Hot Sails Tales

Children of the wind

2010-02-04T10:39:00.001-10:00

This documentry looks like one not to miss. It tells the story of windsurfing on Bonaire, and how this has changed so many lives for the better there. Lots of Hot Sails too!

Enjoy a little warm water and a lot of fun!

2010-02-01T07:51:00.005-10:00

Our crew in Curacao is putting on another big event in early April. The Curacao Challenge is a race and freestyle event that brings in all the locals from the ABC islands, and a lot of sailors from Europe. Last year Hot Sails Maui was particularly well represented with 30 "rookies" on Hot Sails Maui gear!
We also had 1st, 2nd, or 3rd places in nearly every division!
http://www.curacaochallenge.com

Africa.......

2010-01-25T19:56:00.001-10:00

Wow.

Must be winter in Sweden!

2010-01-24T20:31:00.003-10:00

The only thing i miss

2010-01-19T10:07:00.000-10:00

This video has none of my sails in it but Jeff Brown on the JBD sail
and I used to work at Hood Sailmakers together in the early 80s. He, I
and Paul Mindnich the guy who developed the Freeskate ice board (seen
in this video) all were way into ice windsurfing. To this day it is
something I really miss. The speed and G forces you can attain are at
the same thrill level as big wave windsurfing, but even more difficult
to find. Here, the really amazing thing about this video is the
quality of the ice they are on. You can not pay for this, you just
have to be there and be ready. These guys lucked out.

How did we miss this?

2010-01-18T12:41:00.001-10:00

I guess i should watch Disney channel more often...

On fire!

2010-01-07T10:46:00.001-10:00

Leon Jamaer in Tasmania from leon on Vimeo.

Intern makes GOOD!

2010-01-06T10:49:00.002-10:00

I have offered internships to students around the world, and some have been great and some....well like I said, some have been great.
Vincent Girard from France was our intern a few years back, helping with 3d design work and all around learning about business in Hawaii and how a windsurfing company works. He then went home to complete his studies, graduated and went to work for Eurocopter.
Well he still hits the water hard as seen in this double spread in PLANCHE magazine in France. He is riding a 2009 Smack and Quattro twin fin and making the Mediterranean look pretty darn good! Go Vincent!

This is a blog of hope!

2009-12-30T14:22:00.003-10:00

I wanted to share this blog from the East coast. It is the first born again (from the dark side) windsurf blog I have found and he just happens to be doing it on HOT! Enjoy!
http://ncpaddlesurfer.blogspot.com

An amazing 10 year old

2009-12-18T12:50:00.004-10:00

I was in Japan 2 weeks ago and was fortunate to meet this remarkable little girl who is quite the fearless sailor. Kazami Matsuura has been sailing flat water and even racing all summer, but when I met her it was her first time in waves. Oh, and it was blowing 30+!

I had made this special 2.1 Microfire for surf conditions with our RDM310 mast. Yes, the 310 mast is sticking out the top that much!
Though she is an exceptional child sailor, she is just like every other kid and enjoys playing most of the time.

Great BOLT action!

2009-12-06T03:11:00.000-10:00

Jericoacoara 2009 (Paul Zeper) from Paul Zeper on Vimeo.

"Windo surfo"

2009-12-05T10:52:00.006-10:00

While spending this weekend in Japan, I visited the oldest windsurfing shop in Japan, De Mer.
Started in 1976, it has been a family run business for 35 years. It helped set the path for Japanese shops where not only does it sell gear and offer lessons, but it offers board and rig storage for customers. This also creates a "club" feeling and a simple meeting area is maintained that includes erecting a dome in wintertime that is a heated warm up spot and general gathering place.
Outside is some serious windsurf history in various states of decay, and the surroundings are humble, but very functional. De Mar is one of Hot Sails Maui top selling shops in Japan, and they are strong supporters of kids camps and introducing women to windsurfing.This very faded Hot sticker is at least 20 to 23 years old!
Shop founder Mr. Ookawa and I pose with his first Windsurfer® wooden boom from 1975 or perhaps earlier. He is now joined by his son Shun who teaches windsurfing and works in the shop along with other family members.

Amado wins Sportsman of the Year Award!

2009-12-04T13:50:00.003-10:00

Hot Sails Maui team rider, and overall ripper Amado Vrieswijk has been awarded
Sportsman of the Year" award by the govenor of Bonaire. Amado has had an amazing year, pretty much winning every race in his age class.

Other Bonaire sailors also won awards including Hot Sails Maui Freestyle ripper Bjorn Saragosa for "Windsurfing Spirit" award.

New fades on Super Freaks

2009-11-24T12:25:00.004-10:00

We made a new print on some super Freak sails inspired by Niclas in Sweden who wanted the feel of the old Mistral stock sails of the early 80s. We of course did it our way, not a copy, but with a lot of the same feel.

