Up, down and up again in Germany

The European Championship Speed Tour in Germany is finally over and it was a mentally rollercoaster. The duration of the event was eight days. The longest contest I have ever entered. First some words about the place and the organisation. We stayed and sailed at a small fishing village, Orth at the island of Fehmarn. Three restaurants, two cafés, one bar and three surf shops, that´s probably all you need. The geography of the village is that it is surrounded by a long low peninsula and inside it is shallow water. Perfect for speedsurfing. 

We, Daniel Borgelind and I, stayed in a huge apartment overlooking the event area. Perfect. The German “ordnung” also impresses me. The event tent with the race office for example was solid and had everything we needed. And when it comes to the “fin-talk” (obligatory at all speed contests), they had a doctor in fluid dynamics that held an hour workshop about the subject. About 50 participants where competing in the event.

The week started slowly with a heat wave and no racing on Saturday and Sunday, but on Monday the wind picked up.

The organizers decided to do a fun-race, a little unnecessary I thought, but afterwards I think it was the right decision. We (Daniel Borgelind and I) went out with 9,5 and had some fun. We thought we were the fastest of the day, but one German guy, Michael Naumann (also on Loft Sails) was on top.

Zara Davis and me enjoying life, (with a glove on left hand)

On Tuesday (my wedding anniversary) we sailed 2 heats. The first was in winds around 18-22 knots and I sailed my Loft Racing Blade 8.6 and CA SP63. A perfect combo for light wind speeds. I won the heat with some margin. The organizer decided that it was not valid afterwards, but according to the international rules with 20% of the sailors, over 28 knots in average, it was valid. (Actually 80% was over 28 knots). In the afternoon the wind picked up. I went out testing my 7.8 sail before the start, but it was too small. When the heat started I was fighting my way down the course with my 8.6 in 37 knots in top speed. I did 2 quick runs and went ashore and switched to 7.8 again. 

In the middle of the heat I had a terrible crash. Hooked in I went through the sail and got stuck with my head down in the water, with my arms on the other side of the sail. It was a close call and I almost drowned. I fought for my life. But at my third attempt I got up on my feet. Relieved it ended with a broken sail, I thought. But when I looked at my left hand the ring finger could not move. The organizer was very helpful an drove me to the hospital and after some hours with X-ray and more, I ended up with a straight finger for 9 weeks…  

It has to be exactly fixed all the time. Depressing when leading the event. I desperately asked the doctor, could I continue to windsurf? You could try, he said. But to be honest, when the ring finger is straight you cannot use more than the thumb and the index finger. Depressing, even if I was sharing the lead with David Garell.

Carbon Art SL 55, Loft Sails Racing Blade 7.0. Photo Pete Davis

On Wednesday the wind had picked up to 30 knots, but the water level was very low. They decided to start a heat anyway, and I made a plastic package of the finger and bought a neoprene glove to keep everything in place. Normally I would sail my 7.8 and SP53 in these conditions, but that sail was wrecked so I went out with my precious Carbon Art SP55 (extremely fast slalom board) and a 7.0. We sailed on a 500-meter course and there were big holes in the wind down the course. It was hard to sail with the finger, especially to jibe. But I did 4 good runs with speeds around 35 knots. I had delivered with a bad finger and I could exhale, BUT. The red flag came up! The organizer closed the course because of low wind, the heat was cancelled. One hour of waiting and then the new heat started. I had to go out again. That was tough. The water was even lower, so I sailed light on the feet, but it was super flat and I enjoyed every run.

I ended up winning the heat, and that put me into the lead alone. 

We spend the rest of the evening getting things to fix my broken 7.8 for the next day and also getting better gloves for my hand. Daniel spent some hours with my sail and at 12.00 PM the sail looked OK.

The last day with wind was Friday. My tactic was to be out on the water and do some safe runs and try to stay top 5. When one of the top guys went in a gust, I went after. With one more run we would have the first discard. But at the start of the first heat I noticed a new problem, the important batten over the boom was broken. I tensioned the battens above and below to maximum, to get a better shape. It worked but it was almost impossible to rotate. The only choice left was to fight with the 8.6, and I managed a 4:th and a 6:th place (and the last I could discard). That put me up to the top (9,4 points) ahead of Manfred Merle (10,7) and Daniel Borgelind on third (12). Close battle! I am very happy to win a major speed event; it is actually the first time I have won! Speed:World:Cup.com

Gold, and Bronze to Sweden!

