Izaak Perkins is preparing take over the world of speed windsurfing. The 17-year-old rider from Tasmania, Australia, has been speeding up to the 44 knots very quickly, despite his very young age.
Izaak is the son of Anthony Perkins, an experience slalom and speed windsurfer. The young rider has been steadily improving his speed records and has already broken Australian records.
"I was gradually getting faster and faster and as soon as I hit 25 knots of speed, I borrowed a Hypersonic and, straight away, I hit 28 knots. I then sold my Hypersonic and got dad’s Falcon 91L board, my favourite board. I broke the 30-knot barrier with it", reveals Izaak Perkins.
In 2009, he joined Tassie Speed Seekers and the vice of speed hasn't been slowing down. One year later, Izaak tested the experience of sailing with 60-knot winds at Sandy Point, Victoria.
Snowboards are in the center of... water sports. It might sound strange, but the mountain is really meeting the beach. After the construction of the surfboad made for snowboarding, which was successfully tested by Rob Machado, it's time for another gear innovation.
The snowboard made for windsurfing has been invented. Krisjanis Tutans, Hot Sails Maui Latvian team rider, converted a snowboard for ice windsurfing."When wintertime comes, we have to think about different expressions of windsurfing. And one of them is snow surf, as we call it here in Latvia. Actually it's possible to do a lot of crazy things with it, mostly freestyle", tells Krish.
"It's also possible to build a kicker and jump. Forward loop is the first one which we have tried, but there is a thought also about Pushloop", he adds.
The 2012 Downunder Pro Formula Windsurfing Championships has kicked off in nuking wind and rain conditions. The forecasted 30-knot onshore winds and almost zero visibility on the course were the ingredients on offer to all racers.
The 58 competitors rigged an assortment of smaller sails as the wind continued to hammer down the course all afternoon and three races were knocked out over the afternoon.
Paulo Dos Reis, current World number one sailor from Brazil, dominated the first day of action with three wins from three starts, despite not actually passing the top mark in first position during any of the three races.
The Brazilian incredible speed downwind, muscling his 11.0m sail in the early races, before switching down to 10.0m allowed him to pass Jesper Vesterstrøm, from Denmark, who nailed two 2nd’s behind Dos Reis before a shaky double-gybe on the last mark in Race 3 put him back to fifth.
Brazilians Wilhelm Schurmann and Mathias Pinheiro had a consistent day despite the gusty and shifty winds and are currently sitting in third and fourth overall.
Antoine Albeau has conquered the inaugural 2012 Saint-Barth Fun Cup, a new international windsurfing contest with the world's best riders. The competition runs long distance and slalom races held between Grand Cul de Sac lagoon and St Jean Bay.
Everyone praised the weather conditions and the entire organization. Wind blew during all races and Kevi Pritchard was clearly stoked.
"Man, it really doesn’t get any better than this for slalom sailing. Imagine being on one of the most beautiful islands I have ever seen, staying in probably the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at, The Villa Lodge, and being surrounded by some very nice people. What a visit", said Pritchard.
Kurosh Kiani has signed a contract deal with Fanatic. The Danish windsurfer joined the brand's international team of riders. Kiani will be charging the race season on the renowned Falcon Slalom boards and will compete at the PWA Slalom World Tour and a few selected Danish and Nordic events.
"We have been watching Kurosh the last few seasons on the PWA Slalom Tour, noting with interest that his results have been steadily improving, but also his personality and marketing abilities being quite unique in the serious racer scene", says Craig Gertenbach, Fanatic Brand Manager.
"So whilst we expect him to make even more progress into the top 20 rankings on the PWA Tour in 2012, we also look forward to working together with Kurosh on various marketing initiatives, as we believe he can add another dimension to our racing image".
Italy will be hosting a new stage of the Professional Windsurfers Association World Tour stage, for the first time in 10 years.
The 2012 Reggio Calabria PWA Slalom World Cup has been added to the calendar of competition and windsurfers will have the opportunity to taste the warm weather of one of the oldest cities in Italy.
The windsurfing contest will be played between 19th-24th April on the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. Men and women divisions are planned and everyone should expect thermal winds.
Reggio Calabria is well known as one of Southern Italy’s premier windsurfing locations. The architecture and classical atmosphere of this cosmopolitan city, set a beautiful contrast to the hi-tech, adrenaline charged action that will take place on the water.
Tyson Poor has conquered the 2012 La Ventana Classic 11-Mile Island Crossing, held at Baja California Sur, in Mexico.
The event represents the spirit of wind riding. Great weather conditions, superb windsurfing and kiteboarding competitions, paddling clinics, live auctions, parties and fund raising efforts.
Again, the old and healthy rivalry of windsurfers and kitesurfers was here to stay. The year 2012 has seen a couple of windsurfing victories and the 2012 La Ventana Classic drove in the same way.
Tyson Poor secured the title for his sailing class, in the long distance race, leaving two kiteboarders in the silver and bronze medals: Johnny Heineken and Bryan Lake.
Alberto Menegatti has conquered the famous 2012 Langebaan Downwind Dash, in South Africa. Up to 237 windsurfers, kitesurfers and other watercraft competed in the West Coat, from Langebaan all the way down to the port of Saldanha.
In the end, windsurfers raised the flag against rival kitesurfers. Menegatti completed the challenge in 23 minutes and 15 seconds, ahead of Arnon Dagan by only 15 seconds.
Colin Heckroodt was the best kitesurfer and finished in fourth place overall. He cleared the 20-kilometre race in 26 minutes and 20 seconds.
As usual, the wind was there with a good constant 20+ knots over the course, getting a bit lighter, at the finish line. Menegatti remained persistant and didn't let Dagan pass by.
Steve Thorp is now the fastest windsurfer in the world. The British sailor has set a new world speed windsurfing record by reaching the 50.48 knots, at West Kirby, England, on the 3rd January 2012.
Thorp wore two GPS units that delivered different results. The first one peaked at 54 knots and the other one at 50.48 knots. After a careful review gpsspeedsurfing.com confirmed the second record, which was enough to take the lead.
"Obviously they couldn't both be right and in the end it was found that the faster time was a spike due to the gps loosing a satelite or two for a few moments, possibly due to the extreme acceleration and chop, combined with the weather", explains Steve Thorp.
"This shows the importance of wearing two gps and getting the tracks looked at and ratified by the experts. Obviously I'm beyond chuffed with that."
Laura Dekker, 16 years and four months old, has become the youngest person ever to sail alone around the globe. The Dutch sailor arrived at the Caribbean island of St Marteen after one year and one day of adventures.
Dekker traveled 43,450 kilometres and has broken by six months the unofficial record set by Jessica Watson, from Australia. The young sailor sailed to victory in "Guppy", an 11.5-metre yacht.
Her new record will not be registered because the Guinness World Records decided to stop recognizing records for youngest sailors. The father of Laura Dekker was accused of irresponsibility and Netherlands was divided.