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Driving back to Italy…. PDF Print E-mail
Written by Andrea Cucchi   
Wednesday, 20 August 2008 00:21

(On the truck: a rotor blade from a wind turbine transported in DK )

 

My last event in North of Europe was in Nyborg, Denmark from the 15-17 of August.  The forecast was pretty bad as they were  giving very little wind.

It was my first time in Denmark and it was quite interesting. Nyborg is placed on the island of Odense just in front of the bridge which takes to  Copenhagen with an hour drive.  It was funny to find out that the top bridge is actually the highest point in Denmark! I was impressed to see how beautiful the water colours were: not as in Sardinia, but  close….

Norwegians, Swedish, Finish and of course Danish were the main present competitors. Sean O’Brien from Australia was also taking part.  I was the only one from South Europe. I was really pleased to meet some new riders, and to spend time with friends I had not seen for some years.

Driving to Sylt for the PWA events from Italy,  was for me going like to the North Pole., It seemed very north, but then, as I was in Denmark, therefore even further north, I heard the Swedish saying how nice it was to be in south Europe! 

First day of competition, there was no wind, but then we could finish 4 races on Saturday and 2 on Sunday always in 10-12 knots. Again after 13 races in Poland where I used my 12.5 in 11 races, here other 6 races again on 12.5.  Jesper was winning all races, and was just racing too good, and too fast for me to contrast.  Luck did not assist me for getting a second place. In one race I was over early, which would have been still ok, then in another race  my foot strap plug came out but still finished second. In one other race I broke my harness lines. So with 2 races not finished and 1 discard for 6 races, I did not manage to be on the top scores even if I had all the other results in second position. Our Danish rider, Kurosh Kiani was fifth over all.

So remember before racing to always check carefully your gear. That the foot straps are well screwed in, that all the ropes, harness lines are not too worn out. Mast foot, battery in the starting watch…before each event it’s never bad to spend sometime looking carefully at all parts of the gear….

Now just back to Garda after 1600km drive. (It’s actually getting cheaper to fly then driving with the new prices of the petrol).

 I’m actually already missing the north sea strong weather conditions. Next week we have the 1 hour classic slalom event. Finian Maynard will be also here…so let’s see if Alberto Menegatti, Marco Begalli or I will be able to keep him behind for 1 hour ;).  Alberto is also just back to Garda, after the PWA event in Turkey, where he finally managed to do some better racing and get into some finals. Marco was also in Turkey, but he was a bit unhappy of his result. After a big crash with Bjorn, he actually got a bit scared to race too close to the other guys. On the phone he was telling me how  just dangerous is to race with the no rules system in the PWA events.    

After the one hour, we will meet at the Surfestival in Torbole for the presentation of our 2009 sail range.( 5-7th of September): therefor please do come and visit us.  On the 8th I’ll be in Portugal for the World Championships of Formula. Finished with that I’ll go back to Sylt for the PWA, but in between I’ll stop in Holland to meet with our speed team from Van Der Berg. We made some changes on some AC-1 sails in the smaller sizes, and it Serge Beumer is actually picking up very good speeds, breaking his personal PR’s.

Then October will start and most probably we will all be ready to go back to Sardinia to test the new 2009 AC-1’s with all the changes we have put together during our experience in the various event this summer.

Stay tuned, as when we will start presenting the new 2009 range, we will start posting a lot of new technical articles to bring more fun and news to your  windsurfing.

 


 

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 20 August 2008 00:43 )
 
Congratulation Serge! PDF Print E-mail
Written by Andrea Cucchi   
Thursday, 14 August 2008 09:42

 

 

                      http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=forum&forum=2&val=8303

                     

 

 
Few summer days on Sylt, Germany. PDF Print E-mail
Written by Andrea Cucchi   
Sunday, 10 August 2008 23:29

 

Being in Sylt during no events I actually discovered it to be a very nice place for a windsurfing holiday during the summer. This last week has always been over 20 knots of wind and the weather pretty warm. As you see the picture on top,  the beach area looks very different to what we are used to see during the DWC or PWA events.