And on Friday we packed and after noon we headed back to Sweden, and I managed to get to my daughters birthday party. Thanks everyone that helped me around the accident, Rosie, Zara, Pete and Daniel. 

3 Fast Weeks at Karpathos

Back home after 3 great weeks at Karpathos in Greece. 17 days on the water and almost 900 logged kilometres at speeds between 35 and 43 knots. This was the 3:rd year in a row and for me the weeks at Karpathos is very special in many ways. I get the opportunity to test trimming and I can improve my small gear sailing. I brought 3 speed boards and one small slalom board, four sails, five masts and 40 fins. The conditions are very demanding with gusty winds around 20-45 knots, 5-9 Bft.

The last 2 years I have arranged an event called King of Paradise. The event site is Karpathosspeed.com

This pic is not Photoshopped!

 It is a GPS-event and we count the best 250-meter runs. That format is quite demanding because if you want to perform you have to be on the water as much as possible. You never know when the best gusts will come. Still I find it relaxed, and it always nice with some competition when you do speedwindsurfing.

Training camp

I am very happy with my sailing in Karpathos this year. I do not get many days with small speed gear so it very learning to get that many windy days in a row. It is like a training camp with the best mates in the world. This year I also had great help from Dirk Jan Knol with trimming my new sails from the Loft Sails. I did six new PB (personal best) and finished third in King of Paradise all three racing weeks, and was the fastest of the day a few times (which wasn´t easy with top world cup sailors as Dirk Jan Knol, Daniel Borgelind, Markus Emanuelsson and Magnus Bengtsson). Also fast "locals" like Nick Vardalachos and Panagiotis Drakopoulos where sailing with us.

Some reflections

At gusty spots where you need good upwind properties and high speed in the acceleration into high-speed, a small slalom board could be easier and faster than a speed board in the same size. I ended up sailing my Carbon Art SL55 rather than the SP53. With the SL55 I logged speeds over 42 knots and 10-second average over 40. Another reflection, I found the C3 Venom and Black Project Type S, the best fins in my quiver. (I sailed with 6 different top-fin-brands).

PROS and CONS with 3 weeks at Karpathos

+ I got very fit

+ Developed my small gear sailing enormous

+ Very good food

+ Airport pick up and storage and resque by Chris Schill

+ New PS´s

+ Great sailing mates

+ Competitive racers

+ Windy

+ Technical spot

+ UFO at Bella Karpathos Pizzeria in Pigadia

+ All people on the island are very nice and true friendly

+ My family loves the island

- Sharp and slippery rocks

- Short speed strip

- Technical spot

- 3 weeks slips away too fast

- 48 weeks until I go back again

And a video of a "standard" + 40 knots run, Carbon Art SP44, Loft Racing Blade 6,3

Packing for Karpathos

- 

Give advice to other experienced sailors is often not necessary. But going to Karpathos is a bit different. Even if you have been there before you might forget about the demanding conditions. Gusty offshore winds with 30-50 knots and 30 C and sunny. A lot more wind and temperature than what Windguru indicates.

Here is my list:

- Boards: 44 and 53 cm wide, 65 and 83 litres

- Sails: 6,3 and 7,0 (You can go down and up one size on the boards and sails if you bring more than two, I bring 4 sails and boards)
- 26, 28 and 30 cm fins, standard speedfins, i.e Tectonics, C3 Venom, BPF Type S or Deboichet UW,

- One extra mast, i.e. an extra 430 might be very useful

- Check or replace all your mast foot-tendon joints

- Change all harness lines to NP vario (they breaks in the worst catapults)

- Bring a weight vest or something other vest that floats

Add always 5-10 knots

- A helmet (we riding against the rocks)

- No wetsuit is needed, but thin shoes are nice

- Camelback, when it is not the World cup no caddies will serve any water

- Energy powder

- A lot of guts!

The new fence

The fence to the neighbour is completed. Well, maybe a few boards need do be replaced some day, but I think they will do the work until next summer or even until 2013. That´s the upside with sailing on Carbon Art. The boards are so extremely well built, that they stay in shape even if I use them a lot. It will be interesting to see how the slalomboards works. I get sometimes a bit tired of some sponsored sailors that on different forums raise all their boards to the stars. Some of them have no idea what quality is and what boards works best. But myself I have definitely found my home now. I will never ever sign any top contract again and race with boards that not perform 100%. Carbon Art does not sponsor their sailors. (But I do not say that I never ever will ride other boards!).
I know that some are saying that I have too many boards. Yes I admit I have. I think there are about 25 boards around in my house, garage and trailer and I use only about ten. But some boards cannot ever be sold. I will write a blog post about those boards when it becomes colder…! By the way, my wife got more books this week than I have Carbon Arts, read about that here.

