Chris Pressler´s windsurfing blog

Back from Vietnam we immediately went for testing new iSonics. We drove from Bangkok down to Prak Nam Pran. Remi had a lot of gear on his pickup. The windconditions were excellent. 12 to 18 knots from southern direction. The spot is definitely one of Thailand´s best. Kerstin and myself were here back in 2007 already, when exploring Thailand for windsurfing spots. Besides testing iSONICs 111 I could test a Reflex 7,8 m Proto. Just can say the sail has power plus super smooth cam rotation!!

Can´t await to ride on the production sails!

We will stay for one more day. Let´s see, if we are lucky with the wind again.

Rigging at Prak Nam Pran Beach (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

Remi Vila and myself on the beach discussing the results (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

Jibing with iSonic 111 and the new Reflex 7,8 (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

The Prak Nam Pran Beach (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

Yesterday I had an active day. I went for an intense Slalom session on 6,2 plus 94 in front of the Jibe´s Beach Club. Was surprised, how great the new 94 iSonic worked. The water was super choppy and went Slalom through kiters, windsurfers and swimmers. Around 5.00 p.m. the wind dropped and I practiced on the 12,6 SUP. When I entered the water the wind picked up to 20 knots. But was big fun anyway and could feel some progress. Kerstin took some cool shots plus she filmed. Will make a little webclip later.

Today is the plan to continue with a clinic. The wind is more on the light side right now. We saw the first morning without any wind. The sea was glassy inside the bay of Mui Ne.

Chris

A day full of action - Pics: Kerstin Reiger

Severne just launched their new racing site and the new living wing concept. Check it out! Looks like Ben Severne, Jesper Orth, Björn Dunkerbeck and Steve Allen. They created the living wing and added new batten tensioner plus super XL cams. The luff lenghts got shortened and cut out at the clew is much more compared to the 09 Code Reds. What I heard the cams are rotating super smooth!! Here is a link to the new product video!

I am super stoked to be on the Severene team right now. The sails look well developed. Let´s see how they work on the water!

I will use the Reflex Slalom sails for the upcoming 2010 season and can´t await to test them. In the moment I still train on the Code Reds here in Mui Ne at the Jibe´s. The wind is great. Used sizes from 4,5 up to 8,1 and boards in between 76 and 131 liters. It´s perfect for training here. I already got used to the iSonics in 111 and 131.

Before we travelled to Asia I was not sure, how it will work out sailing in a competition. The winter in Austria was extremely hard, no chance to enter the water since the 28th of December, when I had my last session on the lake. I did other training at home or at the gym, went skiing…

And looks like this was a good decision. Sailing here at Vietnam felt easy, at a beach with palm trees and 26° warm water.

I brought 3 Code Reds for racing to Mui Ne, a 6,2, 7,0 and 8,1 plus got three iSonics from Remi, a 86,111 and 121.

The gear worked perfect. I used all sizes of sails and boards, but felt fast on 7,0 plus 111 and 6,2 plus 86.

We had 2 days of racing. 4 races each day. On day one the wind picked extremely up till the end of the day – we had 30 knots of wind – and I could use the 6,2 plus the 86 in race 4. That was fun! Felt a bit like in Gran Canaria. Cyril Moussilmani had great speed in all conditions and Jimmy Diaz, who could win the first 2 races, were a super strong opponent. In one race I could stay in front of Jimmy  and in a few races I could keep up the speed with Cyril to the first mark. Overall I lost at the jibemarks and on the way in. I made one second and 7 third positions. Anyway, it was great fun racing here at Jibe´s in Mui Ne again and thanks to Pascal Lefebvre for the great organisation. Let´see if there will happen an official PWA Slalom and Freestyle competition in 2011.

On the day after the competition I tested 2011 iSonics with Remi Vila. The wind was light, 7 to 15 knots. We tested the bigger sizes and I was impressed by the improvements.

Now it´s time to train and practice on jibing.

Keep you updated,

Chris

Jibing at the inside mark followed by Remi Vila (Pic: Pascal Lefebvre).

Powered up on 7,0 and 111 chased by Remi Vila on 7,5 (Pic: Pascal Lefebvre).

With locked clew over the line (Pic: Pascal Lefebvre).

At the start (Pic: Pascal Lefebvre).

The this years Vietnam Funcup, it will be the 11th edition, will be a tough one. I could win the race last year. It was the 10th time, that the event happened. In the upcoming competition, which will take place on the 29th and 30th of January for the very first time a Pro division will be held.

The organizer Pascal Lefebvre just sent me a mail today: Remi Vila, Cyril Moussilmani, Jimmy Diaz, a couple of Russians,  2 Vietnamese and yourself are on the starting list of the Pro division in the moment. Wow!

