Now we will look back at some classic features and  incredible retro footage from the 80s, 90s and noughties. First up, Dave White shared this awesome footage to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Tiree Wave Classic last year, but we just couldn’t resist sharing it again!

Check out Duncan Coombs (BWA and PWA head judge!) and co in action way back at the 1987 Tiree Wave Classic – plus Nils Larsen, Stu Holland, Nigel Howell, Nik Baker, Corky Kirkham and many more in 1994 – plus yet more action in video the first video from 1995!

Follow more news about Tiree and the Wave Classic here on Boards.

More Windsurfing Videos

Following an extensive review of the current windsurfing market and the demands of both audiences and brands, BOARDS have made the proactive decision to increase their investment and presence within the online market. From 1 Jan 2012, we will begin a programme of investment that will include the launch of a new windsurfing website and mobile applications at www.boards.co.uk (please note – the forum will be unaffected other than enhancements to speed and reliability, which we realise will be much welcomed).

To complement the enhanced digital experience and to better optimise the use of traditional media, BOARDS magazine will be restructured into a high quality ‘reference’ publication with two scheduled releases per year. In addition to these publications, the team will also create a BOARDS ‘Basics’ magazine aimed at increasing windsurfing accessibility and participation.

Subscribers to BOARDS magazine will receive a letter with issue 280 fully explaining what this will mean to them.

Overall, this investment and restructuring represents an exciting future for BOARDS magazine and one that should continue to increase audiences through media that best support windsurfers in the UK and beyond.

Follow discussion on this post at www.boards.co.uk/forums

More at www.speedsailing.com / www.quayside-windsurfers.com

“Dark evenings have lured me to trawl through the gigabytes of video we captured while away in the summer and put this little video together… Using the Brittany ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff made the trip a load easier…jumped in the van on Thursday night, drove down the road to the ferry and woke up the next morning in France. One last check of where’s windy followed by two 10-hour driving days and plenty of baguette, cheese, chorizo, coffee and Julia’s snoring and we arrived to a 25 knot Nortada in Sagres. We windsurfed like nutters for a few days there before heading south to Tarifa where we caught up with friends and battled freestyle in 40 knots (but failed to get the camera out once…). Then back to Sagres for a full week before heading north to catch wind and waves in the Northern parts of Portugal. Unfortunately the wind didn’t materialise up there, perhaps a little unlucky and late in the season with the coast shrouded by cloud. However, we surfed some big days in Galicia and shared some smaller ones with a huge pod of dolphins. At the end of the trip we chased the wind home sailing a few new spots on route. I will always prefer traveling in the van – the freedom of where you can go and the amount of kit you can take plus you get to camp right on the beach and get views that would cost a bomb in a hotel. Got some fun time lapse shots using the GoPro and a kitchen timer to get the pan effect. Thanks to; RRD, Chinook, Spartan Wetsuits, YES Masts, MauiSails and K-Bay…”

More at www.windsurfingwilly.wordpress.com

Starboard Phantom 295

The Phantom 295 is the new all-in-one international windsurfing class supported by Starboard, with events held around clubs, centres, schools and championship events, coordinated by Starboard international and a global network of national distributors and partners.

The class positions itself as a feeder to many established classes: social and competitive on one hand, and affordable plus practical on the other.

One board and three sails are available: 6.5, 7.5 and 8.5

Technical innovations like its Bat Wings for high-wind planing and light-wind streamlining or its flex-tip daggerboard make the Phantom 295 truly standout.

So look forward to seeing it officially in action at future events in 2012:

• 11-19 August Youth & Masters Raceboard World Championships in Medemblik, Netherlands

• 11-16 June Raceboard World Championships in Yteri, Finland

Charter equipment will also be available for these events – for more info contact info@star-board.com, with “Phantom 295″ as the subject line.

More at www.star-board.com

Franklin & Marshall at BWA Cornwall

Franklin & Marshall are a global college style clothing brand that have been growing their support in the extreme sports and outdoor lifestyle markets.

The company was founded in 1999 on the intuition of two young entrepreneurs Giuseppe Albarelli and Andrea Pensiero who since then have transformed their ambitions, skills and ideals into a successful brand that is well known for its college-vintage influenced design.

