PwA Sylt Live Report!! 13

This is the kind of thing we have going on today.



Swifty and Ross are sailing really well for the brits, swift is sick as a dog though? that boy needs a lemsip!

PwA Sylt Live Report!! 12

The racing's in full swing and Antoine won the first race by miles!
http://www.westerland.de/sylt-erleben/webcam-livestream.html
live stream here.

PwA Sylt Live Report!! 11

Nice work today by Taty, he rocked! the guy sails with amazing power in what are far from totally tropical conditions! He, Tonky and Kiri really turned it up, Gollito looked a bit too confident around about today, he has the swagger of man who has got another world title 99% sewn up, however, i'm sure during his second heat when he beat brawzinho on a 2-1 split decision that he was more than a bit concerned that 1% might actually become a reality.. As it turned out he escaped finishing 4th, which is enough to get him a world title assuming they don't go again, he was leaping around the sailors tent like a bit of a lemon earlier, so he obviously thinks he's won it already!
It will be interesting to see how it shapes up for the rest of the event but more interestingly for next year.  The Bonaire boys seem really comfortable in big heats! it's great to see them loving what they do too, Taty and Tonky have got permanent grins when they sail, it's pretty funny to watch!
Check for pix of Kiri as he looks more and more like Michael Jackson!
The wind even picked up enough for the wave guys to go for a quick sail too, non competitive as we'd already been released but everyone was sizing each other up!
Sad thing is, compared to Gran Canaria everyone looked decidedly average! i think the highest jump i saw was about a 10 foot backloop! Koster was crashing jumps, to be fair though, he was the only one doing any jumps! almost nobody else left the water, me included! i managed to scrape a few backies and a pushie but it was super hard, 5.3 chop fest and mush burger waves everywhere! it was high tide though by the end?
Would it have been contestable? No... but i'm sure they would have tried!
Looks like it might be the racers getting busy tomorrow and the waves are looking hot for thursday to sunday!
So, freestylers can go party!!

The beers are flowin and the tent's packing out, must be a monday!
That tunnel goes for about another 100 metres of party tent and it gets busier the further you go! I just happened to get the bush in the way on the pic i wasn't going all Bill Oddy and getting undercover!
Right, i'm off to the shop to get some dinner and back to the ranch for cooking.
Ciao for now....

words of the day
What time is high tide? = Wann is hochwasser?

PwA Sylt Live Report!! 10

Ok, finally! we have some action, it's been a pretty long morning already, we were up at 6.30 this morning and at the beach for 7 ready to go, after peeking through the dark the head judge finally twigged there wasn't any waves so us wave sailors were put on stand by.  Over to the boys on the freestyle circuit instead then.
The actions surprisingly good considering how difficult the conditions are for sailing and how light the wind is! They really are the very best in the world!  There's been a bit of controversy with Gollitto going out early and Brawzinho loosing unexpectedly, he certainly wasn't happy!
It was pretty tied up with the freestyle or so we thought! it looked liked Gollito had the world title in the bag already but now it's been blown wide open.  If Gollito finishes 7th or lower and Kiri or Tonky win then he loses the world title to one of those two?

So, keep your eyes firmly peeled on the live event ticker to see if Gollito makes it, he needs to advance 2 heats.. This is all assuming they don't go into a second elimination of freestyle, which with so much racing and mens and womens wave to push they will certainly have freestyle on the back burner.


Here's the beach today, pretty busy!!

As for me, i've just been watching and hoping that the wind's gonna blow properly for some waves soon!!

PwA Sylt Live Report!! 9

It really felt like a sunday today! as far as the windsurfing side of things is going here there really isn't much to report?
The wind's decided that it can't be bothered and has made a choice to wait until early tomorrow! yes that's right, finally a sniff of wind on the horizon and the crew have got all excited and decided to get everyone out of bed super early in the morning for a briefing at 7am! yep, on the water with a first possible start at 7.30.
Fortunately for me i'm not in the first heat, although i can't turn up too late as i'm in the third.

To cut down on some fuss in the morning i made sure i'm all rigged and tweaked and ready to go, sails ready, boards ready, now all i need to do is make sure i'm ready!
I've drawn Irish new boy Mikey Clancy in the first round and then if i get past him watch out John Skye! i'm coming for ya! hopefully we'll have a repeat of rhosneigr where i beat him last time we sailed against other.
If there's not enough waves they're going to send out the freestylers instead, looking ahead at the forecast and the weekend looks really promising, 30 knots or more, it's a long way off but let's keep our fingers crossed!!

All the sailors are keeping an eye on the forecast, maybe too much!  That doesn't look like much of a sailors club!

Todays german tip
Dude! Be prepared = Dude! Sei bereit

PWA Sylt Live Report!! 8

Action was pretty limited today, the winds not blowing but the beach is still packed, there's a fun race for paddle boarding going on at the minute i think and most of the crowd seem entertained by that.

Alf's been working the podcast which sounds like it'll be fun.

I've been for a 35km Bicycle ride up to the most northern point of the island this morning, very nice! now i've got to do a bit of rigging and strapping up of boards as there's a slim chance the wind will build up over tomorrow and monday looks more promising.

