to fit in completing my Advanced plus course. Its been difficult as they normally only run one course a year and it always seemed to clash with an event. This year everything fell into place after a bit of help from Ollie and Barnsey. Its no secret that I've been teaching Advanced windsurfers on a few occasions before the course but I still felt it was completely necessary to get it done and after not doing a course for five years I was keen to see how much I could learn from it. It was a great opportunity to brainstorm with Barnsey and other experienced instructors about anything from kit to teaching techniques. Barnsey gets his nickname "The Oracle" for a reason as he really does know almost everything about anything. I had an amazing week! Learnt a lot and also thoroughly enjoyed myself. After the course I was pretty disappointed to be leaving as I was keen to inject my new found knowledge into some unassuming advanced group.

I wanted to write this update as a bit of a thank you to Barnsey and Becky as they have hooked me up over the years and they really do an amazing job. Make sure you check out www.flyingfishonline.com for info on all the courses they run. You will have the time of your life!!!

For me now its off to Hayling Island for the National Windsurfing Festival. Also stopping over in Hove this evening for a tow in session at the Ion cable park with Brawzinho, Bubble and Simmsy!!!
Big thanks to Jay Haysey from www.globalshots.co.uk for the pictures.

Also Laura Slater for the final picture.

PWA Fuerteventura

2011-08-10T23:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry! I know Fuerteventura finished well over 2 weeks ago and I definitely should of got round to writing this update a lot sooner. However after getting blown off the water the last few days in Fuerte before returning to a very hectic Club Vass I havnt found the time.

I had high expectations going into the event after finishing in 11^th the previous year. There was already some un doubt over the forecast when I arrived so I was expecting I to be not a classic Fuerte event. Fortunately it was windy enough for my heats and I sailed every one on my 4.7 North ID and Skate 89. I had just received the fit the day before I got there and I was a little bit anxious about only having 3 days to get used to it but funnily enough it must of taken all of about 2 seconds to feel instantly better on my new gear. The weight of the ID had an instant impact and I was feeling on the top of my game.

I was knocked out in the second round of the single by Yarden Meir from Israel who was sailing seriously good! Yarden is one of my favourite guys to watch sail on the tour and a great guy so I wasn’t to disappointed as I knew it would be all about the double elimination. As soon as I saw the draw I knew It was going to be a tough one! Tonky Frans had been knocked out early on in the single and I was already feeling sorry for whoever would have to face him in the double!! And guess what this time it was me!! I had to win two heats before I would face Tonky and first was Max Mattisek a very talented sailor from Austria. I had a really good heat and was feeling confident going into the next one against a good friend of mine Marco Wedele. Marco had taught me a lot of my moves over the years whilst I was out in Dahab and he is an awesome sailor so it was a bit nerve racking going up against him. Fortunately I sailed a good heat and I felt like I was going to make it into the top 16 until I remembered I had Tonky in the next round!!

As fellow commentator of mine Phil Soltysiak put it on the live streaming “ I could probably sail in now “ after watching Tonky pull off a forward loop into double flaka on his first run!! In good spirit I stayed out and put together a solid performance but It wasn’t quite enough to take down Tonky. Leaving me in 17^th place!

The forecast went a bit rubbish after the first few days and it became ever likely that there wouldn’t be enough time to run another elimination which was very disappointing. In the mean time I got stuck into the commentating for PWA live tv which was great fun and I hope anyone watching enjoyed it.

For me now its back to work at Club Vass in Vassiliki and the wind has been amazing!! Got fully planing on a 2.7 kids sails!! I’ve been doing some blogging about my time out here over on www.clubvass.com so check that out for more information.

Big thanks to Danielle Lucas from getwindsurfing.com for the pictures!

Out with the old in with the new! Video from Egypt

2011-08-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

Cheers to Josh Wilmott from Blacklab for producing this epic clip from Egypt this Spring this year.

OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW from Josh Willmot on Vimeo.

Check back soon for my update on Fuerteventura..

PWA Aruba

2011-06-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Aruba

So the Caribbean leg of the tour is now over and I’m currently on my way back to Vassiliki, Greece via Amsterdam and London. After finishing in 13^th in Bonaire I was keen to hold on to my spot in the top 16 of the event but unfortunately it wasn’t to be!!! The conditions were completely different to Bonaire and it was a bit of a shock at first. To add to the tricky conditions lots of the shit hot local guys from Bonaire joined the fleet again in Aruba, these last two events have definitely been the highest level right the way through the fleet that I’ve ever experienced.

The island is also completely contrasting to Bonaire! Its like a tropical Brighton. The far end of the beach is lined with High rise hotels and Americanised shopping malls etc… Fortunately the event site is a lot nicer and thankfully theres no high rise hotels yet as the wind is bolt off shore!

Like in Bonaire we were hoping to complete two double eliminations but unfortunately the first two days in Aruba didn’t deliver good enough conditions for us to compete! It was windy just from a slightly different angle which made it incredibly gusty! We were all quite glad at the time but looking back it would have been a lot better for me to get the chance in a second double.

I really felt like my level was a lot lower than in Bonaire and I was struggling with a lot of my bigger moves in the choppier conditions so this led to me crashing out into 25^th place! Moving me from 12th into 15^th in the current overalls. The good news is that after 7 events we get to discard out two worst results, this would be a massive relief if I was attending the Lanzarote event next week but due to financial issues I’m giving it a miss. So that will be another discard used up which puts a lot of pressure on for the final two events in Fuerteventura and Sylt.

It was good fun again to be involved with the live streaming which is getting 30,000 views a day. My throat is suffering now and I’m not sure how Proffit does it! He was already loosing his voice and there was still 3 days of slalom left.

Now I’m spending the next three weeks working for www.clubvass.com before heading to Fuerte for two weeks. Cant wait to get back to Greece!!!

PWA Bonaire!

2011-06-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just finished the 3rd stop of the PWA Bonaire event. Definitely the best location of any competition I've ever been to! The high level was definitely reflected by the amazing conditions. As soon as I arrived and saw the locals sailing here I knew there were going to be some upsets in the draw. I felt like I upped my game a lot doing Culos, bobs and double spocks in most of my heats. We had wind everyday so it was great to finish two double eliminations which would normally split the results evenly but as there were so many similar results it ended with about 8 of us in joint 13th!!!!

I am pretty stoked though as it moves me into 12th in the overall rankings so far for the year. There is still four more events remaining so its going to be hard work to stay in that place, by this number of events last year we would of already been heading into the final one! Unfortunately I'm going to be missing the first stop in the Canaries for financial reasons so will have to use that as my discard and pray that I dont get any bad results in the remaining events!

Its been good to be involved with the live streaming commentary during the event. I have found it stops me from getting nervous hanging around on the beach thinking about my heat too much!! More of the same in Aruba so be sure to check it out at www.pwaworldtour.com
Speaking of Aruba I have just arrived! We got on the smallest plane I've ever seen yesterday to make our way over. Unfortunately the kit took up an entire plane, as in they had to take the seats out to fit it in!!! So we got delayed 5 hours while they sorted that out dropped the kit off and then came back for us!!

Big thanks to https://www.facebook.com/JanWachtmeesterPhotography check out the page and like it! Some awesome shots on there!

the rest by JC/PWA

Bonaire!

2011-06-09T04:58:00.000-07:00

Arrived all good in Bonaire. In the end it was actually a pretty easy journey, spending about 12 hours at my house was a bit of a manic rush. To make things a bit more hectic I decided it would be the perfect time to collect my 5.4 Duke from Nik Baker so I ended up going via Gatwick again on the way to Heathrow!!

Feeling a little bit under prepared for the event kit wise, with the KLM weight restrictions it was only possible to bring 1 board, 3 sails, 3 masts, 3 extensions and a boom. Oh and 4 pairs of boardies and a few t-shirts! Should be ok though as long as it doesnt get below 5m weather which hardly looks likely at the moment.

The first day I arrived I went on a tour of the Island with Paul Zeper. Check out the clip from Globalshots here-
I got a quick session in yesterday pumping around on 5.9 but the forecast looks like its improving for the coming week. The spot is absolutely amazing! by far the hottest water I've ever experienced. Its easy to see why the local guys are so good!

The place I'm staying in is perfect as well, just a 30 second walk from the beach and we can keep all out kit rigged out the front. Currently living with Bubble and Laure but when they move into the free accommodation I'll be living with Yarden Meir & Andraz Zan just next door.

EFPT Milos beach

2011-06-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

I’ve been out in Greece for the last two weeks setting up the Club Vass centre ready for the first arrivals. We normally open the centre a month earlier but this year the hotel has undergone a bit of a makeover. None the less it was still a massive rush to get the centre ready in time!!! But it is looking really pimp now!