New speed fins from Maui

These last weeks before going to Karpathos some goods arrives almost every day. Masts, boards, boardbags, GPS, nutrition drinks etc. And today some interesting new fins. Black Project Fins has proven to build the best slalom fins I ever used and now they have built some new speed fins. I have never seen such high quality fins before, so it will be interesting to try them. The models are X40 and X45, which stands for the expected speed! They are about 215mm and 225 mm deep and are the new modern design with a wider base. They are very thin but also assy. Karpathos is a place where we sail around 37-42 knots but also choppy and tought upwind. I hope they will work OK upwind. In worst case I might have to switch fins at the start!

The new RIB is all about speedsurfing

Only a few speed spots in the world is safe when the wind is hauling with 40-50 knots. 

On many spots that we are sailing at, it is offshore winds and it is often 1000 km to the next shore. And some spots are not accessible with cars. You either have to walk for hours or sail very far. Some spots needs to be pre-checked before you do a + 40 knots run. Some spots needs the obstacles to be marked before you sail. Sometimes you need to put out buoys to mark gates for speed-courses. And sometimes when you arrange an event the wind is at another part of the country. It is like the same idea as when you see Robby at Jaws on a jetski, it is nice with support and resque. That why we, the serious speed sailors, need boats and that’s why I bought a new RIB. But it took a while before I found it. 

First checking the Internet of used Zodiacs in Sweden. But they where all quite expensive. It ended up in buying a brand new. The local dealer offered me a Zodiac 550 Pro Open, with Evinrude 90hp and a trailer for over 35.000 EUR. But checking around on the web, I found Chas Newens Marine in London and they offered me the boat for a lot less. So now I have the tool for exploring new spots. The west of Sweden has 10.000´s of small islands…! (The RIB might be use for family trips too!)

karpathosspeed.com

OK, it is less than 3 weeks left before I return to the Paradise. And I have to admit that I do not only love to enjoy the sun, food, all friends and the turquoise water. Most of all I enjoy to compete. And the best summer in my life so far was in 2009 when I participated in the Speed World Championship on my holiday. I was a beginner and it was just for fun. Over 100 speedsailing days later I will return for the third time. In the middle of the financial crisis there will not be any major event in the island of Karpathos this year either. But still this is the perfect place for a speedcontest. Paradise Bay is 900 meters from  the airport, with one storage booth for every rider containing up to 5-6 rigs and all boards you need. And in the end of the speedstrip there is a huge veranda/stand where you could watch the race from the shadow. 5-6 days a week the wind is roaming with 30-50 knots from the island.
So the last year and and also this year I arrange "King of Paradise". If you want to do some serious speeding this summer please join me to Paradise Bay!! Here is the event site!

Time for windsurfing

(this watch is junk, also outdoorgb.com that sold it)

Sometimes I get the question, "Are you professional and windsurf full time?” I smile, but that is a relevant question if you know that I spend around 80-110 days on the board a year. Especially if you are aware of that Sweden not is the most consistent windy place and the sea has ice for 3-5 months during the winter...
The truth is that I have an ordinary job running an advertising agency. But there are some tricks to get that many days on the water. The most important; live and work close a proper (speed) windsurfingspot.

It should be easy to sneak out before work or in the evening and set some 37 knots run without spending hours in the car. Most of us windsurfers have family obligations. I have a very understanding wife and kids, (only Roger van Tongeren in Holland that can beat me in that discipline I guess). But even with a family with that mind-set it is good to have the possibility sneak out early or late. I love those days when I start the day with 2 fast hours in the water before 9 AM or end the day with some hours after 8 PM. In that way I get 50-70 days a year on my home water. Then I try doing some travelling with my gear. Last year Egypt, Norway, Greece, England, France and Australia. That adds the about additional 20-40 days. So I see myself as a pro - windsurf-time finder. 

PS Do never give priority to dead things such as houses, gardens or other time-stealing projects!!!

New speed rules tested in Klagshamn

Last weekend we sailed 2 international and one national speed contests in Klagshamn in the very south of Sweden. All contests where sailed during the same time, but different classes and rules in each contest. The easiest rules was the Heineken Trophy Match -  Sweden vs Nederland, where the top 5 sailors from each countries 250 meter average speeds where counted together. I sailed well in the only valid heat. 31,4 knots in about 18-20 knots of wind and I scored the second best speed in that heat. We, the top 5 swedes, managed an average speed of 31.2 versus 28 knots for the 5 guys from Nederland.

