A Note from Jay

Jay just got back from the Gorge after competing in the Gorge Games. He sailed to an impressive 4th place in the Pro division. Congratulations Jay!

"Hi Jeff.

I just got back Maui from Gorge.
Wind blows 15mph-25mph during the Gorge Game conpetition on July 18
and I got 4th place in Pro division. I'm very happy about my result.
I will send you conpetition video next time !
See you soon.

Jay."

Photos by Vlado Sklenar









The Gorge Game 2008 Result :

1st Tyson Poore
2nd Wyatt Miller
3rd Rob Warwick
4th Jehyug 'Jay' Lee

Maui Vmax Speed Meeting July 27th

By Tom

Sunday's Maui Vmax Speed Meeting was finally blessed with decent winds. The wind was moderate reaching 25mph with gusts to 28mph, and slightly onshore out of the north-east.

Although the field of competitors was small the competition was fierce and there was tight racing all day. In the end Peter John edged Alex Augera into second place with a better average speed of 35.9 knots over Alex's 35.7. Alex held onto the best speed of the day with a 36.5 knot run. Matt Daniels sailed consistently edging past me into 3rd place with 3 solid 34 knot runs.

I was struggling to find speed and tested 3 different fins eventually going back to the first fin which definately proved faster. I had one 35 knot run in the bag, but I only had 33's backing it up. When I discovered Matt was ahead in a last ditch effort I rigged a 6.6 with 15 minutes left to go in the competition. I was convinced I could find the 0.4 knots needed to pass Matt. I improved my average slightly posting a 33.9 knot run, but it was not enough and I had to settle for fourth.

Chris Adamson posted a nice 34.3 knot run on the way to fith and also claimed top Austrailian bragging rights passing Chris Lockwood on the Speed Ladder for the 7th place ranking. Two ladies joined the fray for the first time this year. Nice to see them out there giving it a go. Well done Kristen and Erin, we hope to see you at the next meeting August 30th.

Bemused by my lack of speed I could not understand why I had not gone faster. I was expecting to post 35s (as I had been the previous week) and maybe a 36, but I had struggled in the 33s. The answer came when I de-rigged and discovered I had my extension set on the wrong hole and I had been sailing all day with 25mm too little downhaul! DOH!!!!! That was pretty dumb - I usually trim my downhaul within +-3mm as I have a very specific trim I like. It is amazing to me the sail even worked with the downhaul that far off. No wonder I was having board trim trouble.


Peter John (foreground) and Alex Augera rig for a day of speed sailing.

Maui Vmax 2008 Speed Meeting July 27th
Sailor Info
Name Class Best Speed Average Points
1 Peter John Open 36.2 35.9 35.5 35.9 15
2 Alex Augera Open 36.5 35.3 35.3 35.7 11
3 Matt Daniels Open 34.8 34.6 34.3 34.6 9
4 Tom Hammerton Open 35.3 33.9 33.7 34.3 7
5 Chris Adamson Open 34.3 33.4 33.1 33.6 6
6 Craig Mann Open 30.9 27.9 27.9 28.9 5
1 Erin Iberg Women 20.6 20.2 19.7 20.2 15
2 Kristen Women 16.8 16.3 15.1 16.1 11


Maui Vmax 2008 Speed Meeting Series Points
Name Class Meeting 1 Points Meeting 2 Points Meeting 3 Points Meeting 4 Points Meeting 5 Points Meeting 6 Points Overall Points
1 Peter John Open 11 15 11 37
2 Alex Augera Open 15 11 0 26
4 Tom Hammerton Open 9 7 5 21
3 Chris Lockwood Open 0 0 15 15
9 Chris Adamson Open 0 6 4 10
5 John Smalley Open 0 0 9 9
6 Matt Daniels Open 0 9 0 9
7 Mark Nelson Open 7 0 0 7
8 Jacques Pauvert Open 0 0 7 7
9 Erik Beale Open 0 0 6 6
10 Craig Mann Open 5 5
1 Carl Grundy Wave 11 0 11 22
2 Chris McNeil Wave 15 0 0 15
3 Erik Lawrence Wave 0 0 15 15
4 Tom James Wave 9 0 0 9
1 Erin Iberg Women 0 15 0 15
2 Kristen Women 0 11 0 11