Milos beach is on the north side of Lefkada just an hour from Vassiliki. The event normally takes place a month later but because the pwa calendar is so full they had to push it earlier. To be honest I’ve never been a fan of the conditions at Milos beach as even when the forecast is good its rubbish pumping 5.9 weather!!! It made it even more painful to return to Vass each evening there had been no wind at milos to find out it had been amazing 4.7 weather all day…….

I was pretty confident going into the even knowing a lot of the top guys weren’t there! I was seeded against an unknown Italian in the second round and unfortunately he was sailing amazingly in the gusty 5.7 weather. I had a good heat but kept it too simple. I crashed my shaka and twisted my ankle a minute before the end of the heat leaving me no time to get another attempt in!! All my other moves were fully planning and had plusses on the sheets but the other guy had done a sick ponch and a shaka so it was game over for me! Somehow I still finished in 9^th leaving me with a bit of prize money to drown my sorrows with that night in the Zeus bar!!!!

I have one more week left in Vass before going to Bonnaire for the next PWA event.

Big thanks to Jay Haysey from Globalshots for the pictures….

9th place in Austria!

2011-05-09T10:41:00.001-07:00

PWA Austria

My best result so far and I'm stoked. I had an epic road trip driving down to the event which took 25 hours in a two van convoy. The wind was forecast to be light for the weekend so we all made the most out of the big party scene in Podersdorf but I made sure I was rested and ready for the wind forecast at the end of the week.

The normal conditions that the tour has become a custom to in Austria are gusty 5.7 weather. So it was a bit of a shock when it kicked in with around 30 knots on the penultimate day. It was absolute carnage in the tent with everyone rigging their smallest gear. I was in the first heat so it was a mad rush to get my 4.0 ready, when I was sailing upwind it was possibly some of the hardest conditions I've ever sailed with the horizontal rain coming down so hard I couldn't even see let alone look upwind.

I kept to my normal plan for competition sailing and kept it consistent and didnt go for my biggest moves until I already had the set number of moves landed. My port tack moves were mainly Air Flakas, Ponch's, Shakas which the conditions were perfect for. And on Starboard tack I quickly discovered that by Burners weren't consistent enough in this much chop so I stuck with Punetas, E-sliders, Switch flakas and funnels. This got me through two heats in the single elimination beating Chris Kalk and Mattia Pedrani before getting defeated by Taty Frans!

Double elimination- The last morning of the event was definitely the most challenging, not just because we had to be on the water a 6-am. It was bloody freezing!! After sailing my heat against Rossmeir I had the worst fire hands I've ever experienced and when they told my I had won the heat I couldn't even bring myself to smile at the thought of getting back out on the water. Luckily the pain died off and I was next up against the Brazilian Edvan de Souza, whilst I was out waiting for the green flag I couldn't see him anywhere and it wasn't until 1 minute into the heat that he made an appearance. The pressure was on as I knew I had an advantage after landing 2 moves before he was there and I went on to sail my best heat of the contest scoring 23 points out of 30 on one judges score sheet. Next was Tonky Frans who finished in 5th overall last year and he has been sailing amazingly so never feel too bad loosing against him! So I finished the event in 9th, which is my best result so far, hopefully I can keep it up for the rest of the year. This leaves me in 13th position currently in the overall PWA freestyle rankings
Thanks to Jay Haysey from Globalshots for the pictures!

Busy times!

2011-04-26T11:02:00.001-07:00

I arrived back from Dahab a week a ago now and have been so busy I havnt even got round to writing this for a while! The last few weeks out in Dahab were relatively chilled with a bit of a dry spell of wind lasting for almost 10 days. However for my final week it did make a comeback and I had some decent sessions including an epic trip to the Blue Lagoon ( Ras aba Galoom ) We got dropped off at the Blue hole and walked for 1 1/2 hours before getting collected and taken to out Bedouin camp for the night. We had an awesome meal cooked for us, then camped out on the beach and awoke at 6am to this -
There was only 7 of us and we had it all to ourselves! It was full power 4.7 weather for about 3 hours until it dropped off when we just stopped for breakfast, meaning we had the rest of the day to chill out and enjoy some more amazing food including a freshly caught and cooked parrot fish that had green bones- very interesting but one of the divers didnt find it so exciting that we were eating it!!!!
After getting home from Dahab I only had a few days at home before heading up North to collect my newly pimped van thanks to www.exploria-online.co.uk More pictures and info coming soon courtesy of Globalshots.co.uk Once the van was packed I was off to Hayling Island for the first UKWA freestyle event of the year. Even though there was nearly no wind we still had an awesome time! I managed to win the lightwind freestyle category woop woop!!! I also come second in the tow-in which was an interesting show for the crowds on the beach as I launched into a no handed flaka and stopped dead still and got sent out the front at full speed!! Check out the gallery of pictures from Globalshots on the facebook page Globalshot pictures and the video can be seen here-
More Windsurfing Videos you can also see Dave Whites at this link- http://boards.mpora.com/news/bsa-slalom-ukwa-freestyle-1-photo-gallery.html

I also managed to sneak in a session on the new ION cable park practising tow in on our windsurf kit! check out www.lagoon.co.uk More pictures + video coming soon from that one!

Now for the epic road trip to Austria for the second PWA event of the year. Im off to Heathrow first thing to collect the boys from their Maui flight then away to Simmsys we go to pack the gear and head off. Stay tuned for some Globalshot updates of the road trip with Myself, Bubble, Jay Haysey, Adam Sims Bryan metcalf Perez and Jamie Drumond!! Should be pretty entertaining!!! Also we havnt quite figured how we are gonna make it from Austria to Rhosneigr in a day....

El Tur to Dahab.

2011-04-05T02:55:00.000-07:00

Since I last wrote we had another awesome few days over in El Tur, the conditions were flat as ever and I was fully powered up on my 4.5 Ice. We got loads more filming done including some more sick action from the crane, to be honest its almost so flat that you end up getting bored quite quickly after landing all your moves for the camera so I went on to try some new stuff!! Great idea or maybe not as it turned out- a few years ago I had seen a mate of mine Jamie Gibbs do a switch move that you sail into with one hand on your hip, the move started of being called the "lazy boy" but soon ended up with the more suitably camp name " The Teapot " the screen shot below is once my hand has moved off my hip. So I landed the move within a few attempts and it was pretty entertaining as a joke move, so the next day I'm sailing into the beach in El Tur and there's a fair few spectators so I thought it would be the perfect time to bang out the " The Teapot " hahah!! So as I'm rotating around the mast I completely miss judge my hand on the boom and end up powering my bent big finger and knuckle straight into the boom!!! Ended up with one big, very sore and swolen finger/ hand!! Luckilly I topped up on the Ibuprofen and got back on the water to get the water filming done but as soon as I stopped for lunch it was too painful to head back out that afternoon. I wasnt worried as the forecast for Dahab looked like we would get a rest day.

We had the trip to Dahab perfectly planned out so that we arrived just in time for the legendary " Club Dahab party night " and after a serious amount of rum was consumed we were happy in bed for the rest of the next day waiting on the monday for some promised wind. We made the right choice as the next few days were absolutely howling! Adam and I were fully powered on 4.7's and made the trip up to Baby bay with the crane only to find out once we had assembled the crane that we were missing the crucial piece to attach the camera!!! We had a lot of footage already and after being pretty de-motivated by the crane incident we decided to do more free sailing for the next few days.

Egypt- Moon Beach to El Tur

2011-03-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

After arriving in Sharm a day later than the rest of the guys the waited for me In El Tur before we headed up too Moon Beach together! Im here with Adam Sims, Josh Wilmot and Steve Thorne and the trip so far is going really well. Moon beach was an awesome spot, I sailed on my 5.9 Duke for a few days then we got a 4.7 which was sick. We've been getting loads of video footage for the up and coming production from Blacklab including some sick shots from the crane. The guys in Moon Beach really looked after us so a big thank you to them for doing so!!
These are just stills taken from the video footage! Have been landing some regular Konos again after a while of un-learning them so pretty stoked about that!

We have just arrived in El Tur and it was full power 4.7 yesterday and its looking the same today so I best get out there!

Home from Vietnam!

2011-03-12T04:17:00.001-08:00

After another stressful journey I've just made it home from Vietnam. Phil Soltysiak and I spent teo days in Saigon city on the way back which was pretty interesting, possibly the craziest city I've ever been too. 6 million people live in Saigon and 2 million drive scooters according to some un-reliable statistics!! Have got some funny video clips of Phil and I nearly getting run over by scooters on the sidewalk.
Finished the competition in 15th overall so was really happy to be in the prize money. Once the competition finished the wind seemed to completely disappear until the final day off the Slalom. We kept ourselves busy by letting off some stress in the evenings and spending most of the days relaxing in bed! We made the most of the time to do some touristy stuff as well and visited the red sand dunes and also a giant Buddha which was pretty cool! We watched the first race of the slalom on the final day before heading up the beach to check out another spot. It was worth the trip and it was only 5 minutes up the road and the conditions were amazing, we all felt like we could actually windsurf again after some relentless struggling in the chop machine!!