Franklin & Marshall at BWA Cornwall

Thanks to their support at the Pura Vida Cornwall Wave Classic 2011 the BWA are further keeping windsurfing action on TV and online with the Boardseeker podcast, and a SKY Sports feature in the coming months.

For further information on the brand and clothing range, please visit www.franklinandmarshall.com

And now, to celebrate their new association with the 2011 Pura Vida Cornwall Wave Classic event, clothing label F&M are offering BOARDS readers the chance to win a Franklin & Marshall goody-bag worth £250. Just answer an easy question, leave a valid email address and you’re in the prize draw. Good luck!

Who's this Franklin & Marshall rider at BWA Cornwall?

More at www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk

Feed Your Soul Trilogy

The Free Your Mind Productions team have announced the release of all three of their highly acclaimed – and extremely popular – technique movies are as a box-set of three DVDs. The Feed Your Soul Trilogy includes: Freestyle (a comprehensive look at many of the great tricks out there), Beginner to Winner (the most comprehensive and complete technique DVD to date), and their recent release and sequel, Winner to Wavesailor which covers all you need to know to learn, survive and excel in the wave arena.

These comprehensive windsurfing instructional movies have sold like hot cakes to date and have excellent feedback from all customers.

The Freestyle DVD covers 113 moves in different chapters and 55 are covered in depth utilising a plethora of top level freestylers, the instruction of Lars Petersen and the wise words of top International coach Jem Hall.

Beginner to Winner (BTW) is over four hours long and will see you benefit from many of Jem’s finest top tips and witness his inimitable coaching in action. Almost everything you need to know about windsurfing is covered comprehensively in the his DVD, from first day to first jump, including tacking, stance, tuning, duck-gybes, one-handed jumps and of course all the tips and guidance you need on the beachstart, waterstart and carve gybe. For all you beginners, improvers and intermediates out there this movie has very thorough sections on all you will ever need to know.

Winner to Wavesailor is the sequel to BTW and is the most complete wavesailing instructional DVD to date. From your first day getting out in the waves to your first loops, from frontside waveriding to getting the best out of onshore conditions, this movie has it all. Rotations, back and forwards are extensively covered and there are also the usual ‘Live Coaching’ sections by Jem Hall. Learn from the red-hot action demos of the JP / Pryde riders like Kauli Seadi and Jason Polakow and benefit from the wise words of Jem and Lars.

Distributed in the UK by 2XS (01243 512552 / www.2xs.co.uk) and available at all good windsurfing retailers. RRP: £47.99.

You can get a free viewing and preview of just some of the chapters on offer in these DVDs from the links below:

www.boardseekermag.com/features/technique/jumping-technique.html

www.boardseekermag.com/features/technique/fault-analysis.html

www.boardseekermag.com/features/technique/fault-analysis-for-windsurfers.html

www.boardseekermag.com/features/technique/forward-loops.html

www.boardseekermag.com/features/technique/windsurfing-stance.html

www.boardseekermag.com/features/technique/carve-gybe.html

Here’s what Boardseeker thought of BTW.  www.boardseekermag.com/windsurfing_lifestyle/DVDs/dvd-review-beginner-to-winner-025.html

Feed Your Soul

MC Yeates picks up the Severne Awesomeness Award

The Student Windsurfing Association’s headline festival Aussie Kiss 10 hit a new level this year.  With the help of the industry, the future of windsurfing had no problems getting hold of the latest 2012 demo kit and our home grown talent certainly knew what to do with it.

The Severne Awesomeness award was a bespoke guerrilla competition attempting to single out the tip top student contributors.  The guys you want to see at events –enhancers, if you will.  Those who intuitively lay down mad skills on the water and rise up to lead the lash on land every night.  We have lots of these, chaps and chapesses!  Fortunately, we sourced a team of 42 flying squirrels to judge the competition – Our furry team are not easily impressed.  With a shiny new Severne Blade 4.7 up for grabs, it was all to play for!

