Here are his words about the nightshoot:

“Using über powerful waterproof lights from Marine Exposure we shot these late at night in Brazil. It was extremely difficult to windsurf because the whole sky was full of spray from the waves, that in daylight we hardly notice but in torchlight it was like a fog, so I found it really difficult to see the waves coming, then to ride them was like riding with my eyes closed. I caught a few waves but the lights seemed to be attracting too many big fish, so I carried my gear to the bar instead.”

This video shows Micah out training in Maui, testing all his new JP boards ready for the season. Sun, warmth and wind, no wonder so many UK windsurfers are there at the moment.

Windsurfing with Olya Raskina from Windsurf Beauties on Vimeo.

Boards caught up with Robby in Tenerife, chatting about Pozo, training, equipment, looking forward to the next competition, and of course the injury!

Robby Swift. Image PWA/JC.

Boards: First of all massive congratulations for a great result in Gran Canaria, did you have any aims/expectations of where you thought you could finish?

RS: I was hoping for top three and I thought that was a realistic expectation. Anything can happen in the contest but I felt like I was sailing well enough to come top five, and if you can come top five you can come top three! I was a bit gutted to sail worse in the heat against Dario than I had been sailing in the previous heats but sometimes you just don’t get the waves. I was happy with fourth and pleased that the effort and money I put in to go there a month early and train paid off.

Boards: You were out in Pozo for a while before the event, how long were you out for and what did you have to change most about your sailing for the conditions?

RS: I arrived there on the 4th June so had a month to get ready. I didn’t have to change much. I came fifth there the year before and sixt last year. This year I had to get over my foot operation and didn’t start sailing again till March but I went to Chile twice (March and May) and had plenty of port tack training there, I had new boards and sails this year, which  helped a lot.

One special thing that I did this year was to order the 3.4! In the month I was there before the comp I had 3.7 as my smallest sail and there were five days when it was too windy to use that. I emailed Robert Stroj, the NeilPryde designer to see if he could make me one in time and he did so that was a big advantage. I think we will put that sail into production next year too, as currently we only make a 3.2 and for my size that is a little small.

Robby Swift. Image PWA/JC.

Boards: You lost to Brawzinho in the first round, then faced him again in the double. Did you think you could beat him second time around?

RS: Yes, I thought I could. I knew it would be hard as his waveriding is amazing there. He is so good at the freestyle tricks. I knew I could jump as well as him and so I needed to get some solid waves. I did a good 360 and forward of the lip combination and another wave with a forward off the lip and a taka. He was unlucky to fall on a lot of waves in that heat, but he went on 3.7 while I was on 3.4 and the wind was extremely strong so that probably helped me in the end.

Boards: Did you have a specific plan for each heat, i.e. an order of jumps to do?

RS: Yes, I wanted to do a double and a push loop forward in every heat! That only worked out in two heats but I did a good double in every heat and a push table top and a back loop so that was solid. I also wanted to do two waves with at least a forward off the lip and a taka on them. I did that in every heat except he one against Dario where I simply couldn’t find the waves and that is why I lost.

Boards: What equipment were you using most of the time?

RS: 3.4 2013 Combat prototype and 75L JP Single Thruster prototype for 2014. That is pretty much the exact board that will go into production so it definitely works!

I had a Maui Ultra Fins X-Thruster set up with a 16.5cm fin in the back and 11.5cm fins in the sides.

Boards: And finally how is your toe? Do you think you’ll be fit for Tenerife?

RS: Toe is pretty sore still. I can walk now which is an improvement on the last couple of days but will be very hard to sail. I will compete though for sure and hope that I can make the podium here!

Find out more about Robby Swift on Boards here. 

Robby is entered into the Red Bull Storm Chase and definitely deserves your vote! Head to http://www.redbullstormchase.com/#voting where you have ten votes to send through who you would like to the final 10. 

Boards caught up with Olya to see how her recovery is going:

Olya Raskina

“Thank you all very much for your concern and support. Well, I’m still in Pozo, on the crutches, I can’t walk for a week, cos my knee’s very swollen and I’m not supposed to move it.

The orthopedic specialist saw me the next day after the accident and he said that it’s a concussion of the front ligament and a damaged interior meniscus. He also said that in 4-5 weeks, if I’m lucky (if ligaments are not severely damaged) I’ll be totally fine.

Well I have two days to wait more, then I go to see the specialist again and I hope he’ll be able to tell a bit more. By this time my knee shouldn’t be swollen anymore and he’ll have a better picture of what happened and what’s the best to do.