So just back home until Thursday before heading out to Egypt. We've got an exciting tour of the Sinai lined up so check back for all the updates/ video footage from the trip! On the way home my flight from Bangkok was delayed meaning I missed my connection flight in Berlin and suprise suprise my bags never arrived in London so hopefully Air Berlin will deliver them asap!

Competition update!

2011-02-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

Right so generally feel like I've been sailing pretty well! Definitely been enjoying the pressure and managing to perform my simple moves and getting by on consistency. I went out of the 1st double against Ruenes who was sailing really well. Today in the 2nd single I was drawn against a Turkish guy Yagil and I knew I would have to sail well as he has been pretty consistent also. However I still managed to crash my opening move a Puneta which I think I have crashed as my opener in every heat without fail so I knew I was off to a good start!! Went switch straight after and stuck a fully planning one so it was ok! I made my Ponch, shaka, air flaka and double flaka on the way out but knew I was missing a move on the way in as I dropped my switch flaka. Luckilly I passed through by quite a few points. Next up Tonky! haha No pressure really so went out and had fun so I opened my heat with a fully planning air flaka and then stacked a biig shaka straight after. I was fully powered on 4.5 and was going for stuff I never normally would in a heat so went straight into a puneta 900 then went for a future on the way out but I couldn't quite get the whip out of my ponch!

The last few days I have been doing the live streaming commentary with Ben Profitt which has been pretty entertaining and I hope anyone listening has enjoyed it!

I have seen the draw for the double tomorrow and I have somehow got a by into the next round which is a bit luck once again. So I'll face the winner of Ian Mouro Lemos and Steven Van Broekhoven but SVB is injured so its looking like I will face Ian! Hopefully I can d enough to beat Ian and get into 9th position in the 2nd double but if I dont I will finish 13th again so it shouldnt be a bad overall result!

I did and interview with KP today that may make it on to ESPN Asia, I was talking about my 4.5 North Ice!

Keep up to date with all the pictures and live streaming at www.pwaworldtour.com

Have just got back from an extremely tiresome opening ceromany so need to get some rest. I think tomorrows closing party for the freestylers will be slightly more entertaining!!

Competition Day 1

2011-02-25T19:00:00.000-08:00

So a good first day for me really! I passed my first heat against a Japanese guy Yoshida but was then up against Kiri Thode- enough said haha! Kiri was on fire and it was amazing to watch. I sailed ok in the first heat and made all my moves on the way out but struggled a bit in the chop machine coming in! After I was done for the day I joined in with the live streaming commentary with Ben Profitt which was good fun. Very hard to see all the moves in the heat and I think hopefully they could maybe do a split screen view so you have a better idea of whats going on!

I did get a sneak preview of the double elimination and somehow Bryan and I are the only ones to have a by into the next round so thats lucky! It worked out that with 6 people in 17th place and 8 people in 9th place then just two people dont have to sail the first round so pretty lucky for us! So I will get the winner of the heat between Arthur Pollet & Anthony Ruenes. Bubble is up against a Turkish guy and if he wins will then go against Bryan!

Check out the live streaming via the PWA website!

Vietnam!

2011-02-24T02:57:00.000-08:00

So I've been out here in Vietnam for just about a week now, on the way I stopped over in Bangkok for 3 days with Phil Soltysiak and Bryan Metcalf Perez we did the usual tourist stuff and had a crazy night celebrating Bryans birthday anyway enough said about that!!!
Its been windy all but one day so far since we arrived and the conditions are tricky to say the least. I was pretty glad to be here before the event to get tuned int the conditions but it changes quite a bit from day to day depending onthe swell, tide etc. One of the main issues is that the sand on the beach is seasonal and this year its moved earlier than normal, meaning that on part of the beach the waves are breaking into a concrete wall (the chop machine) sending chop straight back out again!!
It was pretty frustrating at first but the more people who showed up that seemed to be struggling as well definitely made me feel better for a day until the top guys showed up who dont seem to be phased at all by the chop. Gollito has been doing some insane pushloops and air chachoos of big bits of chop and Kiri is still doing all his air moves on the way in!!!
Most of the guys are here now ready for the event, we are registering tomorrow at 10am with the skippers meeting at 1:00pm and first possible start 2:00. All round there has been some brilliant stories of travel mishaps with a lot of people including myself so will be trying to compile them together and get them printed as its funny stuff! I had one of my best sessions today on my 5.4 Duke and Skate 100. The set up was amazing and I was doing shakas, ponches and air flakas no problem the sail felt so stable and I could hardly tell I was on a 5.4! The wind was a bit lighter so understandably less choppy which did help. Fortunately as well where we are keeping our gear for the event is just downwind of the chop machine so hopefully the sailing area wont be to far up the beach!!
Will start updating daily now the comps starting so check back for more info! Cheers!

Brazil video!

2011-02-15T04:19:00.000-08:00

Check out our video from Brazil last year! Just arrived in Vietnam and will have the story of getting here up soon! Watch in full screen HD quality is amazing.

First video on my new gear

2011-02-08T05:30:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I made the journey down to Whitstable in Kent to meet up with Adam SIms and Josh Wilmot. Simmsy had been telling me about their new toy! A 14ft video crane so even though the forecast was pretty average I thought I might as well go and check it out. It was really gusty and light so I used my 5.4 duke and skate 100! It was an awesome set up and so forgiving I didnt drop a move for about 40 minutes then I fell of doing a tack just as I took my hood off! From the looks of the footage the trip paid off! Josh is really talented and I like his style of editing. Watch in HD full screen its amazing quality

It was really cold this day and luckilly Josh had my new Ion rigging jacket to keep him warm whilst he was filming!
More news and pictures from last weekend coming soon! Still recovering after 4 days straight on the water!

Changing plans & Essex session with Global!

2011-01-27T11:25:00.000-08:00

So I was supposed to go out to Egypt a few weeks ago but have had a hectic stressfull time of making new plans. I'll start the story from the beginning. So during the summer fellow instructor Ric and I decided to split the work contract out in Dahab so he did the first three months he would work and I would do the rest and I was promised the job HOWEVER... As I'm sure a lot of you are aware Club Vass has been owned by the Tui group for the last few years on a loan basis and for the last two years we have been in the same operating group as Sunsail. Well as of May, 2010 Club Vass is going back to the original owners Tony & Rodger who first started the company and ran it very successfully for a long time.

So pretty much the job I was promised was taken away by Sunsail over some petty dispute over a board, not even a dispute just apparently an e-mail was in a un-approved of tone!! I had presumed their reluctancy to give me the job was that they knew I would be working for Club Vass again in the summer! Instead of just telling me they had no plan on giving me the job they made me jump through all the hoops applying online and even leading me on the hole time I was rushing around saying goodbyes making sure all my kit was here driving to Shoreham and back collecting the final bits so I was all ready before they had the decency to tell me!!! Colin Dixon who is managing out there and a very close friend of mine fought my corner the whole time but it wasnt enough! I had already left my current job and missed out on a ski holiday!! So winter plans ruined what was I to do???? Looking on the plus side- Exciting times coming up this summer with Club Vass back with Tony & Rodger all 100% brand new kit and some exciting new gadgets to help push the instruction up another level!! Very excited!!

So as there was the PWA event happening over in Vietnam in February anyway I decided to join up with Phil Soltysiak & Bryan Metcalf Perez and head over there for a month and get some practice in before the event! We both agreed that it felt like a waste going to a part of the world we had both never been too only for a week and also not looking around a bit. Well the plan now is to go via Bangkok on the way for a few days and leave our board bags at the starboard factory where due to some unfortunate circumstances Phil needs to collect some new kit!! Check the link for more info - http://issuu.com/philipsoltysiak/docs/stolen_equipment_2011_soltysiak

I have managed to get out in Essex however not quite the warm blue waters of Dahab but was good fun all the same. Jay Haysey (Globalshots) and Ed Sinclair came down the night before and it was great to catch up with them again, so after feeling not too clever the next day we headed to Clacton.
It was awesome to get out on my new gear- Skate 90 and 5.0 Ice. We had Si Crowther with a remote control flash set up on the beach to make up for lack of sunlight.

Globalshots

2011-01-22T11:03:00.001-08:00

Globalshots, originally uploaded by Max Rowe K448.

One shot from the other day at Clacton! Just testing the Flickr photo stream though really!

