Bonaire boys cleaning up in Sylt

It could actually happen. The 1st double elimination round is over and Tati, Kiri and Tonky stand 1,2,3 respectively. If they finish the event off this way and keep Gollito down far enough in the rankings, the next PWA Champion could come from my favorite winter get-away, Boniare. Here's more info on the final freestyle event of the year:

Back to Back

Gotta love Heckscher and all it has to offer. Yesterday, the 28th, was a funky day at Heckscher. It was probably the worst day of the year there that had strong wind. The chop was coming from every angle, and the wind would go from 15 to 30 almost every single run. But it was still a blast. Any day we can get to do what we love is a blessing. Even though the conditions on Monday were far from optimal I would have sailed those conditions dozens of times to get a day like we had today. The sun was out, the wind was up, and I mean way up. 4.2 was the call all around and I was even forced down to the 3.7 at one point. The funky chop from yesterday got itself together to make beautiful ramps on the outside for port or starboard jumping. The inside just begged me to throw down some sick tricks. Chrissy made it to the beach and managed to get a lot of really nice shots from the window of the car. Plenty for me to throw together a quick little video from today. And George, (no, not Starfish George, vulcan George) screw the vulcan and go for some spocks! That Mistral Joker you've got is already doing the full 360, you just don't realize it. Flip the sail baby!!!!!
Enjoy!

Heckscher 29, 2009 from Mike Burns on Vimeo.

PWA Sylt

The final freestyle event of the PWA Tour is going on right now. So far the wind has been too light for competition. Gollito is currently in first place on the tour with Tonky and Kiri tied for second. It's the final event of the year so everything will be decided this week. You can follow the event live by clicking on the new PWA Ticker.

ABK, and the First day with the new stick

So I've got my new Nolimits masts and Andy Brandt is in town for the weekend giving a freestyle ABK camp. The clinic is held at Napeague about a 2 hour drive from our house. The wind had been cranking out there all morning, and i was finally able to make it out there around 2pm. Just in time for the wind to die. When I pulled up Andy was giving a looping clinic. It was awesome to see 12 or 15 guys sitting in a semi-circle not just listening to a great instructor, but all willing to listen about the lesson Andy was giving. To learn to loop! They were all also keen on learning vulcans. The number of locals willing to push themselves to the next level is growing every year, and I'm so happy to see these guys willing to push themselves. Freestyle is what's going to save this sport and pass it on to the next generation.
As the class went back out to try some light wind trickery from the "sail chi" master I couldn't help but rig up and go for a sail. My 5.3 was the biggest sail I had with me so it would be that with the 99 ltr Mistral joker (my favorite board ever)

I went with the Sumo masts from NoLimitz this year for my whole quiver. It's a little stiffer than the original skinny and I've been sailing more powered up than I used to, so I was thinking it was the right call. After an hour or so of playing around in the light wind, the wind finally started filling back in close to sunset. I saw the first burst of wind coming across the water and as soon as it hit me, I was off. I was fully powered on the 5.3 and the mast was definitely stiffer. I'm glad I got a chance to try it on the same sail I've been using all year so I could really get a feel for the mast. It seemed to give a more direct feel to the sail. The feeling of full power in the sail came much quicker. Overall, I really liked the new Sumo and would recommend it to those who want the best from their sails. I should also mention that the NoLimitz masts are much cheaper than many sail company manufacturers masts and in some cases perform even better than the masts made by your sail company. So if your in the market for a new skinny mast, check'm out. I know a couple of guys that have switched to NoLimitz even though they had good masts from their sails manufacturer.