The second contest was the Swedish Speed Tour. 26 competitors had paid the membership-fee to the national Swedish federation. This year the rules has been changed so they would be as close to the international as possible. A 250 meter run on a fixed course, and minimum 20% of the fleet have to do 3 runs over 28 knots. We started 9 heats but only 3 where validated with the new rules. I did not win any heat and ended on a clear 4^th place. I did my best and I am quite happy with the result.

The third contest was the European Championship Speedwindsurfing Tour.

Ten male competitors had paid the membership-fee to the ISWC. 2 x 250 meter run on a fixed course, and minimum 20% of the fleet has to do 3 runs over 28 knots. This turned out to be a very special game. With only 10 men it only needed 2 guys to validate a heat. During the first heat last day I did three +28 knots runs. But the heat where not valid beacuse not 20% of the fleet did not do 3 runs. All that I needed was one other guy that sailed an extra 28-knots lap. Easy. That could have switches some places in the final results-list... I do not know why that did not happened. Tactical reasons maybe?
And in the last heat there were only 0,06 knots between me on 4^th place and Marcus on the 2:nd. We all had 30,5 knots avarage on 2 x 250 meters. The margin of error for a GT31 GPS-unit is… a lot more than 0,06 knots. So when I conclude this event; I sailed very well, but did not score 100% in the results. Ended up 4:th in this contest too. Results here.  Next time the luck might be on my side! Anyway, I am extremly happy with my gear this year. The Loft Sails and Carbon Art boards rocks!


more video here

Trailer love

I have written a blog post about Surf Mobiles. 
Some people mixed that expression up with practical vehicles that transport the gear to surf. For me that is something different. I myself like trailers. I have seen a lot of them in England and also some in Australia. It is perfect to have everything in order and it is so easy just to hook on to the car and go. It is also good that the gear can be wet without damaging the car. Just one con, in most countries there is a speed limit. So for long road trips I usually go by a van.

2500% CARBON - MASTS, MASTS & MASTS

I have to admit that I sometimes have a little too much gear. But when it comes to masts it is good to collect a few. The basics are to use the mast the sail maker recommends.

But here is a big but. No sail is developed for all conditions, sailor’s weights, riding style or intend of use. Most sails are tested for slalom, some brands have only heavy sailors, some have lighter. Many are doing the test-work at Kanaha on Maui. I guess some avoid the 9,5m2 days, and they never have flat water. 


In the eighties I was sailing raceboard with sails from Tushingham, their racing sail was terrible and the only mast that made the sail work OK was Serfiac Pro Lite with the top cut off 30 cm. Took a while to find that out and hard and expensive to get the masts from France.

The last years when I was sailing Naish I found out that the sails worked better with softer masts, especially in the top of the sail. That may sounds weird since I am a heavy guy, and when it was possible I used RDM even on the big sails. Now when I am on The Loft Sails, where all sails comes with both RDM and SDM-cambers, I thought RDM would be perfect for me, but the SDM-masts are faster on all kind of sailing. (So far).

For most sailors the recommended masts will do the work. Especially if you are into slalom and not are committed to find the extra knot on the top.

The general rule is light riders - soft masts, and heavy – stiffer. But remember it could be the opposite. When it comes to tuning the sail, it is good the have some ideas and basic knowledge in sail design. You also have to know what you are looking for. Low-end acceleration, middle-end acceleration, top-speed, control etc. I.e. the right mast can give you the turbo-kick you want when the gust comes!

Don’t be afraid to test softer or stiffer masts in your sail. Sometimes you find a golden nugget. That nugget could help you mentally when you race. And if you think that you are fast, you will be fast too!

Cutting down trees is all about speedsurfing

At my local beach we do not have a speed strip. With speed strip I mean a sandbank, a shoreline or a wave breaker that takes out the waves and chops. Instead we are sailing in the shallow part of the Kungsbacka Fjord. The major disadvantage with that are about 500 rocks that are hidden below the surface. My first year speed sailing I damages about 40 fins. That’s not OK. So 2009 I bought 100 sticks that is made to mark the roads during the wintertime. It was hard work to mark every stone, using my old Mistral Equipe as SUP. 