New sponsors, pictures and more!!

2011-01-14T03:29:00.000-08:00

So havent updated much recently mainly because I've been busy at work over the christmas period. Also because I've been in the middle of changing sponsors and waiting for the press release from them confirming the news! But now its all done and I have my new gear I just cant wait to get back on the water.

This sponsorship change is a massive step forward for me and also a bit of a dream come true really to be supported by the top brands in the industry and getting to sign an international contract. No more worrying about how Im going to pay for my kit at the end of year etc. Its what I was really hoping I would get after funding my own way around the PWA tour last year and hopefully this year I can prove myself even more to go on and be able to carry on doing it for a few more years!

Fanatic and North have made a big impact over the last year in the UK since Nik Baker along with his brother Ant have been behind the importing side of things. They really are one of the only brands making an appearance at every event and therefore one of the only ones really pushing windsurfing as a sport. When I first met Nik and Ant I could see that it was going to be a great team to be a part of, especially having these two windsurfing legends backing, supporting and hopefully helping me lead a successful career as professional windsurfer like they both have.

Some of you may have of noticed that I didnt actually spend that much time riding my sponsors board last year as they were unable to get round to registering them for the PWA events. This meant I have already spent a lot of time riding that Fanatic boards and I really believe that they are the best possible boards available for freestyle. When I first used them it instantly felt like a board I had been sailing my whole life! I have had a few goes on the Norths as well and they feel sick. I have been so impressed with how the rig fits together with all the North components and cant wait to get out on the water with it!

There were a few hard moments moving away from my first ever sponsor Spartan wetsuits but Mark was really understanding that I needed to keep on pushing my career forward and I cant thank him enough for the support he's given me over the last few years!

So its over to Ion wetsuits, clothing and accessories for me and I hopefully should be getting my gear in the post some point today. The gear really does look sick and I couldnt believe how flexible and warm my new strike series 5/5 semi dry suit was when I got out the other day.

Big thanks also to Farrel at Simmer and Ian & Doug at Boardwise for all their support last year!

So hopefully now I will be heading out to Dahab to work at Club Vass for a few months and also attend the PWA Vietnam event! Will get some pictures up very soon.

Pictures by Dave White. Except the dodgy ones taken by my Dad!

Camocim! Now home..

2010-12-02T03:47:00.001-08:00

So the end of the trip in Jeri was awesome! Together with Ali and Bryan we visited Camocim for our last few days, a river mouth a few hours up the coast. Unlike Jeri Camocim feels like a real Brazilian town with hardly any tourists it was a real experience to visit. We went to a traditional market one morning and together with Ali we were definitely the only gringos for miles and were getting some funny looks!! The sailing spot is situated over the other side of the river from the town so in the mornings we would rig up in our pousada cross the main road and sail upwind across the river to get there. It was definitely the flattest spot I've ever sailed! We filmed most the day and got some sick moves on camera including some triple combinations. To be honest it was so flat that if we werent filming it would of been really easy to get bored after landing everything I've ever done in about half an hour I was a bit like oh what now!! Also at the spot with us was the Swedish couple Anna Person and Peter Svenson who directed Four Dimensions so it was really interesting to get some of Peters creative perspective on what we were filming.

The local vibe at the spot was awesome and there was a bunch of 10-15 year old kids absolutely killing it! They were sailing on some pretty retro kit and still nailing some of the latest moves. It made me wish I had cleaned out my garage at home and brought a load of stuff for them. They only had a few sets of kit between them so they would be sat on the side waiting in turns to use it, some of them didnt even have harnesses and would still be blasting around and jumping in about 30kts! Bryan and Peter gave the kids a whole rig when we left and it was amazing to see the looks on their faces and if you visit watch out for the seriously powered up 10 year olds on a 4.5 firefly with an x9 mast!!!! I would definitely urge anyone planning on visiting the spot to take something for these kids as they have no chance of being able to afford any gear for themselves!

We spent one more day in Jeri before starting the grueling 35 hour journey back to London via Sao Paulo. All the footage is with Bryan the man behind Cold Water productions and the video should be ready around the new year and it will be sick!! We really tried to avoid making another typical Jeri video and almost didnt even film in Jeri itself!

So for me now its England for 6 weeks while I do some restaurant work to help save for the tour next year before heading back to Dahab where I will be working for Club Dahab. I have some big news that will hopefully be released in the coming weeks which I'm pretty excited about!

Icaraizinho

2010-11-16T05:27:00.000-08:00

Just arrived back in Jeri after an awesome 10 days, 2 hours up the coast in Icaraizinho. The buggy adventure on the way was epic and the conditions were amazing with such a variety due to the reef and different states of tide. Wont give too much away as there will be a travel feature coming soon on Boardseeker but it was amazing! We got loads of filming done and I finally learnt a new move I've been working on for ages the Burner!! These photos are just screen shots taken from the filming but you can see the full res pictures in my Facebook album-

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=260140&id=509311949&l=fc2782ba01

Massive thanks to Club Dos Ventos! Check out

http://www.clubventos.com/html/pages/icaraizinho.php

It was really nice to experience some new spots and I'm sure there is so many more that are yet to be discovered on this coastline. The plan now is to spend a few days here in Jeri and then head to Camocim a river mouth about 2 hours away and stay there for 3 days. Some guys have just got back from a trip their and it sounds epic so hopefully we will get some sick footage!

1st Days in Jeri Video + Pictures!

2010-10-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

So after around 30 hours travelling I finally made it back to the beautiful Brazillian village Jericoacoara. I was tempted to get the bus for the last part of the journey but when Chico Bento e-mailed me offering a ride in his new 4x4 I couldnt resist. In true Jeri fashion its been windy everyday so far and have even been using my 3.9 the last few days. We have also had a few days of waves so have been smacking the lip on my 90l freestyle board which is quite frustrating as couldnt get hold of a waveboard! Here are a few clips from a Go Pro which I borrowed from Club Dos Ventos-

Already having a minor problem with my back and foot so am going to take it easy for a few days to get back into it and make the most of the 6 weeks. The plan at the moment is to stay in Jeri for a month and then head to Icarazinho and hopefully some un-discovered spots for the last two weeks.

Sylt done 21st overall for the year! Now time for Brazil

2010-10-07T04:16:00.000-07:00

So just made it back from sunny Sylt where the last event of the season was taking place. Unfortunately we only got one day of freestyle in meaning that it would be the third event of the year without a double elimination. This just means unless you have a very good seeding its hard to get a chance to improve your ranking. I went out in the second round of the single elimination against a very good friend of mine and now the world no.6 Phil Soltysiak so I wasnt to dissapointed and it meant that I would stay in 17th place and get me enough points so I could discard my result from Ausrtia. So I finish the year with a 17th an 11th and another 17th which gets me in 21st position overall for my first year on tour.

Im feeling really focused on what moves I need to learn for next year and cant wait to get out to Jericoaoara in a few days where I will be spending the next 6 weeks !! Check out my video from there last year -

PWA Sylt world cup!

2010-09-25T07:24:00.000-07:00

Things are getting under way here in Sylt, Germany, where I will be competing in the last freestyle tour stop of the 2010 PWA World Tour season.

My sails are rigged and ready to go and my new Spartan wetsuits are waiting to keep me warm when I enter the North Sea for my first heat against a good friend of mine from Canada, Philip Soltysiak. The only thing missing is some wind...

At the moment I am ranked 24th overall, this includes a 33rd from Podersdorf, 17th from Lanzarote and 11th from Fuerteventura. This is our 4th event of the season, which means we get 1 discard. My goal is to finish in the top 16 this event to be able to discard my 33rd. Where this would put me overall for the season really depends on how my competitors finish....Deja vu

You can watch live video from the contest at the PWA World Tour website.

The amazing windy week in England!

