Josh Angulo has recently left Gun Sails to join the Point-7 team. We caught up with him to get a few answers to our own questions before the one hour LiveChat on Wednesday 21st March at 08.00pm GMT…
Having had a hugely impressive windsurfing career, Angulo has taken down some of the biggest names in our sport to claim world titles. None were more so impressive than in 2009 on the islands of Cape Verde, when he fiercely battled against Kauli Seadi for what was to be one of the most all time events in the history of the PWA. Having lost the final of the single elimination he beat Kevin Pritchard and then sailed twice against Seadi to take the overall win in the double elimination. He later went on to take the 2009 PWA Wave World title. With the wave career on the back burner, Josh is now setting his sights on PWA Slalom. There can only be one goal for a man with so many successful titles under his belt – PWA Slalom World Champion. With the change to Point-7 will it give Josh what it takes to get there…
A mini-interview with Josh Angulo and Point-7 owner Andrea Cucchi
BOARDS: Why the change?
JA: Well, the change has to do with the fact that the “opportunity knocked” and when I delved into the details of the Point 7 operation It re-lit a fire inside of me . I have been dealt a great hand to work with such an awesome group of people who are a fresh change from the “status quo” of the windsurfing industry. Once I really understood how much fire and passion Point 7 has, equally matched by their technical data and customer service, I knew that was home for me.
BOARDS: What’s in store for 2012?
JA: Start getting in the groove with the gear, the team, training, testing, competing. Continue with my daily responsibilities as husband/ father and refocus some fresh energy into both windsurfing on a professional level and product development for both Point 7 and Angulo.
BOARDS: What are you enjoying most about the new gear?
JA: I’m enjoying all the development that’s been put into it and I’m sold on the unique aesthetic of the sail. It’s very early days for me and I’m sure I will be very happily surprised as I dial into the tuning of the sails.
BOARDS: Excited for the LiveChat?
JA: Yeah, if we get at least 1 person, then we can chat away and my wife always tells me that I like to talk to much, so if there’s somebody that’s willing to give me that forum to chat away, than for sure I’m excited
BOARDS: Josh is a big addition to the team, can you tell us more about it?
AC: It was the missing ingredient to complete our team. We were not looking for a big name, we were looking for Josh Angulo. He is not only a rider, but has much more to bring to our brand.
His windsurfing style and happy, open, social personality fits perfect to how we are in Point-7. Our first project of the many projects, is to give him the support he needs to get out there and get his third world title. This time in slalom of course. In the next months we will get some tuning done, and then go for it. We are very motivated on this new challenge, and we are sure it will take Point-7 to our next step.
BOARDS: How much will he help in the R&D side of Point-7?
AC: All our team, clients, riders, friends, magazine testers have their say in our development. Josh has a lot of experience in wave and slalom. Having his surfcenters in Cabo Verde, he also has a lot of feedback from clients on recreational sails.
He will be bringing a lot of fresh feedback to our scuderia. We have already talked about new concepts and our sail designer is already putting ideas down.
BOARDS: Anything new in the pipeline for Point-7 and the team this year?
AC: We believe in team strategy for winning. With a team it’s much more fun for everyone. Motivation and competition is higher and limits are easier to break. This is though not only the real reason for wanting to work as a team. I’m still personally racing, and I see the difference and fun that it can be out on the water. Each rider can improve faster by having feedback from his team mates. Brain storming on new projects, new ideas, means that new products are continuous. We see also a lot of young riders being lost. Talents wasting time as they are not followed as they should be. There is no such thing in our sport as a coach and team support from the national sailing federations. So it has to be us brands that set this up for our riders, to give them the best support possible to concentrate on winning. We need to find them team sponsors and keep pushing their motivation to spend hours on the water working hard to achieve their goals. Then we take care of them for their media and visibility. We have created a lot of inside activity for our team to get them more involved. Now there is a personal trainer for them, a person taking care of the media, we have a house for our riders to use in Tenerife starting from next October to come and stay for free. It’s all pretty new, and still not all shown to public, but it’s existing. This is one of the other reason we signed up with Josh aswell. He will bring a lot of his know-how to the team project. It exists in many other sports, it was existing in windsurfing, so we don’t see why it should not work again. You can follow all this year on a fresh launched website: www.team.point-7.com