I know there are a few good physio therapists here in Gran Canaria, so I hope I can get hold of them as well. Thanks again to all the people who are helping me out and supporting me, especially here. Thanks a lot, friends.”

With all new kit from Goya, Quatro, Point-7, JP, Neil Pryde, Fantatic and North available to demo the saturday was good 7.5mtsail freeride weather, with Chris Bond (Formula Racer) setting the pace for the regulars. The day finished off with a fantastic BBQ held by the sailing club and some people sailing till sunset.

Sunday proved to be an even better day on the wind front, with the first sailor out being on a Goya Banzai 4.6 and Goya Air board – one hell of a start! The wind held for a good couple of hours and gave people the chance to try out some of the smaller kit, until late afternoon when it dropped a touch and the 5.7m and 6.0m were making an appearance and tempting a few more beginners to have a go.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend with fantastic people, big thanks to the hosts Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club and their fabulous facilities and also the suppliers for all there support.

Looking forward to the next one, details of course will be on Boards.

Check out more on Robin Hood on Boards. 

Robin Hood Demo

Fraisthorpe beach once again hosted one of many Roho’s Demo weekends in 2012, where Rik’s team gave everyone a chance to try and test the latest equipment. This year’s event was supported by Nik Baker, with an abundance of North and Fanatic gear for all.  Nik was also joined by Chris Lewis and Chris Martin from Neil Pryde, JP and Cabrinha, making sure there was a whole range of equipment to suit every rider.

A stand out black sail from Point 7 teamed with a colourful Goya board, was a set up that caught the eye of many however, “mother nature” forgot to turn up…

This did not stop most getting wet though, light winds provided a great chance to get on the water whether it be to try a SUP from Fanatic. The kids, of course, showed their enthusiasm and thanks to slightly stronger winds on Sunday managed to get windsurfing.

Neil Pryde’s RS ONE was the first one to hit the water, quickly followed by free ride kit from Goya, Point 7 and North/Fanatic. Seeing desperation in the eyes of the youngsters, willing to get wet despite less than ideal conditions shows what a bright future our sport has.

Saturday was finished with a gorgeous BBQ, chatting, sharing the stories and latest news from windsurfing scene. Mr Lewis made sure no one was left hungry, for some the night included a long extravaganza to Bridlington’s finest party locations, but the less said about this the better!

The lack of really strong wind, did not dampen this windsurfing weekend. Rather it provided a great chance to socialise, talk windsurfing, discuss its true nature and future direction as well as having a great time with friends, new and old. It looks like there exciting times coming for the industry. Next stop Weymouth Weekend…

Lucky enough to spend a lot of his time on Maui, Swifty frequently gets to sail with great sailors like Jason Polakow, Ricardo Campello and Dean Christener. The winter in Hawaii is renowned for delivering big swells and Swifty was there to capture it all on camera. Check out the guys at the start of the winter on Maui scoring some epic conditions at Ho’okipa, Jaws and Lanes. Polakow is clearly still ripping with the younger guys and Campello continues to push the sport, with an insane backloop off the lip at 1:38 and plenty of hardcore crashes! Another brilliant edit from Robby Swift, here is what he had to say:

‘This winter on Maui wasn’t an epic one. We didn’t have too many big swells and the wind was very strong and gusty making for challenging conditions. I personally had a frustrating start to the winter as broke my foot in August and so was out for the first half, having to watch a nice Jaws swell and lots of good days at Hookipa. I started sailing gingerly again in January and didn’t feel too bad till Ricardo arrived and started throwing huge back loops off the lip, goiters and all kinds of other crazy stunts.

Anyway, making this highlights video has certainly fired me up for the NeilPryde photoshoot for which I am currently on my way back to Maui, and I hope that you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it!!’

Top British freestyler, PWA competitor and wave sailor Andy Chambers has just returned from a winter training trip to Cape Town.

Bubble ended up extending his trip to test out some new JP board layups and has uploaded loads of great photos to his website. After competing solely in the freestyle fleet for several years, Chambers is now pushing into the wave fleet, finishing an impressive 3rd in the UKWA for 2011. He is certainly keen to improve on that result for 2012 and has been training very hard in the great wave conditions Cape Town offers. Here are a few photos, but be sure to head over to Bubble’s website for the full selection.

Bubble launches an aerial at Sunset Beach. Pic: Debbie Kennedy

Back in freestyle mode, looping in front of Table Mountain. Pic: Debbie Kennedy

The JP/Pryde Freestyle team cruising in Kraal Bay. Pic: Markus Seidel

Without a doubt the most important development in the recent history of waveboard design has been the introduction of multi-fins. Whether it be twin, tri, thruster or quad, multi-fin setups have opened many new doors – and as Quatro shaper Keith Teboul rightly states later on in this test, they are definitely here to stay!

