First look: 2013 Gear in Maui, Hawaii

Posted on by Emile Kott

This year I didn’t manage the pilgrimage to Maui,but our friends the Mckirgans did and Alex shot a few photos at Ho’okipa-Maui.

These shots showcase the conditions and new toys coming up for 2013.

It looks like from the pictures that 4 battens sails are the main development and Ezzy seems to testing a number a prototypes. (You can see Kevin Pritchard and Graham Ezzy testing a EZZY 2013 4 batten prototype). Naish and Goya allso seem to be doing more work on their 4 batten sails.

On the board front they seem to adding more fins and JP appear to have some 5 fin box options on their wave boards. The quads seem to be getting faster and with improved fins and refined rocker lines.
There is also a trend with fast thrusters coming out with both Quattro and Fanatic having boards in this style.

We will find out new 2013 RRD boards when they have their launch next week in Cyprus…

Nik Baker recently told me about a new Fanatic thruster which he really rated as replacement to the Fanatic single fin board.

There are also rumors are also about that Goya will launch a new light weight blank in their 2013 models – Marcillo Brown, can be seen with a 2013 Goya Pro Wave with some subtle changes more vee new nose shape and narrower tail.

Thanks to Alex who sent the photos over to me. He has been windsurfing since the age of 5 years old and learnt hi initial skills on one of our X-train Rippers courses. He has been getting some coaching in Maui from the master coach himself Matt Pritchard…





 





































 

The wind gods have delivered!

Posted on by Emile Kott

We have had some cranking wind over the last couple of days and here are some of the action photographs shot in the trench at low tide at West Wittering.

Levon, Chris, Ross , Jonny Boys and Pete all enjoying the strong gusty winds. Harty was running a perfect carve gybe course is classic conditions.

Laura, Jonny, Adam, Simon B, Holly Bassett , Kim, Luke, Zander, and Jack Petit were charging down the trench.

 The chairman had been out all afternoon and as we all left, more people turned up to make the most of decent conditions. Even some freestyle action Simon Russell – more wind to come this week!

Summer is just round the corner

Posted on by Emile Kott

Summer is just round the corner and we have organized another action packed series of events for the 2012 season at WWWC.

The club opens on 1st march when sunrise is at 6.45am and sunset is at 5.41pm –that’s nearly 11 hours of daylight in the day, ie plenty of time to get your kit out of your garage, find your WWWC bibs, perhaps buy some new kit, fill your freezer with bbq produce, and join us on the beach for what we hope will be the best season yet!

Firstly here are some DATES for your diary:
• Thursday 1st March: Start of 2012 season
– full time rescue starts.
• Sunday 8th April (11am): The Easter Egg Hunt
– come down with the kids and join in the fun!
• Saturday 30th June (6pm): Club BBQ
– bring your food to cook, we supply the drinks
• Saturday 28th July (6pm): Club BBQ
– bring your food to cook, we supply the drinks
• Sunday 29th July (11.30am): Charity paddle race
– from Shore Road to West Wittering (race starts 1pm)
• Saturday 25th August (6pm): Club BBQ
– bring your food to cook, we supply the drinks
• Saturday 6th October (6.30pm): End of Season Dinner
– Crouchers Country Hotel

 

Secondly have a read of the new x-train brochure and the new wwwc brochure.
And thirdly, spaces on the 2012 courses are filling up fast, so make sure you book up as soon as possible.

Did you miss out last year on learning a new sport? If so, then ‘seize the day’ and make sure you book into a beginner course for windsurfing, kitesurfing, powerkiting, surfing or paddlesurfing.

Or have you hit a plateau in your skills base? It is easy to go out on the water and to cruise around in your comfort zone, however it can be difficult to push yourself to learn new things.
In each watersports discipline you can book into any of the following levels of tuition:
• Beginner
• Improver
• Advanced
• One to One
• Pro clinic

And finally, don’t forget about the kids! They are the next generation of rippers so make sure they get off to the best start possible by booking into one of the many ripper courses:
• Rippers Windsurfing
• Little Rippers
• Rippers Advanced
• After school club
• Saturday surf club
• Rippers surfing
• Rippers kitesurfing
• Kids Pro Clinics
• Birthday Parties
• Team 15
• X Rippers(teenage)

Last year we held the first Rippers Freestyle Wave camp, which will be held again on October 27/28th and run by Sam Ross and Jamie Drummond. You can read a write up of the event on our news page here plus a selection of great photos.

And last but not least – are you missing any bits of kit? Or fancy an upgrade? Then have a rummage through 2xs.co.uk and please don’t hesitate to ask if you need any help choosing or want some expert advice then call 01243 512552. Or if you are after a bargain then we still have some ex-demo kit from last year:

And here are some video clips to really get you in the mood for the forth coming season….

