Pagine

Translate!

venerdì, dicembre 31, 2010

Why Kelly won 10 ASP world titles


At age 38, and still ruling in the ASP tour. Almost 20 years have passed since the first world title, and this guy still rocks. This sequence, taken out from a Hurley Pro Championship video, show one astonishing maneuver: how to loose your board while riding a double overhead wave...


and NO! wait, he's still there (and everyone wondering how he made it...). I love this guy!

mercoledì, dicembre 29, 2010

Wish you a Windy New Year 2011!

martedì, dicembre 21, 2010

Laida - last 2010 session


Picture by QueteKite Team

Last sessions (66th for this season) last sunday in Laida (Mundaka). The wind lasted only half an hour, enough to get into the water with the Crossbow 13sqm. 2010 has come to an end... happy Christmas and happy New Year! See you in 2011 (God, I'm getting older...).

giovedì, dicembre 16, 2010

Necker Island



I bet everyone of us would like to be in Sir Richard Branson shoes. I personally like him because it does not seem to be the classical multibillionaire-24h working guy (and probably he his) who think only in his businesses. He also enjoy life and has a good sense of humor.
By the way, I take a look at the Necker Island web site and found out that actually you can pay for staying there... a one week room will cost you around 26K$ ONLY. What a crap!

lunedì, dicembre 13, 2010

December Kite sessions - 2010 wrap up



December has arrived, cold weather too. Beside of the freezing temperatures, during this month I already scored 4 new sessions:

  • Ladia: Southern winds, 20kn, 10sqm kite
  • Kanala: S, 30kn (with gusts at almost 35!) and the (overpowered) 10sqm kite - I was too crazy getting in... the chicken loop released and I found myself tangled with kite lines in the middle of the lagoon. I was trying to recover pulling the 5th line but it was nearly impossible because of the gusts pushing the kite far away from me. That was reeealy a bad situation.... never never again!
  • Laredo: constant 22-26knots NE/E winds, some waves (1mt), too funny but guys... outside air temperature was only 7°C, which means that it was really chilly... to give you an example I can tell you that once outside the water I couldn't feel my foot :)
I still have one week left before Christmas time, let's see if I can get out one or two times more... ;)

By the way, the end of the year is getting closer now and it's time to make a quick wrap up of what 2010 has taken to my wind/kitesurfing session. To get to the point, up to the mid of December I scored a total of 64 sessions (35 kite, 29 windsurfing). This represents my personal best since 2006 (year in which I started to record my sailing sessions): 


Thanks to the kite I was able to stay into the water more and more times. Beside the fact this is the first year that I do kiteboarding, I already had more sessions than with the windsurfing. If you consider that I spent four weeks between Venezuela (El Yaque) and Brasil (Jeri) and I was out only with the windsurf board, you can imagine how hard is getting out in the water in the Basque Country. I'm start thinking I'll have to sell my windsurfing gear soon... my new NP Zone 4.7 has never touched the water... 

The windiest month has been August for obvious reasons (more time spent next to the sea, holiday season) followed by October (Jericoacoara) and April (Laredo thermal winds season): 


Of course, I will try to improve this during 2011 even if I have the feeling it won't be easy.  I also get the impression that kitesurfing is gaining shares... but that's a different story. :)
By the way I already start thinking in a couple of nice spot where I could spend one/two week holiday time  during the first half of 2011 (suggestions are always welcomed). Stay tuned for more info!

lunedì, novembre 15, 2010

Andy Irons Memorial - 14.11.2010



Hasta luego, Andy.

New kites and Laida/Kanala sessions

P1040822

Let's start from the good news: during the last week end  we had two beautiful sessions in Kanala / Laida. It has been better on saturday, in Kanala, where the wind was consistent and allowed us to use the small kites (thanks to my friend who lent me a Gin Zulu II, 9sqm). Good air/water temperature, wonderful sunny day, we stayed 4 hours in the water. Kanala is definitely a good spot, plenty of space for mounting/dismounting your kite, some grass and some sand for hassle-free packing. Water level allows beginner to sail safely... and no problem with offshore winds since there's a sand bar that allows you to recover easily in case of problems. The only drawback consist in the long path to reach the spot, or better said on the way back: there's steep set of stairs waiting for you and your -usually at the end-  heavy gear.
As I said, I tried my friend's new Gin "Zulu II" kite. I'm not really good in trimming the kite, and at the beginning I had the impression that even if the wind was quite strong, the kite was not pulling hard as expected.  Then we modified (thanks, Manu!) the bridle position and everything changed. Good jumps and quick turns, crashes of course, but I'm quite satisfied with the kite. I personally prefer my Rebel, but Gin kites seems to use strong material and a they have a good construction quality. Prices are of course lower than the usual well-known big brands.



