Max Rowe, image credit PWA/John Carter

Name: Max Rowe

Sail no: K 20

Previous best PWA result: 9th Austria 2011

Result at this event: 13th

Did you prepare any differently for this event? Not especially! I have been in Maui for the 5 weeks before so I’ve had plenty of time on the water. Also, sailing with Gollito everyday for those 5 weeks might of been helpful.

Were you feeling confident going into it? I was feeling pretty confident especially as it was looking we would get some strong wind. Once you’ve registered though and have a look through the elimination ladder its easy to get a bit nervous as the fleet is at such a high level at the moment.

Where were you aiming to finish? I didn’t really have an aim but getting in the Top 16 is always nice.

Who’s your biggest rival? Bubble!

What moves did you land that you think saw you through a few heats? Burners and air funnels were probably my stand out moves I did in every heat. I’ve been training them really hard so it was good to see that pay off.

Did you almost beat Gollito? Mmm I didn’t check the score sheets but I seriously doubt it. He was on fire!

Who’s your money on for the title this year? Steven? Gollito? Well, now that Gollito’s won the first event it’s pretty easy to stick with him.

Max in action in Podersdorf

What was the best move you saw landed and by who? Relatively simple but one of the Shakas I saw Gollito do was just ridiculous!

Worst crash you saw? Balz Muller always has the worst crashes. One pasko crash he had looked savage!

Who had a tantrum after they lost a heat? Scheffers wasn’t too happy after Beholz kicked him out of the single early on, he did go on to fight back to 5th in the double which was pretty impressive.

Who won beer pong on the last night? There’s never a winner in beer pong because if you win a game you have to stay on and play another game and carry on drinking… haha. Yeh the last night of any event is always pretty wild.

As well as competing on the PWA and UKWA tour Max will be coaching this summer at Club Vass, for more info on getting coaching from the world’s best head to clubvass.com

‘At the office’

DC: The only trip I had this winter was to Morocco with my son Jack. We spent some time with Boujmaa and Hack had a good chance to practice his surfing. He had a good year this year as he was crowned British surfing champion in the under 12’s. Other than that I’ve just been staying around Cornwall, hitting the water almost 4 times a week, either windsurfing or surfing. It’s been a really cold winter, perhaps too cold for windsurfing, below 9 degrees air temp is pretty hard on hands, so it was sometimes a really hard call to go out. The rest of the time I’ve just been on standby for the Red Bull Storm Chase. We eventually found ourselves in Ireland, with some epic conditions and the temperature really wasn’t that bad, about 12 degrees.

Boardseeker: Looking back at last year we had wind at every event, how do you think it all went and was there any real highlights for you?

DC: Yeah it was a really good season, Koester was obviously the standout once again but aside from him Thomas Traversa had an exceptional year and was the first person to win an event in three years after Koester’s dominant reign. In freestyle, again the standard and level shot up and Gollito really showed he had it in him to come back, proving he is not to be forgotten. You can sometimes think when someone is at the top they can drop off their game and then slip out of the limelight but he came back and came back strong. It’s also really great to see so many more coming into freestyle, numbers are really high right now, the events are running at full capacity and many wildcards are having to be turned away. It’s also promising for the sport as many will take the natural progression from freestyle to waves, this will only then up the level of freestyle mixing with the waves, then the aerial moves for waves can only increase fro here. Also worth a special mention is Alex Mussolini he had a good year and was on fire in Tenerife and we can’t forget Iballa who for won the PWA Womens Wave title, bit of an upset for Daida.

Koester is even sailing some heats with almost perfect scores out of a maximum of 60. The level of sailors, especially Koester is about as good as you can get, he is near to perfection…

DC: The most significant change came from the media. When I started we didn’t have any live feed or live TV, so for me that’s the biggest change. It makes it very different, something extra to think about, rather than making a video and editing it. It goes out live, this has made the whole PWA become much more professional in terms of its media output.

In terms of the level of windsurfing, like I said before it is always improving but that is kind of expected, we see heats of perfect 10 scores now and Koester is even sailing some heats with almost perfect scores out of a maximum of 60. The level of sailors, especially Koester is about as good as you can get, he is near to perfection in a contest heat than anyone can be right now. Trying to beat him really requires the perfect heat, a double to start, a perfect push forward and then wave rides to match!