Initially, multi-fin waveboards were only to be found gracing the calloused soles of pro-riders – most famously those of Kauli Seadi, who used his multi-fin to crank turns seemingly beyond the laws of physics in Cabo Verde on route to a wave world title. But it wasn’t long before the more mainstream benefits of multi-fin boards became apparent.

First off, it was better waveriding performance in less than ideal conditions. To make the most of small, onshore conditions, a rider needs to hold speed through a tight turn without much help from the wave’s power. Multi-fin boards not only made the bottom turn easier to initiate and potentially tighter, but most importantly they offered a level of control and performance off the top that no singlefin had ever been able to match. Suddenly small mushy waves became a lot of fun! Multi-fin boards allowed more speed to be maintained through the turn and had a fantastic ability to carve or slide through the top turn.

The next big benefit was wind range. Initially multi-fins were knocked for getting planing slower than an equivalent single-fin. But then people realised that, because multi-fins were so much looser than single-fins, you could actually ride a bigger board. Not only that, but at the top end of the wind spectrum, multi-fin boards offered more control. They kept the board manoeuvrable underfoot even when the sail was overpowered, and at the same time, more settled in a straight line with their planted ride. Compensating for slower planing by opting for a bigger board and offering more control at the top end ultimately translated to a waveboard with more wind range – and that’s a very big benefit.

But multi-fins are not just the domain of advanced riders. Now that you’re able to ride a bigger size board that turns more easily and has better wind range, you’re looking at a list of benefits that appeal just as much to the novice wavesailor. It’s no surprise therefore that nearly every waveboard being developed today is a multi-fin.

And that leads me nicely on to size. With people now able to use bigger waveboards, the next – and to an extent still unanswered – question is how big can you actually go?

With almost every brand now producing a dedicated waveboard in the 90-95L size, we asked them if this is really the upper limit or whether we’re likely to see even bigger boards in the future…

Read the full test on our sister site, Boardseeker.com

Like it or not, the pace of the world we live in just keeps getting faster and faster. Our weekends pass away far too quickly, we spend our working week relentlessly tapping away at keyboards, connected to faster, more powerful computers; we drive faster cars and we eat too much fast food. While we might reminisce longingly about the times when the pace of life was much slower, there is simply no getting away from the fact that mankind is obsessed with speed.

In December 1889 a Frenchman with a rather long name risked life and limb to set one of the first official land speed records. He achieved an incredible speed of 39.24mph. Just over 120 years later the speed record now sits at over 400mph. Even cyclists in the Tour de France are at times exceeding 50mph!

Only 10 years ago, sailing fast on a windsurfer meant sacrificing control, comfort and cash to fork out on the latest and greatest race machines of the time. That was all well and good, but despite being fast they weren’t much fun to sail and required a fair bit of ability to get any level of performance from them, let alone stay dry around a corner.

But now things have improved somewhat. Now we have a breed of board called the ‘freerace’. Not only are they fast but they’re also comfortable and, dare I say, relatively ‘easy’ to sail. Just as Lance Armstrong might have had a wry smile on his face as he pedalled past our French friend and his 40mph record breaking car, we can now cruise in comfort at speeds that not long ago wouldn’t have been possible even on the most dedicated of race boards.

If you don’t sail in waves then the chances are you have an interest in speed and don’t want to be overtaken. Freeride boards (as we tested last year) are great for learning to gybe and mixing manoeuvrability with straight-line performance, but if you want real pace you need to look elsewhere.

If your body is clad in 100kg of muscle and you have your heart set on seeing Antoine Albeau wallow in your wake on the PWA slalom course, then you should probably look straight at the race lines that most brands offer. But if you’re of more average stature and hope to have some cartilage left in your knees in a few years’ time, then freerace boards are where the action is. These are designed to blend slalom board rivalling speed with a hefty dose of comfort and ease of use thrown into the mix.

We decided it was time to check out what was on offer in the freerace market, so took nine of the top offerings and sent our Clones camel-backing into the Egyptian desert to check them out…

Read the full test on our sister site, Boardseeker.com

We frequently hear comments about why we shouldn’t bother testing these boards: they’re too small for most people; most windsurfers aren’t good enough to sail them; the shops don’t sell enough of them, etc, etc… We hear these comments, and do you know what? Quite frankly we don’t give a damn, because despite the perfectly practical and sensible statements above, these are the boards that define and showcase windsurfing to most people. These are the Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Astons of our sport, and the boards for which common sense is allowed to be thrown out of the window.