2010-09-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

So after the event had finished in Poole I had seen the forecast was looking good for the south coast and was getting excited but to be honest definitely not as excited as I should of been. Having spent hardly anytime in England over the last few years especially when its been windy I now feel that I never really gave it a fair chance to show me its true potential. Now with Sylt approaching and the forecast still looking good in England for the first time I'm actually going to feel like I'm missing out!
Right so Monday morning I was still feeling pretty tired after a weekend spent pumping around on my 5.7 so I didn't want to travel to far so luckily enough my girlfriends house is only a 2 minute walk from the beach. It was high tide and it looked windy so I rigged by 5.1 and my 4.8 for her and within about half an hour I swapped down on to the 4.8! It was pretty choppy but this was good as I was keen to get some practice in ready for the messy conditions in Sylt. Most of the pictures in this post are from the session at Aldwick (near Pagham) Thanks to Gary Mercer for the shots.With Tuesday still looking good I thought it was about time I went and sailed at Nik and Ant Bakers home spot Shoreham aka Shorekipa after hearing so much about it over the years. We got there for low tide and Adam Simms was already out on the water fully powered on 4.5 I looked at Ant and commented on how sick it looked out there but he wasnt impressed with the size of the waves!! Didnt bother me too much and on my first few runs I was almost convinced I was back in Jericocoara if it wasnt for the grey skies and lack of Italians ripping up the white water It could of been. As the tide started to push it did get a bit more full on and there was some steep waves starting to appear. Wave sailing is something that Ive never really had a chance to do that much so it was good to have a go a bit of waveriding and I even made a few takas on my 90l freestyle board!! I eventually swapped for a waveboard and couldnt beleive how much time I'd wasted trying to ride on the freestyle board, unfortunately it wasnt quite forgiving enough for my dodgy takas! After completely knackering myself out it was of to Brighton for a bit of shopping! ( limp wrist was completely intentional!!!! ) After the wave session at shoreham I was keen to carry on training for Sylt and with the forecast not looking so promising I couldnt beleive my luck to wake up to yet another windy day. For low tide we headed to West Wittering to make the most out of the lagoon aka "the trench". I had never sailed Wittering in a SW before and it was unbelievable! some of the flatest water I've ever seen and it made everything too easy I think. After sailing for about two hours the lagoon was filling up so I went for a little play in the waves but soon remembered that I needed to save some energy for the afternoon session I had lined up. My girlfriend and I had been out for dinner the night before with Club Vass colleagues Ellie and Chris Muzza Murray and arranged to go somewhere with them for high tide. Unfortunately Muzza is Injured but he led us too the Esso garage spot on Hayling Island. Whils consuming a massive lunch we all packed in the van to watch the tide rise enough to reveal some more ridiculously flat water. Check out some of pictures as the sun started to drop with Portsmouth in the background!
After the session at the Esso garage I was gratefull to have a few days of before getting one more session in at my home spot West Mersea, Essex. It was pretty light but good sail with my Dad and Uncle!! About to start the drive to Sylt leaving in 5 hours so best get some sleep!

Poole Windfest report and pictures!

2010-09-13T10:18:00.001-07:00

So last weekend was the British national championships down in Poole Harbour at the Animal windfest. This was to be the first windy windfest in three years which would mean finally we would get some new UK rankings. We were all a bit anxious after checking the forecast as it was looking like the wind had moved to the friday but the official start of the competition wasnt until the Saturday. This meant that Timo Mullen decided to run an event in the harbour as most of us were already there and at least we would have a result if there was no wind for the rest of the weekend.However suprisingly enough Saturday morning we woke up to a bit of wind, unfortunately by the time the judges had prepared themselves it had died. Luckilly as the day went on and warmed up a bit we got a bit of a sea breeze. It was very light 5.7 weather but enough to get the comp going. There were 4 man 4 minute heats with the best two moves counting and the winner going automatically into the final. I managed to miss out on this oppurtunity to get straight there by getting knocked out by Sam Neal who sailed a solid heat. The pressure was on for me as I knew it would be my only chance to get a result, so I upped my game for my next heat and passed through to get into the 4 man final. It was me up against Bubble, Sam Neal and Adam Simms, it could of been anyones day with the conditions being so light and flukey but Bubble managed to come out on top again with me in 2nd Adam Simms in 3rd and Sam in 4th. I was happy with the result but one day hope to get the first place to take the British title. After an epic superhero party on the saturday night I was almost glad to see the forecast was right and there was no hope for wind on the final day. We did however run a tow in competition using the Red Bull jet skis. It was a lot harder than it looked and I was pretty happy to land a big flaka and no handed flaka to take the win. I am now currently hanging around on the soutcoast at my girlfriends house for most of the week and the forecast looks epic!!!

Max & Bubble Canaries 2010 new Video.

2010-09-08T03:11:00.000-07:00

MPORA Action Sports >>

SIck session back in the UK!

2010-09-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

So arrived home last night and knew the forecast was going off so have been excited all week in Vass. Got collected last night from Gatwick in the new VW Transporter T5 which my Dad has just brought for all our windsurfing needs!
Planned to get up really early as I wanted to get two sessions in. First of all Collected my best mates Jay and Dan who both havent done much windsurfing in the last year and head to West Mersea beach where we used to sail together a lot. Rigged my 5.1 Simmer Blacktip and was fully powered up, the conditions were awesome with some really nice shaka ramps on the way out and when the tide dropped a super flat spot appeared behind one of the sandbars. Was glad to get out in the UK before the British freestyle championships next weekend in Poole as it took the edge of the nerves a bit and helped me remeber how to judge the brown chop!!!
I sailed at Mersea in the new Spartan 3/3 wetsuit with fluid lined seems and it was unbeleivable! Definitely the most flexible suit I've ever worn and was still so warm I could almost get away with using it all winter. I was just really impressed with everything about the suit down to the amazing finish on the neoprene and the super flexible seems that look amazing aswel. After the Mersea session it was off to Alton Water, one of the places I learnt to windsurf when I was growing up. I had arranged to meet proffessional windsurfing photographer Simon Crowther as he lives nearby to document the occasion. Unfortunately the wind had dropped abit by the time we arrived but I rigged my 5.7 to go out and test the conditions to see if it was worth shooting and I got planing in every gust! So Si and Jay set up Si's new lighting equipment that is rigged through remote control straight to the camera. It was hard work pumping onto the plane so close into the shore but after two hours of it and lots of arm cramp we were realy happy with one of the shots especiall considering the conditions! Hope to see it in the one of the mags soon..
Big thanks to the guys at Alton Water as they were all super helpfull!

Forecast looks like it might even be windy for Windfest so keeping my fingers crossed for next weekend!

Even more nightshots from Globalshots!

2010-09-02T03:42:00.000-07:00

Some more night shots! Managed to add a bit of variety this time.

More night shots!

2010-09-01T23:39:00.000-07:00

Few more night shots from the other day! Thanks to Globalshots!

Night session with Globalshots

2010-08-29T05:27:00.000-07:00

Had an awesome night session last week! Shame my white chicken legs show up so much in the flash but didnt really think about that after the amount of beer that had been drunk! All pictures by Jay Haysey from Globalshots! Going to put a few more on during the week as its windy now..

Vass update and return to the UK!

2010-08-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

Had another awesome few weeks here in Vass! Last week I ended up in board repair for the week which was good fun but extremely itchy in our unventilated dungeon. But this did mean I was top of the sailing rota every day so got loads of time on the water.
This week I am currently teaching the advanced carve gybe group which is going really well and the conditions have been perfect. Just did a video session yesterday afternoon in perfect 4.7 weather so getting ready to debrief that this morning.

Beginning to seem a bit surreal that I only have one more week left out here before returning to the UK for the British championships. My Dad has just invested in a VW Transporter T5 for us to use for windsurfing purposes so pretty stoked to be driving that around when I get home.
Only home for a few weeks though and then heading to Slyt for the final PWA freestyle event of the year. I got my confirmed entry through a couple of days ago without a wildcard entry because of my overall ranking so that was a nice change!

Back in Vass!!

2010-08-12T03:31:00.000-07:00

Just got back to Vass after an epic journey after the event finished in Fuerteventura! Finished in 9th in the second double elimination which meant I was 11th overall really happy! We had a crazy night in the tent at the closing ceremony which led to a pretty relaxed day afterwards and fortunately it wasnt windy otherwise would of been a complete waste. The day after we sailed downwind at centre 2 me and Bubble made the mistake of rigging to big and after we had lugged all the camera equipment with us it was way to much of an effort to change down, we got a bit of footage but gave up once we felt completely destroyed. After another day of filming we then decided to head back north as we were flying out of Lanzarote so we thought we would be able to sneak in a session in Costa Teguise! So we headed up to Corralejo to meet Bubbles good friend and shit hot wavesailor Will Ward. We didnt have his phone turned on so we just headed to the first windy looking beach we saw and luckilly bumped into him there! So we had a sofa for the night got settled in and decided to go out for steak and then just for "one" in Corkys bar!! Next thing we knew we were drinking rum and coke out 2 litre jugs in some club and next thing we knew was Will was late for work and we had missed our ferry to Lanzarote! Fortunately we made the lunch one but this meant no windsurfing for us...
After 2 days sleeping at Gatwick I finally made it to Kefalonia the island next to Lefkada on Sunday. Just as I thought I was back home we found out the ferries to Vass were all cancelled because it was so windy. I just made it on as a foot passenger but had to leave my good friend Greg and his Van behind. It must of been about 45kts as we were pulling into Vass and with the sounds of the car alarms going off and the greek lady crying and praying behind me I could see why they were all cancelled!