The ambience is pretty relaxing and you can do a lot of other sports as well. I’m staying now here on the island till Thursday, then I’m off to the Nordic Formula championships in Denmark. I was hoping to go Formula while I was here, but the conditions have been pretty rough till now.

I sailed everyday my 86l board on the 6.7 AC-1. And when the wave got bigger with the tide I waved sailed to try the 400m and 430 srdm from our new development on the new Swells. My target was to get few times washed to test their durability..and the test was quite successful ;)!

I don’t’ know if you have ever tried  Slalom sailing in the surf, breaking waves.  Is one of the conditions I really enjoy. Sailing full speed between the breaking waves with the slalom gear it’s a lot of fun! It’s just like motor crossing. It’s just trying to keep max speed between ramps and absorbing the shocks. It takes quite a lot of power and fast thinking….Today I though went over the top with this :I broke my 86litre slalom board! It was actually not a big surprise as I have used the board in similar conditions all winter in Sardinia.

There were a lot of Schweinwal fish in the water(don't know what the english word would be for this!) . It’s a kind of mix between a whale and a dolphin, but more the size of the dolphin. At full speed I catapulted hard on my sail. I thought I hit with my fin one of those fish. As I came out from the sail, I started seeing a lot of foam and bits of the board. I thought the hit on the fish pulled out my fin box.  I turned the board, meanwhile also  looking if I could see the fish  …. but then I realized that I did not kill anyone, the fin was there, but was just the board which snapping in 2 by ‘itself’.  Sailed back to the beach, with some pain on my leg from hitting the mast, I packed and went home. 

Tomorrow it will be just wave sailing as the wind will be 25 knots and it should be quite side shore as well.


 

Last Updated ( Monday, 11 August 2008 07:47 )
 
Forum : Now in English and Italian PDF Print E-mail
Written by Andrea Cucchi   
Saturday, 09 August 2008 10:44

We had to divide our forum into English and Italian language. This will provide an easier use for everyone. Please do post any advice you need, or questions. We will be very happy to give the best advice, and helping out with the perfect tuning of your sails. Don’t hesitate to place any doubts on which sail and board combination will best fit you: during our testing we collect a lot of data with our team, and we are able to give the best advice to bring extra fun to your windsurfing.

After selecting the forum, click on the language flag.

Andrea

Last Updated ( Saturday, 09 August 2008 10:44 )
 
..summer update continues part 2 PDF Print E-mail
Written by Andrea Cucchi   
Tuesday, 05 August 2008 22:31
 

 

After having won the formula windsurfing  German championships in Sylt, my plans were to take part at the European Championships in Poland. I knew from the beginning that it would have been hard to get to top positions at such a high level event with my physical condition, but I also knew that if I would get punished by the worlds top riders, it would have been good for understanding even better what the AC-1’s  are going to be needing for 2009. 

After the first day of no racing, for the rest of the week the wind was punctually coming in at lunch time. 

Due to 130 competitors they decided to divide us into 2  fleets. 6 Races to be done like that, to then divide the fleet into gold (top 65 sailors), and silver fleet (the other 65)

The competitors!:

As luck comes, I was put in the hardest heat. I managed to score always top ten positions, but as fleets were divided, it was like scoring between 10th to 20th place. I realized that my racing thinking for tactics was very  rusty and slow in such a strong level of competition. It was not my speed missing, but my reaction to the situations. 

On third day, as I started racing in the Gold Fleet, (so all top sailors together),  suddenly something clicked in my mind. ‘Now I remember’! I  had a come back on how to race to be at the top!  I started scoring top 10 results and by last day I was 10th overall after 10 races. 

On last day we had 3 races, but  I could only loose 2 positions due to a third discard with the 11th race. I had to race good to try to limit the loss and to gain something would have been very hard. 