On friday we arrived a little bit too late so our session lasted a couple of hours only. I got into the water with the Rebel 10sqm which was too small at the beginning. Unfortunately - and this is the bad news -  the pulley of the bar got broken (since the bar is a used one,  I already asked for a free replacement) so I stayed out of the water trying to recover the lines during more than 20mins... meanwhile my friend did me a favor and mounted my Cabrinha Crossbow 13sqm. The wind initially was flaw, but at the end of the day it started blowing stronger and stronger and I was a little bit overpowered... as usual, with the cabrinha bar so hard I had to use only one hand to depower the kite.... but it was still funny. The session ended just after the sunset in a gorgeous landscape; the silhouette of the barrows and the light reflected by the water... it was magical.  We had to pack our gear at the light of the lampposts, but it definitely worth seeing it.

mercoledì, ottobre 27, 2010

Rio de Janeiro & Jericoacoara


So... I'm finally back from Brazil, where I spent the past two weeks between Rio de Janeiro (this was a compromise for my wife) and Jericoacoara. A mid-season holiday with warm temperature and nice people.


First of all let me tell you something about Rio de Janeiro, the very well known Brasilian pearl. We stayed at Leblon (next to Ipanema) in a B&B, only 300mt far from the beach. Nothing I would really recommended to anyone, especially because 1) the place was very noisy (there was a crowded local restaurant with open-air table just under our windows) and 2) there was no air conditioning meaning we couldn't close the window at all - thus even more noise coming in. Beside of this, breakfast was reeealy good, people was nice, the place was next to the night life pubs and bars, easy reachable... We visit the city in three days, usual tourist tour (Ipanema, Pan de Azucar, Corcovado) plus an impacting visit to the Rocinha Favela, something I would recommend for your next visit. An unusual Rio view that will change your opinions about Favelas (if you ever played CoD Modern Warfare 2 you know what I mean...)


The flight from Rio to Fortaleza (3h, which for a Brasilian is like going from Barcelona to Bilbao) and the 4h transfer to Jericoacoara were disrupting. We arrived late at night (2am), tired, thirsty and hungry. The Ibiscus Pousada, where we spent our 10 days stay, was a total surprise. Managed by a nice Italian guy and a Brasilian woman,  it's a good and a better choice than other fancy and more expensive solutions. It is only 300mt far away from the beach, in a quite part of Jeri, so you can sleep well after you long wind/kitesurfing day without being disturbed by music and noisy people. The breakfast is astonishing and you will have problem eating all the fruit/bread/juices they will bring you. Too much food, indeed.


Ok, let's talk a little bit about the interesting stuff now ;). I sailed 7 out of 10 possible days. The reason is, 1) after you get out with a 4.5 and a 92lt board (which means, for me, >30kn), would you really care of a day with "only" 20 knots out there? 2) incredibly we had to face with 2 day of  NO WIND at all, really uncommon during this season of the year. Waves - which waves? Almost flat water conditions with some half meter waves in the no wind zone. Damn't!


Sailing conditions where almost ok, so I sailed with 4.5, 4.7, 5.4, 5.6 and even 6.4sqm sails. We rented the gear at the Club Ventos, which has mostly JP boards and some Starboard 2010 Kode/Flare. Be aware! Especially medium/big JP boards are very heavy (probably because they have been repaired many times, I don't discard they got some water inside too) so forget about early planning, especially when the wind is not blowing as strong as expected - better choice are Starboards, but they are limited in number - so be quick when the surf center opens and grab the right one!