Boardseeker forum

2010-07-31T09:51:00.000-07:00

Fuerteventura Day 1
Ok so like I did when I was in Lanzarote last month I will be continuing my own personal report on the event over on the Boardseeker forum. Please take a look and get involved with the discussion! http://www.boardseekermag.com/forum/read.php?3,5314

Vass, Matadors and now the journey to Fuerteventura!

2010-07-26T02:11:00.001-07:00

So me and Bubble made it back to Gatwick last night and I am now currently sitting at home back in Essex. The last few weeks out in Vass have been awesome! My first week back I spent in the Dungeon that is board repair at Club Vass which was rather itchy but meant I was on top of the sailing rota everyday so got loads of time on the water and managed to land Gollitos new move the "Matador"

The last week we have had Dave White out for his legendary speed week. Check the Video out here- http://boards.mpora.com/videos/featured-videos/speed-week-club-vass-2010.html

It was my turn this week to take the prokidz which is always a good challenge! Most of the kids I have taught quite a lot over the last 3 years but there were still a few new faces. The group ranged from kids wanting to plane to kids learning loops and vulcans. Luckily I had an assistant so we mananaged to split the group a bit in terms of when we were teaching them which was good as i got to spend lots of with everyone in the group even though there was a big range in ability. All the kids did awesome with the lighter winds at the beginning of the week really helping get their confidence and by the end of the week all of them were planing in the harness. The two that were learning to Vulcan and loop also did really well and improved a lot.

So after a bit of a last minute panic when it came to booking some very expensive flights we are finally off tomorrow morning. My flight ended up coming in at 120 more than Bubbles when half way through boking I realised I'd forgotten my bank card so quickly biked home to get it and by the time I got back ahhhhhhh 120 pounds!! And we arent even flying direct to Fuerteventura we have to go back to Lanzarote rent a car get a ferry then drive down to Sotavento. Not complaining to much it should be good fun and this also means we get a few days after the event to hang around in the canaries.

Photos by Scott Perry

Boardwise blog!!

2010-07-05T07:50:00.001-07:00

Ok Boardwise have just set up their new blog site where you can receive news from what all of the team riders are up too! I will be posting on there aswell from now so keep an eye out. You can also sign up to receive info about some exclusive deals that boardwise have to offer.
Check it out - http://www.boardwise.co.uk/blog/

Twitter

2010-07-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

Well sitting around in Lanzarote feeling pretty hungover has led to one good thing! Twitter.. Just getting to grips with it and seems really good for more regular updates. Check the box down the left hand side. Also got bored so decided to change things round a little bit.

Lanzarote!

2010-07-03T00:42:00.000-07:00

Ok the rest of the blogging from Lanzarote is going to continue exclusively over on the boardseeker forum- http://www.boardseekermag.com/forum/read.php?3,5116

Clips from Lanzarote day2

2010-07-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

Lanzarote Day 2

2010-07-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the beach after an action packed day here Lanzarote! after it looking so unpromosing this morning with all the signs saying it wasnt going to happen today it was quite a shock that straight after lunch it filled in perfectly. I was in the second heat so rushed straight out on my 5.4 Simmer Blacktip. The heats were 7 minutes with the best 3 moves on each side counting with a maximum of 6 attempts!

Before I knew it I was at the upwind buoy wishing I had my 5.1. I was up against the German Adrian Beholz G-888 who has had some good results this year including a 2nd place at the efpt in Leucate. I sailed a solid heat opening with a massive shaka that I was pretty happy with and found myself looking for my watch at the end with a few minutes left after I had done all my moves so I threw in a no handed flaka, must of been at bit to far downwind though as all three of the judges wrote it down as 1 handed!! We knew it was close as we were stood waiting by the elimination board for ages. It was then announced that Beholz had advanced on a tie break decision. I ran to check the score sheets and what happens when its tied is they take the best score from the technical difficulty points above the other scores so even though I had more style points he passed the heat. Throughout the day the difference between the guys winning and losing was mostly the ability to do the moves even when they are hardly planing! I can do those moves when im fully powered on 4.8 but definitely havent been training them enough in crap conditions!!

Bubble was up against his team mate the Brazilian Ian Mouro Lemos. Straight away you could tell Bubble was overpowered on 5.3 and struggling to make the moves quick enoughwhere as Ian on his 4.9 was flying round some of his! It was pretty close but the decision went with Mouro Lemos!!!

Main upset in the first round was young Bonnare hot shot Bjorn Saragoza knocking out current tour leader Taty Frans!! Saragoza advanced until the last 8 when he then met Canadian champ and good friend of mine Philip Soltysiak (or Saltysack as we call him) Saltysack was on fire after just knocking out local boy Antxon Oetagui at his home spot. He sailed the heat of the contest so far against Saragoza and completely nailed all his moves including Culos, Burners, konos and a triple flaka!!! For me it was more exciting watching Phil on fire and clearly winning the heat than any of the England matches this world cup!! I almost felt that he was on my team and we were winning!!

On the other side of the draw in the fight to get to the last 4 was Steven Van Broekhoven up against Tonky Frans. For us sitting on the beach it looked pretty close but I we were all certain that Steven had won the heat. Next thing we know Tonky is heading back out to sail in the semi final and Steven Is pretty angry walking over to the judges box. Steven was annoyed that in the split decision two of the judges had missed named one of his moves and when questioning them it turned out that they didnt even know what it was!!!!!! To be fair this "skopu" that he did land was a bit sketchy but still eveyone was a bit shocked by the decision. This Meant it was Gollito, Kiri, Tonky and Saltysack left in the battle for the top however the wind dropped leaving this heated battle for the morning!!!

On the ladies front Laure Treboux was looking super stylish as per usual and after passing Nayra alonso in a close heat she was then up against current womens chap Sarah Quita Offringa!! Due to Laures seeding she was unlucky to get Sarah this early on. Sarah won the heat looking as dominating as ever to the be up against the Venezuelan Yoli de Brendt! Because the wind had dropped by this point again another battle that will have to wait until the morning.

Lanzarote Day 1

2010-06-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the first day of the event over here in Lanzarote! Registration started at 10:00 and it was interesting to see some of the nanes on the original entry list had not turned up. Mainly Philip Koster as everyone knows how sick he is in the waves it would of been interesting to see his freestyle ability. I think a few of the guys would of been pretty nervous up against him if the conditions were anything like last year ( 3.7 with 3metre swell ) !! Maybe he saw the forecast was going to be lighter and changed his mind!

Once I'd got my stickers on it was pretty consistent 5.4 weather and the first possible start wasnt another 3 hours at 2:00. It was low tide and the conditions were pretty difficult and I was struggling a lot at first but once the tide started to come in flatened of nicely. I have the German Adrian Beholz in the first round and if I advance that the I have Gollito!!!!!

Already yesterday we had seen Gollito practising what looked to be a new move and today an hour into the session he must must of done about 4 in a row! Its going to be pretty hard to describe!! He ducks the sail regular stance as if he was going to do a "bob" but then catches it back to sail and jumps holding it like that until its fully back winded then finishes it 540! Just after he did it we were already speculating what stupid name he was going to call it whilst saying soon he'll be doing a spock into that position and doing the new move from there and would you believe it 5 minutes later he did it!!! Hopefully get a clip of it up sometime this week!!

Around 1:00 the wind started to drop and by the time 2:00 came round it was really light. After eating my paella so quick I thought I might throw up I rigged my 5.7 incase they decided to start. I went out sailing with my watch ready to go waiting for the red flag but it never came, it was only really possible to do moves on the way in using the swell to get planning and with the wind getting lighter we stayed on standby! It was amazing what some of the top guys are doing in no wind! It doesnt even make sense that they can get that much height and whip when they are hardly moving! Has given me a better focus on what I need to be training for and for sure everyone looked pretty suprised. Apart from Gollito it was mainly the Bonnaire guys who rip in these sort of conditions, for me Bjorn Saragoza sailed the best today after never seeing him before I was pretty suprised and concerned!!

They did try and start an expression session later on but quickly sacked it off as the wind died completely! The rest of the afternoon was spent baking ourselves and our sails, now I can see why everyone at the hotel is so burnt. Some discussion went into what Gollito was going to call his new move and he came up with " Sapo " yet another ridiculous name for a move! It also turned out he had landed some double air flaka and wanted to call it "del toro" or something like that. Some guys tried to convince him otherwise and call it something everyone can understand like "corkscrew". I dont think theres any point coming up with these ridiculous names and what needs to happen is to take some snowboard/ skateboard names that more people are familiar with and use them for the new moves. We had a massive heated debate in Austria when Kiri named his new move a " Kabbikuchi " which me and Bubble have dubbed the " Scratchmygoochie " dont think they are even going to get the point though!