Another addition to this year was the Red Bull storm chase. Affiliated with the PWA we made sure that no event dates could clash and it puts our sport right in the limelight with guaranteed action and a chance for the public to see windsurfing at its most extreme.

Let’s not forget the slalom, it is still amazing seeing Bjorn Dunkerbeck still on the podium, still charging, still producing results despite being over 40 years old. It’s super impressive, he really has dedicated his whole life to windsurfing, well over a quarter of a century!

A remarkable resemblance…

DC: I’d be surprised if anyone could beat Bjorn or even get close to his number of World Titles.

DC: It can always come back, it is just a matter of funding. We know how to run them, they are good, potentially a financial business proposition for the right person. There is a lot to be made from sponsorship and it is great to get windsurfing across to people who haven’t seen it, the people that live in the middle of cities.

Tow-in is to just fill in no wind days in competitions, I really like it ,you could possibly have a tow-in tour, but we have to be careful because we are windsurfing and it’s more of a show and an attraction on light wind days at events. It’s great to see that the public love it and if you are freestyler its definitely worth training as there is some good prize money available. However,  it is interesting that it still seems to be the best ranked freestylers who are taking the podium positions.

DC: Yep they are all on, Holland is on, Pozo and the other Canary Island events are on. It looks like a good year ahead.

DC: Nothing specific planned as such, just new events in Chile and Cape Town. An exciting year for the wave tour because Sylt won’t be the final stop anymore. The one drawback is that there is still no starboard tack, which is pretty frustrating for people like Boujmaa. I think in these times it is much easier to keep events going then getting new ones. Hopefully, one day soon we will have one in Hawaii.

Is Live Scoring the future of our sport…

DC: Yes we are working on this with Kurosh Kiani to make sure we get the right software that is needed, he will design it with Rich Page, myself and Frankie rouge the French judge. Between us we will work out how it will be best laid out for the judges to use for freestyle. We’d like to do it move for move. Would be good for the media side of it, for the commentators and followers of the live Stream.

DC: It’s already started to go the way we all thought it would go, it is now much more internet based, there is live stream, live scoring, etc…

With Kelly Slaters influence it could for sure happen… I guess it would kind of be similar to the X-Games, just on the water.

DC: Sometimes in waves we do that already, when we have 5 judges we already do it. Perhaps we can develop this into freestyle, we are already thinking about how it would work, so I don’t see why not. Generally it is better like that but you need 5 judges, we have just 3 for waves. In freestyle we do use 5 judges in the latter heats so there is the possibility there.

Boardseeker: Do you think disciplines like Super-X came into the sport too early and that by re-introducing it now it would perhaps take off again?

DC: I like super-x, but the real problem is is that it requires loads more equipment. Right now I’m not sure the sponsors/brands can support the riders to make it happen. Especially as super-x boards weren’t really sold to the public. As a spectacle though it is amazing to watch but I don’t think it came too soon. It would be great to see it come back but it just needs a lot more money/equipment, it wont replace normal slalom racing.

DC: I used to race on triangle/sausage courses so I can understand it and like watching it, especially as we have gold level chances (UK). It is exciting to see and congrats to Nick for picking up bronze.

It would be good but really it won’t happen because there is not enough wind to go on the plane at many of the Olympic destinations, so it just couldn’t happen. Potentially however, something I’ve thought about for a while now, is an event like a water-sports Olympics, like a winter Olympics with snow, I don’t see why it is not possible to have a water Olympics, like kitesurfing, windsurfing, surfing etc.., where wave pools and wind machines to make it much more guaranteed. With Kelly Slaters influence it could for sure happen… I guess it would kind of be similar to the X-Games, just on the water.

In terms of the kit, maybe the only real change needed is the board type. Maybe have two boards, choosing one that is more exciting when it is windy. A bit like we used to do on the old days of the pro tour. We would course racing when it was not as windy then slalom when the wind picked up. But it can be very difficult to get the RYA to change, something I have no influence on.

Hawaii (spring and fall) for two events, Indonesia or Fiji, but to be honest it is pretty good at the moment. Maybe Ireland could be a good addition it’s a strong port tack wave tour right now, if it just had those Hawaii events in it, it would be a really good well balanced tour, especially with Chile now in the mix.

