In a perfect world, we would be able to go windsurfing everyday of the week! We all know that will never be the case so when it comes time to get back on your board for your first session of the season, you want to be ready!

Windsurfing Works your body!

What burns the most? Is it your lungs, your arms, legs or brain? I can’t tell you how many times I see it….. windsurfers who don’t get to sail that much, hit the water for their first time in 6 months and just blow-up! Arms are working 10x too hard, the adrenaline is pumping; being back on your board is completely exhilarating! Six minutes later, gasping for breath and barely able to grip the boom you kiss the ground once back on shore.

Can this be avoided? I have had several requests to share some tips on some off season training so that you are ready for hitting the water when your time comes! The most successful way to accomplish this is finding something you ENJOY doing- If you hate being stuck inside sweating with 138 other human’s on the treadmill, that isn’t for you. I like to find a sport of some kind, make it fun…. Racquetball is one that always comes to my mind- that whoops you into shape pretty quickly. Most cross country skiers I see coming to Maui are also pretty fit and in great shape.Bikers as well- they can burn the lungs for 5 hours straight and we know the legs are strong enough for anything thrown at them. You want to find a sport that does it all, cardio, legs and arms but most importantly you gotta have FUN!

What if you can only devote 20-40 minutes a day to your workout? This is where I break out thejumprope! The simplest of cardio machines on the market- you can tie up 3 downhaul lines and be ready to rock. If you are a beginner, jumping rope for 1 minute without stopping will knock your socks off! No lie- try it. This builds up your cardio and gets you moving. Wakes you up as well! Next item of business is getting some upper body strength going- Pull UPS! We all love them…. but this is really close to what we are doing on the windsurfer- all those muscles in the back, arms, shoulders are just waiting to come to life. Start with just trying to do 5 of them. If you can’t do one, get a ladder and do them from the top down and go slow. Let gravity do the work for you-  mix underhand and overhand grips and don’t forget to breathe. Take a quick cool-down and get back on the jumprope. Next up are Push-UPS and these will balance out the chest and other upper body muscles. Shoot to do 10 of them but do them slowly and correctly. Quantity doesn’t matter right now, build your base and go from there. Rotate through all these exercises at least 3 times in the beginning and you can always turn up the numbers. A good start out looks like this:

Jump Rope warm up/learn how to do it- 3 minutes with lots of crashes probably :  }

Rest/Stretch 30 seconds

Pullups x 5 – 2 minutes

Rest/Stretch 30 seconds

Jump Rope- 5 minutes

Rest/Stretch 30 seconds

Pushups x 10- 2 minutes

Rest/Stretch 30 seconds

Jump Rope- 5 minutes

Rest/Stretch 30 seconds

Pullups x 5 – 2 minutes

Rest/Stretch 30 seconds

Jump Rope- 5 minutes

Pushups x 10- 2 minutes

Rest/Stretch 30 seconds

Jump Rope Cool-down— 2 minutes

Pullups x 5 – 2 minutes

Rest/Stretch 30 seconds

Pushups x 10- 2 minutes

36 minutes- DONE! The stronger you get the faster you will go through this- then you know it’s time to turn up your numbers. Start with 2 times a week, then to 3x a week then???? If you can find a partner to do this with even better- Keep it fun and get it done!

Be sure to check out our Aloha Windsurfing Clinics happening in Maui and elsewhere…… after reading this you will be in shape and ready-

See you on the water!

MP

Let’s make it a GREAT one! Keep watching here for more tips, how to’s and gear specials to be coming out more regularly! If you have any particular tips you would like some help on whether it be jumping, jybing, waterstarts or how to get planing more efficiently …….. let us know and we will share our knowledge!

Happy New Year to all- See you on the water!

Wow- talk about an epic week of conditions...... Finally the Aloha Classic came back to Maui and what a show it has been! If you have not been here to watch it on the beach, you can watch it right now from the live cast coverage that has been taking place! Kai Katchedorian has been commentating the daily activity with incredible style and grace, just like his sailing! Check out this link here and get caught up: http://www.alohaclassicmaui.com

BIG congrats to new PWA World Champion Marcilio "brawzinho" Browne- he earned his title with heavy pressure! Great to see such a good guy take it this year! Another big shout out to Levi Siver who won his first ever PWA Contest with grace and style- he was definitely the man we are used to seeing blitzing Hookipa everyday! Way to go Levi!!!

As for me, I'm stoked to have gotten to sail out there with all the boys and get to hit some lips and take some waves on the head to let me know I'm still alive! Kev ripped it pretty hard and took down some names, he was sailing with pure style and consistency as normal. He is a huge inspiration to me out there on the water! Keep ripping brotha-

A huge thanks to all the photographers out there that went out of their way to showcase this great event. The Fish Bowl Diaries Team is a great place to see a ton of great shots as well as Jimmy Hepp's page

Enjoy the pics, make your comments and give props to everyone that made it happen!

Thanks Sofie for the great shot!

Jimmie Hepp snapped this shot of Matt blitzing through the single elimination

Tourists of The Sea - Episode One - Arroyo Laguna - Kevin Pritchard + Graham Ezzy from Johannes Neumann on Vimeo.

Its always a risk leaving the warm waters of Maui. For our trip to Arroyo Laguna we had been wanting to do something on the west coast for quite some time. We watched and waited, and pulled the trigger 2 days before leaving, saw a good forecast and left home to set out on our tourist adventure.

I had never traveled with Graham before. We had talked about it, but we just could never nail down some dates that worked for us both. So our adventures were fresh, the hopes were high and we set out to sail the seas of the california coast. For me it was fun to go back, Arroyo was one of our favorite spots as a family growing up. I knew it was going to be fun.

