A dreamy clip of Marion Raisi and Sylvain Demercastel's Preuvian adventure . . .(more)
2 weeks in Fiji! 1 surf week and 1 windsurf/kitesurf/SUP week
The Butterfly Effect is offering 2 amazing weeks in Fiji this May and June, so be sure join us this year! Take a look at all the fun from last year in the video. Please contact mailtinfo@betheeffect.com for any questions or for booking. Thanks!!
Zara Davis the UK’s queen of speed has been voted UK windsurfer of the year.
The UKWA (United Kingdom Windsurfing Association) is very pleased to announce the winner of the UK windsurfer of the year Zara Davis. Zara had a fantastic year to gain her nomination including achieving a new women's production speed record in Namibia. Then back to back wins, in three rounds of the European speed tour to become the ISWC European champion for the second time in her career. She also won the UK Weymouth speed week for a record 6th time as well as the women's British GPS 2011 speed ladder.
It is often said that nothing is as special as a first. A first kiss, a first car, a first gold medal. But for Lee Korzits nothing could be further from the truth. Korzits became the youngest ever winner of a gold medal at the ISAF Sailing World Championships as a precocious 19-year-old in 2003, but her return to the pinnacle of her sport earlier this month far outweighed her triumph eight years ago. . . . (more)
Shawna Cropas
Windsurfer, Surfer, S.U.Per, Windsurfing Coach, Photoshoot model, Maui Mother… life has certainly been an adventure for Shawna Cropas since leaving Vancouver many years ago. She honed her windsurfing skills and coaching while living in Ireland’s windswept Brandon Bay, but in the next chapter of her journey, she traded the green waves and fields of Ireland for somewhere just as lush. Boardseeker catchs up with Shawna as she gets into the festive mood on the valley isle. . . (more)
Junko has been impressing all round with her passion, dedication and love to the sport of windsurfing. Now Goya have snapped her up for their International Team we will keep an eye on her for the future.
I have known Lee Korzits for more than 15 years, and it's fascinating, on a personal level, to see the progress this rare girl has made. At the source is Lee's love of the sea in every way possible - surfing, windsurfing, and of course Olympic windsurfing.
In a dramatic medal race for the RS:X Women here at the ISAF Sailing World Championships, Lee Korzits [ISR] hung on to her gold medal positions by just 2 points after a strong challenge form Zofia Noceti Klepacka [POL]
As predicted yesterday Zofia proved too hot for Marina Alabau [ESP] to handle. She burst off the start line just behind Maayan Davidovich [ISR] who was first to the breakwater underneath the grandstands
FLOW goes international holding their first action packed, but relaxed week for female windsurfers on the beautiful, unspoiled island of Sal, Cape Verde from 12th to 18th March 2012. . . . (more)
FLOW RIDERS
FLOW has brought together a fantastic group of female watersports ambassadors, who like FLOW are intent on encouraging and developing women's watersports....welcome to the Flow Riders.
Flow Riders are here: to inspire, to encourage, for you to learn from and connect with.
How's a girl from Poland get to end up in WA riding perfect waves?
Well, simple as it sounds, “I had a dream”. That’s it. And I followed it. A dream that goes all the way back to when I was 12 and saw the Robby Naish’s R.I.P. video for the first time. I knew that I had to ride the same kind of waves one day. Living in an apartment in Warsaw, 500km from the sea with long winters and short summers, I wasn't exactly perfect material to become a proper wave-rider. . . . . . more in "Windsurfer International"
Laurence Bonneau-Charland – CAN 65
Her adventure starts in 1997 when she first tried sailing Optimist at the age of 8 years old. She loved it but never thought of becoming a big sailor later in the future. She was training 20 hours a week in gymnastics during that time.
MauiSails wants to congratulate team rider Ingrid Larouche on an outstanding performance throughout the year competing on the AWT, securing the title of National Women's Champion for 2011!
At the tour's first stop in Santa Cruz, CA, Ingrid impressed the judges with her fluid wave riding in light onshore conditions, making mediocre conditions look epic, finishing not only first place in the women's division, but also 2nd place in the men's amateur division as well. At Pistol River, Ingrid displayed her high wind skills honed in from summers in the gorge, putting up big forwards and solid wave rides, using her 2.9 and 3.3, to put her yet again on top of the women's podium. At the final event in Hookipa, Ingrid sailed extremely well against strong competition, and made her way through the early rounds and right into the finals, ending up 3rd place, putting her in 1st place overall for the American Windsurfing Tour!
