Also in Fuerte the freestyle guys have been preparing for the competition…
FUERTE #1 – Freestyle Warm Up from Josh Willmot on Vimeo.
Day 2 on Fuerteventura was one of the longest, most horrific days I’ve experienced on this island in the years I’ve travelled here. Despite a forecast showing “some” promise, the wind never got about 6 knots during the entire day and glassy waters made a perfect day for taking the girls out on the SUP boards; and that was about it!
Still, with nothing to really report here I decided to take a look at what fins people are using on the small boards as there is a lot more variety when the fins get under 36cm and although we’ve seen a VERY large shift towards carbon-only fins in the bigger sizes this season, there is definitely still room for the trusty G10 fins of yesterday in the small boards this time around.
A quick run-down on the guys I’ve caught up with today and what fins they are using in their smallest boards (or what I’ve seen them stick in a small board in the few days we had training before the event started):
Antoine Albeau – Deboichet / Kashy / Tectonics
Josh Angulo – Kashy / Tectonics
Ludovic Jossin – Tectonics / C3 (Sting)
Ben Van Der Steen – Z-Fin / C3 (Sting)
Patrik Diethelm – MB Fins / F2 Custom (shaped by Kai Hopf)
Andrea Cucchi – Tectonics
Kurosh Kiani – Vector / Tectonics
Peter Bijl – Vector
Bjorn Dunkerbeck – Tectonics / CA Fins
Steve Allen – Tectonics / CA Fins
Micah Buzianis – Tectonics
Sean O’Brien – homemade custom carbon fins
Ross Williams – Z-Fins / Kashy
Arnon Dagan – Z-Fins
Alberto Menegatti – Z-Fins
Andrea Rosati – Z-Fins / Tectonics
In all the guys using Tectonics (which is quite a lot!), they are all on the ‘Talon’ model. To quote Patrik Diethelm on high-wind fins, “it’s more important to worry about CONTROL than which fin is going faster or slower. If you have the control, then you can go fast’. I barely see anyone using G10 fins in bigger sizes than 36cm these days but it looks like on the smaller fins there are tons of guys still using Tectonics / MB Fins and C3 fins all made from G10 – very interesting!
That’s about all to report from today. It’s unbelievable to picture this island with ZERO wind (not even “light winds!”). Let’s hope the forecast improves for the next few days … nearly all the freestyle guys have arrived on the island ready for their contest beginning on the 26th but even these 60kg heroes couldn’t get out on the water today … horrific!
Hopefully more to report tomorrow!
Check out the previous pages for more reports from Sean
