Calm before the Storm

Day Seven

Dog walkers were happy, baby insects learning to fly were happy, stone
skimmers were happy, but the only people who were not so happy with the lack
of wind today were the sailors who have now waited seven days for any sign
of wind. The forecast however is still good for both Saturday and Sunday,
with strong South West winds eventually making their way to Sylt.

The sailors have amused themselves by playing football, playing cards,
watching movies and for some taking their girlfriends shopping. Josh
Angulo(RRD, Ezzy) emerged as the master of the football or ‘soccer’ as Josh
likes to put it!. Josh showed his skills extend to much more than just big
old one handed back loops, his left footed lob into the top right hand
corner of the goal posts was sheer class and showed that Americans are not
useless at football. In the impromptu World Card Playing Masters Orjan
Jensen (Proof, North) was in fine form and beat such fine opponents such as
Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Proof, Pryde), Josh Angulo (RRD, Ezzy) and Vidar Jensen
(North), Orjan was accused of cheating by several players but his sleeves
were shown to be clean and his title reinstated!.

With all the sailors equipment rigged and ready in the competitors tent it
was a good opportunity to see what developments there have been in
equipment. Most sailors had just received their 2002 sails and obvious in a
lot of the designs was the increase in reinforcement within the body of the
sail. This may have something to do with the improvement in the standard of
wavesailing of the average sailor and their need for more durability in
their kit. As far as board design, the generally onshore and gusty
conditions of Sylt and Europe have seen a lot of the sailors using a lot
wider boards with more volume than the super thin boards more associated
with Hookipa in Maui. Mast and booms are in the majority all 100% carbon,
as weight is critical when you get to the high performance levels of the PWA
World Tour.

Hopefully tomorrow we will be reporting about loops and aerials rather than
card games and football, but yet again Mother Nature holds the key!.