The first race I finished 7th. On the second race of the day, I was not sure whether to take our 12.5 or 11. The wind was increasing each second, but as we had raced all week on 12.5 condition, I was not too happy to try the 11. Well it was a good choice to go down one size! The wind picked up to over 20 knots, and I managed to finish 5th. After this race I came back and I was totally dead. Even 11 was quite big for the conditions, and it was pretty hard with no chicken strap on the downwind. 

I got to the beach and the part of  my team which was racing in the silver fleet was actually rigging for me and Alberto the 9.9 for doing the last race of the event.. I was surprised. They did everything in less then 5 minutes. I just sat on my knees trying to catch a breath before the last rush. 

I finished the event 11th and I was quite happy. Even if it took some races before I started motoring, I was happy to be there between the  top guys, just as when I was  professional windsurfing only.

 Now that  Point-7 is run by a great staff, this  will give me time to get back into a complete training schedule to do more events at higher level. 

There are 2 things, which I was really appreciating during last 2 events. 

I realized how all my riders  are actually feeling in a real team. In the past I  had always seen how each rider is actually just racing for himself. (The only exception was  The Team during the end of the 90’s). During this last event, it was actually nice to see Florian, Kurosh, Alberto, Marco some of our polish riders, helping each other, giving support, solving problems, and sharing equipment at the moment of needs: just proud to be part of the black knights. 

I was appreciating to be part of the racing again. I realized how important it is to be running a company like this and being able to use the product directly into the highest level of windsurfing to understand the needs of each rider. 

I’m now motivated to push my team, and future riders who want to join, to come next winter in Sardinia and fully train for next racing season. I’ve seen now how each single member of my team is racing: I know now  their weaknesses and strengths, it will be a fun to now get them stronger for next season and get some specialized training for them. 

Alberto Menegatti just making the upwind mark:

 

Florian Bandel racing in Leba:

 Marco Begalli the winner of the Silver Fleet:

 

Kurosh Kiani going downwind at the Allegro FW Europeans 2008:  

 

If you like to race with our sails, and you have some free time during your winter, you should send us a mail so that you can join our program. 

AC-1 2008 summary: 

Overall in slalom and formula I was very happy of their performance. The sails have a good top speed to rule the scene. What is very nice is the reactive acceleration under the gust. The sails are very stable and they can go incredibly overpowered.  Generally they all need a bit of extra power in light wind perhaps. This will be easy to develop. The rotation of the cambers has been improved a lot in 2008 compared to the 2007 on the slalom sizes.  In the formula sizes, they still need to be a bit improved in the sizes 11 and 12.5. This will be solved with a new camber, and by making a small modification on the batten stopper. 

We are making a lot of sizes for the AC-1 range: (even 2 10.0 : 9.9 for FW and 10.0 for slalom), and for 2009 we will bring in an 11.8 for Formula. Now the sizes for FW are 9.9, 11, 12.5. The 12.5 can be a very good sail for light wind for people over 90kg, but for 80-90kg an 11.8 would be an easier size to handle in lighter winds.  11 can still be a good light wind size for riders under 80kg.

The new mast we are developing are going very well. There were a lot of mast breaking during these two events, but none of our ones from the new development. So this looks very positive for everyone’s safety as well, on top of the great performance they showed to have.  Now I gave these new slalom masts  to Marco Begalli and Alberto Menegatti who will take part in 10 days at the PWA in Turkey. Very hot weather, lot’s of racing stress, and this will be another good test for the masts to be whipped. 

Now I’m in Sylt for 1 week for a bit of  hardcore windsurfing (today 50knots!!), and relaxing with my family. On Tuesday I will leave for Denmark for the Nordic Championships. 

The production in China for 2009 sail is almost to an end, so in September the sails will be available. 