There is a fine line between natural awesomeness and overcompensation.  AK saw a number of both deeming the Severne awesomeness award difficult to judge.  The individual to shine through was probably not even aware we were actively looking for the behavior he was so actively exhibiting.  Matt, also known as his alter ego MC Yeates, blew away all competition with his freestyle capabilities, enthusiasm and entertainment at the AK party.  Among other things, MC took to the microphone for two hours during the early hours of the morning in front of 600 entranced students.  His actions are to be seen on the AK Vid, but MC Yeates had them partying harder than ever known.  Some say it was so hard that we caused a minor earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale somewhere in the North Atlantic, providing awesome waves for the BWA Cornwall the next week.

On top of this hardline party time Matt made his way through the rounds of the North/Fanatic freestyle competition to the final where he displayed his trademark one handed gecko as well as speed loops and a variety of spocks and flakas.

Matt received his Severne Blade 4.7 at the next event, Nottingham Pondlife, where he continued his awesome spell and ran clinics to the up and coming future awesomeness generation.

Matt reports: “Aussie Kiss is always a highlight of the year but winning the Severne Awesomeness award was really a great top off to a perfect weekend. Anyone that’s been to an SWA event will tell you it’s a mix of partying and windsurfing hard and it was my mix of both that saw me nominated for the award. The standard is getting really high in the SWA freestyle and a spock 540, flaka and spin loop in front of the crowd was what it took to get me through to the final. As far as what I did on the party side of things, keep your eyes on the SWA website for the upcoming official event video for more details!  A big thank you to Severne again for the epic prize, it’s the help from companies like Severne that is helping the SWA grow as big as it’s becoming! See you on the water!”

The Severne Blade is a performance wave sail designed to create the perfect blend between power and control. This sail drives power down into the board through every turn. Technical materials maintain lightweight handling and smooth power delivery.

PRODUCT IDEOLOGY
• Control orientated wave sail
• Unsurpassed durability
• Power centred low in the sail for driving the board through turns

More at www.studentwindsurfing.co.uk and www.severnesails.com

Jem in Marsa Alam

Jem Hall’s 2011 coaching clinics are selling fast and for all venues and your next chance for a performance boost is in the less crowded waters of Marsa Alam, Egypt in March, featured in a travel article in the November issue. The big bald maestro is ready to get you jumping and pointing Higher, early planing, blasting, gybing and riding Faster, and make your all round sailing, tacking and wind range far far Stronger.

Kicking off 2011 with his new venue of Marsa Alam, Egypt in March is a great way to break up the Winter, welcome in Spring and get tuned up for your season at home.

Prasonisi, Rhodes in June and September is also open for bookings NOW and is in high demand.

June 13^th is Intermediates, June 20^th is for Advanced and June 27^th and Sept 12^th is mixed ability for Intermediates & Advanced

The warm and reliable Meltemi winds, and a choice of flat water or onshore wavesailing, will enable you to enjoy both an awesome holiday and allow Jem to move your sailing forward and get you ripping in blasting, gybing, tacking, jumping, styling and looping. He is widely renowned as the coach that will find the key to unlock your potential and his passion and enthusiasm is infectious.

Jem’s inimitable coaching style will see your level of sailing making a serious improvement. International bookings are increasing every year and are very welcome. Book with Sportif Holidays on 0044 (0)1273 844919, info@sportif.travel

More info on www.jemhall.com or email jem@jemhall.com to discuss your needs, ability and a suitable venue.

The P7 Handcrafted Series is a new development initiated to push the boundaries of our high-performance product range. Now, for the first time, sailors can enjoy the distinctiveness and exclusiveness of handmade sails, crafted here in Italy; delivering the purest and most radical construction of our sails. Beginning with the Black Ice Winter Sail, and the AC-1 2K12, our aim is to develop new and exciting sail lines to complement our existing range, and give sailors an opportunity to own one of these unique and elite custom versions of our sails….

Built flawless, with each batten custom grinded and fitted, sail-bodies stripped to the core, with perfect curve and tension, the P7 Handcrafted Series are the lightest and most radical sails available from Point-7. This range is for those who want nothing but the best experience on the water and the highest performance.

This video was shot on location at our sail loft in Italy.

More at www.point-7.com