Maui Vmax 2008 Speed Ladder

Name Class Best Speed
1 Tom Hammerton Open 38.8
2 Alex Augera Open 36.8
3 Peter John Open 36.2
4 Eric Beale Open 35.8
5 Ted Hunter Open 35.1
6 Matt Daniels Open 34.8
7 Chris Adamson Open 34.3
8 Chris Lockwood Open 33.4
9 John Smalley Open 33.0
10 Jacques Pauvert Open 32.7
11 Mark Nelson Open 31.6
12 Craig Mann Open 30.9
1 Chris McNeil Wave 31.2
2 Carl Grundy Wave 30.4
3 Erik Lawrence Wave 26.7
4 Tom James Wave 25.9
1 Erin Iberg Women 20.6
2 Kristen Women 16.8

Peter John you owe me a beer!

So I went to Sprecks today after an epic day of work. I got there at about 4:40pm and the wind had dropped somewhat. Eric had sailed earlier and put up a 35.8 knot 100m speed which tied his 2008 best. Peter John was still there and had sailed his 5.8 all day. He looked at me like I was crazy when I rigged a 6.6, but the wind had dropped and he eventually conceded it was probably OK. It was slightly on-shore and really not that strong so I was confident I made the right choice. Unfortunately, it was high tide and things were getting seriously lumpy. In fact, it looked downright ugly. Peter bet me one beer that I could not post a 100m run better than 33 knots.

Well, when there is beer on the line things get serious!

To cut an unnecessarily long story short - I have 4 x 100m runs over 33knots! Not a lot over, but enough to claim that beer! Best run 33.5 knots with a 33.8 knot peak!

It was seriously sketchy. My last run was a hot one, but I came across a small wave in the middle of the run. Here is kind of what happened:

Coming off the beach - wait for gust then waterstart. Slowly sheet in as velocity improves and start loading fin. Slogging out and searching for footstraps. Feet in straps now starting to sheet in and power up. Hooked in ready to go but sheeted out waiting for a good line. Finally things start coming together and a gust and lane co-incide. Full power now trying to sail a good flat line. Sheet in, sheet in, hold it now, the lane is open! Maximum power hold it in, keep it sheeted there it is! almost no waves to cross just keep it powered DO NO BACK OFF! Hit a wave and a liitle airbourne, oh no! land and the fin gives out sliding, but before I can yell F*** due to the enevitable crash the rail catches the water and flow re-attaches to the foil. I survived, but the run is shot. My heart is doing 200 bpm! Enough already, it is a slow day and I have pushed things too far. I am however impressed with my 24cm fin I designed. It has to be the best rough water speed fin ever!



The wider tip makes these fins very forgiving in rough water.

Lanai Rendevous

By Tom

Saturday I did the Lanai Rendevous yacht race from Black Rock (Maui) to the western tip of Lanai. I was crewing on Kai Mana a beautiful Farr 42 which is something of a rocketship. I was grinding the spinaker sheet and can be seen in the below movies in the dark blue shirt on the port winch. There is a lot of load on that spin sheet and it was really hard work but I loved every minute of it!







There are more photos of Kai Mana at:

http://www.mauisailingnews.com/

There will be results and photos from this race posted there soon. I just checked and they are not up yet. Maybe in a couple of days.

After the race we sailed around the backside of Lanai to the harbour. We put lines out and I trolled my handline with my secret weapon - an extra large Crystal Minnow with big double stainless hooks. Sure enough I hooked a nice Aku (small Tuna) probably around 5 lbs. I will post a pic of it as soon as I track down who took the photos! I got another hit but the fish came off. Still we had one good fish for the BBQ.



Cleaning the Aku - caught on the hand line seen above.




Here we attempt to spell out MBYC - Maui Boat and Yacht Club at the BBQ. L to R Brian, Bridget, "Young Boy" and Tom.






The next day I sailed back to Lahaina aboard Coquette, a Cal 30. Not quite as fast as the Farr, but a very fun boat.

Maui Vmax Speed Meeting 3

By Tom

I have come to think I need to seriously re-asses my inteligence or lack thereof this last week. First I cancelled a speed meeting for Sunday based upon weather forecasts the day before. Of course Sunday turned out to be the windiest day in weeks - DOH! Then I re-scheduled the Speed meet for Friday again based upon my superior weather forecasting skills that could not possibly let me down again. It was supposed to be super windy. It was not.

