Just got back from another amazing trip to Singapore! The first time I was there to catch up with some buddies of mine but this time I was there to catch up with some buddies of mine AND compete at the 2012 Asian Windsurfing Championships. Singapore is just such an amazing city it’s a bit hard to describe; so I thought I’d make an attempt with the above photos. A bit less craziness this trip as I was competing each day and running lot’s of training clinics and coaching sessions for the local sailors and up and coming kids but we still did manage to make it to every nightspot imaginable, and some! Enjoy the pics. All by except the ones from Howie!

The 2012 Asian Windsurfing Championships (and Singapore Open) are about to kick off on Thursday here in warm and sunny Singapore. Get the live reports from me with all the inside action by clicking the picture above!

• FW Class Event Page
• Official Event Website
• Results (after 4 races)

Hi guys, I’ve touched down over the weekend in Singapore to compete at the 2012 Asian Windsurfing Championships in the Formula class. Arriving a week before the event starts, I got asked to run some sailing training sessions for the BIC Techno and RS:X Classes and a special clinic on gear tuning for the formula/slalom guys.

The BIC/RS:X training took place on the Saturday with a full day on the water in gusty 15-20 knots (pretty windy for Singapore!) with a small, motivated group of sailors and finished off in the afternoon with a theory supersession on startline tactics at the amazing facilities at the ConstantWind Seasports & Sailing School (check the pictures on the right; this is probably the biggest windsurfing club on planet earth). On the Sunday I ran a formula clinic however it rained pretty hard the whole day which killed the wind so we were unable to get out on the water; nevertheless I think the sailors enjoyed the session where I talked everyone through gear setup and tuning as well as rigged some sails and explained all to do with tuning up the big gear.

Registration starts tomorrow for the event and Ceri Williams has just touched down here so tune in here tomorrow and I’ll have some reports and plenty of photos from the event…

The first day of racing kicked off here on the Changi Coast Walk in Singapore; such a nice grass area with shady trees to rig and only 15m from the water – however the NE winds are quite offshore here so it is a little bit of a punishment to get off the beach – especially if you leave it till the LAST POSSIBLE MOMENT before the race to leave, said beach. Hmmmm.

We had a bit of delay with the skippers meeting this morning so I spent some time at the massive NRSCC Sports Club where the event is being run from just chilling out in front of the computer, smashing some work and having YET ANOTHER massive bowl of fried rice and mongolian style chicken. The actual race site for the equipment is 5 minutes walk down the road as there is easier access to the water in this grassy park, so I couldn’t hear what was going on and when I finally arrived at the beach it was only 14 mins before the first start!

Once again I’m on the “travel easy” program and just brought one sail and fin; this time 11.5m and 73/70 VMG fin, so I didn’t have to deliberate too much and was rigged and stickered in a few mins and out on the water. The wind was very gusty and offshore around 12-15 knots in the gusts and 0-3 knots in the lulls – fantastic! I’m so unused to sailing in offshore winds but I remember some good advice from an ex Olympian in Mistrals from Australia – “Love the gust you’re in” so I just tried to stick to my plan of forgetting about shifts and just sailing always for pressure.

This paid out and after a first race that I was leading by a streak was abandoned, I managed to win the next start by a large margin and waited 2 minutes for the next competitor, Wang Yew Pang (SIN-0) to finish as a lot of guys were parked in various places on the course in the lulls and I figured it wouldn’t be right to let the 15 minute time-limit cut them off after sailing for so long!

We stayed out on the water in between races but had a good 30 minute break when a storm blew over showering us in rain and pounding us with gusts over 25 knots! I was struggling all over the place with the 11.5m and big fin however most of the SIN guys were out on 12.0′s so a big PROPS to them for managing these winds!

The wind was shifting quite a bit through the storm so we couldn’t set an accurate course despite lot’s of mark movement from the race-crew. After the storm had passed the winds became a bit more variable with 5-10 knots at times and still 20 knot blasts every now and again. I had a good start in this race with Wang and Harold on starboard and picked some nice gusts to get me up to the mark first however I couldn’t connect the gusts downwind and parked for quite some time which meant Wang was on my heels for the rest of the race! We had a cool long distance slalom style mark rounding in to the finish line and I managed to hold Wang out and take the 2nd bullet before the race crew sent us home for the day as it was pretty late in the afternoon by now and the sun goes down quite early in Singapore.

Good racing; good location; horrific winds; good friends… So far it’s been a really fun event to partake in and I’m looking forward to seeing what tomorrow will bring.

Stay tuned.

Photo by Howie Choo / www.howiephoto.com

Today we got some better winds out on the course but still in that shifty offshore NE direction. We were sent out to the course just before lunchtime in fairly light 6-10 knot breezes however halfway in to the sequence the wind the wind cut out (despite the BIC and RS:X racers knocking a few rounds out) and we were kept on call for another 30 mins drifting around in the breezeless heat to see if it would return. After 30 mins the race crew sent us home which was about an hour long beat (drift!) upwind back to the beach! argggghhh.

