Thanks to the help of our friends Jürgen and David we got lifts from the airport to our home and the other way around. Travelling with 4 boardbags and two big bags to Izmir through Istanbul was a big workout. When we arrived at our final destination in Izmir, not one bag had been arrived on the belt. It needed us more than 6 hours waiting at the airport for all the gear, which got delivered by Turkish Airlines time by time.

Late at midnight we arrived at our Hotel, called Otel Bakirli at Alacti.

The competition started straight on the following day and my motivation was down. I felt so tired plus the motivation was a bit down. All my gearbags were directly in the sun, no shade available. I had been arrived too late definitely this time. Plus went on too big gear, using my 9,6 m Reflex too often. I definitely should have changed to the 8,6 quicker, which fits extremely good my body size and weight for light wind.

No shade for guys, who were a bit later arriving. That was my spot.

I managed to get a 5th in the first round of the first elimination, which was not enough to advance in the quarter final, but was ok  sailing on the big gear fully overpowered. In the second elimination the PWA racemanagement went with a new seeding system sailing in groups of 11 people in the first round. I just passed many people swimming at the first mark, when a Turkish sailor pulled his sail against my boardnose and I got locked inside his boom. That was extremely bad luck just finishing in 10th and second last position of this round. What a nightmare! I got so high points! For sure the discard!

In elimination 3 I saw myself with a worldclass fleet in the first round: Maynard, Dunkerbeck, Williams, Mortefon. The start was slow and I finished 7th out of 8th.

In the 4th race, we also sailed on day 2 of the event –  I felt less tired, more aggressive again and started quite good together with Cyril at the top near the boat. I could not overtake Cyril, so I had to take the direct shortcut to the mark behind his tail, sneaking in in front of some guys and showed up in front of Cyril after the jibe, but without speed at the end of the mark one. It needed me too much time to pick up the speed again. Cyril and Andrea overtook me easily. I always stayed close to Andrea Cucchi, who was in 4th position, but never had a chance to attack him. 5th again!

Elimination number 5, which never saw a valid result!

After day 2 the wind dropped completely, just went for freesailing, testing, tuning, repairing a broken batton. Thanks to Kerstin, Gunnar Asmussen and Ben van der Steen for the help! On the final day, the 14th, we saw some little comeback of the Meltemi.

Good position in race 5 (Pic: by Karo).

I decided to go with the iSonic 131 tuned by the Pfaffi fin 48,5 cm plus the Reflex 8,6. I had a ok start up at the boat, but felt good speed plus free wind and could pass Jesper Orth on the first leg following Arnon Dagan and the eventleader Micah Buzianis. Jesper overtook me at the second jibe again, because I opened him the door jibing to wide, but the Danish Aussie struggled at the 4th and I came in third position again. Damien Le Guen could not get me this time. I was extremely happy making it up in the quarterfinals. And it did not feel like hard work. I had freewind and stable speed cruising through the lulls. Before the race I got my boom up by 5 cm, which perhaps helped me to find a more stable position on board.

Unluckily this round did not see 12 valid runs and the result did not count anymore. Next time I will continue with a heat like I finished here at Alacati!

4th at jibemark 3 just behind Jesper Orth. Leading is Arnon in front of Micah (Pic: Karo).

I only finished in 49th position at Alacati, which dissapoints a lot. Overall I lost 4 positions as well and felt back from 38th in 42nd position. It was the fourth time competing in Alacati, but was my worst result so far. The fifth race would have changed my result a bit. One more race is on the calendar, the final at Westerland, Sylt, which starts on the 23rd of September. I will get myself tuned as good as possible and show, how good I am. See you on Sylt!

It´s over for 3 days already. We sailed 10 full rounds. I finished 36th in my 6th Fuerteventura Slalom, where I started my Racing career 2005. It was my best result since the last years event at Fuerte. My start into the this years competition here at Sotavento was also not the best. I went on too big gear in my first heat, crashed at the first inside jibe in race 2 and got sailed down at the starting line by an opponent in the third race of day 1. Later with the bigger gear I could fight back from position 46 to 36, but believe that I could be placed a bit better. Anyway I used all my gear in the competition I brought to Fuerteventura: the iSonic 111 and 86, Reflex in 5,6, 6,2, 7,0 and 7,8

The level of slalom racing was by far the best I´ve ever seen live and I was happy to make into several quarter finals. Besides we were 4 Austrians starting here: Max Schanda, Manuel Zugsbratl, Marco Lang and myself. That felt cool, that younger sailors from my country found motivation to compete on international level.

In the this years event we saw 4 sailors, who were outstanding: Antoine, Finian, Björn and Cyril. Antoine, who won the event, took the overall lead. Looks like Antoine and Björn will battle it out for the 2010 title. But behind it´s super close. 7 riders are within 600 points. Anything can happen.

My jibing has improved, but must work on setting the jibe much better. Now I am looing forward to Alacati. The event in Turkey will start on the 9th of August. Until the 5th of August I will stay on Fuerte to do some training and get the updates about the freestyle event done plus get some stuff filmed sailing by myself.

