Chris Pressler´s windsurfing blog » Life

Island traveller

chris — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:56:38 +0000

It´s a special trip on the Canaries this year. We first arrived on Fuerteventura and had a good time for about a week at Sotavento. Afterwards we travelled to Lanzarote reporting from the second PWA Freestyle event. The action was great. Sarah-Quita took another title and Gollito could defeat Kiri in the final. We stayed at the beach front of the Sands Beach resort.

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.

Arrived on the Canaries

chris — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:02:32 +0000

It´s so beautiful to sail in crystal waters at Sotavento with nice powerful wind in the sail. I really enjoyed my first session yesterday at the Center 1 of René Egli.

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!

Back from Asia

chris — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:16:07 +0000

It was a nice time overthere in South Korea. The event was so well organised and the conditions were fine. Now it´s time to focus on training and tuning the gear even better. I already had a worldclass 9,6 day on the lake in Podersdorf and some training in the gym and on the bike. The 37th position in the first Slalom was not the best start in the 2010 season, but I felt a lot of speed. For sure it was a big chance for me using a 9,6 plus the 131 for the very first in the competition. All is bigger, wider, but also covering a much bigger windrange. But I really like my new gear, the Reflex sails plus the iSonics. Thanks to Steve, Victor, Björn and Wojtek I have a much better tuning now. It also motivated extremely much to share the tent with multiple worldchampions! A massive knowledge transfer loaded up my brain and body!

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).

REFLEX session in Podersdorf

chris — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:08:28 +0000

Yesterday we had a nice day here at Lake Neusiedl. Sailing for the first time without booties. I was out on my Reflex 8,6 and iSONIC 131 combo. The wind from south eastern direction made it possible to sail in front of the lighthouse. Kerstin took some cool shots with her 200 -400 mm Nikon lense.

In front of the lighthouse of Podersdorf (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

Jibing with 8,6 and 131 (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

Windy spring 2010

chris — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:23:09 +0000

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.

Back home in Austria

chris — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:25:01 +0000

Now I am already back in Europe for 19 days. These last days were busy. Had one super windsurfing session in 8 Beaufort at my homespot, sorted out almost all my gear for the 2010 racing season, had a great skiing session close to my birth place, celebrated my birthday, passed by Munich and so on and so on..

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!

Active day

chris — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:19:19 +0000

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

Freeride session at the Mole West

chris — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:31:03 +0000

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…

Frozen lake

chris — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:44:33 +0000

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)

Living at the sea

chris — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:25:57 +0000

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.)