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Magic Sunday August 1 2010

Syamil — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:10:24 +0000

by: KA Bryan Norman

Today we got hit by the mother of all storms. It arrived like they did in the good old days, a galloping herd of white horses approaching from the horizon. And once the wind hit, at around 10 am, it seemed to never let up, instead, just picking up more and more steam, to a consistent spell of 25 knots, with gusts of over 30 knots!

By that time I was back in of course. But I did surf for over 2 hours in near-20 knot conditions, which on an 8.3, even if it’s a KA Koncept, is bloody tiring. Still, the fact that I was out there for two hours while most people were on 6m+ is evidence that the Koncept is as stable as they come.

Not a lot to add to that, other than to say that it was sheer bliss

Some visuals of that Magic Sunday. Have a look at the wind meter :-O

(Note: Best lower your volume, because a howling wind and a Nano mic do not a very good mix make.)

Singapore Blasting July 22 2010

Syamil — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:05:11 +0000

by: KA Bryan Norman

The charts were right. After a pre-dawn downpour that lasted from 6 till past 8 am, the wind, chilled by the spell of rain, started picking up power around 9. By the time I reached the club, Boo was already blasting on the rapidly intensifying SW. Best of all, looking out towards the horizon, there seemed to be plenty more where that SW came from. As I launched, about 10 minutes later, it was already blowing about 15 knots.

In the next 2-3 hours, according to consensus, the gusts reached 18 knots, beyond the ship zone, especially behind Keta, touching 20 knots.

As Singapore goes, this puts today in the epic catagorie. In fact, on my wind log, which is color-coded, red signifying exceptional, today is the first red day since March 10th.

On a day like this you don’t leave any left-overs; I had a massive 2,5 hour session, took a small break, then went out again for about 30 minutes while the wind slowly spent itself.

All told, a good 3 hours on the Koncept. And once again, it went like the clappers. In fact, at the apres-surf chat, I was a bit surprised to hear from the others that they rated the wind up at 18-20 knots. I mean, sure, the 8.3 was a bit of a handful at times, but I never felt outgunned in any way, a testament to the Koncept’s lightness and ultimate control properties.

GPS-wise, the max display stood at 25 knots. In absolute terms this is not the fastest of times, but considering that the wind oscillated between SW and SSW, the direction that traditionally whips up the sea into a churning cauldron, 25 knots is positively break-neck. I can only imagine what this sail is capable of during a westerly storm, when the sea is more friendly.

Maybe tomorrow

KA Sails Koncept in Singapore

Syamil — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:16:19 +0000

by: Bryan Norman

My Koncept 8.3 performed superbly in the 18 knot storm we caught today. I never felt overpowered or in any way out of control, even though the speed the sail delivered was simply blistering.

NOTE: You can find out more about KA Sails at KASails.com.sg

The Koncept has a solid, in-control and fully locked-in feel, even while you’re full-on careening across the water in downwind off-the-fin charges. The sail is ever so finely balanced and spills its exhaust unnoticably. This is what windsurfing all about – the ultimate bliss!

After the wind had eased, I had a chat with Ian and he confirmed what I believe is the basis for the solid almost auto-pilot feel the Koncept gives you, even at the upper wind ranges. Looking at the shape of the sail, it’s clear to see that the bottom section has plenty of profile to it. This scooped out section acts as the sail’s afterburner – this is the area that kicks in when winds are big.

Typical early planing sails tend to be softer and more flexible, their power is in the upper section of the sail, making use of the breezes that waft around up there. Once the wind honks however, that kind of sails will tend to want to pull you ass-over-tit, because their upper end drive makes them feel top-heavy; you end up struggling to keep them reined in. Their very fortes in light winds, i.e. their softness, early planing and delayed feedback characteristics, work against them in powered-up conditions .

What you need in strong winds is a rock-solid sail that gets most of its raw drive from below, so you can enjoy all of the forward thrust without any of the catapult tendencies. The various forces in the Koncept are in optimal balance, which in practice means that even in a howling wind, you’re confident enough to be able to coax ever more speed out of the rig, whilst others are forced to go into mere survival mode.

Conclusion: I haven’t been truly overpowered yet on this sail, so a slight disclaimer is in order. But I have to say that when your blasting away on the Koncept, it feels as if the only speed limiting factor is the size of
your cojones.

