Arriving at an airport with 30 bags (900kg) of excess baggage to check-in between 6 people only 25 mins before your international flight leaves is no easy feat. Here, Alberto Menegatti, Andrea Cucchi and myself explain how we not only checked it all on for free, but had time for a drink and sandwich after.

After the closing ceremony of the PWA World Tour event in Alaçati finished up, the windsurfers took our VIP bus to one of the biggest clubs in nearby town Çeşme – Babylon Aya Yorgi! Live bands, DJ’s, crazy sunglasses, Burn&Vdoka shots and the most I have ever paid for a taxi ride to get home later; it was Sunday morning and we were back at the beach.

After a week in Italy without clean clothes (due to my missing bag) I’ve made it down to Alaçati, Turkey, for the next slalom leg of the PWA World Tour. After three days of no wind and blistering heat, Turkey lit up on the first 2 days with 5 rounds of slalom completed. I’ve had some gear troubles not having a big enough fin for some of the tight courses but it’s still early days in the event. You can follow the progress on Twitter as the internet connection at the beach is too slow to update my site. Photos by PWA/Carter and Rémi Villa.

We’ve just finished up on the desert moons of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, for the PWA World Cup. Despite blowing +35 knots the previous week we trained the wind failed to produce during the event and I was a little caught off guard having not brought my biggest sails and fins with me. None the less there was plenty of racing and action during the week and an opportunity to finally get out on the water with my new boards from RRD! (Photos by PWA/Carter).

So two windsurfing families have come together in Poland; my best dutch buddy Markus Bouman married his sweetheart Natalia on the weekend in Warzsawa. I was lucky enough to have the role of best-man, and was introduced to a “polish wedding” which can only be described as ridiculous, fun, crazy, fun, scary. haha! Let’s just say there were churches, wakeboarding boats, hotels, squash courts, suits, good friends a nothing shy of 180 bottles of Zaladkowa vodka.

I just arrived on Lago di Garda (Lake Garda), Italy for a few weeks of working and sailing on one of Europe’s most famous windsurfing locations with the Point-7 team. I’m working from the new P7 head office in Arco, a few mins from the lake and surfing from Malsecine in the mornings and Torbole in the evenings; couldn’t be better!

Racing has begun at the 2009 Formula Windsurfing World Championships in Santa Pola, Spain. The 6-day event features the World’s best Formula sailors battling it out for the title. Sean arrived early in Santa Pola on Tuesday for a week of tuning and sailing, preparing for the event. Read the daily reports below, see the photos and stay tuned for the video as well as following Sean’s race-updates via Twitter.

• Race Updates from Sean on Twitter
• Official Event Website
• FormulaWindsurfing.org

Day 1:

In three races today (2 counting and one abandoned) I managed to rig all three of my sails and use all three fins; amazing!

The day started as did everyday this week with the wind a very light westerly of 5 knots in the morning then dropping out around lunchtime before swinging to the south and picking up to 10 knots very quickly. The first race we were out on 12m’s with the big fins however after a general recall in which 20 guys sailed the entire first lap we had a delay of 20 mins or so until we could restart the first race. By this time the wind had picked up and for me it was a bit of a handful with the 12m and 76 fin combo. I had an average start and was deep in the pack going round the first mark however I elected to go to the left on the second lap which the majority of the front runners didn’t do and managed to pick up 10 or so places on the second lap.

Ross Williams (GBR-83) passed me on the final downwind; I haven’t seen the results but either I was doing quite well or he was doing quite sh*te.

The wind continued to pick up and I changed down to the 11m and 73 fin and this race I got squished on the start underneath Gonzalo leaving me deep in the pack off the line. The startline is rediculously too small for the one fleet of 80 guys so the starting tactics for the majority is to just sit on the line stopped (as there is not enough room to run down the line) then start pumping with 5 seconds to go; just like an RSX race … haha.