This is a collection of the most high performance production waveboards on the planet. You might not all have the ability to sail them yet, but we bet you’re still interested…

Full group test available on our sister site, Boardseeker.com

“Hello Mr shop owner, I would like to buy a 2011 wave board”, says the customer. “No problem, which would you like sir?” replies the shop owner.  “Well, I sail mostly in cross-on UK conditions, but sometimes go to Ireland, the Canaries or South Africa on holiday and get down-the-line riding.  Which would you recommend?”  The shop owner replies, ”Well, I stock 4 of the major brands and each brand is offering 12 wave boards this year, so there are 48 to choose from…and by the way, most of those are available in two construction options…which would you like sir?”

It’s really not hard for us to understand the difficulty that the market faces at the moment when it comes to choosing a wave board and I can assure you that choosing a set of equally matched wave boards for this test was no less difficult. I mean, where do you start?  You know the size you want right?  Well actually you don’t, because some select off width, whilst others off volume, neither of which are perfect and it’s certainly not unusual for an 85 litre board of one brand to be equivalent to an 80 litre of another.  What’s more, a multi-fin allows us to use a bigger board than a single fin, so many brands are recommending that we use approx 5 litres bigger if choosing a multi-fin…

But size isn’t just the problem anymore.  It’s the number of fins that will really get you doing your homework!  Elsewhere in this issue, we have written a piece to help guide you through this decision, so to save me covering the same ground twice, please have a read of that if you are in the market for a new wave board this year.

However, in a few words, here is a very general guide to how we see it at the moment; Single fins remain the most exciting feel in a straight line, but are limited mostly by their turning ability in cross-on conditions and with bigger board sizes.  Twin fins are evolving towards better straight line performance but still generally require a lighter footed technique to single fins. They are however fantastic for all abilities of wave riding, particularly in cross-on conditions. Thruster fins are a slightly more manoeuvrable version of a single fin, seeming to require a slightly more back footed turning technique to get the most out of and are decent in a straight line, albeit not quite as good as a pure single fin. Quad fins, combine the tight turning potential of a twin, with the grip and smoothness of a single, particularly in bigger, steeper waves.  They go upwind extremely well, but tend to make the board feel quite planted in the water in a straight line, so not the most exciting.  They are also not as loose and playful as a Twin in cross-on conditions.

It’s easy to blame the brands and accuse them of producing too many boards and too much choice and that’s what most people are doing at the moment. But really when you think about it, what would you do in their position?  The evolution of these new fin concepts has given performance gains in so many different areas that really can’t be ignored if the brand and the sport are to move forward. Unfortunately however, so far, there is not one obvious solution that simply eclipses everything else and makes the decision easy.  In fact what we have now are 4 different concepts that all work very well, but in quite different ways.  So, if you really think you have problems choosing how many fins your wave board needs this year, rest assured that the brands are also having similar headaches!  And it’s not because they don’t know which is best, but purely because none of the concepts are ‘the best’ and instead, all have their own unique strengths and weakness.  Convertible boards may be the all-encompassing answer to this in the long term, but at present, it remains to be seen whether a board can actually be designed to work with such a wide variety of fin options.

At this point in time, I think its fair to say that the brands are getting a fair bit of flack.  Most buyers crave for the brands to re-introduce simplicity and make one range that would be accepted as a compromise, but making choosing a wave board a much easier and less risky prospect.

That sounds very sensible, but before we all get together and send a signed petition to the brands, perhaps we should take a minute to reconsider.  Rather than criticised, perhaps, the brands should be commended for offering us the choice and options to be able to purchase the very best wave board for any given condition.  After all, the brands work extremely hard to design, develop and produce these boards, in a very tough industry, where it would actually be easier for them to fob us off with just one range or style of wave board.  The truth is, choice is generally a very good thing and perhaps shouldn’t be criticised so harshly in this instance.  Sure, we all want simplicity and so too do the brands, but allow me to let you into a little secret…if you really want simplicity, its already there within the brands ranges, you just have to know where to look.

This test (and our next 75 litre test) focuses on that very style of board – the all-rounder, the board that does it all, regardless of how many fins it has.  This 85 litre test is pitched more towards boards targeting the less advanced rider and the more mediocre conditions, whilst our upcoming 75 litre test pitches towards all-round boards for the more advanced rider.

We are fully aware that most buyers only want one or perhaps two sizes of wave board to cover everything from high wind bump and jump, right through to down the line wave riding.  Hopefully these next two wave board tests will help you to find that perfect board.  And just remember, that the choice out there now is far better than it has ever been.

View the full group test on our sister site Boardseeker.com