Hi from Croatia

Hi RRD Family
Lot of strong wind in March this year in Croatia.
We have lot of cold Nort-East wind called Bora from 20-50 knots.

And this days we have strong warm wind Jugo (South-East ), in my town Split today it’s about 50 knots!!!

This photos by Goran Babić is from Istra - Pula spot Liznjan on the west coast of Croatia. RRD Team rider Marko Simic CRO 360 make freestylewave session.

We have in march over 85% days of wind more then 4 bft, and last week we have so strong like 25-60 knots!!!
Take care
Branko

Andraž Žan SLO 49: Report from competition

DAHAB FREESTYLE WEEK

From 10th to 17th of March a great event was held in Dahab which is 100km NE of Sharm el Sheikh/ Egypt- DAHAB FREESTYLE WEEK. A friend Vladimir Morozov was telling me few months ago that some good competition has to happen in Dahab. Everything came true. Russian Center 5 squares sponsored the event and everything was perfect. There was not only one competition, but three on three different spots. The wind was on our side as we were using 5.0 m2 sail maximum. Competition was based on PWA rules “New Format” and minimum wind speed had to be 20 knots. 18 freestylers from 6 countries (Russia, Ukraine, England, Egypt, Slovenia, Turkey) took part in this competition.

The first spot was already well known to all- Baby bay. There are super good conditions for freestyle - flat water with some small chop on the corals. I won in single elimination, but in the double the wind dropped as well as my concentration and so I lost the first heat. Better was Andy Bubble Chambers K 540 from England. He had to win one more time if he wanted the title. This time I was better again and the title of Baby bay was mine.

The second spot was a well known "wave" spot in Dahab called Lighthouse. The waves were big there but choppy and not steep, so it was really hard to jump high. It was time for wave/ freestyle competition. Wave moves were scored very high. Most of the guys, me as well, were sailing in Lighthouse first time and just 40min after arrival my heat was on. Here everything was different. Riders from Russia - Shamil Ageev, Evgeny Yurtaev and Danila Isichenco were ripping full power, doing high frontloops, backloops, cheeserolls, tabletops…They have been sailing there for a long time … it’s their home spot. They came totally on top. I was stopped by Shamil in the second heat already, but no worries. I had two hours to check the spot and concentrate again. In double elimination I showed I can rip also in wave conditions. I won heat by heat, six heats in a row and my power was almost finished. In final I was against Bubble again. The wind dropped and I didn’t sail my best so Andy K 540 won. I finished on second place and I was very happy.

The third spot was the new spot in Assalah called “the Rocks”. Danila, Evgeny and Shamil were the first guys who sailed there. They live there and they told me few months ago: «Man, we found a new spot, it is just 5 meters from our garden. Really perfect spot for freestyle (organized chop) and on the reef – side shore conditions 2m or more, it is crazy, you have to come! It is just one problem, when there is low tide you can destroy your equpment and yourself (corals of course)». Everybody was really excited and a bit scared of the corals. We decided to do a single elimination one day and a double another day, forecast was good anyway. Vladimir said: “The meeting is at 8 am and the first start at 9 am”. Oh nooooo! But there was no other way, water was high enough just 3 hours. When we came there it looked so good, everybody went fast on the water and we were enjoying so much. Doing really cool freestyle and the waves were similar to Pozo. You can’t find such a good wave spot in Egypt. I won some heats then Andy showed better moves and I lost the heat. The concentration was not present, I only enjoyed sailing and didn’t do enough moves. Two days later, we started the double elimination. We waited for the wind until 10 am and we were about to leave. At 10:10 am the wind kicked in full power and we started the double. I was again on 3.9 and in final on 4.7 really powered up. I was sailing very good against the winner of single elimination Andy K 540 and I won! We had to go one more time. I don’t know why but I was crashing a bit so the title of Assala went to Andy. All in all I was happy, many thanks to Vladimir Morozov and Russian center 5 squares for everything, there was really an awesome organization, good wind, good conditions, new experience. I hope they will do it next year because everything was top. I almost forgot….

You can check the trailer from competition here:



and soon there will be full dvd Dahab freestyle week 2009 avaliable,
so stay tuned.

Best regards Andraž Žan SLO 49
Photos by Valera Pistry !
Sponsors: RRD, The Loft, Prosurf, Quiksilver windsurfing school, Pharmagan

Icaraizinho video!!!