I tacked away early in this race and got a good lift on port across to the layline to be in a decent position around the first mark. I was following Adri Keet (NED-34) downwind before he crashed in to a French sailor at the gybe in to the bottom mark and I was able to make a few places going round the mark. We had a gate for the bottom and with everyone arriving on different tacks you had to keep your eyes open to avoid hitting someone. Suffice to say, I doubt anyone (my included) noticed the boat 10m downwind of the marks holding the ‘C’ flag (course change) and luckily most of the fleet had realised the top mark had been moved 400m to the right and changed to a red mark.

I arrived at the top mark in a group with Hubert Mokrzycki (POL-25) and Lukasz (POL-320) and although they were a little faster on the downwind, Lukasz had a big crash on the run to the finish so I was able to finish just behind Hubert. I was later to discover that Hubert was OCS in this race and BFD the race before; unlucky.

A big storm arrived around this point (see the photos!) and after a big delay of 45 mins or so and myself given time to rig the 9.9m we were sent back out. Unfortunately for me the wind started to die as the storm and lightning arrived and with only 1 boom I wasn’t able to have my 11m rigged at the same time ready to go. So the countdown started and the wind dropped to around 12 knots which was a punishment on the 9.9m. I ended up getting a great start just to windward of Steve Allen (AUS-0) however as only about 15 people got off the line planing. I didn’t have particularly good angle because I was struggling to keep on the plane with the small sail but I held in under Steve for most of the run before the boats chased us down with the abandonment flag (just as I dropped off the plane!) and we started to head back to the beach to get in before the rain.

The forecast for tomorrow is the same again, so it looks like there’ll be a LOT of rigging going on this week!

Ps. Check out some photos below of the new 2010 Starboard LWR and HWR formula boards as well as the new 2010 Exocet Warp formula board developed by Gonzalo.

UPDATE. We haven’t been able to get on the internet connection here at the race site the past 2 days, so I’m stopping doing the daily reports. Sorry guys! Keep watching FormulaWindsurfing.org for more info…

Sean took 1st place overall at the Norwegian FW Championships in Larvik, Norway this weekend. A strong fleet of 30 of the top Norwegian formula sailors completed the 10 blistering races in winds exceeding 30-35 knots. Read a short report from Sean about the event below as well as results on Norwegian boardsailing website.

• Overall Results
• Event Video (by Sean)
• Another Photo Gallery

This weekend we had the Norwegian FW Championships in Larvik, Norway; my first trip to this country. After some tough conditions racing at the Nordic Championships in Denmark (where many Norwegians competed) last weekend, we took a few days to relax and do some sightseeing, catching up with some friends in Moss, Drøbak and Oslo as well as visiting Gotheberg, Sweden on the drive up to Norway.

On Friday afternoon we arrived in Larvik to meet up with our Norwegian friends and get out on the water after a day wandering around and getting lost in Oslo (ps, can now “officially” confirm this is THE most expensive city in the World!). We were greeted with rain, mist and 25 knots of breeze with temperatures around 15 degrees, which to me is pretty much the 3rd IceAge so we decided we’d take a break from sailing and wait till the sun came out the next day! (we are pussies, granted).

On Saturday morning, 30 Norwegians, myself and James Briggs (GBR-848) signed up to race with the impending forecast for winds to be 25-35 knots all weekend!
The race committee decided to err on the side of safety this weekend as on the open ocean there were 3m swells breaking in to sheer cliff-faces which would’ve meant if you fell off close to the wall you would certainly die a horrific death, so they set the course on the inside of the fjord. A short course of about 600m upwind with the fjord only being around 250m wide which meant lots of tacks and gybes to get upwind and downwind between the steep cliffs of the fjord – exciting racing!

The plan was to do 6 races today (the races were short, around 10-12 mins for the leaders) in winds of 28-35 knots! I won the first two races closely followed by the strong Norwegian fleet. In Race 3 I opted to try out a more ‘medium wind’ fin which turned out to be a disaster as the winds cranked to a solid 30-35 knots this race and I put it in the drink so many times despite somehow coming back to 2nd. In Race 4 I stuck with that fin and managed to break not one, but two footstraps off after a horrendous crash and decided to retire from the race … haha.