Hoping you are finding a lot of wind, enjoy your windsurfing,
Andrea

 

 

 

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 August 2008 23:21 )
 
Mid summer update.. PDF Print E-mail
Written by Andrea Cucchi   
Thursday, 31 July 2008 00:37

 

 

As testing and development for 2009 sails has finished, I took off to some competitions to test personally how the AC-1 LTD 2008 performs in racing.  I have also now new masts from a new Italian supplier which needed to be tested, and there’s never anything better as racing events to put them under stress by pumping them and to leave them hours rig under the sun. This to test the quality, but also to them see how in racing they perform.

My first stop was Sylt, the beautiful German island in the north sea. From the 22-27th of July I therefore took part at the German Championships. As I arrived the day before competition, the wind was strong, with big waves and only 13°C. 

 

The organization of the event was the biggest I’ve seen in my life.  There was almost a city rebuilt on the beach and lot’s of sponsors. On first day of competition, there was no wind. Then for the last 3 days, 14-20 knots of wind picked up, and we managed to complete 5 Formula Races, and 4 slaloms. Over 50 racers were registered for the 2 disciplines, and of course the favourite one for the win,  was the 12 times German champion Bernd Flessner. 

(As the ‘09 sails have been going through a lot of testing,  to give no comprise for the performance they have been designed for, the aim for this summer is therefore bringing the best response and quality to our masts. We have a new supplier which has decided to support fully our methodical development and requested needs.  During the days of competitions I left my sails rigged all times under the sun. Incredibly the temperature changed to 32°c after the day I arrived! None of the new mast broke, and this was a really good first test. Normally during events or training you try to rig the sail at the last minute, so that the sun does not kill the mast, and of course de-rig immediately as the races are finished. )

 

I managed to win the Formula discipline over Bernd who was second, and I finished only 4th in slalom where Bernd dominated. I was second overall and really enthusiastic on how the sails were performing.  In slalom the 4th place was my own fault. I was winning all my heats, but when it came to the final I was just not having good starts. I won one slalom out of four, and that was the only time I did start well.

It was a nightmare for me to do this first racing of the season as I realized that the power you need for testing is very different from the power you need for racing. On the third day of racing I was back home and I had not even power for eating. 

You can find more information on this website: http://www.windsurfcup.de/dwc/

During the same days, Marco Begalli was winning in Reggio Calabria (south Italy), 2 events on POINT-7. 

THe first event was the Italian FW Cup. The second event was a mission for the organizer to set it up: The crossing of the ‘Stretto di Messina’, practically from Italy continent to Sicily. Marco had a head to head fight with Thomas Fauster, who had just won the World Master Slalom Championship on lake garda, by 0,3 points in front of Marco. Thomas was on his 7.7, and Marco was on his 9.0 AC-1. At 3km to the end of the crossing, Marco decided that he had given him already too much glory at the worlds at Garda, so he just closed the gap with no mercy to steal Thomas first place. Third was our young POINT-7 rider Matteo Iacchino.

Yesterday I drove away from Sylt, and picked up Marco in Berlin, and now we are in Leba, Poland, for the European Championships of Formula. 130 riders are registered. When everybody try to prove that formula is loosing enthusiasts, it sounds to be wrong looking at this event.

You can follow the event on this website: www.formulawindsurfing.org.  Today was the first day of competition and there was no wind. It’s quite good for me as I feel sick as I think I over pushed my body during the event in Sylt. Tomorrow again probably no wind. From the forecast it could be good on Saturday.  Let’s wait and see…

After the racing in Sylt, I wrote down a few things about the sails which we will try in the development of the 2009 AC-1. Some of the points are adjustments that we already integrated in the AC-0 and AC-2 2009, and  seems to have induced an interesting boost.

After Leba, on Sunday I’ll go back to Sylt, where I’ll be testing some wave masts in the heavy shore break of the island, and if  the wind does not appear,  I’ll have some longer sizes C7 75% prototypes to test out.

On the 15th I’ll be racing in Denmark at the Nordic Championships.  After this I’ll be back to Garda and by that time I’ll have more mast to work on.

For any mails on advice or questions, remember that our This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   is always available.

Stay tuned!


 
 

 

 

 

Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 July 2008 08:17 )
 
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