Right off out for Bubbles birthday dinner tonight in town! Tapas so should be good!

Vass EFPT and White church photoshoot

2010-06-28T01:07:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Vass late last night with Bubble and home for day before heading to lanzarote. The Last few weeks in Vass have been pretty hectic, starting with the Vassiliki/ Milos beach efpt event a few weeks ago. As I mentioned in my last post I was pretty excited about having the home advantage in this competition, with hope of getting a good result. Unfortunately my seeding wasnt great and after advancing through my first heat I then had Nicolas Akgazcyan who won the event here two years ago! I wasnt that nervous before the heat mainly because I knew I had nothing to loose, It had started howling so I rigged my 4.8 Simmer Blacktip and was full power. I sailed a solid heat making an Air flaka, cana brava, Switch flaka, puneta, funnel, shaka, no handed flaka and a double spock!! I hadnt seen any of the other guys do a double spock in Vass so I was pretty happy about that. I lost the heat on diversity and was looking through the sheets and couldnt beleive how many moves Akgazcyan had done. There was a slight mess up as the judges had all marked me down for doing two punetas instead of a puneta and a funnel! I wasnt to bothered as I think I would of have to done a lot more to beat him. I think I need to work more on doing moves on both sides in my heats to help get some diversity points.

The next day would be the last day of the event in Vassiliki before we would move to the North of the Island to Milos Beach. The forecast was epic for Vass and I knew we would have time to run the full double elimination. Just my luck however I had Bubble in the the first round!! Bubble had been knocked out by our good friend Colin Dixon in the first round the day before and because of the number of competitors it didnt matter that I had advanced a round further than Bubble in the single. Again I sailed a solid heat making all my moves but Bubble was on fire and his ability to do everything both ways gave him the advantage. I was very jelous of Colins draw and he made it all the way through to 9th place! I was working this day so I made my way back down the beach to Club Vass for the day I did manage to catch a glimpse of Bubbles heats and he was showing the boys that this was his home spot and he wasnt going to be beaten easilly. He managed to pass through some big heats taking out Scheffers, Strahlen, and Oetagui before coming up against the Israli Yarden Meir in the battle for 4th position. Unfortunately by this point Bubble was knackered and Yarden was fresh after sitting and watching all morning whilst Bubble was sailing back to back heats. It was still a very close heat but Bubble had to settle for 5th.
After the two days in Vass the we spent the last two days sitting around waiting for the gusty 5.7 weather that we have become a custom to on the north side of the island at Milos Beach however it never came...

Last week however we did score some epic conditions on the north side of the islnd one evening after work at a spot called the White church. Jay Haysey from Globalshots and I had been planning this trip for a few weeks now and knew the potential this spot had with the sun setting behind this stranded church that you can only access via the sea. The first day we sailed further up than the church pumping on my 5.4 but the next day we scored it perfect and I rigged my 5.1 and together with the other Globalshots team riders we made the downwinder towards the White Church. Jay got some amazing shots with the bright orange sky behind the church and also some good ones of me sailing right in front of the church trying to dodge the old remains of wall that had eroded around the church. Check out the Globalshots facebook page to see all the action.

Vass is going off!!

2010-05-27T23:50:00.000-07:00

Had another awesome week out here in Vass. Been sailing on 4.8 or 5.1 nearly every afternoon! Yesterday we ran the first Club Vass weekly slalom event and it was absolutely howling. I rigged 5.8 and did one run then came in to change down to a 5.4. Check out the report on Boards- http://boards.mpora.com/news/club-vass-slalom-series.html

Just sent off for my wild card to the event in Lanzarote so just waiting to hear back on that one. Me and Bubble booked our flights the other day so would be a bit of a shame otherwise. ALso we have the EFPT Vassiliki/Milos beach event in a few weeks which should be good fun. Quite excited at the though of competing in my home spot.

Vassiliki update!

2010-05-17T23:20:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Vassiliki with Bubble last week. Unfortunately we had to come out a week earlier than planned as there was a mix up with flights. It wasnt the end of the world it just ment that we would miss the freestyle event in Branksome and also the wave event in Rhosneigr the weekend just gone. A little bit of peace of mind is that there wasnt any wind!!! In Vass we arrived to full power 4.2 which was sick. At the weekend we had a bit of a shock to wake up to full power 4.8 weather with waves coming in which is extremely rare for Vass! the starboard tack jumping was fun and spent a lot of time nailing myself then pulled my first planing forward of the back of a wave back into the beach. Then Jay Haysey aka Global shots came out with his camera so we started a photo sesh, unfortunately I managed to end myself on my second move infront of the camera; a massive air flaka and when I landed my knee gave way. I had to miss a day on the water but now its feeling good again.

Austria Day 3 & Pictures

2010-05-02T23:52:00.000-07:00

Really long day yesterday and the event seems to be winding down. Most of the people are beginning to leave as the weekend is now over! The wind was blowing North westerly in the morning and was looking promising for a while however nothing materialised. The weather was still nice so me and Bubble decided to go for a Stand up paddle further up the the lake. The most exciting point in the day was a really close encounter with a swan after we went to close to its babies.
In the afternoon the freestyle tow in started, unfortunately you were only allowed to enter if you had competed in the jump ramp the day before. We took our position on the Bacardi Island to watch the action and witnessed a ridiculous culo from Steven Van Broekhoven. How he can even duck the sail with just apparent wind created from the tow in is cray. The rest of the afternoon we spent at the Red Bull tent where we got a free bbq. In the evening we went for pizza with some of the other competitors. Followed by a few small games of Beer pong on the official Zipfer tables in the Royal Captains bar. We are now sitting around in the rain waiting for some very light southerly winds that are supposed to be coming. Which will mean wobbling out in to the middle of the lake and the judging taking place from a boat! Will keep you updated tomorrow with how it all goes.

Austria Day 2!

2010-05-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

Day 3 alread but didnt get a chance to update yesterday. We had a really good night on the first day of the event the place was absolutely rammed with thousands of people just coming for the party. There was some wind around 6am but everyone missed it as it wasnt forecast thats why today I am currently sitting and very cold next to the lake waiting just incase. Yesterday They did run the ramp contest in the afternoon, not many people competed just because of the risk of nailing yourself or the equipment. Steven Van Broekhoven also did some towing behind a jet ski and did an unbeleivable air flaka on the glassy flat water followed by a one handed ponch and a shaka!!!!
It could be a long day and we will probably be on hold untill this evening as the wind is forecast to switch and blow from the south.

Austria Day 1!

2010-04-30T02:01:00.000-07:00

Me and Bubble arrived yesterday afternoon to 25 degrees sunshine! Really glad I packed lots of warm clothes. Podersdorf is a really nice town, it seems the normal tourists are old Austrian / German people coming away for a quiet weekend by the lake but for a few weekends a year it goes party mad. Our accomodation is awesome just a little old Austrian lady is running who doesnt speak one word of English lucky my G in GCSE German is coming in handy not!!! WIll put some pics up soon, it looks like it hasnt been decorated since the 60's.
We registered this morning and soon realised my giant 2 metre Colgate stickers are required to go right over where my sail numbers are, which looks really good... Its sunny again today and the forecast doesnt look to promising but theres loads else to do so should be fun!!

Back in England & MTV Cribs Boardwise team rider house!

2010-04-27T03:50:00.000-07:00

After the volcanic ash disruption I managed to get back from Dahab on sunday which was two days later than planned but it was windy so didnt matter. I'm now back for a few days before going to the event in Austria on thursday. Im off to the airport tomorrow aswell to pick Bubble up so its going to be a busy few days. At the moment im working on a new video with some action from El Tur and Dahab which will hopefully be ready over the next few days. I had never been to El Tur before so it was really nice to visit another spot, the sailing was so good we ended up going twice. It was a bit sad leaving Dahab as I'd gotten quite settled there over the last 2 months and the appartment we had was amazing.
We made a spoof video of the appartment MTC Cribs style. It really is amazing and if you are interested in staying there then please dont hesitate to contact me and I can send you more pictures ad information.

MTV Cribs Boardwise team rider house, Dahab, Egypt >>

Dahab update and double spock clip!