I guess if I was to really list it then it would be something like this – Cabo Verde, Maui, the Canaries, then Klitmoeller, Sylt (both are really good showcases for windsurfing, really radical conditions which keeps the public involved and interested and gives them a chance to meet the pros) then finish with port tack down the line in Chile or SA, so really it’s not far off being a dream tour.

For freestyle: There are a lot more places you can do freestyle but in the end the canaries offer some of the best conditions. It would be great to see the Caribbean back and to add some more ‘exotic’ events perhaps freestyle in Cape Town so it is more wave orientated, it makes it much more exciting to watch. Or how about Margarita, the funding is not there but the dream tour right?

Duncan shredding back in the 80′s at his favourite UK break – Gwithian

DC: Yeah it is really about the young kids coming up who are most important for the sport, like Arthur Arutkin, he’s been training really hard in Chile, he looked good last year. Also Alessio Stillrich for sure has always been there in Pozo, if his down the line wave riding improved a bit more he should do well on the rankings this year. All in all it is good to see the new young faces coming through not just world tour but on the national levels as well.

Follow the progress of this years PWA World Tour on www.pwaworldtour.com or right here on Boards.co.uk

The PWA announce the winners of the PWA Islas Canarias Excellence Awards…

MEN

Winner: Jason Polakow
Runner up: Robby Swift

Robby Swift

Winner: Robby Swift
Runner up: Ricardo Campello

Winner: Alex Mussolini
Runner up: Victor Fernandez

Winner: Jacopo Testa
Runner up: Jose Gollito Estredo

Winner: Finn Mullen
Runner up: Bjorn Dunkerbeck

Winner: Ben Van Der Steen

Finn Mullen

WOMEN

Winner: Iballa Moreno
Runner up: Justyna Sniady

Winner: Daida Moreno
Runner up: Daida Moreno

Winner: Iballa Moreno
Runner up: Daida Moreno

Winner: Sarah-Quita Offringa
Runner up: Arrianne Aukes

Winner: Justyna Sniady
Runner up: Justyna Sniady

Philip Köster

Daida Moreno and Andre Paskowski

Winner: John Carter
Runner up: Eric Bellande

Winner: Andre Paskowski, Jose Gollito Estredo
Runner up: KSB Collective, Daida Moreno

Winner: Andre Paskowski for Minds wide open and 4 dimensions
Winner: Camille Juban, Robby Swift, Boujmaa Guilloul, Flo Jung for Don’t let go

At the bottom of every post are a list of Tags, these tags have been added in to help you navigate through the website. Simply by clicking on the word/name/brand you will be taken to a list of all the coverage containing this tag. Tags are not a new thing on websites and many of you maybe aware and already using them, but if you’re not we highly recommend that you do and to get you started here is a few of our favourite tags and why we love them:

RS:X

CLASS TAGS

From the Olympics in London, the vote out, the vote back in, video interviews, sailor profiles and more. Check out the RS:X tag here for everything related to this side of windsurfing.

Why not also check out the speed sailing, wavesailing, slalom or freestyle tags?

PWA

COMPETITION TAGS

The PWA competitions are of course some of the biggest in our sport, with live feeds, competition across various disciplines and a growing calendar the PWA showcases the best of the best. The PWA tag here lets you keep up to date with all of the PWA news and features.

You can also have a look through the BWA and EFPT tags.

Ireland

SPOT TAGS

You can also check out place tags, for example the ‘Ireland’ tag here has a whole host of features and news covering Irish windsurfers, spot guides, the BWA Ireland competition, the latest Stena Line ferry deals and of course the Red Bull storm chase, plus much more.

You can also have a look through other popular locations such as Tenerife and Maui.

Mikey Clancy

SAILOR TAGS

You may have a favourite professional rider, be following the rise of the latest youngster or just want to know more about one of the top windsurfers. The sailor tag is perfect for this. Every time we post about a rider, we tag their name so all their coverage can be found in one place. You can search through riders such as the wonderful Mikey Clancy (RIP), Andy Chambers, Ben Proffitt, Adam Lewis, Saskia Sills, Philip Koster, Gollito Estredo and many more.