PWA Sylt Live Report!! 8

Here's our brief moment of glory, the walk of Fame, Sylt style!

It's quite cool really that year on year the event is packed with spectators, whatever the weather!

Here's the collective nations.

Forecast not looking so good for the weekend but into next week looks pretty good.

As its the weekend and you might be heading out, here's todays survival guide, a good one for picking up the chicks!

Can i buy you a beer? = kann ich dich auf ein Bier einladen?

PWA Sylt Live Report!! 7

Here's this years event poster..
Everyone's registering at the moment and it looks like a full house again.  In a couple of hours we're heading to the event opening where we have to walk with our flags and nationalities to the big amphitheater on the promenade, hundreds of people watching so it should be fun as always!
Celebrity windsurfing....!

PWA Sylt Live Report!! 6

It was actually pretty simple in the end, the good lady at the train station charged me a whopping 10 euro's and i was onto the island!  I got to the beach and everything's all set up, the big tents are there and it looks set to be bigger and better than the years before!
Add to that, we've even got some wind!
i've been out sailing this morning on my 5.3 and 92 twinser wave, it wasn't actually that much fun i'll admit! there was enough wind to get going just, but, beyond that there was little to get excited about, i think i made 2 jumps and rode 1 ripple. Vintage Sylt!
Since then i've been walking the beach, checking out the prep and watching some of the racers tuning up.
Albeau looked quick, as always, but so did his french buddy Julien Quentel,

Ross and KP we're out tuning and a couple of other racers but not much else to report besides that.
The forecast looks promising though..
I might go back out again now but if i do i'll take my 5.8 alpha this time, maybe that can give me the turbo i need in the marginal onshore!

Here's your windsurfers German survival guide for today.....

Nice to meet you, do you surf? = Schoen dich kennen zu lernen. Surfst du?

PWA Sylt Live Report!! 5

Matthias of Hamburg sent in a great question that i will ask in due time but he also sent this pic from last year. He took this shot himself as he was huddled amongst the many other spectators on the beach, he liked it because of the stormy rain squall coming in the background.  Cool! nice shot!

Send in your classic Sylt shots to phil@ripandslash.com (low res please!)

Ok, waiting is over for me, it's time to hit the island, i'm all packed up and ready for the train, yes the train! Unlike just about every other sailor who has there equipment arrive on the lorry from hamburg i'm arriving on the train with mine! nightmare.. the language barrier is great when you're trying to claim it's a bicycle in there!!! bikes can go on the train in the special bike carriage for 3 euros, no mention of windsurfing stuff on there price list not surprisingly! so a bike it is!

I'm hoping to catch the remainder of the wind tomorrow before it dies for a couple of days.  That long range forecast is looking better all of a sudden though.... we could be on for a classic!!

Here's your windsurfers German survival guide for today.....

It's a bike! = Es ist ein Fahrrad!

PWA Sylt Live Report!!

Streaming webcam Westerland

If you want to check out the action for yourself and see what's going in to the preparation of the event then have a look at the link above.

With a good internet connection it's really cool!  You control the camera and can look around, zoom and just watch the people go by live, you can even zoom in to watch the windsurfing.

I think during the event this could be really handy! i think you'll be able to watch the racing and check out the starts walking the promenade!  You'll have to be quick though, i think you only get 90 seconds before someone else takes control of the camera?

You've crash landed in Germany:

Here's your next installment of the German windsurfers survival guide.....

Dude! My name is .......(Fritz), what’s yours? = Dude, mein Name ist ........ (Fritz) und wie heisst du?

PWA Sylt Live Report!!

You Pollster's called it, here we go with another event blog!

Day off today, actually i spent most of the day doing radical pro windsurfer type things! well, not entirely true, but i won't shatter the idea and tell you what i was really doing!

It looks as though the long range forecast is showing a few blips of wind on the horizon but nothing mega by any means, as we know things can change when we're this far away. for sure we'll have some action but i'm not sure it'll be waves right off the bat? i have seen a 7 day chart that shows 25 knots for the start of next week so fingers crossed anyway! Wind Chart for 2nd Oct

So, in preparation for the possibility of having a few days with limited action i need some info in the bank, that's why i'm inviting you guys to ask the questions, not just to the pro's, to anyone, judges, crew, sailors, girlfriends, boyfriends, fans, family, whoevers take you want on all things windsurfing and all things Sylt?

what i need from you is: your name, where you come from and a short question, simple.  Ask away, i'll do my best to get the answers from the horses mouth and as we go on i might throw in a couple of other elements to it....  video posts, poll's, that sort of thing? wait and see....

Please send your questions to me phil@ripandslash.com and i'll save them up for a rainy day, light news day.

The more ammo i get the bigger the gun fight when things really kick off!

In the mentime, who's going to win the racing? poll quick! waves, freestyle and overalls to come..

Sods law, i left and it got windy at home!

You've crash landed in Germany:

Here's your German windsurfers survival guide..... day by day, phrase by phrase...

Dude, Where's the beach? = Dude, Wo ist der Strand?

PWA Sylt Live Report!!