Ciao,
questo è il video della gara di Icaraizinho vinta da EDVAN nel 2008.
Il ragazzo con la tavola RRD Twin Tip del 2008 è Sassà!!
Ciao
Gianluca
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Ola olha esse video....
E do campeonato do icaraizinho.
abraços
Edvan Souza


Icaraizinho video!!! from TheInsider on Vimeo.

http://www.morlima.com/videos/galeria_link.asp?id_video=479

Fabrice likes Insider tRRDing blogspot!

NDfly ripping on his kite gear

Sylvain flyes over Fabrice

Fabrice goes for Goyter

Fabrice wave 360

Sylvain hi junp

Sylvain off the lip

Fabrice rippin it up!

Aloha everybody,
I like the new Insider tRRDing news format...
I'm always stoked to hear about all the boys on the team ripping it up all over the globe. We got some awesome riders in the team, everybody doing his sports in the four corners of the world. There are no frontiers for us Riders, the wind will take us to original places and we will do our thing, windsurf, kite, short board, long board, stand up paddle... Yes... It's all good!

My latest journey took me back to Asia to the Philippines, where the Pacific meets with the South China Sea. At the right time of year that place goes off, with powerful winds bringing large swells. It was an incredible place to kick off 2009. I knew we would score great conditions there, so I brought my buddy Sylvain with me and asked my local kiter contact, NdFly to join us on our trip. It was an unreal trip and a great start to our season for our new film projects.

After that trip, I went down to Boracay, to work on my kiting skill with Andy (NdFly). Boracay is a great free riding and slalom sailing spot. This tropical island paradise is one of Philippines most popular tourism destinations. I met Andy in Indo last summer. We ripped it up properly in solid Indian Ocean conditions, and both of us being RRD riders, we became friends quickly. We both had strong ties to the island of Boracay, so we knew we would meet again there. With Andy's technical advice and his RRD gear, my kiting skill improved to a new level!!

While I'm in that part of the world and before going back to Hawaii, I usually stop on the island of Guam: I have some good friends living there, all surfers, windsurfers, and kiters. I met that crew about 12 years ago when I lived and worked there for 7 months. This Pacific island is a US territory located in Micronesia. It is like a small Hawaii, and offers a variety of hard core surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing spots. The local riders can be intimating at first, especially the surfers, but when you know them they will greet you with warm “Aloha”. We had some great kiting and surfing conditions, but the swell direction wasn't really good for down the line windsurfing riding. So, I will have to go back on the right swell to score the one spot that I have in mind.

Then I made it back on Oahu just in time to score some good North Shore sessions for wave sailing, surfing and stand up paddle surfing, I love being here in the winter, at home. Most people think of Oahu more as a summer windsurfing spot, and they are right... The South Shore of Oahu is a Disneyland of wave riding. But the north shore of Oahu in the winter is an incredible place to be... Here is a small video that I just posted on YouTube, it shows some classic south shore of Oahu conditions: small, light and playful...

I recently posted couple of my older videos on YouTube as well; check it out if you get a chance. I just arrived on Maui a couple of days ago and it's been super windy, challenging but great conditions for the Neil Pryde 2010 photo shoot.

That's it for now,
got to go to the beach to do my job!
Riders, keep on ripping it up out there and keep the dream alive!
Aloha from Maui,
Fabrice

Maui update from Skyeboy

Hi Guys,
Just a quick mail to say thanks again for your great hospitality in Italy.

I am now in Maui where it has been crazy windy! 4.4 totally overpowered at Hookipa. Not exactly what I wanted to get back into sailing after time off for my foot, but it has been fun. The new board I is working great. Its always hard to tell when its crazy winds, but at the moment it seems perfect... Good job again Aurelio!
Cheers
John

http://www.johnskye.com

Abel looks like a model!!!

Abel Lago non è solo il nostro uomo di punta del Team RRD kiteboarding per il Racing e il Wave,
ma presto lo vedremo anche sulle pagine più patinate delle riviste di moda!!
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Abel Lago is not just the Wave and Racing top rider of our RRD International Kiteboarding Team,
since now he's starting to to sit as a model and we'll see him soon on the best fashion magazines!!!

Hola amigos.

Here you have some photos from Nacho Ibañez (local photografer) he's doing
an article about the RRD team testing in Tarifa and other about my self
like professional kiter.

Please let me know if you like the model
jijiiiii.
Abel Lago

CASTIGLIONE SESSION 25/3

Roberto ripping on his kite gear WaveVenom+Passion Kite 9

Aurelio in bottom turn

Roberto balls to the wall

Chiarello ripping on TwinTip100 and 4.5 gear

Aurelio ends his session pretty powered up on his 5.6 sail

Ancora una volta una generosa sventagliata di maestrale ha allietato la dura settimana lavorativa del Team RRD. Il Ricci questa volta non si è lasciato sfuggire l'occasione di spararsi qualche bella surfata col kite e anche lo shaper Aurelio è uscito dalla Custom Factory per togliere via un po' di ruggine surfando le onde di Castiglione. Non lasciatevi ingannare dalle foto, le condizioni erano molto più toste di quanto sembra: acqua fredda, vento bucatissimo e corrente molto forte sottoriva e raffiche nucleari subito fuori...