Gaastra

BRAND TAGS

Our final favourite type of tag is the brand tag, This means you can search for a popular windsurfing brand, including Gaastra, Tabou, North Sails, Fanatic, Goya or Quatro to find all the latest news, features and of course tests featuring the brand.

You can also use this to search the latest shop and holiday deals from brands, including: Robin Hood Watersports, Quayside Windsurfers, Boardwise, Sportif and Neilson.

If the tag you’re looking for isn’t mentioned in here, we may still be using it; simply type in http://boards.mpora.com/tag/    –   then add the term you would like to see if we have a tag for remember to add a – in-between words. For example http://boards.mpora.com/tag/ben-proffitt

Good luck searching and we hope you find what you are looking for!

Morenotwins_Gran Canaria Summer 2012 from morenotwins on Vimeo.

RIP Mikey. 

Mikey Clancy, image credit PWA/JC.

In other news the PWA have announced their 2013 calendar, as have women’s watersports group the Butterfly Effect.

If you’re looking to improve your windsurfing skills in 2013, there are a number of clinics popping up! Ant Baker is taking an intro to wavesailing course in Maui, Laure Treboux is on hand for coaching in Perth, whilst Colin and Marco of Windsurf Coaching have announced their first clinic in Tarifa.

We have also been treated to a few amazing videos including this offering from Jersey, Mike Archer‘s last sail of 2012, Jamie Drummond in Malta and Thomas Traversa and friends in action here.

In more speedy news British slalom champion Ant Baker was showing off his 2013 North Warps this week; and speaking of showing off looks like the girls are having more than a little bit of fun in Maui here! We are sure yet more showing took place in the Liverpool SWA event last weekend too, check out the gallery  and report on the event from Tushingham team rider Jo Wright.

Other big news this week was that it looks like there will be another edition to the PWA calendar in 2013, with Cape Town hosting the final round of the PWA Wave World Tour!

And so we leave you for another week, remember if you ever have any great windsurfing sessions, images, videos or news from your local spot please send through the info to amy@boards.co.uk

Ross Williams in action, how well could he do in Cape Town 2013?

Current wave world champion Philip Koster

The PWA are yet to confirm the event or share any news, however we’re looking to find out more asap. For now here’s some further information direct from the Cape Town World Cup website:

In December 2013 the World’s best Kite and Windsurfers will come to Cape Town to challenge each other and the forces of nature.

Spectacular action on the water – entertainment, music and fun at the beach

Cape Town will be the last stop of the Kiteboarding and Windsurfing World Tours and crown the PKRA Freestyle World Champion and the PWA Wave World Champion. Come and watch the spectacular action on the water and enjoy lots of entertainment and the great vibe on the beach.

Current vice world champion Victor Fernandez

Cape Town offers some of the best conditions for kiteboarding and windsurfing. The South Easter blows almost every day between November and March. Thousands of watersport enthusiasts travel to Cape Town to enjoy their sports and the welcoming hospitality of the Mother’s City.

Find out more about the event at http://www.capetownworldcup.com/

You might also like to read: 

Antoine Albeau. Image credit PWA/JC.

Antoine Albeau became World Champion in the men’s slalom fleet, ahead of last year’s Champion Bjorn Dunkerbeck. Whilst, in the women’s fleet, Valerie Arrighetti and Karin Jaggi finished on joint points (with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd each). Antonine Albeau also has a brand new website, with all the latest news from the now 20 time World Champion, check it out here.

Gollito Estredo showed his dominance in the men’s freestyle fleet, with three event wins to take the title, with Kiri Thode in second. As Sarah-Quita, won the only women’s event to take another world title for herself, with Laure Treboux.

In the waves, Philip Koster again became World Champion ahead of rival Victor Fernandez. Whilst in the women’s fleet, Iballa to the win ahead of sister Daida.

PWA trophy winners 2012. Image credit PWA/JC.

All 2012 rankings available here. Which includes full results for every fleet, plus the constructors standings.

Phillip Koster. Image credit PWA/JC.

Köster, who became the youngest ever PWA Wave world champion last year at the age of 17, already has one hand on the world title after winning the first two of the four event world cup, in Pozo, Gran Canaria and Tenerife. Köster, who retains German nationality through the family, but was born and bred 90 metres from the beach in Vargas, Gran Canaria, has won the last five world cup events and left the rest of the fleet fighting for second place.