I was at the beach at 10 am and by 11am it looked perfect, it was windy, the water was flat and i was rigged ready to go. Unfortunately no-one else was there and I was not about to leave my computere and a dozen GPS units sitting on the beach with no-one to watch them. Well that was as good as it got as the wind dropped and never came back all day.

Iwas not prepared for a light wind day, but luckily had my 100l slalom board in my van. It looked kind of windy and I figured I could get it going with my 6.6. Peter John bet me a beer I could not do a 33 knot run. No problem I thought, after all in the first speed meeting I managed to get 34.9 knots out of that combo (albeit with a 30cm and not the 36cm fin that was currently in it). Well that was a mistake - I could not even break 30 knots!

I proved my stupidity later when I attemped to sail my 65l speed board with a 24cm fin and a 6.6 in 15 knots of wind. I kind of got going but it was slow and I ended up way downwind and unable to punch through the surf. I got thoroughly washed and ended up swimming in about a mile downwind. I left my rig there and did the walk of shame back to Sprecks.

Chris Lockwood who is used to sailing in the 40s and not the 30s was competing and putting in a solid effort. He was not set up for light winds having only a 47cm wide speed board and a 6.6. He managed a very respectable 33.4 knots before being caught out by the light winds and getting worked in the surf. He broke several of his battens for his troubles.

Sorry there are no pics, but when Ray came down to take pics everyone was sitting on the beach waiting for wind.

Results from Speed meeting 3:

Maui Vmax 2008 Speed Meeting July 18th
Name Class Best Speed Average Points Meeting 1 Season Points
1 Chris Lockwood Open 33.4 32.6 32.2 32.7 15 0 15
2 Peter John Open 33.7 32.8 31 32.5 11 11 22
3 John Smalley Open 33 31.1 29.9 31.3 9 0 9
4 Jacques Pauvert Open 32.7 31.1 28.8 30.9 7 0 7
5 Erik Beale Open 30.9 29.4 28.9 29.7 6 0 6
6 Tom Hammerton Open 30.8 29.2 29.1 29.7 5 9 14
7 Chris Adamson Open 30.2 28.8 26.5 28.5 4 0 4
1 Erik Lawrence Wave 26.7 24.4 24.3 25.1 15 0 15
2 Carl Grundy Wave 25.5 23.4 22.5 23.8 11 11 22

The series so far:

Maui Vmax 2008 Speed Meeting Series Points
Name Class Meeting 1 Points Meeting 2 Points Meeting 3 Points Meeting 4 Points Meeting 5 Points Meeting 6 Points Overall Points
1 Peter John Open 11 Postponed 11 22
2 Alex Augera Open 15 Postponed 0 15
3 Chris Lockwood Open 0 Postponed 15 15
4 Tom Hammerton Open 9 Postponed 5 14
5 John Smalley Open 0 Postponed 9 9
6 Mark Nelson Open 7 Postponed 0 7
7 Jacques Pauvert Open 0 Postponed 7 7
8 Erik Beale Open 0 Postponed 6 6
9 Chris Adamson Open 0 Postponed 4 4
1 Carl Grundy Wave 11 Postponed 11 22
2 Chris McNeil Wave 15 Postponed 0 15
3 Erik Lawrence Wave 0 Postponed 15 15
4 Tom James Wave 9 Postponed 0 9


The Speed ladder:

Maui Vmax 2008 Speed Ladder

Name Class Best Speed
1 Tom Hammerton Open 38.8
2 Alex Augera Open 36.8
3 Eric Beale Open 35.8
4 Peter John Open 35.3
5 Ted Hunter Open 35.1
6 Chris Lockwood Open 33.4
7 John Smalley Open 33.0
8 Jacques Pauvert Open 32.7
9 Mark Nelson Open 31.6
10 Chris Adamson Open 30.2
1 Chris McNeil Wave 31.2
2 Carl Grundy Wave 30.4
3 Erik Lawrence Wave 26.7
4 Tom James Wave 25.9

IFCA Youth Slalom World Championships

We just recieved this news from 12 year old Amado Vrieswijk's family:

"We are again proud to annouce that Amado achieved his goal in Italy last
week. He became again world champion U13 and also 7th under 15 years. It was a difficult and very professional event for the younger kids. The course was far out on the lake and Amado learned a lot about rules, heat-order and so much more. A great experience."







Congratulations Amado and good luck in the Pro-kids event in Bonaire next week!