Holly Bassett and Reece White – GoPro Playtime at WWWC

Nik And Ant Baker go wave sailing at Witterings

Simon and the BBC

Action from West Wittering Beach – December 2011

Posted on by Emile Kott

Managed to get some photos of yesterday – there has been a lot of hard charging going on at West Wittering – the weather and temperature has dropped and for the last couple of weeks there has been a relentless pounding, decent waves and strong winds….

The forecast for the last couple of days has been pretty large with expected winds that didn’t quite arrive of up to 80mph.

Good to see so many people braving the winter conditions – seem to have seen Jamie Barrett, Kyle McGinn nearly every time the wind is up; managed to catch yesterday Paul Simmons, Paul Hatton, missed Innes because he was having a big swim bringing his kit in…

Didn’t manage to get photos of Ross and Paddy as they had packed up as I arrived – hope you like the photos!

Here is a link to a movie clip that Dan Sweeney took last week of the Baker Bros at West Wittering.

Here’s some footage of Jamie carving some waves on his kite. He reckons it was some of the best conditions he has seen at The Witterings ever!
Stu Holland has been busy with his Go Pro camera, check out the action and his camera angles below..

Grr Easy Tiger… The NEW Ezzy Tiger is in da house!

Posted on by Emile Kott
We have just taken delivery of the New 2012 Ezzy tiger in the 2XS office grrrrrrr.
This sail we haven’t tried yet is a very similar concept to the EZZY Panther Ltd but comes with standard sail cloth opposed to the custom sail cloth of the Panther LTD. I have a 4.7 were going to test next time its windy.
I had an email form the master himself Dave Ezzy who said “the Tiger has very close to the same performance as the Panther Limited. The Tiger might be a smidge more powerful and a tad more draft forward. The weights are similar, with the Tiger coming in only a few grams heavier than the Limited.”
If you not tried the panther LTD there is big reduction in weight of previous sails and it feels very light in your hands –what I like is the early planning you get from the new EZZYs without sacrificing any top end power. One thing is for sure the quality of these sails is by far the best in the industry.
Ezzy ltd>>
So if you fancy seeing the EZZY Tiger or looking at a new Ezzy Panther LTD please give me a call 0774 775 8883 or email me directly on simon@2xs.co.uk

See all the our Ezzy products here>>

Sneak a peek at Surftech 2012 products

Posted on by Emile Kott
Surftech 2012
We had chance to try and check the 2012 paddle surf boards from Surftech. We had a damp day to test some of the new sticks which included a new set of distance and race boards from Jamie Mitchell and New Laird Hamilton boards designed with Joe Bark. Surftech already have reputation for making some of the lightest distance race and paddlesurf models on the market the 2012 line does not disappoint. The new elite race boards felt very light carbon bottoms and tufflite tops seem spot on in the weight department-they also are making a tufflite only cheaper model of certain distance boards which does feel heavier than the elite boards but are acceptable – if you want top performance buy the elite model!
Surftech Roxy – 10.6 = £1145 and 9.6 = £1145
We didn’t have any girlie’s to try these so we thought we would try them ourselves – I really like the feel of these, and they felt very similar to the Pearson Arrow lairds –they are really stable easy to paddle and rode waves with great ease and were surprisingly loose. What was good was the fact the board tracked pretty well – but still rode small waves with great ease. They have a decent surfboard style rail line handle which was well placed and boards were light weight and easy to carry. 10.6 x 32.25 x 4.3 – 9.6 x 30 x 4.33

Jamie Mitchell Latitude 12.6 £1495 And 14ft £1695.00

The Jamie Mitchell models look very different this season – gone is the drawn out pin tail and now there is a high volume squash tail. The boards are super fast and feel more stable than the 12.6 of 2010 – we tried them in choppy windy conditions so it was not the most perfect test conditions. What you notice straight away is their weight – they are super light – the high volume tails give you the chance to get more pop when you paddle. As you compress into your paddle stroke as the paddle is forced down in the water – the shape and high volume tail is forced down into the water as the paddle gets released, the board rises out of the water and with forward momentum picks up speed. All sounds very technical but you do it nearly all the time on a sup with good paddle technique-the Mitchell tail shape improves this. The 14 ft is narrower than the 12.6 and once a cruising speed with hold that speed with a little less effort.

The Laird Race Tufflite 14 ft £1445

This is big volume board 275 ltrs 14 x 29.5 width 7.5 inches thick will suit big guys and we felt this board would make a great downwinder –super fast downwind has good footstearing and the vee bow drives through chop.We had a swept back fin on the test board so it was harder driving up into the wind I think a more upright fin would work better into the wind.The Elite model will cost £1595 –personally I spend the extra and get the lighter board. This board has been a collaboration between Joe Bark and Laird Hamilton so you know its going to be good. There is 12.6 model x 30″ and 7.75 inches thick 259 ltrs. This has a different shape more of a squash tail –feels very stable a similar concept to the bark competitor and is a great all rounder in different conditions. Volume has been reduced in front of the foot pad to reduce windage. They come in both pro elite construction £1395 and tufflite £1345.