More about the author: Bryan is a born Dutch currently living in Singapore. He has been doing the sport he loves, windsurfing since the early 80′s. He is also an official distributor for KA Sails in Singapore. Reach him anytime at Kasails.com.sg

Perfect Week

Syamil — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:57:19 +0000

I had the honour to meet our friends from the South, Shas and Rosman during CNY. Mr. Shas and his family went all the way from Singapore to Balok to get his taste of the wind here with the photography and diving master, Mr Rosman from JB. Also present was Mr Chong who managed to steal some time off before his CNY celebration – still going strong!

The wind was just perfect. In fact, the whole week during CNY seems like blowing indefinitely! 15-20 knots all the way baby! The weather was somehow a bit too hot since it was the beginning of the drought season but it didn’t stop us nonetheless. Balok treated us with the nicest condition it can offer, so who needs to complaint?

During the night, we had our dinner at one of the best restaurant in Kuantan, the Sara Thai Kitchen. The guys returned home the next morning. It was a short trip for them but I’m sure they’ll return home with plenty of good memories to remember, and hopefully will find their way back the coming year.

Towards the weekend, I also had the honour to meet a veteran windsurfer from Singapore, Mr Richard. The first time I saw him was on the beach during last year’s Christmas. He looked so much younger on the beach LOL. Mr Richard was on his way back from Kelantan after visiting his family for CNY. We had dinner in Tg Lumpur’s famous Ikan Bakar. It was nice to know that Mr Richard and his wife are very fond of Malay foods. It seems to me they know Malay foods and the best restaurants to eat them better than I do.

Big thanks to all whom I met during the week. I must say, despite having less than 10 people whom I windsurf with, with perfect wind and perfect people, it was just the perfect week ever.

Some pictures [credits to Rosman]

Small chat on the beach – (left) Shas, Chong, Syamil

Mr Chong blasting forward. This guy can beat anyone half his age on the water!

Rosman posing for a shot.

I must admit I’ve never seen myself getting so close to camera while windsurfing before. I was as excited as a child when I saw this this one.

Rosman (left), Syamil and Shas.

Last but not least.

See the complete album HERE.

A Sesh With KL Windsurfers

Syamil — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:48:21 +0000

I was in Kuala Lumpur last weekend with my friends and after a last-minute arrangement with Joe from windsurfingkl.com we managed to visit our KL windsurfers in Pantai Remis. We met Joe in Damansara and from there he guided us all the way to Pantai Remis. The journey took about 40-45 minutes, which for someone like me whom blessed with the beach barely 5 minutes from the house, is quite heck of a ride for a windsurfing trip. All hail to pure magnifique passion for windsurfing!

When we arrived, the wind is slowly picking up and we had a little chat before all of them went out to harness the wind. As expected for this part of Malaysia, most of the guys are using 8++ sails and wide boards. A few moments later, I quickly spotted more windsurfers arriving to the beach, marked by their blue-and-yellow rashies with Malaysian flag batch and all (almost all KL windsurfers have them!).

As it turns out, the wind lasted only over half an hour blowing around 12 knots then abruptly went to dead zero – just as I get to sail out! We ended the session then headed for some drinks and more chat afterwards. For people who only get to sail once or twice every week and not guaranteed with wind, it was quite amazing seeing that none of them are complaining too much about the condition. These are a bunch of truly amazing & dedicated windsurfers whose attitude completely potraying the true meaning of the infamous phrase “There is no such thing as a bad day at the beach”. Inspiring!

As for me, the trip was well worth it just on the basis of meeting new people and visiting new spot alone!

Some pictures :

Penang International Regatta 2010

Syamil — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:13:35 +0000

This is still way ahead of time but worth mentioning especially for those who wants to start practising & prepare for the event. Last year we received a great number of participations especially in the raceboard & RSX class. Wind speed was recorded at 18-21 knots on the second & third day of the race. Great food, fantastic venue & amazing people. Everyone’s invited.

Date: 5th to 7 th of March.
Venue: Penang Swimming Club, Tg Bungah (Batu Feringghi), Malaysia.
Format: Marathon and course racing.
Class: RSX, Raceboard, Bic Techno 283 and Formula
Entrance fee : tbc (last year was RM 75)

p/s: Much apologies for the lack of updates regarding Endurance event in PD. It seems that the main organizer is not yet confirmed on the date & venue despite the fact that we are closing to August in less than 2 months. We will update any info when they are made available. In the meantime, please subscribe to get all the latest info straight to your feed reader.