But the idea was to do it well and that the sticks would stay for some years. 2009 I only broke about 10 fins. Last year I bought an old Zodiac Mark 1 from the fire-brigade. Unfortunately all sticks from 2009 was gone because of the cold winter w Then ith thick ice. Anyway I marked about 150 stones and no fin was damages. this year we had another bad winter, so now the stone-marking season just has begun. When its low water, sunny (easier to se the stones) and no wind, you know what I am doing!

Much wind but not much speed

Photos by Lars Bjärkling, more pics on http://s-72.blogspot.com/

Speedwindsurfing is in some way like playing golf. You think you got it, but sometimes it is hard to do it well. The season has just started at my beach and we all are new in the game for the season. The last two days we have had gusty wind 15-40 knots from NW. The water level have been high and that makes it choppy. But we have the best boards for cutting chops Carbon Art Sp53 and 44, so that shouldn´t be a big problem. Still up to 1 meter chops and 2-3 meters apart, that was too much for me. With flatter water 40 knots would have been possible but I didn´t dare to go for it, 35,3 in topspeed and around 34 knots on the reaches. Days like this it´s not at all important with batten-tension and others small details, it´s all about guts and backbone. To be fast in chops you need to train the body to react without engaging the brain. You pass 5-6 chop-waves every second and the feet and legs need to know what to do. What I need is to train a lot more to be confident in chops again and I also wish to sails some flatter water, maybe a trip to Öland or Holland soon!

POLYPROPYLENE - read my words!

Polypro also shape up the body...!

I live in Sweden. It is a country where one third of the land area is above the Artic Circle. That means that it is pretty cold most of the time. Still I windsurf everyday when it is no ice on the sea. (And there is enough wind off course). We never sail without a wetsuit, even in the summer. For me the most important part of the windsurfing equipment is the wetsuit (or wetsuits to be correct). Until now. By a coincidence I passed Quiksilver´s outlet in Melbourne in January, and I happened to pick a black rash guard. What I did not know was that the material wasn’t Lycra. It was Polypropylene. Probably not a blockbuster in Australia because it is extremely hot. And when I tried it at home under my Neil Pryde Elite I almost was boiling even when I was surfing in water with ice blocks. A week ago I also bought a pair of Polypro shorts from Billabong. They where not is thick as the Quik-rash but still quite warm. Yesterday I sailed for 3 hours and when I went in it was snowing a lot. I guess most people would consider it a cold day. But with polopro, nothing is cold anymore. My advice; Polypro are very very very good products! 
Extremely much better than a neoprene rash vest and another universe compared with a Lycra vest.

The trimming season has begun

I have no intention to write boring blog posts of every surf session I do. I found all these blogs about "today I sailed with xxx and yyy, very conform. Who bothers? But I note that my trail and error season started yesterday. The new Lofts Sails has the same basic construction as I am used to with the Stealth´s. Although the downhaul and twist are a little more controllable on the Loft´s. Yesterday I tried some different downhaul settings for RDM-masts. A good thing with the Loft is that every sail has a tool for adjusting the battens, integrated at the foot of the sail.

Twist: The Loft Racing Blade vs Neil Pryde Evo II

I was lucky to have a photographer on site. That’s very helpful for documenting the trim and twist of the sail (thanks Henrick). Also tested some new Black Project slalom fins on the speed boards. Unfortunately the wind was not consistent when I tried their speed fins. 
I am grateful that I used Prydes vario harness lines yesterday. (They break easy). I had a very bad catapult fall and the boom head, harness line and a rib was damaged. If the first two not had broken, it would probably ached more in the chest. Today it hurts some when I breathe, but that’s what speed sailing is about, “not guts no glory”. Season has started!

Where is the f:cking harness?

It was not the first time, and probably not the last either...I went for some cruising today, the forecast said the wind would die in the afternoon, but if I was quick out, I might get an hour of decant sailing. We also expected guests this afternoon, so I had to hurry. At my beach at home we still have ice, so I had to drive for about 45 minutes. When everything was ready and I just had the harness left, I could not find it. F:ck! I have a trailer and I have everything in places. I usually have one extra harness. But obviously not today...

The first time a forgot some windsurfing equipment was when I went to my first big national event in the mid eighties. But my dad went to the railway station and two hours later I could pick up my wetsuit from the locomotive almost 300 km from home, at no cost. Almost like a time machine! But today I went swimming instead to writ of some energy…

PS, now I have two harnesses in the trailer again.