2010-04-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

Have had an awesome last few weeks out here in Dahab since my last post. My family came out for a week and it was 4.2/4.7 weather solid so that was nice for them! Last week was mostly 5.7 weather which has been hard work after not using a sail that big since september, however it will definately be good practice for the competitions this year.
Still waiting to hear back from the PWA about my wild card for the coming event in Austria at the end of the month so keeping my fingers crossed to hear back soon. Also would be very handy so I can start booking flights and making arrangements as its only around 3 weeks away.
We did have one day of full power wind this week and we had a filming session in the super flat water spot Baby bay. The tide was really low so we managed to get an interesting angle filming next to the point, as the tide dropped lower than I'd ever seen it the water went almost milky with no ripple in sight as the exposed reef was sheltering it. As you can see in the clip I now have my Simmer Blacktips in the smaller sizes aswell and they are sick! Really well balanced and slightly lighter than my Icons they have made lots of the new school ducking moves so much easier.
After being on holiday for the last 6 weeks I am returning to the world of working tomorrow; I'm doing a week teaching for Club Dahab and it should be good fun as Southampton uni are having their annual trip so I'm sure there will be lots of partying.

Max Rowe K-448 double spock, Dahab from Max Rowe on Vimeo.

Russian freestyle competition, Dahab, Egypt

2010-03-11T01:48:00.000-08:00

Had an awesome last week out here in Dahab with the running of the annual Russian freestyle week. Last year the competition had taken place in three different locations around Dahab but with the forecast looking slightly dubious we knew that this wasnt going to be possible this year. However the most were made of the conditions and on the first day we competed about 500metres downwind at a spot called the metal bouy, the Ganet Sinai hotel had kindly given us the use of their monster power yacht to hold the competition from. After warming up in the morning before the competition started it was clear that the level was very high. I was definately more nervous than I should of been but after only windsurfing 4 times in the last 3 months due to my knee injury I felt that my sailing still wasnt back up to my previous level. Amongst the competitors there was some very talented Russian guys whos names I then couldnt pronounce but would soon become very familiar, of course there was the familiar faces of a friend of mine Yegor Proprentinsky RUS-11 the world no. 8 who I had been sailing with last year in Margarita and also Andraz Zan SLO-49 another top pwa sailor. There was also a big group of us from Club Vass/ Club Dahab in the mix with Ric Cleworth K-958 and Edd Sinclair K-331 competing in their first ever freestyle competition and very keen to make an impression. We also had the more experienced John Palmer K-718 and Marco Wedele G-125 representing the non russian side of the event!!

The Competiton kicked of as planned out by the metal bouy with the first round of heats running through smoothley with no major upsets. I didnt have to sail untill the second round because of the seeding and was the last heat so I was anxiously standing around on the boat ready to go. As my heat got closer the wind just seemed to dissapear around where the boat was positioned, with only 10 minutes untill my heat I made the rush back to the beach to change up to my 5.1 as people were now beginning to struggle on 4.7's. From the beach it was clear that no one was planning and I could see the cancellation flag rise from the boat. When I arrived back at the boat the decision was made just to move to the outer reef were it was still windy. I sailed across to the new spot and was perfectly powered on 4.7 so without hesitation everything was ready to start again. The conditions by the outer reef were pretty extreme for freestlye which is what the organisers wanted they were scoring much higher for big power moves rather than just spinning around. My first heat was against fellow Club Vass instructor Edd Sinclair, I sailed ok making a big shaka and some switch moves which was enough to see me advance into the next round. I was next up against one of the very talented Russian sailors Roman Gusev, this was a big heat as after this it would be the semi finals. I sailed a solid heat making all my moves in the difficult choppy conditions in fron of the boat. I knew it was close after seeing him make a ponch and a very fast switch chachoo but was almost convinced that my huge shaka on my first run was enough to clinch it. Unfortunately this was not the case and after kicking up a bit of a fuss looking through the score sheets it was clear the points were equall, however Romans moves had all been fully planning which had given him the edge. The single elimination final was very close with the Russian love muscle Yegor Proprentinsky coming out on top over the Slovenian Andraz Zan, both sailors were on fire but the toads and shakas from Andraz wasnt enough with Egor throwing down huge planning forwards on both tacks and a sick culo. The next few days were windless so it wasnt untill the Sunday we had a promising forecast for a few hours of wind so the waiting game was on. I made it down the beach at 7 am to meet Dave White who had been out running the Boards magazine test to hopefully get a few last minute photos before he left in the afternoon. I knew I wouldnt have to sail for at least an hour into the double elimination so I rigged my 5.1 Simmer Blacktip and headed off to meet Whitey. Whilst i was busy doing photos there seemed to be a big group of people up in Baby bay one of the super flat water spots in Dahab. I knew the conditions there would be perfect for my new Mistral joker 98. They didnt have the use of the power yacht so the decision was made to hold the competition up there which was awesome as it was way friendlier for spectators. When I arrived to see the double elimination it was slightly nerve racking as all the English guys were on the same side of the draw. My first heat would be against the winner of John Palmer and Ric Cleworth, both being really good friends I wasnt sure who I would of preffered to sail against in the end it was John Palmer who advanced. Last time I sailed a heat against Palmer it was in Weymouth harbour in the middle of January at a freestlyeXpression event that I had won so with the conditions being far from what they were that day we were both giving each other some banter on the beach. I sailed a solid heat making most of my moves and nailing a nice no handed flaka which was enough for me to advance. Next up was Salama Mohammed Egy-16 who had just taken down old friend zee German and good friend Marco Wedele G-125. About a minute in it wasnt looking great and the heat was cancelled as the wind had dropped right off, fortunately the tide was high enough for us to sail over the top of the reef so the judges table was shifted 90 degrees and we continued. The conditions were tricky and the depth of the water on the reef made it harder to focus. However after realising I wasnt going to hit the bottom I sailed my best heat of the competition with a Big Shaka, no handed flaka and all my switch moves fully planning I advanced straight into the quater finals. This is when I knew it was going to get much trickier and I was now up against Rus-99 Vladimir Yakolev, My heat started good with a fully planning puneta but then I crashed my no-handed flaka after that I struggled to get back into flow making a few silly mistakes and couldnt seem to find a decent peice of chop to shaka off, as I came in I knew I had lost the heat but was happy that I was secured in 5th place. The Slovenian Andraz advanced to find himself straight back up against Egor in the final, Andraz would have to beat Egor twice in a row to take the title and he really dominated the first heat pulling of switch konos on both tacks, perfect toad which was enough for it go down to one final decider. The final was much closer however Egor didnt seem to be on as good form as the previous day where as Andraz was on fire. Andraz nailed a ponch, toad, switch kono amongst other moves where as Egor seemed to be keeping it much more simple apart from a sick double spock unfortunately Egor crashed his culo at the end and that was enough to give Andraz the victory.
Final results
1. Andraz Zan Slo-48
2. Yegor Proprentinsky Rus-11
3. Roman Gusev Rus
4. Vladimir Yakolev Rus-99
5. Max Rowe K-448

Massive thanks to Volva who organised everything and made it a sick event. Cant wait till next year! There will be a video online soon!!!!

NEW Simmer Blacktips!

2010-02-17T07:19:00.000-08:00

Just stickered and rigged my new 5.1 Simmer Blacktip and it looks sick! Im heading out to Dahab on sunday at long last! Im going to stay there for a few months to train ready for the PWA event in Austria, lots of the other Club Vass guys will be there so it should be a good trip. Whilst I'm there I will also visit El Tur for a week or so and am also considering doing a trip to Eilat in Israel to go and sail with Yaaaardeen Meir!
After a lot of hard work and time spent in the gym my knee seems to have fully recovered so fingers crossed it wont be a problem in the future! I have still been warned by my physio to take it easy for the first week or so.
Check back soon because hopefully next week I will have some photos of my new boards and some news about my new Sponsorship!

Continent seven

2010-02-01T02:17:00.000-08:00

New move on www.continentseven.com
Barnaby was sat on top of a sand dune in the mid day heat for over an hour to get these clips. It was so sandy he couldnt even open his mouth for his normal Ozzy banter running commentary.
http://www.continentseven.com/2010/01/31/double-puneta-one-handed-max-rowe/

Freestyle Xpression

2010-01-14T15:59:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys. The guys at freestyle Xpression are starting to get things up and running with a weekly newsletter check the link at the bottom to recent interview I did with them. I am still busy working in the UK currently and realy working on getting my knee ready for hopefully mid February time. Will bring you more news on where I'm off to next in the coming weeks as soon as and when I actually find out myself!!! It could be anywhere maybe even Wales if im lucky.

http://www.k834.co.uk/Xpression%20Newsletter/12th%20January%20Newsletter.html

crash video! Open in Mpora to watch full screen!

2009-12-14T14:34:00.000-08:00

Some crashes from Brazil! Cant believe my mast didnt break on the kono crash! Thanks to Ollie Scott and Barnaby Knight for filming.

More Windsurfing >>

2009-12-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

Check out www.globalshots.co.uk for pictures from Brazil!!

Brazil 09

2009-12-09T03:25:00.000-08:00

Had an amazing time in Brazil! Check out the video

Max Rowe K-448 Brazil 2009 from Max Rowe on Vimeo.