Keep up the great work, Ingrid!…
From Big Blue TransAt Training in Tahiti
In February 2012 Sarah Hebert, 26, will set out on her solo Transatlantic Windsurfing Challenge. As part of her preparations she’s attempted several shorter crossings, including a gruelling 240km journey between two French Polynesian islands. Sarah describes how things both did, and didn't go according to plan …
Windsurf beauty Olya Raskina has had an incredible year travelling to some of the finest spots on the planet. Super-talented freestyler and wave rider Olya Raskina (JP / NeilPryde) has had an outstanding year travelling to some exceptional windsurf spots. She has been pulling spocks on the turquoise water of Dahab, and riding the super-clean waves on Mauritius and Maui.
Raskina was also lucky enough to witness the world's best riders rip up the monster wave Jaws, whilst it was firing with all guns blazing. Alongside honing her own skills on the water, Raskina is dedicated to getting as many women into windsurfing as possible through her training and the windsurfing beauties camps.
Take a look at Rakina's stunning year HERE and if you would like to hear more about the windsurfing beauties training camps drop her an email
Sarah-Quita is nominated for the "Sailor of the year award"
From the ISAF Rolex website:
Winning a World Champion title in the Professional Windsurfing Association is no mean feat; winning two in the same year is truly exceptional. At just 20 years of age, Sarah-Quita Offringa from Aruba has achieved just that - she is the PWA Women's Slalom World Champion and the PWA Women's Freestyle World Champion. . . . (more)
Ladies Rock UK's Windfest
This year's Poole Windfest saw a brand new type of competitor take to the water. Seven of us from the fairer sex decided to show our male counterparts not only that we can we crank on our own downhaul, but also that we can hold our own when it comes to competition. OK, so we may not all be graced with an inbuilt ability to shaka, spock or eslider, but we can rock a slick carve gybe and chop hop to our heart's content. It was high time for the ladies to shine. . . . (more)
Interview with Formula Windsurfing Womens European Champion - Olga Maslivets UKR
Q – How do you feel, now you are the European champion FW?
Really very happy - I love to race formula but do not get the opportunity very often. I like the challenge of racing in a different class . . . . (more)
IFCA Slalom Championships, Hyeres
From 7th to 11th September Almanarre will host the 2011 IFCA Junior, Youth, Women & Masters Slalom Championship. Not only are there European Championship titles up for grabs but also the 2011 IFCA Women's Slalom World Champion will be declared at this event . . . (more)
Surfmag Interview with Laure Treboux
Switzerland's online Surfmag interviewed Swiss Freestyle Legend Laure Treboux - "Laure Treboux is definitely one of the best Freestyle Windsurfers in the world and guess what, she's from Switzerland!."
"This last issue of Windsurfing ran only a fragment of an article I put together about some of the ladies who sail here at Ho'okipa year round. The magazine only published the group shot of us girls with the title, Should Windsurfing Be Sexy? I was asked to defend the photo, which is completely taken out of context if it's not followed up with the article we wrote to go with it."
Resi Stiegler is an Olympic downhill athlete and a ferocious freeride skier. In this TikiNews, Resi talks about falling in love with windsurfing during her stay on Maui, her progress and the similiarities between these extreme sports.
How I got into windsurfing - by Margareta Engstrom
"Life is like a book, and those who don't travel only read the first page" A statement taken from the infamous "Sipping Jetstreams" by Taylor Steel. I like to slightly rephrase this statement to "those who don't try, only reads the first page". To me, life has never really been about "what you have", but rather "what you do with it".
Good to see hardware brands tuning and expanding their ladies teams. Naish swooped for American Windsurfing Tour (AWT) Organiser Sam Bittner, while Tatiana Howard waved goodbye and thanks to Naish and Aloha to JPAustralia and NeilPryde. Meanwhile new girl on the Point-7 team, Greta Benvenuti (ITA-38) scored well at the Ulsan PWA World Cup and is loving life on tour - as featured in this clip by Sean O'Brien.
