Wind!

The wind is back in Pozo Izquierdo, nothing spectacular at the moment, 4,7-4,2 this afernoon, some of the pros doing slalom on 7,0 and the forecast looks really promising for the weekend.

CanariasJazz

Next Friday starts the FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL CANARIAS JAZZ & MÁS HEINEKEN, to see the artists, concerts and all the information click here. In this photo, Esperanza Spalding one of the stellar performances from last years edition.

PWA Costa Teguise World Cup

Today starts the freestyle competition in Lanzarote, the wind is picking up but not strong enough at the moment (by the way, the wind is finaly back in Pozo, now sailing with 5,3-4,7) but looks promising for this afternoon. For more info click here.

Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro

Almost all the favourites are in the third round of the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro 09, with the exception of Dane Reynolds who lost his round 2 match up against Tiago Pires and will be 33rd (last) for the third time in 3 events this year. On the other hand, Kelly Slater after losing in first round using a borrowed board from Fred Patacchia (his boards arrived later) made a great second round heat, this time with one of his boards, a self-shaped asymmetrical quad.

Wind

Looks like the wind is coming back, Wednesday looks good and maybe we can start sailing on Tuesday with big sails. The long term forecast looks really promising, with strong winds and good waves for the weekend, but it's still a little bit early to count on that.

June

2006

2007
2008
TODAYIn my 13 years on the island I have never seen a June like the one we are having this year, and asking the oldest locals, they don't remember something like this ever happened, but if we look at the forecast, the first days of July could be spectacular.

Home

The movie "Home", directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and produced by Luc Besson, a warning about the health of the planet, up here you can see the trailer and if you want to see the movie in full screen click here.

New format for the freestyle

Next week starts the PWA event in Lanzarote and there are some changes for the freestyle competition according to PWA rulebook:

Freestyle contests will be judged primarily using the “Best Move Format” but if required then the Race Committee may elect to run on the “Overall Impression” format

Best Move Format
The Head Judge, in consultation with the committee, shall decide upon a maximum number of manoeuvres that a competitor may attempt during a heat. This may be a maximum number of manoeuvres in total, or a maximum number on each tack. From this maximum number of manoeuvres, the Head Judge shall specify how many manoeuvres are to count towards the result of the heat.

For example, the Head Judge may specify a maximum of 8 manoeuvres on each tack of which the best 5 on each tack shall be taken into account when giving scores at the end of the heat.

The judges shall then observe the heat, noting down the manoeuvres each sailor performs.

Once a competitor has completed or attempted the maximum number of moves on each tack, the judges shall no longer score them for the remainder of that heat. A sailor may continue to perform in the interests of putting on a show for the public, provided that they do not inhibit any other competitor in the heat.

Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro

Tomorrow starts in Imbituba (Brasil) de fourth stop of the ASP world tour (WCT).

Victor at home

Víctor Fernández just edited this short clip from the amazing session they had on April 25th at homa (Almería), if you want to watch more videos from Victor or the photos from that session click here.

Evening session

Kauli Seady arrived this afternoon, was late and conditions were nothing speciall, but he rigged his 4,5 and went for a late session anyway. We all wanted to see his quads but he went in a more classic single fin.

School is over

Kids start the summer holiday season, so happy faces on the water this morning from the younger ones. To see more photos of the session click here.

Power

When I saw this yesterday couldn't trust my eyes, Bjorn towing a guy tied to his harness!!! And look at the photo (click to enlarge) the guy is nearly as big as Bjorn.

They are here

Bjorn Dunkerbeck

Kai Lenny

Brawzinho
The cicus is in town! Most of the pros are already in Pozo Izquierdo, we will be publishing photos day to day and for sure we will do something special in this blog during the competition.

Strange summer day

The longest day of the year had a little bit of everything, dawned sunny and windy, but when I entered the water, my 4.7 was already too small, but Robby Swift and Ross Williams were flying with their slalom equipment. At mid-afternoon the wind was completely gone and the beach was filled with bathers and people sunbathing, but when we thought our chances of sailing had definitely gone, the wind started to blow again and I don’t know where they came from, but in about 10 minutes there were already 30 windsurfers on the water with sails between 4.5 and 5 just to finish the afternoon with an amazing sunset (of which there is no picture because I was in the water too) by then I was really powered up with 4.7. In summary, the day of the year with more hours of light, has given much.

4,7

Blue sky and windy, I'm rigging 4,7 and rush to the water, after a week with variable and inconsistent winds, I just can't wait.

Trade winds

After a couple of days with light winds from the other side (South) looks like trade winds will be back this weekend.Jonas sailing in Pozo with south wind.

Daniell Bohnhoff

Daniell is the sail maker in Pozo Izquierdo, he came from Berlin 5 years ago and is one of those guys who never misses a strong wind session in Pozo.Sponsors: Quatro International, MFC, Iriedaily, Sykum, Simmer Style (Cutre)
-How did all started?
-I started windsurfing at 11, my uncle was a windsurf teacher in the north of Germany, on the Baltic Sea. He invited to go to the Baltic Sea to try it, and the first time I tried I sailed for about twenty meters and I was like “aaaaahhhh, cooool !!!!” so after that holyday I was like, ok, I will be by the sea when I’m big, so when I finished school, I was looking for a job related with water sports something close to the sea where I could be sailing, So I was looking for a job as boat builder, sail maker, something like that, and the first I found was as a sail maker, I called the company and they said me “ok, you can start”.