It looks like I will have a great slalom competition there! Let´s hope that the wind will kick in, but so long the north easter works  great in this season!

The good thing about the event is that you meet many happy people having fun on the water, a great party plus concert will be up and all the profit of the event will be donated to a charity organization in Binh Thuan Province.

Vietnam, we come!! Kerstin and myself should arrive there on the 26th of January!

The Vietnam Funcup poster 2010 (Pic: windsurf-vietnam.com).

Windsurf Vietnam website

I was really stocked about the fact, that it got warm and als the ice went away. My homespot works again. I had to look for a place without pack ice at the beach and found one in Neusiedl, directly in front of the first class restaurant Mole West. I decided to test out my new freeride set, the Futura 133 plus the NCX pro in 8,0.

It definitely felt different compared to my Slalom stuff, but was fun. A super light sail plus an easy going freerider. The wind was gusty and the water temperature around 3°. But it was worth and many more sessions could follow in the upcoming days.

Chris

Here are some shots, all are taken by Kerstin Reiger, sweet…

The lake Neusiedler, my homespot, is covered with a thick layer of ice in the moment. We had a terrible week with temperatures in between -5° and -15°. That was too much. The conditions for icesailing, or icesurfing were quite good. Two days ago the weather changed completely and we got warm air from the south, perhaps from the Sahara. The temperatures are in between 5° and 10° above zero. So the snow is away, but the ice layer is still covering the lake. Let´s see how long the relatively thick ice will stay compact.

In 2008 I had my last session on the 23rd of December. On the 24th the lake got the cover. This season it was extremely warm till the 11th of December, but afterwards windsurfing was almost impossible and the lake got frozen on the 17 th of December.

Anyway, there is still no chance to windsurf on water, but really hope that the next session will be possible soon.

Wish you all a merry x-mas and have a good time with your friends or family,

Chris

We had snow covering the Caravan (pic: myself)

At the frozen Lake. The sunset could not warm the air, we had -12°. (Pic: Kerstin Reiger)

For all, who were interested in the iSONICs from 2010 and for which conditions, sailsizes and weights they are suited well: check the link with a nice overview from Remi Vila, Jimmy Diaz, Kevin Pritchard and Cyril Moussilmani.

star-board.com iSONIC report

They all are super experienced. The weights of the top Starboard guys are in between 85 kg and 93 kg. The most heavy one, with more than 100 kg, is Björn Dunkerbeck. Let´s see which sizes he will choose. In 2009 he registered 133/ 111 & 86.

Most of the PWA sailors try to cover an extremely big windrange with the 3 boards they are allowed to register at their first event.
I am around 85 naked and tend to go with 86, 111 and 131, but will test the 131 against the 121 a little bit more. I really love the style of the 121, but guess that I can go in extremely light wind with the 131.

Definitely the 86 has a wide range. I use the strongwind board and lightwind speedboard from 5,0 up to 6,7. It´s the board for the Canaries or for events, where it can get rough. Perhaps at Costa Brava with Tramuntana wind, at Lake Neusiedler, in Croatia with Bora winds or in Sylt. In South Korea or Alacati it´s more the 111 or one size bigger.
On the 111 I can put 6,7 up to 8,1.
On the 131 I can use 8,5 and bigger up to 9,8.

The iSONICs 2010, which can be used on the PWA tour and at other international events (Pic: star-board.com)

The iSONIC 131 wood carbon plus the Code Red 8,8. Felt nice! (pic: myself)

The fog has left the lake and we got wind for Formula and Slalom sailing. Today I was out on 8,1 and 122. The gear felt extremely small after all the Formula sessions I had while the last weeks. Wow! I also felt some improvement in my personal muscle power. Gym workout seems to pay off. Tomorrow the snow should arrive in Austria. The winter weather will push some windy snowstorms over the lake. And if not, I will jump on my formula kit or continue my writing stuff. Really thought that this time of the year will be a relaxed one, but have a lot of little projects to finish.

Chris

In Podersdorf at my homespot after a nice Formula session (shot: by myself)

At a sea of fog. The fog covers the ground and is heavy hanging over the lake. I wait for lifting of the fog, when the sun comes through and the wind,too. The lake will be ready again, open and uncovered. Then it´s time:

I MUST GO IN, THE FOG IS RISING (Emily Dickinson, americ. poet, 1830-1886).

The fog is touching the ground (Pic: Chris P.)

The fog covers the reed (Pic: Chris P.)

The beachpark in grey (Chris P.)

In between land, lake, fog and shafts of sunlight (Chris P.)