After an elongated lunchbreak the wind picked up again around 2.30pm so we were once again (reluctantly) sent out on the course however on arrival at the startline, the winds were quite fresh around 12-15 knots and relatively steady. Race 1 I had a nice start on starboard and led the fleet around the short windward/leeuward course with a long 2-buoy slalom course to the finish. Chris Newman (GBR-88) had finally got a day off work and came to race today; who is also on the new Starboard 167 (normal) and on a Severne Relfex II 11m and going fairly quick upwind. Chris was hot on my heels for most of the race however I was able to take a bullet with Chris 2nd and Wang 3rd.

Photo by Howie Choo / www.howiephoto.com

Race 4 started in much the same fashion however a big shift out of the start on starboard meant I had to quickly tack back to port to cover Kit and Wang who’d started on port and got a great gust to the right. I managed to claw back to get to the top mark first with Chris and Harold Ma quite close behind me after the first lap. I seem to be quick on the slalom runs despite the brutality of using formula fins on beam reaches in +15 knots (not fun!) and was able to take another bullet making it 4 wins from 4 starts.

In the evening, the sailors headed on down to Butter Factory; a cool nightclub in town which is sponsoring the event and partied the sore muscles away late in to the evening. Singapore is definitely a place that can put on a show!

Day 3 started with the “official” opening ceremony for the event inviting a few dignitaries and special guests/sponsors to oversee the event and have a formal breakfast at the NRSCC club. The forecast was for onshore SE winds however it wasn’t a pretty forecast and it lived up to it’s name giving us little to no wind over the ENTIRE day! After last night’s fun I think a few of us enjoyed the day off however the temps start to rise in Singapore with that wind direction and we had a blistering day on the beach sapping the energy.

Photo by Howie Choo / www.howiephoto.com

Not much else to report as we spent most of the day tuning sails on the beach and talking shop amidst bowls of mongolian style beef at the ‘Belly View’ cafe at the windsurf club. Apparently we have another VIP party at Butter Factory tonight for the sponsors… waaahh!

The final day was a late start for most of us as we hit the Butter Factory once again for the second event party at this cool nightclub in the city. The forecast was always going to be bad for this final day but with 4 races under the belt we weren’t too worried as we had a good result and Saturday ended up being a big night!

Finally after many hours of sitting around and smashing more hokkien noodles and infinity 100Plus drinks the racing was cancelled for the final day at 4pm as it never materialised about 4 knots on the course. Sadly (this happens often actually!) a little bit of 10-12 knot afternoon seabreeze kicked in just after the AP over A went up and a few of the guys had a nice sunset blast out on the water before the prizegiving ceremony would begin at 7pm.

We’re awaiting the final ceremony now so I’ll update with a few photos soon and final results can be found here.

Literally JUST getting off the plane from Europe I arrived back home to Brisbane and jumped in the car to drive 11 hours to Sydney for my first formula contest of the summer; the 2011 NSW Formula State Championships. All the guns were there, and this weekend I was doing a “full-Rick” (ie, using a completely brand new board, sail, mast, harness, fin, that I had never, ever used before) as I’d picked up a new 11.5 and 10.5 AC-1 ‘Handcrafted’ Series sail on the way home from Europe and had a new F167wide formula board sitting in the garage in the plastic for 2 weeks already before I got home. The wind was pretty light, and I managed to take 3 bullets from 3 starts winning one race by over 2 minutes on completely new gear and an old fin I found in the garage (happened to be a sweet one though!). Certainly great to come home to a win, and certainly great that my gear is going fast with absolutely no tuning.

Here are some shots we took the following weekend back in Brisbane as I had no cameras in Sydney. The photos were shot by the awesome David Kramer at Kawana in the surf in about 25 knots with no uphaul or chicken-straps on the new board; argghhh.

Quick video I shot on a trip to Miami, Florida last weekend. The whole video is shot on a tiny Nikon Coolpix P300 compact and completely handheld in the car whilst driving … suprisingly, the footage came up super crisp and not too shaky so with a tiny bit of colour correction in Premiere CS5, this is what you see. I’m actually a little sad to leave that pimped up Ford F150 truck we rented for the trip :-(

Music used is “Hypnotize” by the late Notorious B.I.G.

Wow. Miami. What a place. Took a quick flight in with my good mate Kurosh to compete at the 2011 IFCA North American Slalom Championships. Rented the most obscenely pimped Ford F150 truck I’ve ever driven. Windsurfed all day, cruised South Beach all night … great times! I finished 3rd at the event behind Wilhelm Schurmann and Kurosh but points were tight and we each had a few wins a piece in the 12 races we managed. Miami is such a fun place to visit and my friends there (shout out to Diego, Alex “the Legend” Morales and Rick “Maui Malones” Randall!!) really looked after us and made sure we had a legendary time. Enjoy some pics and soon a quick video I shot with Kurosh driving our truck around the streets of Miami!