Windsurfing and Malaysia

Syamil — Sun, 31 May 2009 01:36:01 +0000

With the Monsoon Cup held successfully on its 4th year of the annual regatta, Malaysia has proven once again that it is worthy of one sailing nation. Sponsorships seems to be in abundant, and the crowd multiplies each year. It is no doubt that Malaysia is the on right track into becoming one of the world’s favorite spot for sailing events.

This success, although unfortunately without medal winnings, had to do in some ways with the success of the less serious division of dinghy sailing namely the Optimist, Laser, 420, 470 etc. Malaysia has some of the best sailors in the world for dinghy sailing, and it has been proven time and time again. The sensational triumphant of this division has been the pushing power to bring more serious sailing competitions like Monsoon Cup into Malaysia. In a few years, it will not be a surprise if such breed like Dato’ Peter Gilmor will be born in Malaysia.

I was once a sailor for the Optimist myself for a few years. Back then, we were not really that well equipped. Regatta would only see less than 100 sailors, and the gap between each regatta is about 3 to 4 months. Laser contestants only have enough boats to establish a class, and other dinghy classes like 420 & 470 was not even heard of. A few SEA Games medals later, we saw over 300 participants on each regatta, with consistent sponsor & supports from the government after they noticed the potential of the sport. The system is now so well established, that every state has been given substantial funds for the expenses of training, and in return were rewarded with high success rate of securing the podiums in international events. Some coaches even noted that it takes less than 6 months to train a Gold Medal SEA Games sailor!

On the other hand, flashback of windsurfing in this respect was not really the same, almost the opposite. Windsurfing raised its popularity during the early 90′s, and it continues to flourish until the late of 90′s. Towards the end of the millenium, an organization was established by a group of local windsurfers on the ground off bringing serious athletes into the SEA Games, only to see all of the invested time & money to be washed away into the drain by the Sports Ministry at the moment. This lack of support and endorsement eventually saw the downfall of windsurfing in this noted event.

The particular reason behind this sad history actually revolves around the lack of understanding of windsurfing.
Windsurfing was viewed as a recreational, leisure sport. While not 100% incorrect, every other sport at some point falls into this category. Badminton, football, cycling and even motor racing shared the same crowd when it comes to leisure, while the select few further their passion by entering competitions and so on. In the countries in the Europe for example, parents can afford to buy sailing dinghy for their children just purely for recreational purposes. By the same concept, shouldn’t dinghy sailing too be labeled as a leisure sport then?

Although viewed as a leisure sport, windsurfing in its nature is not actually that easy. In fact, it is even more athletic and physically demanding when compared to sailing. Imagine standing for a few hours, holding a sail a few meters taller than you with bear hands, while at the same time constantly focusing on stabilizing the board and the sail going at a speed reaching up to 30knots. It’s not really a sport that can be mastered in a few months, some take years, even more give it up half way. The idea that windsurfing can be done just as easy as learning to jet ski while you’re out on vacation is nothing but plain false advertisement.

Somehow, it was understandable why windsurfing was taken quite lightly some years ago. In those years, the ideal condition for racing particularly for slalom type setup is during the monsoon season. With the wind condition in Malaysia, it is almost impossible to extend the training & racing off the monsoon season. Therefore course racing were favored, but with the cost of using the slower longboard type setup which is less exhilarating to both audience & the athletes especially when it can be done by sloughing in wind as low as 3 knots.

With the current development of Formula Windsurfing (FW) , it brought back the exciting planing windsurfing in winds as little as 6 knots. The low wind requirement means that the condition in Malaysia is more than accommodating to develop the sport, all year round. This is also the reason why some of the countries with identical seasonal wind condition have picked up FW and it proved to be very successful over the years. Our neighboring countries such as Singapore, Thailand & Vietnam are already way ahead of us in terms of Formula Windsurfing.

The recent Penang Regatta that was held recently can be taken as an alarming indication to how Malaysia is really wayyy behind other countries in respect to Windsurfing. There was only 10 FW participants, whom two of them are Malaysian. For an event exclusively held in Malaysia, this is certainly a pathetic number. Not to mention that one of them is our respectful Mr Leong Soon, a remarkable veteran windsurfer whose age is beyond 50! And thanks to him, we managed to keep the Malaysian flag flying on the podium.