Here are some photos of one of the colors that I borrowed of the blog NC PADDLE SURFER. Cool thing is this guy just got sick of kiting and got all new gear from us! He rips on a SUP too.

Anyways, the fade sails look pretty unremarkable up close, but I like the subtle effect from even a small distance.....

Maui no ka oi

2009-11-23T18:06:00.002-10:00

A rare photo of me (Jeff) at my spot on Sunday. Just plane fun.

It just does not get better than this season for windsurfing on Maui. I have lived here 25 years now and this fall has been the best I have experienced. The wind just keeps blowing, the waves just keep coming. The one week there was no wind this fall, it was glassy, perfect surf.
We are supposed to have a huge swell in 2 days and wind to go with it. I have dusted off my 9'2 x 19 gun that I had shaped by Bill Foote in 1987 and is still the smoothest thing in the water when it gets over 1.5 mast high. Not sure it will be that big, but.....

Hot's rider: Paco Mercader

2009-11-11T16:33:00.004-10:00

Here is the Interview of Paco Mercader, a 15 years old French Hot Sails Maui rider which just got 6th place in the freestyle division of the French championship in Six fours les plages. Let’s ask him some question…

Hi Paco, can you introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Paco Mercader and I am15 years old. I’m living in the south of France, windsurfing in a spot named Six fours les Plages, next to Marseille. I like both freestyle and wave. I’m free styling in the spot of Le Brusc and wave riding mostly in La Coudouliere.
I’m in high school.

You just got 6th place in the French freestyle championship, which is a nice result for a young guy. I heard that the level was pretty high!
True and I’m really happy of this result! I use to do more wave than freestyle but I’m still training with my friends when there is no wave, which often happens here! I managed to do my moves in the heat without being anxious or nervous. And it worked!
Some riders were really ripping like Vincent Mellouet or my friend Adrien Bosson and Kevin Allegre. It was really nice to have a competition at home.

Which moves did you land in your heat?
I tried to give variety during my heat. At the beginning the wind was pretty light and I was doing my spocks, double flakas, puneta, slider and other light wind moves like the funnel that I land less easily. After, the wind picked up and I tried to go more powerful moves with good forward loops, shove its and big flaka to score.

You also competed in wave, how did that go?
Yes, I did as the championship in wave and freestyle. I had the will to obtain a better result than in freestyle but I was going too big. I really tried to push my cut backs to the max which made me fall and loose so much time! Moreover, I was against the guy who finished 2nd. I’m a bit disappointed but it motivates me even more for next year!

Are you working on new moves now?
Currently, I mostly work my freestyle. I’m working on the shaka, the ponch and the switch chachoo. In wave I’m trying some goiters and taka. I’d like to land this moves clean soon!

You managed to try the Bolt, what do you think about this sail?
I tried it in light wind and I was stoked by the acceleration and the handling of this sail. It’s very light and comfortable. For sure I’m going for it this year!

Do you have some plans for this winter?With school and my boards and sails to pay for I won’t have time and money to travel this winter. But for sure I will try to windsurf as much as possible and I plan to do the French championship in February

Do you have another love than your Hot Sails Maui sails?
Not right now but I’d really like to find a windsurf girl!

Thank you Paco!

Freak out

2009-10-28T11:02:00.003-10:00

Super nice video of Sweden riders that enjoy riding nice conditions at home
The colors are just incredible with the darkness. Remember that no matter how cold it is, you just have to rip.

http://vimeo.com/7253587

Hawaiian surfer party

2009-10-23T09:43:00.004-10:00

Aloha spirit is coming to Denmark as an Hawaiian party is going on the 24th of October.
Our teamrider and Danish importer Thomas Sorensen will perform on stage as he's not only a radical windsurfer but also an hardcore piano player.
Thousands people are expected so if you are not right now on Maui, the only way to have a little bit of this spirit is to party hard with Thomas.

If i were a male butterfly....

2009-10-21T12:20:00.003-10:00

Huge success for the butterfly effect that took place at Eilat in Israel on the 3rd of october.
The full moon brought 40 pretty butterfly girls over motivated to show everybody that windsurf, kitesurf ans Sup are the best way to have fun on the water when you are a girl.
Good ambiance, sun, and wind were present for this nice event. Next butterfly stop is Brazil on 2010, 9 january.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KJmko2ICEU

Diony at Sylt World Cup

2009-10-15T12:54:00.004-10:00

2009 marked Hot Sails Maui's return to World Cup racing for the first time in 10 years. Diony was the only competitor at Sylt to compete in all disciplines - wave, freestyle and slalom. He put in an impressive racing performance despite the harsh conditions finishing 10th in slalom ahead of World Cup veteran Kevin Pritchard and only two places behind Finian Maynard who is the last sailor for Hot Sails Maui (many years ago!) to turn in such results.