The third round of the Professional Windsurfers Association World Cup in Klitmøller, which will run from Monday September 17 to Sunday September 23, will see Köster defend the title he won here last year, but two of his rivals believe the youngster will not have it all his own way.

Victor Fernandez. Image credit PWA/JC.

Victor Fernandez Lopez, the 2010 world champion, is hot on Köster’s heels after finishing second in Pozo and third in Tenerife. He and Klaas Voget, the class German rider, who is tenth overall, will have had almost two more weeks training in Klitmøller than the rest after arriving early last week. Fernandez Lopez, the 28-year-old Spaniard, has form at the Cold Hawaii event too, after finishing second at the inaugural event in 2010 and third last year.

“I’m feeling good after Pozo and Tenerife, two good results for me and I’m here for a week already, so I’ve sailed quite a lot, I love Klitmøller.” Fernandez Lopez says. “I’ve had two great results here, second and a third place and I’m looking forward to doing well again.”

“You have to pass a lot of guys to reach the final spot, but to beat Philip you have to sail perfectly because he sails better in the contests than he does even in free sailing. He sees your move and he tries harder. You have to sail your best heat if you want to have a chance to beat Phillip.”

Klitmøller is recognised by the riders as the perfect venue for the Wave class of windsurfing and is the unofficial capital of this area of North Jutland justly dubbed ‘Cold Hawaii’. “I love this event where you can have more wave riding,” Kauli Seadi, the 2010 winner from Brazil, says. “When we come to Europe most of the events are always too much jumping and not enough wave riding. That’s why they call it Cold Hawaii, because you can actually get some wave riding too.

The tiny fishing village has become a favourite training and holiday destination for European windsurfers and there are few places you can get closer to the stars. Fernandez Lopez and Voget have enjoyed being surrounded by 100 sails on the water as the atmosphere builds.

Can Ricardo edge ahead of Koster? Image credit PWA/JC.

Many of the competitors come here two or three times a year too. “I think a lot of guys sail well in the north,” Fernandez Lopez says. “Ricardo (Campello, second overall in the world cup last year) was on the podium in the last two years. (Alex) Mussolini (third overall this year) is sailing pretty good and is motivated. Brawzinho (Marcillo Browne) has improved a lot in port tack sailing. Robby Swift, Dany Bruch, all the guys from the Canaries are dangerous because it’s port tack. There are 20 guys who are dangerous.”

But as Voget says: “Philip will be the man to beat for sure. His performances in Pozo and Tenerife were pretty solid and what he put on here last year in the finals was also hard to beat. But we had his conditions last year.”

“The last two years we’ve been really lucky with south-west winds, side shore here, but we can easily get west-north-west winds, which is pretty much on shore and then it is really difficult for all the wave moves and tricks and the jumps as well. In those conditions you can lucky or unlucky and if he (Philip) is unlucky he could lose way before the final. It’s a bit like Sylt, everything can happen when it’s really on shore. The wave takes you down and the current takes you down and you don’t make it upwind in time. If it all comes like that maybe there is a chance for one of us to beat him (Philip) before the final.”

Voget can often be found making the pilgrimage to Klitmøller from his home in Hamburg and is extra keen to leave his mark on this year’s competition after missing out last year when he broke his foot when his board flipped whilst training in Hantsholm four days before the competition. He sees there being lots of competition for Köster.

“Ricardo (Campello) came third last year, Mussolini, he has won Sylt, I’ve been second in Sylt,” Voget says. “John Skye has been top four in Sylt. Kenneth (Danielsen) knows the place like only a few guys do and he’s been improving year after year. Kauli is always a threat when it comes to picking up the waves when it’s stormy and tricky. He probably doesn’t put the biggest jump scores together but he always scores high in his wave riding, he’s really fluid, he always connects the turns.”

“All of the guys in the top ten are able to reach the podium, but they all have to pass Philip.”

Women’s elimination ladder.  Men’s elimination ladder.

Wipe out of the day!

The final report from the end of racing from Sean O’Brien:

The final day of racing here in Alacati. One last chance to mix the places up as only one slalom elimination was planned for today. That was unless you were Antoine Albeau or Ben Van Der Steen, who had already stitched up 1^st and 2^nd place respectively without even needing to sail their heats this morning.