New footstraps and back to my trusty ‘super high wind’ 70cm VMG and we were back on the course after a delay of 30 mins while the wind was well over 18 m/s (36 knots!). I managed to win these one of these races but had 3 crashes in the final race to get a 3rd behind the top Norwegians who only managed to crash twice!
After 6 races I was in the lead by 2 points with plenty of wind forecasted for Sunday also. We had a fantastic BBQ grill with all the meats in the well furnished Larvik clubhouse and had an opportunity to meet most of the Norwegian sailors.

Included in the 30 or so in the fleet were many younger sailors, boys and girls, most of which sailing the Formula Experience class (which we don’t have back in AUS). What I was super impressed with is the fact that all of these kids got out there and started every single race, even with winds well over 30 knots and a difficult course to sail; some of the girls were as young as 16 – full commitment! I’ve seen many older guys sit out races in much less winds … hehe.

Sunday morning the winds dropped down to a more manageable 25 knots. We raced again with most of the Top 5 on 10m sails and the rest on anything from 7.2 – 8.5m! After a race was abandoned when the
wind dropped at the bottom mark we nailed 2 races which I won which included 3 laps of the course; giving everyone more opportunity to make up some places (when the people in front were crashing, usually!). A short lunchbreak and we were back out for 2 more races to end the event.

I put it in the drink once again in this race and allowed NOR-0 to shoot past me but got my sh*t together in the final race to win and take the overall event.
All in all, the event was run very smoothly with the race committee listening to the suggestions of the sailors and making quick adjustments to the course where necessary. With insanely strong winds, racing on an narrow fjord with sheer rock cliffs on either side and difficult shifty winds between the islands, I think it would’ve been VERY difficult to organise any races, let alone nailing 10 races in 2 day! Congratulations Norway.

Always being a fan of coming to smaller events and seeing new countries, meeting new people, rather than just doing the Pro Tour events, I really enjoyed my short stay in Norway and the racing we did with such an enthusiastic, positive National fleet. Thanks once again to the guys involved with organising the event and to Svein Rudihaugen for looking after us and the beers ;)
I hope I can make it back to Norway again sometime and see more of this beautiful country.

Racing starts today at the 2009 Nordic Windsurfing Championships in Skive, Denmark. Sean will be competing to defend his 2nd Place last year behind the Danish champion Jesper Vesterstrøm (DEN-111) amongst other great Nordic sailors. Enjoy some daily reports from Sean below.

Day 0 (Training):

We (myself and Guernsey sailor James Briggs) arrived in Denmark early on Thursday morning. The previous evening we’d help a friend in Holland move furniture in a new house, unpacked and repacked two vans full of gear, caught up with another friend in Holland for coffee around midnight then drove full power to Denmark after also picking up my sail from the sailmaker which was an extra 1.5 hours drive out of the way … so by the time we’d arrived in Denmark we were pretty wrecked!

On Thursday afternoon, after checking in at our accomodation for the weekend (staying at Christian Bo Justesen [DEN-26] and his family’s place – who happen to also be the event organisers) we headed down to the club to catch up with the other sailors and do the Thursday night twilight race with the local Danish sailors. This particular race was 4 laps of a fairly short course with very gusty strong winds around 20-24 knots at times. Jesper Vesterstrom (DEN-111) won this race by a good margin with myself in a clear second.

Back at home we relaxed with a cool Danish beer (possibly the only ‘cold’ beer I’ve ever had in Europe; thanks Denmark!) and had an early night ready for racing the next day.

Day 1 (Racing):

We started racing around 12pm with the plan to do 4 races and possibly more if the conditions allowed. Yesterday we’d sailed in easterly winds which was unnatural for this venue but today we were back racing in the typical W-SW offshore breezes; which on a ‘lake’ venue are typically offshore, shifty and gusty (I can confirm this!).