Castiglione rules!

Pics Troels Engholm/Cabarete

2009 AdRIA JETTY CLEAN-UP

Il tempo vola,
il lavoro incalza, la bella stagione stenta a decollare, ma per fortuna che le perturbazioni ci portano un po' di onde oppure di vento.

Lo scorso fine settmana una forte perturbazione di Bora ha pompato condizioni mitiche nell'Alto Adriatico: vento forte e onda il venerdì, vento nucleare e onda il sabato, condizioni più miti e onde di scaduta la domenica.
E proprio domenica ho avuto modo di partecipare a una lodevole iniziativa organizzata dalla rivista SurfNews nell’ambito delle Iniziative Oceaniche indette in tutto il mondo da SurfRider Foundation.
http://www.surfnews.it/news_dett.php?id_news=93

Per l'occasione si sono ritrovate un centinaio di persone sulla spiaggia di Casal Borsetti Nord, e dopo aver dato una bella ripulita all'arenile, vista la presenza di un po' di onde ancora surfabili, una ventina di surfisti incalliti si sono lanciati sulla line up.
Io non mi sono lasciato sfuggire l'occasione di fare provare qualche nuovo giocattolo RRD, così ho spacchettato e messo in acqua un RRD SUP11 e tre tavole RRD X-Tech nuove fiammanti, per la massima soddisfazione di tutti quelli che hanno avuto la possibilità di poterle provare.
Le 9'2 RRD X-Tech hanno sorpreso un po' tutti per la loro leggerezza e reattività, cosa che rende molto più efficace la pagaiata e molto più semplice prendere anche le onde non certo oceaniche che hanno caratterizzato la giornata...

E dopo tante parole, beccatevi una small selection di foto dell'ADRIA JETTY CLEAN-UP

Wind is back in Sweden!

Ecco qualche news e foto dalla Svezia, dove a quanto pare il vento è ritornato a soffiare, permettendo anche ai freestylers di ritorno ai loro trip invernali di tornare a divertirsi... al fresco!
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Here we are with some crispy news and pics from Sweden, where finally wind starded blowing, allowing to all freestylers just came back from their winter trips to start enjoying again homespots' fresh conditions!

Hey! Finally we got some wind in Sweden again together with a few degrees plus. We got a few hours of superfun sailing with the swedish boys. Sails 5.3 and 4.7! Check out these pictures taken by Göran Andersson. They are a bit grey but thats how it looks over here! Take care
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Tjena! Äntligen har vinden kommit till Götet tillsamans med några plusgrader. Vi fick några timmar med grymm segling och det var faktiskt inte farlit kyligt, Sessongen är igång! Vi seglade 5.3 och 4.7! Kolla bilderna som Göran Andersson tog. Dom är gråa men det är ju Sverige va! Niklas Stråhlén S-4444.com

PATAGONIA REPORT FROM TINE

Continua l'avventura "sottosopra" del nostro team rider sloveno Tine Slabe, che si è fatto stregare dalla natura e dai paesagi della Patagonia. Guardare le immagini per credere!
Adesso Tine si trova da qualche parte nella Terra del Fuoco, in rotta verso Capo Horn. Il suo obiettivo è quello di doppiare il famosissimo e terribile Capo... davvero un'impresa per temerari!
Come è in uso dire tra i marinai: "In culo alla balena!!!"

It took me quite a while to give you some new news but it was hard to find time and connection. Anyway here it is. We spent two weeks in Patagonia and I was completely amazed by the place. The endless nature is hard to explain with words that is why I will add one blog note only with lifestyle and nature pictures. We sailed on few impressive lakes with some outstanding backgrounds. The first days it was not so cold, but after we could feel it in out hands. With Ben Van Der Steen we did some good slalom training and one day the wind was so strong that was even a good Pozo training! As you can see on the pictures we did also some freestyle action on the Lago Viedma where we scored the strongest wind. Besides windsurfing we spent few days filming the connections scenes that will be needed for the movie. All the winter clothes and the equipment are ready for the Cape Horn.
With Ben we took one week off before entering the Fire land and flew back to Santiago and drive to the west cost where we scored some good waves but I'll tell you more about it next time.

Tine Slabe
SLO 6

www.tineslabe.com