This is what Diony had to say:

"The first days of the event was very calm, sunny and good temperatures to get ourselves ready for the event, we knew that conditions where going to be epic for Sylt standards, I rigged up gear for 3 disciplines, slalom, waves and freestyle, I was the only one that did all 3 disciplines, I felt very hyped up to do good in all, the event started of with slalom.

Temperatures were from 8 to 13 degrees centigrade with waves from 2 to 5 meters with winds reaching 40 knots and occasional hail during the event. It was not the most beautiful conditions to compete in, but still I loved the challenge and I seem to do better in tough conditions in slalom. The competition area was very choppy and used my 8.0 and 8.8 GPS, with my 110L and 125L AHD SL, worked good in those conditions.

Photo courtesy of John Carter/PWA

I got to the losers final on first round doing ok, then in the second round after redoing our heat 3 times because of general recalls and people getting mixed up in heats I got a 3rd place inthe Final. This was very satisfying as so far was my best result this year after 3 events. I was in second place at the last mark, but just got passed by on the finish line.

I started of sailing good in the freestyle category, had Brawzinho in my first heat, it was basically a final in first round, wave started the next day, advancing and in the second round was against Angulo, I unfortunately hurt my ankle badly which did not allow me to compete in the double elimination even though I tried, I am very pleased with my slalom results being the first year on the slalom tour after 3 solid events in the Canary’s and Sylt! Cannot wait for next year! Thanks for all the support of everyone!! All the best for the rest of 2009 and see you on the water soon!

Best Vibes!

Diony Guadagnino V69

www.nestle.com.ve
www.nestea.com
www.hotsailsmaui.com
www.a-h-d.com
www.mauifin.com
www.facebook.com/DGV69
www.dionyv69.hi5.com
www.myspace.com/dionyv69"

Freak out in Sweden

2009-10-14T05:04:00.003-10:00

Check out Ola and friends in this video clip of some cold hard action in Sweden. That is a 3.5m Ola is on!
This comes from www.kulingvarning.nu (Fredrik Johansson). Sailors are Mats Oljons (blue) and Ola Helenius (orange).

Freakout from kulingvarning.nu on Vimeo.

Butterfly Effect

2009-09-30T12:25:00.002-10:00

Once again Juliana leads the way in inviting women to the water with the latest Butterfly Effect event. Our importer Rani will be on hand to demo out the latest 2010 gear and to help the ladies in their adventure down the coast. To learn more, visit:
http://windmanas.blogspot.com/2009/09/schedule-butterfly-effect-israel-09-and.html

How to break a mast extension.

2009-08-31T14:27:00.006-10:00

A great day before the real waves hit. Perfect to go over the handlebars and break a mast extension.
Isn't it great when the owner of the company gets to do this! Real testing. Good strong Hot Rod 400!
(Managed to still sail in and no board or sail damage!)

More Bonaire

2009-08-03T12:21:00.003-10:00

These posts are little belated, oh well.
After a long first day, Kyla and I were welcomed into the Sonrisa Hotel and what a nice surprise to have such deluxe yet simple accommodations. Near town, and quiet with wild parrots flying in to visit each morning. Very nice. Great European breakfasts too.

After sleeping in way too long the next morning, I got Kyla on the water and headed to the ProKids Freestyle event again for the final day.
The level was nuts. Kiri had come back for for the weekend, and Bjorn was matching his moves and throwing some of his own. The younger sailors seemed almost more competitive with a larger fleet and the 10-15 years old sailing level was shockingly high. Here Steven Max, the newest Hot Sails Maui team member flys by, while Amado Vriswlik throws a flaka. Did I mention the wind was only about 10-12knts and they throw this stuff? Not bad for 11 and 13 year olds.
The pictures of the awards, do not do the event justice. The live band pumping the local caribbean speed pulse, and the food and drink and the thousand people who were there to celibrate. Even the island's beauty queen was there to present the awards! Ah, to be 12 again!

Saragosa tries the big time!

2009-07-28T13:25:00.002-10:00

Long time Hot Sails Maui rider Bjorn Saragosa from Bonaire is testing his moves against the world's best this week in the Canary Islands Feurteventura World cup. At 17 he is a well seasoned competitor on the Caribbean event scene, but this is his debut for the professional world. At the moment, he has knocked out one foe, but meets his sailing buddy Kiri next! Bjorn going for a sick Flacka or similar in the strong winds of Feurteventura. He is our 2010 BOLT freestyle wave sail tester and is stoked with all the new room to maneuver under the boom. According to Bjorn the new sail has sick "pop".