But it will take more than just a few very enthusiastic people to bring windsurfing into its glorious era just like in the 90′s. I will be wrong to put an unnecessary responsibility to every windsurfer in Malaysia to help revive this sport, but in all truthfullness, that is exactly what we need.

A crowd would attract nothing less than a bigger crowd, which is true for any other sports in the world.
For example, Mountain Biking used to be almost unknown in Kuantan back in the days, now they’re the next biggest thing since rempit which poisoned the minds of youth here. Bicycle stores are springing like the mushrooms after the rains in every little corner of Kuantan, and they packed up branded bikes from the most advanced ones to to least ‘entry level’ ones. Little that we know, It was all started by a group of 10-15 people doing ups and downs the Pelindong Mountain every other weekend. What, you haven’t heard? Check out their latest Kuantan Enduro event held in Telok Chempedak here.

A group of windsurfers frequently doing simple racing, hanging out at the beach would provide the same catalyst. Do we really have to wait for 20 knots winds or the Monsoon Madness to do this? You tell me. I honestly do not think that a simple race every other weekend at any location with minimal amount of prizes is too much to ask for. Should we also call the press for reviews, magazine for some photoshoots, a few chicks to add the flavor perhaps? Be creative, be proactive.

In addition, a rather active group on internet forum for example will also be an excellent platform to reach out the potential crowd. We can learn a lot from our friends in Singapore with their Bluefinz forum. Internet forum provides instance ‘teaser’ for those who wanted to get to know the community or gathering any information about getting into the sports. It will also cater all your needs to discuss any future events or ultimately just for sake of keeping things alive.

So where do we start?

Malaysian Endurance Windsurfing Event

Syamil — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:50:00 +0000

The event is still under detailed preparation as noted by the organizer, Greg from mybatik.com.my . You should expect Notice of Race to be out probably in May. Please keep yourself updated by subscribing to the site’s RSS feed or via email.

As of now, here is an extract from the official website

Venue – Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Date – to be confirmed – tentatively, August 2009
Duration – 3 days of competition, 4 nights
Route – Avillion and Admiral Cove Resorts
Class – Kona + Open
Target Number – 100+ entrants
For Participants – Limited free board hire,
Free – Accommodation, Food, Airline tickets, Freight, Prizes, Trophies, Entertainment
Television – International prime-time telecasting via 9+ cable TV channels, throughout 60+ countries, with 146 million households, potential viewing audience of 365 million

You can also follow the forum discussion of the event here.

100 Windsurfing Bloggers

Syamil — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:15:00 +0000

Erik Loots on SpeedsurfingBLOG.com has posted about 100 Windsurfing blogs, after 3 months of searching. It’s an interesting list, and the names include some famous windsurfers like Sean O’Brien, Kevin Pritchard, Chris pressler, Robby Swift & more.

You can view the post here.

Pattaya Cup 2009

Syamil — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:59:00 +0000

3 to 5 April 2009
Jomtien Beach, Pattaya, Thailand

Class: Formula, Slalom, RSX, IMCO, Raceboard and Bic techno (youth)

Pattaya has received contestants from many countries for the race namely Austria, England, Canada, France, German, Hongkong, China, Singapore, South Korean, Japan, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Spain etc.

~~The Event was supposed to be held in December 2008, then postponed to January, and after some further arrangement changed its date to 3rd of April. Read more about it here~~ update : Sorry for the wrong information, here’s Ong from Singapore correcting it for me,

http://balokwindjunkies.blogspot.com/2009/04/pattaya-cup-2009.html

Reference to your page above, pls note that the Pattaya conducted two events -
Jan – RSX Youth World 2008 (SG sent two RSX windsurfers) [see video clip in my facebook]
Apr – Thailand Windsurfing Championship 2009 [photos will be uploaded shortly]

Wishing you a plane surfing.

Ong PH

Thanks Ong!

Our friends from the Singaporean’s Youth Olympic Game YOG sent a whole bunch of their squadron to Pattaya for this event. My best wishes to all of them.

For more info & latest updates, please click here

Don’t forget to subscribe.

Update: Chris Ting written a post about the event here.

Summaries of the event; Wind was not really that great, so no FW race, only raceboards & RS-X.