Surf-mobiles of the future

Surfspeed in Hyundai centerstack

When I started to windsurf, I was 15 years old and I did not have a car (nor a driving-licence). And my parents minded their own interests, so I had to sail to the best spots with a much bigger board than I really wanted. Sometimes I took our dingy to transport the "sinker"-equipment. But when I turned 18 the world of nice spots opened up. So for me the car is very important tool to execute our sport. Last week I visited 81st Geneva International Motor Show. I want to share my favourite cars from the exhibition. In general the Geneva Auto Show consists of sporty luxury cars, crossovers and a lot of mainstream cars. But I found some "surfish" highlights.

Click to enlarge

One concept surf-car that I like is the VW Bulli. (By the way, I wonder if they picked the name "Bulli" from the town in NSW Australia?). All seats can be folded flat, big enough for two to sleep in. The VW Bulli is a clean concept car in two ways, the design is very retro and modest. And it is electrical powered. I like!

Another nice concept surf  car is Renault Capture. It is more a cross-over but it is quite big and looks like a car to ride to the beach and back. And the seats will work well for dripping wetsuits too. Renault showed also family bus called R-space. Nice, but not so much ”want to buy-feeling”.

But my favourite concept surf-mobile of all times, is still the Volvo XC70 Surf Rescue that was revealed at the SEMA-show in Las Vegas 2007. A kitesurfer named Joel Alexandersson has designed it. Guess somewhere inside me it lives a  fireman, policeman ambulance-driver or a lifeguard…
What´s your surf-dream-car?
(PS A definition of a Surf Car: here)

Iceblock sailing

My daughter told me the other day that it will be windy on Saturday, "20 knots. Is that much?" "It´s not much but it is OK", I replied. I also looked in that paper and noted that the forecast not only promised wind, but sun and "high" temperature (+5 C, 41 F).  But the tricky part was, where could I find open water? Thanks to Facebook, a friend helped me to some spot-checking. And on Saturday off I went. 
But sailing in cold water (0 C or 32 F) requires more preparations than usual. Here is my checklist. A very good wetsuit. But inside I wear a heater rash ( NOT neoprene) and two heating pads in a belt that I can activate in emergency by pushing through the suit. On my feet I wear very warm boots and on my hands gloves with modified open palms. But apart from that I have also packed my weight vest with warm energy drink in a camelback, extra energy bars, and in my aquapac I also have a mobile phone (no SIM-card only for emergency-calls) except of my GPS. And not forget a big helmet that fits on top of the hood.

On the water I use more slalom setup (if the water is deep). With slalom I mean a bigger board and a smaller sail than I use in the same wind for speed. The idea with that combo is to avoid swimming as much as possible. With open palms, it helps to have a carbon boom.

OK, how did the premiere turn out then? Well it was warm, almost too warm (the rash did the job very well). An unexpected obstacle where that there ice blocks floating everywhere, much more than I thought. So the sailing was more ice block slalom than pushing high speed. But it was fun, and a guy from the local newspaper turned up by a coincidence and did an interview and took some pics. And one more thing, the new fin gave the Naish SP135 new life! Made the big board feel a lot smaller.

Karpathos calling

I would like to announce that there will be a speed-event 2011 at one of the best speed-spots in the world. Afiarti, Karpathos, Greece. Also known as Devils- or Paradise bay. The event will take place in early August 6-10:th, between the two PWA-events at Fuerteventura and Alicate. The outline is to host a European Speed Championship Tour-event. But since the prize-money from 2009 not have been paid yet, the ISWC will not give any speedevent in Karpathos that status at the moment. I hope we will have positive news about that before May. But an event will take place no matter of that, and we will race during 5 days for a Trophy. The format will be heats on a fixed 250-meter course along the beach and we will use GT11 or GT31 GPS for the timing. Officially I, with my club are the organizer. But if we manage to solve the 2009-debt, I will bring experienced staff from Sweden to manage the event.

For me Karpathos is just no any beach, it is a very emotional place. Thats where I made my international speed-debute and it is also a special place because of the unique atmosphere. The island is in a very much way unexploited and therefore also welcome us, the windsurfers, to come and compete. And at no other place you have a fixed speedstrip with a public gallery with shadows and chairs, storage for 250 rigs and 150 boards at the shoreline and 99 % wind exceeding 6 beaufort every day!

You can follow information about this on Facebook at this event side. By joining the Facebook-event we also can show the Municipal of Karpathos that if they solve the economics we will come.
The official event site is KARPATHOSSPEED.COM