There were plenty of the big names here; all the top Danish sailors as well as psuedo Aussie Jesper Orth (AUS-10), Brett Morris (AUS-8) and myself rep’ing Australia, a host of Norwegian, Swedish and even Finlandian sailors and James all the way from Guernsey (GoogleMap it if you don’t believe that it is a country!).

Race 1 started as all lightwind shifty races do, with 50% of the fleet unable to plane off the line. I took a great start at the pin end with Jesper and Kasper Larson (DEN-11) heading out to the left. Jesper tacked very early and I decided to go 300m further than the layline to make sure I could cover if the wind went light. It did, and this maneourve paid off as I was able to bear away in the lightspots with my height above the layline and rounded the mark a good 100m clear of second. With the shifty winds the rest of the fleet seemed to fall further behind and I thought this race was in the bag for me until I saw the abandonement flag shortly after rounding the top mark on the second lap – damn!

The re-run of Race 1 was a complete disaster for me as I went left again with Kasper and couldn’t stay on the plane. Kasper finished this race in first somehow but the rest of the fleet went right to stay in the wind…everyone else who went left was back with me … in about 30th!

With the offshore wind we were a good 2km downwind of the beach so with no opportunity to go home for a drink we started another race. This time I started on port to head right as the wind had locked more in to the West and the right side was working well. I had a lousy start and sat underneath most of the port starters but again went 200m over the layline to allow for the shifts. Again this worked well and I was back to 3rd at the top mark behind the young Danish Sebastian (DEN-24) and one of the Norwegian sailors who was going very fast upwind. I went further on the downwind layline (strangely enough, overshooting laylines pays off on days like these!) and was able to pass these guys to have a clear 100m margin at the bottom mark. I held on to this lead most of the second leg despite heading right on one of the biggest LOOSERS I have ever sailed. I was basically heading the same angle as the downwind leg, but the rest of the fleet was following me so I decided to stick with it to the corner. After tacking the wind went really whack! I fell off the plane another 2 times in the run to the mark and everybody started tacking in different places … Somehow in the traffic I dropped back to 5th and was unable to pass anyone on the downwind. Sebastian won this race ahead of the Norwegian …

Race 3 started after a 10 minute break (definitely not enough time for a drink!) on the beach with the course moved another 1km downwind. With the wind lightening most of the fleet were unable to make the start ontime! I arrived on the line with 45 secs to go and tacked on to port to get a terrible start sitting right underneath Jesper and Brian Roegild. Jesper and Brian were able to climb away from me with their clear air and I got a little pinned having no ability to tack away as we were heading to the favoured side. I was 7th by the top mark and finished the race in 7th. The wind was less shifty this race so there wasn’t as much opportunity for passing. Brian was leading until the final downwind when he let Jesper pass him ….

That was it for the day … tonight we have a dinner at the club then more racing tomorrow.

Day 2 (The Bullet):

The forecast was much better today with 8-12 knots predicted as well as a possible 30 knot front with rain and lightning arriving at some point after lunch. The course was moved a long way up to the north of the fjord, probably about 4km downwind of the beach which meant there was no possibility of changing equipment between the races. That being said we all rigged our 12′s, big fins and full lightwind setups and headed down to the startline around 12pm for the first start. After two attempts at starting the first race which were abandoned with the wind becoming very light and shifty, we took a 10 minute break to relay the line before the wind picked up to 18 knots for the start of Race 1 for the day.

To be honest, I would’ve loved to have not had my mast-track at the back, boom at the top of the pocket, no-outhaul on and no chicken-strap, as with a 76cm cutdown fin with a 12m rigged for lightwind it made for some pretty interesting racing!