What a day! it started off pretty stressless but in the unusually poorly prepared horrocks method, turned it into a corkingly stressfull day!
Mistake number one, leaving the house too late this morning..
Mistake number two, trying to squeeze in too many quick jobs enroute.
Mistake number three, not pre-booking my airport parking, thinking it'll be fine to park in a side street near the airport, only to find that the surrounding streets of Birmingham airport aren't exactly that friendly looking. I bottled it and went for the airport parking but was told without pre-booking it would be 140 pounds! after parking it i had the brainwave to phone up and pre-book it as i was driving in, didn't work, i ended up parking, walking all the way across 10 car parks to the entrance to find out i had to go back, get the car, drive out, phone up, then drive back in again! the guy was having none of it... at this point i should add, the clock was ticking! T-Minus 45 minutes and counting!! in the end i abandoned it and phoned up later to sort the issue, worth doing, still 90 quid for 2 weeks though!
That left the small matter of mistake number 4 and check in, with 3 overweight bags that had me like david copperfield, pulling bits out of one bag and into another through going up my sleeve, the baggage guy bought it and all three 34 kilo bags slipped on the plane in the nick of time..
Stress's over then, of course, landing in denmark and heading onto german soil was nothing less than efficient, hassle free and a pleasure to be out of the UK briefly.
Maybe it's just arriving in the north German countryside but it seems that life operates at a somewhat slower pace here, everyone's chilled and just enjoying their days..
That's my plan for now anyway, relax, de-stress and get myself over to the island in the hope of catching some wind before the contest.

PWA Sylt Live Report!!

It's that time again. The PWA world Wave Tour is rolling on to it's third and final stop of the year, Sylt, Germany. Sylt lies on the border with Denmark, the tip of which is actually the most northern point of Germany i've just been told.
I'm expecting a very different type of blog at this event, in terms of action it surely can't rival Pozo for big air, Crazy stunts, triple forwards and the like but i'm sure as ever they're be talking points, and, hopefully
a little something for everyone.
I view Sylt as the peoples event, It's where fans, sailors and wider public get together, go windsurfing and party hard! Something for everyone. For me the journey starts now, today after much deliberation i packed this lot into 3 overweight bags, a twinser 74, 82, 92 and combats 3.5, 4.2, 4.5, 4.7, 5.3, 5.8 a couple of 370's a chopped down 400, a couple more 400's and a 430, 3 booms, spare batten, spare harness lines, ding repair, tools, fins, 5/3 wetsuit, harness, big jacket, roofrack straps, 5 mast extensions, 3 bases, spare screws, footsrap inners, stickers and the list goes on!
I find it really hard to leave anything behind? I think i would kick myself if i needed it and it was at home. You spend the year training for 3 events and if you bust a piece of string it can be game over, i hope preparation
will serve me good.. Oh yes and some clothes to wear! It can be anything, hot and sunny or freezing and windy! So everything goes in, the winter woollies to the boardshorts..
Flying tomorrow to do some errands in germany first and then it's kick off and onto the island on Thursday.
Wish me luck!
Gute Nacht! (i knew those german lessons would come in handy!)

NeilPryde Windsurfing Game!

Well,

That’s me feeling all refreshed, just been for my morning windsurf! And i didn’t even get wet!!

Awesome game!

 Really impressed, i don’t normally go for this sort of gimmick as it’s never like the real thing, but this game’s quite different, it makes it feel difficult yet rewarding when you do something, a bit like real windsurfing?

 I did a sic planing double loop too... if only it was that easy in real life!!

 http://www.neilpryde.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=238:windsurfing-game&catid=45:video-game&Itemid=181

 straight away i wanted to just jump, jump, jump, awesome!  I then discovered you can actually wave ride too, even getting an aerial, it looks like from the help menu all the moves are on there.

 It’s a bit of a faff to find the full version to buy but for $19.99 it’s probably worth it.  You can download and find it at http://www.windsurfing-the-game.com/downloads/

 Worth a laugh though when the winds not blowing..

Goodbye Autumn, Hello Summer??

Well, Isn't the UK brilliant!

It was, i had loads of sailing the last few weeks as that whole business of Hurricane bill was around, what happened to him though? and where are his mates? nothing....

Typically you get one after another when it comes to this end of hurricane season but there's really not too
much action on the horizon., lets hope it's all being stored up for the upcoming events in Sylt and Tiree!

What it has left us with though is some beautiful summer weather at last! It suddenly got really warm, wall to wall sunshine and you start forget that you're head long into the autumn and before you even know it it's hello winter!!

I've been trying to use this time to work out how to co-ordinate various websites to make it easier to update them all, you can get yourself in a real twist if you're not careful! updating 1 site is hard enough with fresh pix and news but try it for 3!!

 This is where i'm at so far with this one. Plasma

I think the future is to have it all syndicated but at this point, i'm lost, i may be able to do simple web stuff but anything technical and i'm lost! I tried watching a youtube how to build a website video and some 14 yr old squeaky nerd lost me within about 10 seconds!

I'd like to make it all more interactive too so it would seem a blog with options to comment and post news and video links in the posts could be the way to go, it's just setting it all up that's the issue...