Check out his website:
www.windsurfingbyamadovrieswijk.com/

Jay in Hood River

Freestyle team rider Jay sent us this little video clip from Hood river. It looks Like He is having a good time!

Jay and Ashley hang out in Hood River

Go Fast!

By Tom


This is the craziest speed event I have ever seen! How fast can you make a Go board go?



Pretty immpressive huh? This is Bertrand Fougere winning the French Starboard Go Challenge with an incredible 35.5 knots with a GPS 2009 6.6 that I just sent to France for testing. For those of you who speak French:

http://icks.icks.free.fr/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2106

Windfishing

By Tom

I was on the mainland for my birthday so I really milked it and mangaged to pull off an extra birthday beach BBQ at Sprecks last Sunday. It was supposed to be a Speed day, but the wind was onshore at 5-8 knots so the speed got postponed. There were at least half a dozen SUP boards at the beach enjoying the conditions.

I decided to try my windfishing rig. It is very simple with a fish bag on the nose and a hand line attached to the mastfoot. I trolled a local style whipping rig. It has a small float 4 feet ahead of a small jelly lure. The idea is that the float makes lots of spray and bubbles which attracts the fish. The fish then sees the small bite size lure and chomp - fish on! This is of course the theory although I had never caught anything with this rig. I did a coulple of runs over the reef, but decided the lure was too close. I stopped and let out another 30 feet of line and gave it another shot.

The float disappeared under the water and I thought I had a small fish. When I dropped the rig and started pulling the line in nothing pulled back. I assumed I had broken the float off and just sailed to the beach. I put my board up on the beach and then pulled the line in, and to my surprise there was a good sized Omilu on the end of it!





Needless to say the fish went straight on the BBQ along with a nice Palani that Diony speared free-diving. It was a great BBQ and a lot of fun was had by all!

Tom's Travels

OK so I have not posted in a while, and I am sorry 'cause I meant to. The trouble is I have not been in the same country for more than in a week for the last 6 weeks!
I have gone from Hawaii to China for a week, then back to Hawaii, off to Morocco the next week then back to Hawaii, then Canada, mainland, Canada and finally back to Maui. Home at last! I will be in the same time zone at least until September now , when Anne and I have a wedding in Annapolis, Maryland to attend.


Schenzen, China.


Thai food with (L to R) Urs, Chrissie, Betty and myself. Qingyuan, China.


New Yellow Fire 2009.

So in summary I went to China to get 2009 sails ready for production, then Morocco to present the 2009 collection to the distributors. The sails are looking very good and I first saw the new X-ply colours in China. I am very stoked as the blue and yellow came out perfect and the sails look even better than the colour mock up drawings. I had one week back on Maui to tie up the loose ends for 2009 before I went to Morocco to present them.


The Beach at Sidi Kaouki.


Jeff and Tom shopping in a Moroccan marketplace.


Forward Loop on a Liquid by Tom.


I managed to drop the Jetski on my foot, luckily on the last day, but the injury prevented me from windsurfing the next week on Maui.


Tom, Ala, and Jeff - Team Hot!


Last night in Morocco waiting for the 2am taxi to the airport with German and Dutch guys.

After Morocco 2009 was done and I had one week back on Maui to prepare for a two week holiday. The main purpose of the mainland trip was to go to my Dad's wedding in Ajax near Toronto. Anne's parents live in northern PA so we went down there to visit for a week first. I managed to get a few days trout fishing in and hooked up to fish every time! I was very dissapointed when I caught a really nice sized Trout and just as I was leaning down to grab it off the edge of the bank the hook came out and I lost it. DOH! That was the only day I did not land a fish.


The Bride and Groom with yours truly The Best Man!

Anyways We went back up to Torronto for the Wedding and I donned a suit. Unfortunately my dress shoes I only wear once a year and they cut through my heels - ouch. They will be donated to charity. The wedding was followed by a couple of days up on Georgian bay at Blue Mountain (looks like a small hill to me) with my Dad Robbie, and his new bride Bev. Canada is a great place and we thoughly enjoyed it. I did manage to sink a rental kayak (twice) due to the fact it had a crack in the bow and no bungs in the drains. Luckily the nearshore of the lake is very shallow.


Tom and Anne relaxing Canadian style in Georgian Bay, Ontario.

It was a great holiday and very nice to be able to spend some time with family, but we were both very happy to be back home on Maui.