Club Ventos is a good choice if your couple doesn't surf and wants to spend his/her holiday as a lizard taking a  huge sun-bath. Each day the club organize some event - live music, movie shows etc. - and the club offers you free sunbeds. Bartender will help with refreshments (not for free of course). Be aware, you are at the tropic, please remember you sunscreen creams!

mercoledì, agosto 25, 2010

More than one month




More than one month have passed since the last post. I got no excuse, you know how lazy I am. I've spent some days in Italy, just to meet my family and my old friends, and I also took the opportunity to do some kitesurfing - 4 session only - and some windsurfing at my italian home spot, Sabaudia and Carrubo - Baia Felix. To whom is interested, these are typical summer spots, with thermic wind blowing from the south (Sabaudia) and South West (Carrubo), always rotating throughout the day to westerly direction (the people from Rome call this wind as "Poneccio").

Anyway I was quite surprised that during August wind components came from the west, thanks to some perturbation somewhere in Europe and high pressure over Italy. This helped to lower temperatures and humidity and gave us some relief from the hot days we had at the end of July (couldn't even sleep because of the sultriness).

By the way I scored a total of 10 Wind/kitesurfing sessions. I had fun with my Cabrinha Crossbow, and I also tryed an RRD Placebo board, a shorter version (135cm long) than my Rival. The most fun came anyway from windsurfing: with a 145lt board I borrowed - almost stole - and my Point-7 AC-0 7.2, I was able to plane all the time. Not the best board for jumping too, but at least I know that for the next summer I have to buy a used 130lt board and get rid of my S-type.
We also had some sort of misadventure, we saw a young guy drowned in Sabaudia Beach, and this remind me to be respectful with the sea. He was 21 year old, he didn't know how to swim, probably he was too confident.RIP.
Be aware: tides in Sabaudia can be very strong (believe me, even if this is the Mediterranean sea, not the Pacific Ocean) and the seabed is very irregular: if you get there, especially when there are even small waves, watch out and never get out alone.

What's next, now that I'm back to Bilbao? I'm start thinking of the surf trip, which will be held on the next October... and the winner is....

Jericoacoara!

Yes my friend, I'm planning to get to Brazil as soon as possible. I also convinced my wife to join me (not a big deal anyway.. :) ). Stay tuned for dreams to come true!

martedì, giugno 01, 2010

Pantano del Ebro - 30.05.2010



Last Sunday weather forecasts were showing no wind at all on the Basque coast, but with temperature rising (summer, finally!) we knew we had good chances for the thermal wind to blow down from the north directly on the Ebro impounding basin, one and a half hour driving from Bilbao.
We arrived at around 2pm, mounted the kites (13sqm) and went into the water. The season has just started here, so the wind really started blowing in the late afternoon: perfect if you want to stay in the bed after a looong night and sleep some additional hours :).
On Sunday the base wind was around 15/16kn, with gusts at (guess) 20kn, flat water. Very few people kiting (I would say only 10 kites, lots of beginners); moreover the water temperature was surprisingly more than acceptable. I was wearing my 4-3 wetsuit and always felt comfortable.

The video above is the outcome for this day. My jumping skills are improving fast, more than expected...

giovedì, maggio 27, 2010



Short video of the last kitesession we had in Laredo. This time I lend the GoPro camera to my Argentinian friend. This is the outcome. As you see, our kiteboarding skills are improving session by session. In my case I just started to jump, don't know how much high I go, but I manage to stay in the air for at least 4/5 seconds. Ok, then I crash into the water quite often but at least I manage to get the kite flying in the right direction. Let's see if I can improve this.
Next step: carve jibe (just downloaded "the complete kiteboarding guide from the internet... hehe)... stay tuned!

martedì, maggio 11, 2010

Walk on Water



That's interesting. I'm still trying to understand if this is a fake video, but it's funny to see how people keep on doing incredible things... "just visualize it!"

domenica, aprile 25, 2010

Slow Motion with GoPro HD

Laredo Slow Motion from Francesco Fucelli on Vimeo.


I must confess that one of the good things (amongst the others :) ) of kitesurfing is that the number of times that I've been sailing (windsurfing included) has improved a lot. Yesterday I've been to Laredo one more time (and this is the eight shot during April timeframe), the wind wasn't too strong and it lasted only 2 hours. I was out with my Crossbow as usual and it was quite crowded, so most of the people didn't really care of sailing safely and most of them didn't really respect the safety rules. When the wind was definitely too light for me I got out the water and I started shooting some videos with the slow motion feature of the GoPro HD camera. Nothing really special (two or three jumps), but it worth seeing it. The above is the edited version... Enjoy!