Antoine Albeau takes the win. Image credit PWA/JC.

A later skippers meeting, 11am this time, as the forecast was for relatively sketchy for the morning and that proved to be the case as when it gets light here, the wind is VERY shifty and unstable, making you think you want to rig 9.5m but actually you could be ok on 7.0m!

Ben van der Steen joins Ben Proffitt in the commentary booth! PWA/JC.

Ben Van Der Steen was the first casualty when racing began, sailing underneath the startline fighting for the pin and realising he was going to be over-early. Next was Micah Buzianis, Taty Frans then Pieter Bijl all over-early in the next heat and sent back to the beach. The quarters and semi finals were relatively ‘usual business’ until the winner’s final came along and being ‘OCS’ was the name of the game once again. Ross Williams, Julien Quentel and Peter Volwater all hit the line early and left only five sailors in the winner’s final, including event leader Antoine Albeau and tour leader Bjorn Dunkerbeck.

Josh Angulo. Credit PWA/JC.

This time it was the man-in-black, Josh Angulo’s time to shine. Josh led out of the starting blocks, dominating to the first gybe mark and never looking back; taking the last final of the event ahead of Dunkerbeck and Cedric Bordes in 3^rd. Albeau finished 4^th but he didn’t even need to sail this final to win the event, with 6 wins from 9 starts he was nearly 10 points clear of Ben Van Der Steen in 2^nd overall.

With that race, the 2012 Pegasus Airlines PWA World Cup in Alacati, Turkey, drew to a close. Another amazing event – this time with plenty more wind than is usually expected here in Turkey, with a lot of races done on the small boards and even on 6.3m!! This win for Albeau, his first event win of the year after a less than exciting start on his new board sponsor RRD, has completely opened the door for the overall slalom World Title, as he is now only 33 points behind 2011 World Champion Bjorn Dunkerbeck; and 33 points is a VERY small margin when you consider you get 2,100 points for winning an event!

PWA Alacati winners. Image credit PWA/JC.

From the rumours floating around, it looks like the proposed slalom World Cup in Vietnam at the end of the year may be cancelled, which leaves the final event of the year in Sylt, Germany to decide who will be 2012 Slalom World Champion. Everything is up for grabs; and Sylt is one of those places you can never be sure what the conditions will be. 4 knots and warm sunshine all week like we had last year, or 30 knots offshore and 9 degree air-temps like we had the year before – who knows! All I know is, it’s going to be fun watching what happens up the front.

Tuning out from Turkey now. A bunch of us are hanging around in Alacati for a few more days, testing next year’s boards and taking part in the Redbull Downwind Dash-For-Cash tomorrow against the best of Turkey’s kitesurfers; should be fun!

Check out Sean’s previous reports below… 

September 17th to 23rd 2012 the 48 best windsurfers in the world once again visit Cold Hawaii to compete for the world championship points. Tune in to the new KIA Cold Hawaii PWA World Cup website when Köster & Co. go for broke in the North Sea waves of Cold Hawaii. This is where you can keep up with pretty much everything that happens in the run-up to, and during, the event.

Brawzinho in Klitmoller

Don’t forget to:

• Buy ‘early-bird’ food and banquet tickets. For example, DKr 150 buys you all of the following: dinner in the Boathouse (the DKr 90 menu includes BBQ chop with salad, potatoes, cream or tomato sauce and homemade bread); access to the party tent on Friday (DKr 50); and breakfast in the Boathouse on Saturday (DKr 70). That’s a total value of DKr 210.
• Join the Friends of Cold Hawaii Exclusive Club. We’ll need your support as we get underway with the Cold Hawaii PWA World Cup.

• Sign up for our newsletter (left side in the news section). This is how you can continually keep up with what’s happening, and during the event it will include a day-to-day schedule.

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel. This is how you’ll be sure to be among the first to see our legendary video news releases as soon as we publish them.
• Follow us on Twitter. By receiving our tweets, you’ll be among the first to get immediate straight-to-the-point updates, including offers, press releases, and video news releases.
• “Like” Penguin - our adorable mascot. He’ll be doing everything he can to help you experience the action, enthusiasm, and excitement that surround this amazing event.

We look forward to a great event – with all of you.