-So, you started as a beginner knowing nothing?
-Nothing, I just knew something about windsurfing and sailing, and my boss told me “that’s ok, if you know something about sails and water spots that’s enough, you can start”, so I started to study sail making, it was three years, and was perfect, but in Germany you have some nice days for windsurfing in spring and fall, but that’s all, so you don’t improve… so that were my beginnings with windsurfing and sail making.-Was that the reason to come to the Canary Islands?
-No, a friend and me were looking somewhere to go sailing in wintertime, and I was here in 2000 with my family on holydays, and I knew Pozo from the magazines and I was really impressed, so two years later my friend and I decided to come on holydays, he found the website from Cutre and was calling me all the time “look the webcam, look the conditions, they are sailing all the time!” and we said, ok, lets go, but the flights were really expensive so we said, ok we cancel this, maybe next summer, and then, he called me one day in March 2004, he said “look at the website from Cutre, they are looking for a sail maker” and I said “no!! really!!” and then I wrote an e-mail to Jonas (Cutre) and write afterwards, like 10 or 15 minutes later he answered me “when can you start?” and I said, ok, come on, it’s now or never.
I was thinking about it that night, I called my parents to know what they thought about it, and they said “you are young, you are single what do you have to loose? Nothing” so I finished everything, I went to my boss, it was the beginning of the season in Germany, he totally freaked out and said “ok, what can I do, go and make your experience” so I packed everything and came here.

-And how is it now over here?
-Jonas said me at the beginning the work was for 18 months, but as you can see, I’m still here, and its five years (laughs).

-Is Pozo a good place for sail repair?
-jajajaj for sure.

-Is any reparation more usual than others?
-Mostly it’s really similar, but sometimes can be really difficult, when it’s broken from the leech to the mast sleeve it’s almost finished, but you can fix it, I would say, not any sail, but most of them are fixable.

And now to finish, a small windsurfing test:

Favourite spot in the Island: Pozo
Favourite spot in the world: I still haven’t gone to so many places (I will) but Klitmoller is also a nice place.
Favourite manoeuvre: Ponch and Back loop, high back loops.
Jumping or wave riding: uf… jumping
Favourite local windsurfer: Jonas Ceballos
Favourite windsurfer in the world: Jonas Ceballos
Twinzer or single: Single, in Pozo single.
Favourite sail size: 3,7

If you want to know more about Daniell, go to

http://www.daniellbohnhof.com/
http://www.hookahii.com/

New photos

Plenty of photos from last week, if you want to see all the action click HERE.

Live Ticker Costa Brava

John Sky is doing a great job in Costa Brava working on-line with the LIVE TICKER. You can also send him questions for the competitors and he will ask them and post the answers on-line, so if you want to know what's going on in the PWA event in Costa Brava (where conditions start looking good right now)) clicl HERE.

Rodeo flip

Saturday with no wind

Saturday with no wind in Pozo Izquierdo, looks like we are having the classic low at this time of the year, just before the trade winds start to blow ustoppable during all the summer.
Unfortunately the same happened in Costa Brava, they had no wind today in the PWA event, but looks like they have a good forecast for tomorrow, last day of competition.

PWA Catalunya Costa Brava

Fourth day of competition at the PWA Catalunya Costa Brava, no wind during the morning but a great afternoon of slalom action, they nearly did a full round, reaching the second semi final, where we have Bjorn Dunkerbeck and Antoine Albeau, waiting for tomorrow. Here you have the video provided by PWA/Tonix.

As always you have all the information at www.pwaworltour.com

Evening session

This morning we were sailing in Pozo Izquierdo, the wind was a little bit gusty but waves were really fun, but for the afternoon session as the wind turned more north (wich means even more gusty) we decided to check some alternative spots along the cosat with the guys from Four Dimensions who are filming in Gran Canaria for a couple of weeks.

The shot

Sometimes, something unexpected makes special a photo that would be nothing great without it, I'm not saying the backloop from Pablo Ruiz or the aerial from Victror Fernandes aren't good, but it's the combination of both in this shot taken a couple hours ago that captures my atention. Later on I will post more photos from this session.

Kelly's boards

Kelly Slater have been using some "extrange" boards for about 6 monts now, and created a lot of expectation about it. In this clip, Damien Hobgood sees one on the beach and can't resist, so the "borrows" it.
If you want to know more about the Hobgoods, visit his blog, they have all kind of stuff, tips, fun videos, everyday life on the tour...

Amstel Surfilm Festibal

Tomorrow starts in San Sebastián the Amstel Surfilm Festibal nº 7, with european premieres of some of the best and most expected surf films of the moment, exhibitions, short film contest...
For more information surfilmfestibal.com

PWA Catalunya, Costa Brava

First day of competition at the Gulf of Roses, termical winds blowing between 10 and 15 knots allowed to run 4 heats, but then the wind died, so they had to postpone the competition for tomorrow, with the skippers meeting at 9:30. For more information and photos go to: PWAworldtour.com.

Arguineguin meeting

ADES CANARIAS. Meeting to talk about Arguneguin's project ( http://pozonews-en.blogspot.com/2009/05/arguineguins-death.html ) tomorrow tuesday 9th, at 21:00 pm at the University Surf School, Castillejo st nº 42, Las Palmas, next to El Pilar square, tel: 00 34 928 26 65 55.

Yesterday's session

Click on the photos to enlarge.