martedì, aprile 20, 2010

Laredo one more time


Last Saturday we went one more time to Laredo. We arrived at around 12:30 and there were already a huge number of people sailing - I didn't count them, but I guess there were at least 30 kites plus 10 windsurfer sails... I'd say "crowded", especially because most of those guys were sailing just a few meters from the seashore... can't understand why (maybe because of photographers??). So, when we went into the water I was a little bit concerned about this (i'm a beginner, you know...). I was a little bit overpowered, my 13sqm kite was pumping like never before and sometime it was difficult even to upwind. I also had a small accident - that's the third in a row for me. I think this is mainly due to the lack of experience (my fault again) and excess of  confidence. I was sailing and another guy was coming towards me. So I raised my kite to let him pass downwind, but we were too close to each other, our lines got crossed and we hit each other, luckily with no major consequences than a big black hematoma under my harm. I'm seriously thinking in buying an impact vest...
As usually I also took a video... so if you want you can watch my very first little, little, little jumps. Have fun.

Laredo - kitesurfing session video 17.04.2010 from Francesco Fucelli on Vimeo.

lunedì, aprile 12, 2010

Laredo - kitesurfing session video


Laredo Kitesurfing session from Francesco Fucelli on Vimeo.

Another wonderful kite session in Laredo. We arrived Saturday early (at around 11:30),  the wind was already blowing from NE, I would say 15/17 knots. I prepared my gear and went into the water, this time I didn't forget to prepare the GoPro HD on the helmet... the above is the video footage I recorder and edited (no jumps - yet). I scored three hours in the water before I had to exit because the wind was getting too strong - too much for my 13sqm kite. The good new is: the thermal wind is on... season just started!

giovedì, aprile 08, 2010

Hookipa Contest - Levi Siver in backloop at 16mt!



The past March 31st some of the biggest name of the windsurfing world met at Hookipa for a new contest format. Thanks to a new "gadget" it was possible to measure the maximum height of a jump. Well, Levi Siver (in my opinion one of the most radical windsurfer in action today) did a monstruos backloop at 52 feet (almost 16mt - a 4 floor building). Check the full article here.

lunedì, aprile 05, 2010

Kitesurfing in Laredo


High pressure here in the Basque Country, the sun is shining and the air temperature has risen to an acceptable level... spring, finally! I woke up early, checked the weather conditions, prepared the breakfast and geeently woke up my wife. I made getting into the car with the kitesurfing gear at 11:30am (and yes, my wife was sitting next to me). We spent three quarters of an hour driving down the highway heading to Laredo, few cars on the road (yes, it's still holiday here), no traffic jams... what a pleasure.
The spot was almost desert, only a guy was ready to get into the water with its kite. The wind was blowing at about 15-17 knots, enough for my black big  (13 sqm) Crossbow.  I quickly prepared the gear and jumped into the water. Water starting begins to be a "no problem", and I'm still impressed on how easy you can improve with this.  In Fuerteventura I could barely control the kite, now  I can glide easily... but I still need to improve my upwind sailing (sometimes I ended with my board on the beach... ;) ). At the end I scored four hours in the water... not bad for a beginner!
That's all folks, if you want you can watch the slide show below (these pictures were taken by my wife... She enjoy the sun and I'm lucky she also enjoy taking a looots of pictures).


domenica, aprile 04, 2010

Sotavento


Sotavento Easter from Francesco Fucelli on Vimeo.

I'm back from Sotavento, Fuerteventura, where I've spent the easter holidays. The f...ing wind didn't show up, at least It didn't as I would have expected and how it is right now (at this time, the rene-egli weather station is showing 30kn NE). That's life.... as usual.
By the way, I bought an helmet and the GoPro mount straps and went into the water to shoot some videos. The above is the result of one and a half day of windsurfing session, 20knots (no more), some waves, very inconsistent conditions. I've spent over 200€ to rent the equipment and didn't have too many opportunities to use it. Renè is still smiling counting the money.

In the meantime, as you know I also started kitesurfing. The last day I finally made the water start and started planning. It has been a great feeling: It seems like you got nothing under your feet...and a big - BIG! - kite flying right in front of you. Hey! I still prefer windsurfing (at least till I control more a sail than a kite), but I have to recognize (accept?) this is going to be interesting.