Sentosa Tourist Park (can’t believe this guy ruined my shot!) – check out the 45m high stone MERLION statue in the background.

Collecting horrible Chinese masks in China Town.

Checking out the foyer in the $8 billion Marina Bay Sands Hotel/Casino (that place is awesome!).

View from Level 27 where our friends were staying in this amazing MBS hotel!

The Art/Science Museum at the front of the MBS where we went to see the Salvador Dali exhibition.

Caribbean Club apartments where we went to one of the wildest BBQ’s full of English twats and all-sorts on Saturday night before hitting the town.

The amazing INFINITY POOL on the roof level of the MBS which also doubles as a nightclub in the evenings called Ku De Ta (was $50 just to get in though – sheesh!)

Inside the MBS shopping centre there were small canals and fountains that you could take gondola boat rides in! WTF?!

Avalon Club. A 17,000sq foot ‘crystal inspired’ glass nightclub floating on the water in Marina Bay right in front of the Casino. One of the best nightclubs I’ve seen on the planet … simply amazing. Hello, another $40 to get in though and $20 drinks. Meh!

Hit the clubs with a few friends!

The city skyline viewed from the balcony at Avalon Club.

On Sunday we rocked the Tamjong Beach Club (they call it model beach apparently) for some sun soaked beers and sand. Great atmosphere.

Up the top of the MBS at Ku De Ta rocking the VIP section things get a bit wild. Our first adventures with the big man’s new fiance – think she took it all in stride!

About to check out the Louis Vuitton store which is another floating glass temple on the water in front of the MBS. There is actually a tunnel that goes between the LV store inside the MBS to this concept store where you walk under the water… Saw the most awesome pair of hightop sneakers there but they were $1,980.

On my last night before hitting the airport me & Timmy head to LITTLE INDIA and find the magic Ghandi restaurant where you are served endless rice/vege/meat curry assortments dumped on a massive banana leaf on your table and just eat with your hands. They refill the water glass pretty quick cause this stuff is SPICY!

Managed to actually make my plane this time and get back to Europe (and the cold). Singapore…WHAT A PLACE. Go visit! Do it!

So once again we hit Sylt, Germany for the biggest windsurfing event on the PWA World Tour calendar, the epic Reno Windsurf World Cup, and after 10 days of sitting around waiting for the wind we were sent home with NO VALID RESULT for this last contest of the year; despite running a few of the first round heats on the Tuesday where I was in a nice qualifying position holding out Bjorn Dunkerbeck in my heat. That being said, around 100,000 tourists came to the beach over the week to watch the (non) contest and enjoy the insane festivities, beach parties, pro-rider signing sessions, nightclubs, tow-in freestyle competitions, SUP races and all things crazy that is SYLT! Enjoy a few pics from Carter/PWA and ContinentSeven.com.

Today we just finished the Waterz Downwind Slalom Marathon race in Hvide Sande, Denmark. Waterz is a pretty massive watersports event with competitions for windsurfing, kitesurfing, SUP and cable-wakeboarding with the highlight being this insanely long downwind slalom race on the Saturday. Over 250 competitors (windsurfers and kiters) took place in the marathon in about 12 knots of wind with a bunch of jetskis setting off a rabbit start for us. I had a flying start with Ross Williams to get on to an early lead and managed to finish 6th overall with Ross eventually winning. Check a few photos from the Waterz website and of course check www.waterz.dk sometime in the next few weeks when they “actually” update the results on there! Ps. Was a sick party in the evening too!

So after skipping the European Championships in Latvia due to an injury, I decided I needed some time out from windsurfing and some kind of European roadtrip. My good mate Andy was floating around Europe so I jetted him over to Italy and we thought we would take a tour through the East with a few days in one of my favourite European cities; Prague, Česká Republika. I actually rocked this city one before with some girls I know from NZ many years ago and after this visit, I think I remember why I really liked this place so much the time before; and once again.

Our timeline involved catching up with a friend in town and smashing the Playboy Party at one pretty slick club called Mazanej Králíček before visiting the rest of the Prague nightlife (which is, granted, pretty fine) and hitting up most of the places downtown. Somehow managed to drag ourselves out of the hotel each morning to do the usual tourist traps like Prague Castle, Astronomical Clock and of course the statues on Charles Bridge. They love a good statue in Praha; yeap! The weather was INSANELY hot by European standards (which I actually like) but isn’t so conducive to wandering the streets all day and alas, my big Canon 7D camera has been stolen so I didn’t really capture as much footage of this beautiful city as I would have liked. So I guess that means I will need to go back sometime………

Also in a completely UNRELATED story had someone throw in the word ‘Defenestration’ in to a conversation about breaking up with their girlfriend over the weekend and when I looked up that word, turns out they love a good defenestration in Prague (which is what that first picture is all about). If you don’t know what I’m talking about then you need to Google that sh**, yo!