Bark
Bark is legend in the paddleboard world his distance race and prone boards have brought him many titles –in the USA bark is king of many of the race comps and his production boards are result of a lot of R and D. We had the new competitor 12.6 and dominator 14 ft which have had a tune up with lower deck profiles forward of the pads. We also saw the Candice Applebee model in blue which we didn’t get chance to try.12.6 competitor elite £1545 (Candice Applebee model same as 12.6 competitor) dominator elite £1745. The boards are still as fast as last years so always a very good option.

We arrange demos for 2012 models and other surftechs please call simon on 0774 775 8883 for specific technical advice or email simon@2xs.co.uk

Water Shots

Posted on by Emile Kott

If you got any good pics of action on the water kite surf windsurf or sup please send them to simon@2xs.co.uk we will put them up.

This week Rob “Chunky” Moss windsurfer sent us some killer shots from Cooden bay East Sussex using a go pro mast mounted camera to this great pic spinning through a back loop.

James Randall at West Wittering had these shots taken by his dad on his new Goya kit.

See the new Goya boards and sails here at our online shop

And a shot from Innes Ross

The cult of RRD equipment at West Wittering

Posted on by Emile Kott

Earlier this year the European Championships were help in St. Gilles Croix de Vie, Vendee, France. RRD team rider Sebastian Garat was crowned king for winning the final stop. There were seven days of spectacular competitions, varying wind conditions and beautiful waves at the beach. Garat and Kerneur were crowned European Champions.
RRD Team rider Sebastians favourite gear is the RRD Obsession MKIV and  Poison LTD 133/41!!!

Dan Sweeney has recently taken on the role of RRD UK Team manager at Seasprite. His job role includes working alongside the company developing and building the team, visiting shops educating staff and customers on the product . Dan’s equipment choices are the Obsession Pro and the Juice Twintip

 
RRD equipment has become very popular on the south coast, and a number of members of the West Wittering Windsurf Club have now been using their gear for many years.
Stuart Holland is a face that is frequently seen when ever the wind tips the magic 18 knot mark. He rides the 2012 RRD Obsessions and also the 2012 Maquina Surf board
 
Product Review by Stu Holland “I purchased the new RRD Obsession kites, 9 and 7m about a month ago and have now had some fantastic kite sessions with them. Although I usually kite in the waves, and always use a directional board, I have tended to prefer these ‘all-round’ kites like the Obsession, as I’ve found they have a bit more grunt and range than the waves specific kites. This makes them better suited to the South Coast type conditions. The 9m has seen the biggest improvement from last year, with much better unhooked capability whilst wave riding. Overall they are great all round kites- easy to fly, giving you versatility and a big wind-range”.

Neal Gent, the all round Witterings waterman loves his RRD 2012 Religions and also his brand new RRD Asso Pigliatutto

Chris Rainbow’s new ride is the super stylish RRD Style Twintip and twinned with the RRD Religion it makes for an epic riding combo.

Julia Toms has also been an RRD fan since the beginning of her kiteboarding life when she started on the RRD type 6! She now rides an RRD Obsession on a custom surf board.

There also a whole flock of RRD Passions to be seen on the beach. Jess Napper has been converted to kitesurfing from windsurfing and it was the RRD Passion that led her down the kiting router. She is frequently seen at the beach and also rides RRD Twintips boards.

Rippers Camp round up

Posted on by Emile Kott

The last weekend in October we had our Rippers Freestyle Wave Camp, hosted at West Wittering Windsurfing Club with Sam Ross and Rossco Moore.

The weekend kicked off early Saturday morning and the concept is a mixture of fitness, freestyle technique and wave sailing technique. Sam Ross who is one of the most energetic instructors in the UK delivered the course with Rossco from X-train.

The group was warmed up then did dry land drills and then spent the rest of the time out on the water as the wind picked up and the tide changed developing new skills to take their windsurfing to the next level.

On the second day of the course, Julian Du Vall and Trevor Funnell from the UKWA came over and explained how Freestyle Comps worked, judging, about starts and competition zones and held a “mini comp” on Sunday afternoon in pretty light and difficult conditions.

Jamie Drummond, Adam Sims were on hand over the weekend inspiring the new crew with reasons why you should take up windsurfing to a higher level. James Randall also helped with the judging at the mini event.

A big thanks to Chris Rainbow, James Randall, Rossco Moore, Sam Ross, Trevor Funnell and Julian Du Vall; also thanks to Ion, Seasprite and 2XS who gave us some goodies to hand out.

Next years date: 27/28 October 2012 – if you like what you see, get yourself booked on!!!! Contact: Simon@2xs.co.uk

Holly Bassett has put together this video which really sums up the action and fun we had over the weekend.