Unfortunately I forgot to wear the helmet and I can't show you a video... my friends took some pictures, I'll post it asap ;)

domenica, febbraio 21, 2010

Los Peligros - 21.02.2010




Switching to English, hope everyone will understand better my posts :)

Today at Los Peligros, Santander. I've measured 30 knots base wind with gusts up to 40 SO. No way out for me, my smallest sail size is a "big" 5.3 (I know, got no  excuses... I need to buy a smaller one), getting into the water would have meant a suicide, also considering those monstruos choppy conditions which are typical for this spot, especially during high tides . I spent my time taking some picture of the few local guys out in the water. Enjoy!

sabato, febbraio 20, 2010

El Yaque, il video!


El Yaque - January 2010 from Francesco Fucelli on Vimeo.


Buona visione!

El Yaque - Il ritorno



Ritornato dal Venezuela, dopo un viaggio che rischiava di durare ben oltre le 24h programmate (grazie alla "solerzia" dei controlli antidroga all'aereoporto di Caracas), vi rimetto un piccolo riassunto dei 15 giorni trascorsi sull'isola di Margarita.

El Yaque non è - contrariamente a quanto qualcuno potrebbe pensare - la tipica location caraibica con mare cristallino e sabbia bianchissima; non è niente che vi farà gridare al paradiso terrestre. Dal punto di vista turistico il resto dell'isola ha molto di più da offrire che una spiaggia di qualche centinaio di metri ed un mare non proprio cristallino. El Yaque, in sostanza, è stata costruita pensando al turista straniero, baretto sulla spiaggia e albergo a due passi dal mare, ma niente di caratteristico se non la disorganizzazione venezuelana, prodotto tipico dell'isola.

Veniamo al "dunque". 10 giorni giorni su 13 di surf, questo potrebbe essere il riassunto di questo viaggio. Ma non è tutto, il vento ha soffiato costantemente e con forza durante tutta la nostra permanenza. Ci sono stati giorni in cui ho messo la 4.2 e montato su un 85lt, condizioni con chop spaccaossa e vento rafficato. Materiale 2010 (almeno le tavole Fanatic, che mi sono piaciute parecchio soprattutto nelle misure intermedie - ho provato quasi tutto il range di tavole del Freewave, dall'85 al 115) tutto affittato al Planetsurf (vele North).

Da rimarcare la presenza di alcune star, primi fra tutti Gollito Estredo e Ricardo Campello, senza dimenticare Antoine Albaeau che si allenava con lo slalom. Foto a volontà.... e spettacolo per i presenti. Abreve anche un video, non appena finisco di montare quello girato con la GoPro.

lunedì, febbraio 01, 2010

Grande giornata!

Ieri a El Yaque le nuvole hanno finalmente tolto il disturbo e gli alisei hanno ripreso a soffiare con forza. Sono stato in acqua la bellezza di quattro ore con il 105lt e una North Duke 5.4, a tratti decisamente sovrainvelato. Come al solito chop consistente, spaccaossa... il braccio sinistro incomincia a farmi male e ho dovuto prendere una pillola di ibuprofeno (grazie a mia moglie che ne aveva una boccetta nello zaino) per non sentire il dolore... dolore che questa mattina si è naruralmente ripresentato al risveglio.
Mancano quattro giorni al rientro: scartata l'ipotesi "gita al Salto Angel" e alisei permettendo saranno dedicati alla pratica del windsurf. Aloha!

Posted by ShoZu

mercoledì, gennaio 27, 2010

El Yaque

Quattro giornate di windsurf intenso, vela più piccola utilizzata 4.7, tavola 86lt, dolori un po' dovunque, mani piagate... è un rapido resoconto dei primi quattro giorni trascorsi a El Yaque, Isla Margarita. Sono ai Caraibi, in compagnia della mugghiera, del sole e naturalmente degli Alisei, che soffiano con continuità da quando siamo atterrati all'aereoporto di Porlomar. oggi giornata di riposo "forzoso" nella speranza che i dolori scompaiano.

Posted by ShoZu

venerdì, gennaio 08, 2010

Addicted to Ride 5


Addicted to Ride 5 from Helios on Vimeo.

Buon (e ventoso) anno a tutti!! Iniziamo il 2010 con il video annuale di Fanatic, Addicted to Ride. Buona Visione. Ah, dimenticavo... mancano 14 giorni per Isla Margarita... :-P