Robby Naish talking about Sarah's Atlantic crossing. Follow the preparation on sarah-hebert.com.
GIRLS GO FREE!!! BSA WEYMOUTH 21-22 May
Tushingham Sails and Starboard UK have teamed up with The Official Test Centre (Weymouth) and Headline Sponsor JAFFA ORANGES to bring slalom racing to Portland Harbour. Event info A special promotion for this event ‘GIRLS GO FREE’. Starboard, Tushingham, Jaffa and the OTC are offering free entry to all ladies and girls to this event*, so this is a great opportunity to 'have a go' without any cost. (Non-members will be subject to a membership fee which can be as low as £10 for master blasters’ temporary weekend-long cover – necessary for insurance purposes.) With loads of background activities taking place whatever the weather thanks to Jaffa (including Saturday night party!) this is sure to be the biggest and best event outside of the NWF!
Feminine Freestyle in Bonaire
Just a little report from Bonaire where I have been training freestyle the last 6 weeks. Amazing to stick away over the winter, as Denmark isn’t so surf friendly at that time. Ahh, nice! I’ve been here in Bonaire the last three years for training, and I keep coming back - I really like the place. The wind has been up and down this year though, but we’ve had at least 2 weeks of perfect conditions. Really nice!
. . . one of the last videos by Kuma, who is leaving the island soon to go back to Japan. This time he features the freestyle girls.
Evi Tsape Girls Camps Athens
A series of windsurf camps will be organized by PWA Women's Wave Rider Evi Tsape for the fourth year running in May 2011. The series will take place at the installation of Karavi water sports, which is located on the beach of Schinias, Athens; Evi has also started a partnership with the windsurfing school that is lodged there. The camp will run for 3 consecutive weekends; 2 of them have been dedicated as every year to girls only, whereas 1 of them will be open to men as well . . . read more
Bryony Shaw RS:X Brazilian Training
Check out Bryony Shaw training on her RS:X windsurfer in Buzios, Brazil. Good preparation for the Olympic selection competitions of summer 2011. Ultimate goal of Olympic gold in 2012.
A lot more goes in to being an Olympian than just windsurfing
Life would be a lot easier if someone took over the responsibility of planning my campaign, and all I had to worry about was training and racing. However, like the majority of Olympic hopefuls who don't have a team of support personnel, planning, logistics, and budget management falls squarely onto my shoulders.
We were still in Esperance when it started to look pretty promising for up north. We made the most of our last day in Esperance with a fun surf in the morning followed by a bit of windsurfing - just playing around in light winds and small waves. We decided to hit the road that evening so that we would make it to Geraldton in time. There's over 1100km between them, so after a short stopover in Perth we drove straight up north, . . . Read more
Alice Arutkin signs with Red Bull
Alice Arutkin signs with Red Bull, becoming the first girl on the team that includes legends such as Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Robby Naish and the young Philip Koster.
A trailer clip with news on Shawna Cropas and Tatiana Howard's awesome Aloha Windsurfing Clinics and Butterfly Effect Events working together! Shawna Cropas Aloha Windsurfing Clinics and Tatiana Howards Butterfly Effects come together to create a unique women’s only windsurfing instructional and SUP fitness event the week prior to the Maui and Fiji Butterfly Effect.
They will be running their first Aloha Waterwomen Windsurfing Clinic together on Maui April 26th to May 2nd and running another all ladies only windsurfing clinic on Fiji starting May 28th to June 4th. Their Aloha meets Butterfly Effect coaching week long holiday is aimed at all women of all ages from fledgling windsurfers to advanced sailors.
Sarah-Quita in Lanzarote
With two out of the four 2011 Womens' Freestyle events in 'home' waters, and two in the Canary islands, any time-spent on the water away from the Dutch Antilles will help three-times and current World Champion Sarah-Quita Offringa win a fourth successive title. Check her out in this clip training in Lanzarote
Hookypedia
The harness is without question one of the trickiest bits of kit to get just right, especially for Ladies. Even if everything else is perfect, the board, the sail, the conditions an ill fitting harness can make a potentially fantastic windsurf uncomfortable, annoying and even painful.
FLOW has created the "Hookypedia" in order to give us all the run down on who's wearing what and why this season.
