Mavericks, Injured surfer

Talking about big wave riders: some days ago, Joacob Trette was found unconscious after wiping out at Mavericks, CA. Trette was rescued by a jet ski in the impact zone after being dragged by 25ft wave. Trette was taken to hospital and placed in an induced coma. He has since regained consciousness. 

Francisco Porcella

Tow in at Jaws 2 Nov 2010 from Happysurfer on Vimeo.


Let me spend some words on this guy here. Francisco was born in Sardinia, Italy. His father Pietro was one of the first windsurfer in Italy and it seems that his mother was windsurfing during her 9th month of pregnancy. Can we say that Francisco is one of the youngest windsurfer ever?
During year 2000 he convinced his parents to move to Maui and convert himself in a professional athlete. At age 25, he's a windsurfer, a surfer, and a big wave surfer (which is not the same).
Francisco is now probably the best Italian representative of the PWA tour. There's a reason for that. Just watch the video above...it's not windsurfing, I know, but if you manage to surf a 25ft monster waves you surely have all the skills needed to become a champion. Have fun!

Kelly Slater and Pipes

Slater from Future Enigma on Vimeo.


No wind, no waves during the last two weeks. Let's delight our eyes with this video: Kelly demonstrate, once more, why he's considered the best surfer of all times.

Practicing SUP

Iniciaciòn SUP - Somo, Cantabria - 15.01.2011 from Francesco Fucelli on Vimeo.

Last Saturday Northwind Kite surf school organized a stand-up paddle surf course for beginner in Somo, Cantabria.Thanks to the sunny and warm day and to the fact the course was free of charge lots of people attended. The organization was almost perfect, lots of paddle board available. Instructors divided people in groups so everybody could paddle "out" (actually we stayed in the lagoon for obvious reasons) and have some fun for almost one hour and a half. The video above is the result of this day.
Drawback: I screwed my GoPro... water leaked somehow into the camera housing, salt did the rest.

Great start

What a start! I was just back from Italy where I spent some days with my family and friends, and weather conditions gave me a wonderful surprise: the wind has been blowing strong during the last days allowing us to sail in Kanala and Laida beach.
Not everything went well, anyway: usually southern winds are really gusty there, so you can find yourself sailing with winds ranging from 15 to 30 or more knots. It could be a nightmare. Thanks to god, temperatures at least were higher than the average for the winter season, so I didn't need to wear neoprene gloves and shoes.

On the 5th we've been in Laida sailing with the 10sqm North Rebel kite. Flat water as usual, few kites in the lagoon (actually only two!) and all the space to jump and have fun. The session lasted only one hour and a half, then the wind dropped. Time to get back home.
On the 7th we decided for Kanala, two km upwind Laida (see map here). To get to the spot, you need to park your car on the side of the main road and follow the path down to the beach. There are several steps to get there: not a problem before you start your kite session, but a big issue when you're coming back tired and with all you gear. Get prepared! Since we didn't had any idea of the wind conditions, we brought two sails with us (for me there was a 13sqm Crossbow and a 10sqm rebel). Once arrived the wind was so gusty it was almost impossible to sail. I mounted the crossbow and waited patiently.... till some fresh wind appeared. Good. It was not the best session overall, of course, but ok, who complains? At least I can't say I did several steps for nothing...
On the 8th a common friend told us that a photo shooting session with the GIN kiteboarding team was scheduled in Laida. When we arrived, the wind was already blowing strong, but the tide was so low there were few space left to sail... if the spot get crowded as usual it could be dangerous to sail there.  So we decided for Kanala once again. This time conditions were almost OK. I went into the water for the first session, which lasted one hour and a half. Then the GIN team appeared on the spot, and I took the opportunity to shoot some pictures of those crazy guys. Once the cameras stopped we get back to the water: at half past three, almost low tide and a terrible gusty wind, I keep on sailing till it was possible. The last gust (>30kn) scared me a little, I think I made the highest jump ever... but it was too dangerous, time to pack everything and put an end to the session. What a wonderful start!

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!

Wish you a Windy New Year 2011!

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...).

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!

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!