We showed up at the beach like total windsurf pro tourists. Boards stacked on the roof, sails, masts, everything piling out of the car. The locals shook their heads as we got out, immediately started getting our boards off and shit flying everywhere. Just like a typical tourist.
Sailing with Graham is always fun. He is inspires me to try something new with his no fear, go for it style. Pushing his limits as well as mine.

For the trip our idea was that he would film some and I would film some as well, taking turns sailing and filming. The only thing we learned is that he was a much better filmer than I am. He has the patience to get the shot. I don't. I hate sitting on the beach, I hate watching and watching. Maybe it is something new in my mind, maybe it is something new with my filming, maybe it is something new in my sailing, but whatever it is, it sure brings me to realize that windsurfing is my favorite sport in the world.

Arroyo is not an untouched land, it just needs to be remembered. The side off shore winds and rippable waves make it what I think is the most high performance wave spots on the California Coast. For some reason, our road trips always take us to California. Being a tourist in familiar land helps us where we know the sea. Being tourists of the Sea ...

Sometimes hitting chop at full speed can be pretty scary. We have all heard the saying “speed is your friend” and most of the time it is. When most people see chop coming at them, their first reaction is to slow down. When that happens, they straighten the legs and head up into the wind and usually end up hitting the steepest part of the chop and get bucked off! Sound familiar?
When I see chop coming at me, I hit the gas! I usually bear off the wind, bend my knees and stick my butt out so that I can absorb the bumps. My “SEVEN 7” stance turns into a “SIX 6”. Bearing off the wind also takes some of the edge off the wind chop and won’t send me flying. This is where those LONGER harness lines really help out! You are able to get further away from your rig and stay in control.
If things are really out of hand and you are getting bounced all over the place, get out of your harness lines, drop your butt down into the water and hang downward on your boom. This stance forces you to bend those knees and get low..... It isn’t the prettiest looking stance but it will do the job and save you from getting flicked around. The name of the game is being in control and having fun!
Equipment setup for choppy conditions has a couple rules I like to go by-
• Having the mastrack forward helps keep the nose of the board low and down- this equals less tail walking.
• Putting your foot straps further inboard will give you more control, especially in the turns.
• If you are spinning out a lot, move your fin further back or your foot straps forward if your using a powerbox or tuttle box board.
• Make sure you have enough downhaul in your sail- too little and you will be getting thrown all over the place.
• The more overpowered you are, the more outhaul you can pull on- This kills some of the power in your rig and makes it easier to control.
Now all you need is some wind and water- get out there and GAS IT!

I like this shot of Kevin in his high wind stance, weight is LOW, Knees are BENT, Rig is upright, Arms extended and he is in perfect control and ready for anything that comes at him. How long do you think those harness lines are??

This photo popped into my inbox from Paula over at Windchaser Photography.  She asked few questions and wanted me to examine this shot - I thought it was something that we could all learn from so here some dialect back and forth -
"Hi Matt,
I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor. Could you just look at this pic my husband took of me yesterday. Is my hand too close to the mast? arms too far apart? any other suggestions. The boom height and harness line length feel good.
Thanks in advance for taking the time.
Aloha!
Paula

Here is my reply:
"HI Paula,

No problem……. when I look at the shot a couple things stand out-

yes, your front hand looks too far forward-
I can also see a lack of mast foot pressure going on there- see how it looks like your weight is on your heels and you are pulled over the side of the board too much to windward- think about getting your weight on your toes more, dropping your butt down to engage the harness lines and get more mast foot pressure to keep the board driving from the mast- make sense?
Also, check you head where it is looking- if you are trying to go upwind, you should be looking upwind!
Same with the hips, if you twist your hips upwind, you are in a better position to cruise upwind more naturally.

Some other things to think about would be to really focus on using your body weight to engage the harness and let the harness do the work- this also achieves the mast foot pressure we are looking for AND takes the work out of the arms!

Food for thought……

Hope to see you on the water : }

A few simple things that can correct a lot of issues that a lot of windsurfers have- My favorite words of wisdom are:
LOOK where you want to go and STAY LOW!!!

Look at this disaster of a forecast...... OH NOOOO!!! The arrows are going every direction, looks like someone is really confused? Maybe yes, Maybe no...... Someone once told me, "the only people that try to predict the weather around here are fools or out of towners!" I always loved that line and use it all the time. Maui is quite unique in how the wind blows- as long as you have the right flow pattern of a North/NorthEast breeze it normally increases and accelerates through the valley between Haleakala and the West Maui Mountains. When the wind is very on-shore, that means you might venture over to Kihei as the wind increases through the valley and hits the south side with more vengeance! It has more time to "funnel" between the mountains and increases in a side/side off direction. Even though the water is flat with small chop you can still get out there for a good time. If waves are your thing, waiting around till 2pm at Kanaha for the strongest wind of the day may only let you get schlogging out on a 6.2 on your SUP board- plenty of fun there. If that doesn't do it for you, jump in the car to Kihei and you could be overpowered on your 4.7! There are a couple places I look to see what the conditions "MIGHT" do during the course of the week- Here they are:
This one below tells me the flow pattern and direction:
http://www.windguru.cz/int/index.php?sc=53

This one tells me a little more of what is going on:
http://www.hawaiiweathertoday.com/glenns-daily-weather-narrative/

For Daily updates and live action this works perfectly:
http://www.mauiwindcam.com/streaming/kanaha/

To see how the conditions look at Hookipa, this is a good one when it is working:
http://www.mamasbeachcam.com

You guys have all heard me preaching about longer harness lines and using your body to do the work..... I had to share this video of a run all the way from the outside at Kanaha to the inside, no hands- practicing what I preach! When you are dialed in and comfy, you know it. If you aren't sure when you are dialed in, might be time to figure it out!