Action in the jibe (Pic:Kerstin Reiger).

At the jibemark in a quarter final (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

Dark morning view from the Sands Beach Resort on the Atlantic ocean.

The time on Lanzarote was great. We met new friends and also found time to have a nice run just around the corner of the hotel, where the island is quite remote.

A local wrestling competition at Las Cucharas around midday!

One day after the event we took the ferry back to Corralejo. Arrived on Fuerteventura we immediately recognized that the sun has much more power compared to Lanzarote. Back on the sunny island we had a nice windsurfing session, but had to pack for our trip to Gran Canaria.

On the ferry to Gran Canaria.

After a 2,5 hours long ferry boat ride we arrived in Las Palmas. On the first day in Pozo – the wind completely died – nobody thought about good waveaction. We visited the Samsara restaurant in Maspalomas later in the evening and chilled out to be ready for the windy days. The Samsara is definitely one of the restaurants you never will forget about. Was great eating Tuna Carppacio from half a meter wide plates.

Rocking the stones of Pozo (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

The trades showed up on the following days and we saw incredible jumps and waverides. Philip Köster and Victor Fernandez, in Pozo for sure the best sailors in the moment, sailed three times a final and Victor, who trained the whole June on Gran Canaria, could win twice of them. In the ladies fleet the Moreno twins sailed on another level and proofed ther dominancy in Pozo. Daida could win in front of Iballa. Big congrats to both of them!

Talking with Kev Pritchard, who was busy at Pozo competing and working on daily vids! (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

I found some time in between filming and writing to get on the water. Was really fun to sail in Pozo.

Getting some air under the board at Pozo (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

Some minutes before the arrival back on Fuerteventura, at the port of Morro Jable.

On the 10th we returned to Fuerteventura and had windy conditions every single day. I found conditions to tune my smallest race sails in 5,6 and 6,2. The wind blew up to 40 knots. I sailed with the local Orlando and had one session with Philip Köster, who performs great on the Slalom gear already.

Philip Köster and myself on some speed at Sotavento (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

Now we stay on Fuerteventura. The PWA worldcup will start on the 23.7. It´s time to train with the other boys, who already arrived and getting focused on Slalom racing. Looks like we will see 64 competitors here at Sotavento. 61 are already registered on the PWA page. Have a look!

In the moment the windconditions are super strong and I also sail on my Quad waveboard sometimes. had a nice session with Kerstin and the freestyle boys at center 1.

Kerstin at a bottom turn on 3,3. The eventtent in the background.

The preparation for the 6 weeks trip, which will include short excursions to Lanzarote and Gran Canaria as well, were tough. I had to organize some technical ugrades, sort out all the right gear – it makes no sense to carry gear around you will never use at this windy spots and do all the necessary office work.

Now, Kerstin and myself are arrived and life feels easy. Kerstin already had a great photo shooting from the air, flying around on a Gyrocopter for several hours. We also met a lot of friends, celebrated birthday with Matti, had a coffee at the new Bar of Andy, who runs the Rapa Nui surfing center.

Yesterday I worked on the tuning of my Reflex 7,8 plus the iSonic 111 and the super nice new Pfaffi Fin 38,5, which are designed by my testing partner Peter Pfaffenbichler.

The wind were in between 12 and 20 knots and I sailed in front of the Pro Center 1 together with the local Orlando Lavendera, who runs the cool Fuerteventura Wave Classic.

While the upcoming days I will try to test all my Reflex sails and iSONIC board combis I brought and work on the tuning. From 7,8 down to 7,0, which takes a lot of wind and works on 111 and 86. The 6,2 and 5,6 I only will use on the 86. I brought fins from 31,5 up to 40 cm length.

Keep you updated!!

Chris

Living at the sea, at least for some weeks in the year!

Kerstin is ready for a walk.

Reading in Andy´s new Bar, John Severson´s "Great Surfing", a masterpiece with essays.

Getting the Reflex 7,8 ready at Rene Egli´s Center 1.

Kerstin in front of the Gyrocopter, which can fly 140 km/h.

The first ride at Sotavento was a lot of fun.

Yes, the gear works great!

You should have a try!

Chris

The 2010 NCX got tested by the German SURF (Source: Severne).

Using the NCX Pro 8,0 on Lake Neusiedl (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

I used most of the time 131 plus 9,6 m, in one race 131 plus 8,6, which is a great combo, 111 plus 7,8 in another race and 111 plus 8,6, which works much much better than expected! While the next days there is a lot of work to do. The windforecast looks excellent. Another cold front should arrive by monday! The flight to Barcelona will be on the 7th of June. This time Kerstin will be on the plane as well, yeah!

See you on the water!

Chris

The beach of Jinha and the announcements (Pic: by myself).

Fighting at the mark with 111 and 7,8 (Pic: Carter/ PWA 2010).

Good speed at almost no wind thanks to Reflex 9,6 and iSonic 131 (Pic: Carter/ PWA 2010).