Jesper took the first bullet for the day, with Sebastian (DEN-24) taking the next race. In Race 3 for the day I took it upon myself to finally get my sh*t together and take a bullet! I had a lousy start on starboard pinned between Nikkolai (DEN-4) and Sebastian and even hit the shore with my fin going to close to the beach to tack, however that extra 50m I sailed kept me in the strong winds a little longer to recover to 4th around the top mark behind the top Danish guys. I was still in 4th on the bottom mark following Kasper Larson (DEN-11) back towards the shore as the other 2 guys went out to middle. Kasper tacked early but I sailed once again until my fin grinded the shore then got an amazing lift because of my extra distance out to the left of the course. I rounded the top mark about 100m clear in 1st with only the downwind to go …

…the wind went SUPER light on the downwind but the guys behind me got a massive gust taking them 30 degrees lower than me. I was far enough ahead to possibly gybe before they got to my line to hopefully beat them by the distance it takes someone to gybe! I pumped the entire way downwind till my hands nearly started bleeding but I held on to take the bullet!!

In the final race of the day I got another good start and picked a good layline to the top mark with Sebastian ini front of me and we were likely to round the mark clearly ahead however the wind went light 100m from the mark and I came off the plane but flyweight Sebastian managed to stay on and hold 4th around the mark as Jesper and the rest of the guys who went to the right side of the course came around in the top spots. I was 7th at the top mark and basically stayed in that place for the entirety of the race, although I did manage to pass old Brian Roegild on the downwind to pickup a spot ;-)

Day 3 (The Nothing):

The forecast today was for ZERO wind and in a rare (but awesome) move the race committee decided to pull the plug at 11am, run the prizegiving at 12pm while everyone was still here and let everyone get the earlier ferries home in the afternoon back to their Nordic homes … A great BBQ was put on by the Skive Sejling Klub after the prizegiving ceremony also.

I finished 7th overall in a tough fleet which was very close on points in the Top 10. 5 different race winners in 7 races shows how close and competitive the racing was (or how fluky and shifty the conditions were!).

Final Results:

1. Jesper Vesterstrøm (DEN-111)
2. Kasper Juul Larsen (DEN-11)
3. Sebastian Kornum (DEN-24)
4. Nikolaj Kruppa (DEN-4)
5. Brian Røegild (DEN-173)
6. Robert Åberg (SWE-13)
7. Sean O’Brien (AUS-120)
8. Magne Frønsdal (NOR-4)
9. Per Boström (SWE-92)
10. Kurosh Kiani (DEN-13)

Racing has begun at the 2009 AllegroCup Windsurfing Championship in Łeba, Poland. This event, organised by Allegro.pl for the past five years is the premium event on the GP World Tour and one of three international championship events in Poland this year. Sean will be writing reports and posting exclusive videos from the event which you can check out below:

• www.AllegroCup.pl (Official Event Site)
• www.sieplywa.pl (Polish Windsurfing News)
• www.FormulaWindsurfing.org (FW Class Event Coverage)

Video Gallery:

Rather than write a long report about this event I thought it would be more interesting to some it up in a few sentences and then post some videos and pictures we’ve been making on the beach the past week. It had been a little difficult to get on the internet with a decent connection to upload the videos for the first few days in Łeba so my plans to write a daily report had been sidelined a little.

To some up the event, I think everyone would say that this was a typical AllegroCup this year as we were able to race in a large variety of conditions from light onshore winds and big swells, gusty offshore winds and flat water and the token 25 knot day with cold temperatures and breaking waves on the beach. A good opportunity to cover all three of your rigs in sand instead of just one. I’ve had a bit of a hit and miss event but apart from 2 races in Pobierowo last weekend this is the first time I have sailed my new Point-7 sails and also my new VMG fins and I have a new Gaastra board (!) so I’m happy with how my speed was out on the course without having much a chance to tune up; just need to get my head switched on for the racing a little more.

Steve Allen (AUS-0) once again won the event ahead of Pawel Hlavaty (POL-11) and Ross Williams (GBR-83) with Marta Hlavaty (POL-111) taking the women’s crown. Stay tuned tomorrow for a video of the final event party. Allegro over the years haven’t failed to put on an amazing party with bands and acts like “Shaggy”, “Boney-M”, “Stereo MC’s” and “Mattafix” joining the ranks of some of the bands to grace the AllegroCup stage.