Sport Today

  I was wondering what the conditions were like in maylasia? I was at the
pba event site in barbados in early jan. It wasn't very windy but there
some ok waves and a couple days of good 4.5-5.0 conditions. We were going
to enter the event (amateur) but there was no wind so it would have been a
waste of money not to mention frustrating .As I was on vacation my friends
and i passed on doing the hula and drank rum instead .Great island to party
at ,very beautiful too.    We were staying in a house right at the event
site and met some cool pros (and ams)
 Anyway drop me a line about any cool stories from Maylasia.

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Rod Frew
Vancouver BC

You probably saw a Woodwind, made by Gary Young in either Sausalito or
Oakland.   Gary has moved to Hawaii, Hawaii, and now makes longboards for
surfing without sails.

I rode one of his until last year - an 8'3" assy wave that I got from him
at a swap meet - traded for an anchor!   Most Woodwinds now hang on a wall.

All in all, a lot less exciting than last year (equipment wise). I guess
we are still stuck on the incremental improvement track with no revolutions
in sight.

Sukhdev Singh
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 My wallet can sure appreciate the 'less e***ment'! 8-)
Now we can get to working on skills and blame the gear less.

Kirk out

        I get all sorts of questions from people about new gear and
manuvers. My philosphy is to have gear that you find easy to sail. Keep it
simple and life will be a lot easier for ya (not to mention CHEAPER).  I've
tested a lot of prototypes from many manufacturers (board, sail and fin),
and many of the so called "latest and greatest" didnt perform for crap. A
good example was last spring when I went to Florida and sailed with the
local crew of racers down there and had some news fins (wont name the
manufacturer). I just couldnt need to keep with the guys...on ANY point of
sail! It was realy obvious to me that the fin was slow to plane, didnt hold
in a high angles of attack (didnt point well) and at speed it was too
stiff. I put my old 14.5" Series I on my slalom board and preceeded to blow
their doors off. I let everyone who wanted to type these fins out, and
nobody realy likes them...

        Some gear does make life easier...the new ATV's (Seatrend) make
wave bashing and thrashing effortless with their no-nose, flip-tip design.
I havnt moved to the no-nose race boards yet, though the guys at Seatrend
tell me that they are faster then my old 90. But nobody has passed me on my
old 90, so why switch? I also realy like the way it turns (not too flat on
the rocker...breaks .25" at 36" off the tail). BTW - my recommendation for
a *very* fast but turny slalom board is the Seatrend 90-CS or 90-CSR. The
CSR is a little flatter, but still turns well. I clocked unnoficially at
43mph on my 90CS last spring (radar gun).

        m***of my rantings is to stay with gear you are comfortable with.
Dont buy gear just because its 'NEW', and before you buy it...SAIL IT!

--
                        David C. Troup - DC12

ask me about...
SEATREND, SIMMER, FIBERSPAR, BODY GLOVE, THULE, TRUE AMES, VISUAL SPEED

the wood and foam boards were made by woodwinds in tibiron or up that way they
closed years ago haut in santacruz could make you one now