the Atlanta Boardsailing Club
windsurfing, kiteboarding and wingsurfing in the Southeast

Maui, after all these years, remains the emotional center of windsurfing. While windsurfing's popularity is higher in Europe, Asia, Oz/NZ, Africa - well pretty much most places - than the U.S., Maui is the place that is the Mecca for windsurfers: the place they should visit at least once in their lives. There are other places that areas windy or windier. There are other places that have sweet waves (Margaret River, Cape Town, Baja). Yet, Maui and its iconic launches, especially Ho'okipa, are perhaps the most widely recognized and photographed. Just about every major windsurfing manufacturer shoots at least part of its catalog there.

If you look at the photos long enough, you know the layout, the rocks and the way that every wave is sailed on port tack and sailors go to the right on the wave. And, the wind. It's always windy. It has to be as the wave sailors are always using 4 to 5 something meter sails and just ripping down the faces of those waves. Right? Well, I always thought so until drones came along.



Source

Yes, we're having a Holiday Party! What? Now you need details? Well, why didn't you say so?

The Details!

Date: (Sure, it's in the title but we have to fill in all the blanks and boxes) Saturday, December 22
Time: 7 pm. Just enough time to get home from whatever you do for fun Saturday afternoon, clean up and head on over.
Where: Chez Windfoil (aka Casa Webguy) Google Maps Linky
Guests: Yes! Of course. Spouses, SOs, friends, relatives.
What to bring: If you wish, bring a main course, side dish, salad or desert - it's perfectly okay to come without (ie don't stress about cooking). If you have a dietary restriction, you may want to bring something appropriate. The club is throwing in a couple of main courses, side dishes and desserts. Post in the comments what you are thinking of bringing if you wish. BYOB.
What else to bring: Bring something for the ever popular White Elephant Gift Exchange. This is always the highlight of the evening. You may bring a regift, something moderately nice or something amusing. If you forget to bring something, no worries, I'm bringing a pieces of quality vintage gear you may use as your gift (quantities limited). Past gifts have ranged from a bottle of wine, an old windsurf board to bunny slippers.

Almost every beginning windsurfer looks forward to the day when he or she can hook in and plane. The first planing day is a milestone - few of us ever forget the first day the board begins to slip and it seems everything goes to warp speed.

Planing speed Mr. Sulu

However, that's when the trouble begins. We've planed once but planing again seems so problematic. Everyone else is buzzing around and our board is just ploughing through the water. Worse, when we do get up to speed, the next step - getting into the straps - feels like we are standing one legged on top of a box car roaring around a mountain.

Frustrations mount. Again, while we struggle, others seem to so easily pop up on a plane, slip into the straps, drive upwind all while we are just bubbling in the water. Aaaagh!

Well, windsurf instructor extraordinaire, Jem Hall, has written a great article that will help. The writing is sparse but dense. There is no flowery prose but just a bunch of great points to keep in mind. Read it and reread it. And, hit us up with any questions.

Windsurf Magazine: Enhance Your Stance

I stumbled across this wonderful video via the Facebook page of a member of the WindsurfAtlanta Facebook group. I thought is was beautiful - wonderful photography, drone shots and a killer music track. I emailed its creator and star, Chad Ozdinc.

"Where in the world were these shots taken?" Brazil - yeah, the blue water makes sense - and closer to his current home of St. Louis, Carlisle Lake in Illinois. Chad considers Brazil his second home and it takes about 30 seconds of video to understand the appeal. But, the drone shots in Illinois are breath-taking on their own and serve to remind us how beautiful our sport is where ever it happens.