Where´s the shortest connection from the start to the finish line (at Gimpo airport)? (Pic: by myself).

Arrived in Asia after several hours on the plane (pic: by myself).

I got some shots for you from South Korea. Some of them are mine, some are by John Carter. We had one day with racing: I started good in my first heat. It was the first heat of the event and the 2010 season. I felt surprisingly good on my new Reflex 9,6, but went for a pin end start in the second heat and got covered.

In the second race I missed to advance in round 2 by 1 meter against Icingir Ertugrul from Alacati. But felt great in the heat fully powered on 111 and 7,8. Definitely I have to speed up my jibing a bit.

In Race 3 I had a great start near the boat fully powered on 111 plus 8,6, what is a great combo. But my fin broke after 10 seconds So far we had no more racing and I am far back from where I would like to be. But looks promising for tomorrow. Right now it´s raining quite strong. Yesterday we had light wind conditions, which gave an ideal situation for testing and tuning the iSonic 131 plus the Reflex 9,6.

Overall the racing was fun and it looked like the level got better again from 2009 to 2010. 11 different riders made it in 3 rounds into the finals, but just 3 of them made it into all 3 finals. Right now it seems like 4 sailbrands – Gaastra, NP, Northsails, Severne – plus 3-4 boardbrands – RRD, JP, Starboard or Tabou will have a realistic chance to win a constructors title and take the crown in the racing discipline. The 63 rule seems to work better than ever, especially in light winds. Race number 1 has been started in quite light conditions. Most of the sailors registered sizes in between 9,0 and 10,0 m and wide boards around 85 cm width.

To make it from the hotel to the beach or the other way around it´s a nice walk. Below are some shots I catched while these walks and mixed them up with the professional pictures of JC and Victor Couto….

The mirror is a must have (my hotel room 308)! (Pic: by myself).

Enjoying 10 knots strong gusts on my new lightwind kit (Pic: John Carter, PWA 2010).

And in the end it was not me getting early enough over the line (Pic: John Carter/ PWA 2010).

Posing for the cam (Pic: John Carter/ PWA 2010).

We are sharing an equipment tent plus Victor Couto, who took the shot: Björn, Steve, Wojtek and myself (Pic: Victor Couto).

A lonely man walking through the streets of Jinha while its raining (Pic: by myself).

Micah with his ipad and nutrition (Pic: by myself).

Korean building style at Jinha Beach (Pic:by myself).

Josh Angulo is not loosing any time testing his new Gun sails (Pic: myself).

Kevs message inside his geartent (Pic: by myself).

Kurosh is discussing the tactics of Josh at the volleyfootballcourt (Pic: by myself).

Björn gets filmed by the media crew (Pic: by myself).

It´s not a vending machine for drinks or chewing gums (Pic: by myself).

Wojtek back on the tour and he already made it into a final. But in the team with Steve, who is reflexing in the background...(Pic: by myself).

The diving ladies from Jinha. Respect! (Pic: by myself).

TV show by UBC. And the windsurfers in the background played around far a while to stay in the picture(Pic: by myself).

A windy 5th of April 2010 with strong northerly wind (Source: sport-schneider.com).

While the last two weeks we saw a lot of great days here at my homespot on Lake Neusiedler. My plan was to catch most of the days and if it will be really light to jump on the XL Formula gear. But it was so much wind, that my most used set got the small iSONIC 86 plus 5,4 followed by 131 on the lighter days. When riding a strong period of southern winds – together with my training partner Pfaffi – he had a top speed of 66 km/h on his GPS. So the speed should be ok this season.

These days of testing brought also a clear result, which boardsizes I will register for the upcoming PWA season: iSONIC 86, 111 & 131.

Walter from Windkraftsport took some shots today, when sailing in 35 knots. Thanks for the real DUCK JIBE secret! Now I totally got it!!

The real Duck Jibe on Lake Neusiedler today (Pic: windkraftsport.com).

I really hope that the conditions will stay as good as they are in the moment and it could become a monster season.

The stormy wind graph of Podersdorf on the 13.03.2010

In the third week of April I will run the Windsurfing teacher lesson together with Didi Raditsch. Have to be prepared as well for this event, which will happen from the 19th till the 26th of April.

If anybody is interested in to get the license to be a windsurfing teacher, just send me a message.

Now the spring fully kicked in while the last days – temperatures went up to 15°+ – and we should get strong southern wind tomorrow, at least strong enough for the big iSonics or the Formula board plus the 11.0 m.

Yesterday I passed by the Sport Schneider shop, who is the Austrian importer for Starboard, Severne, Aeron and many more brands, to present them the latest highlight of the Starboard range: the Two Piece 11’2″ x 30″ Camo Black SUP. Perfect handling at the airport with less than 2 meters max length!!!

What a nice piece for travelling! The guys were impressed. Check out some pics below.

Herbert with the splitted SUP Two Piece 11'2" x 30" Camo Black.

Herbert is checking the rails of the 11'2" x 30" Camo Black.

The 11'2" x 30" Camo Black half packed in an iSONIC large day bag. Easy!