Right Lanzarote 2010 is just about to kick off. I'm going to be giving the report from the event on this thread and try and give more of an insight as to whats actually going on over here. Feel free to ask any questions and chat amongst yourselves on here. I will try and post a few times a day but is most likely to depend on how many heats I make it through myself!!

Bubble and I arrived and lunch time today and checked into our half board hotel full of bright red Brits abroad!!!! The event site is only a five minute walk away. I'm still getting my bearings as its my first time on the island. We managed to get a session in this afternoon, I rigged my 5.1 Simmer Blacktip and was a little bit underpowered. The level was extremely high even in the super light tricky conditions, Taty Frans looked on fire even after his recent injury doubts. The Forecast is for quite light conditions with not much swell so I think this could be another chance for the lightwind specialists that got to the top in Austria to do the same again here!

Right next update in the morning after registration tomorrow morning! Bubbles shouting at me to get in the shower as the opening ceremany starts in 10 minutes ahh!!

Max Rowe
K-448
Mistral, Simmer, Spartan wetsuits, Club Vass, Boardwise

Best of luck to you and Bubble out there, keep us up to date on how its going

I had a wicked time at Club Vass in May on the water & seeing you guys practise (including the magic onshore days), so good i'm flying back out there for another 2 weeks starting this Sunday 4th, will be avoiding the ditch between the hotels this time after the blue juice and passing out in the Zeus bar....

Jon K - Club Vass enthusiast.

Just got back from the first day of the event over here in Lanzarote! Registration started at 10:00 and it was interesting to see some of the nanes on the original entry list had not turned up. Mainly Philip Koster as everyone knows how sick he is in the waves it would of been interesting to see his freestyle ability. I think a few of the guys would of been pretty nervous up against him if the conditions were anything like last year ( 3.7 with 3metre swell ) !! Maybe he saw the forecast was going to be lighter and changed his mind!

Once I'd got my stickers on it was pretty consistent 5.4 weather and the first possible start wasnt another 3 hours at 2:00. It was low tide and the conditions were pretty difficult and I was struggling a lot at first but once the tide started to come in flatened of nicely. I have the German Adrian Beholz in the first round and if I advance that the I have Gollito!!!!!

Already yesterday we had seen Gollito practising what looked to be a new move and today an hour into the session he must must of done about 4 in a row! Its going to be pretty hard to describe!! He ducks the sail regular stance as if he was going to do a "bob" but then catches it back to sail and jumps holding it like that until its fully back winded then finishes it 540! Just after he did it we were already speculating what stupid name he was going to call it whilst saying soon he'll be doing a spock into that position and doing the new move from there and would you believe it 5 minutes later he did it!!! Hopefully get a clip of it up sometime this week!!

Around 1:00 the wind started to drop and by the time 2:00 came round it was really light. After eating my paella so quick I thought I might throw up I rigged my 5.7 incase they decided to start. I went out sailing with my watch ready to go waiting for the red flag but it never came, it was only really possible to do moves on the way in using the swell to get planning and with the wind getting lighter we stayed on standby! It was amazing what some of the top guys are doing in no wind! It doesnt even make sense that they can get that much height and whip when they are hardly moving! Has given me a better focus on what I need to be training for and for sure everyone looked pretty suprised. Apart from Gollito it was mainly the Bonnaire guys who rip in these sort of conditions, for me Bjorn Saragoza sailed the best today after never seeing him before I was pretty suprised and concerned!!

They did try and start an expression session later on but quickly sacked it off as the wind died completely! The rest of the afternoon was spent baking ourselves and our sails, now I can see why everyone at the hotel is so burnt. Some discussion went into what Gollito was going to call his new move and he came up with " Sapo " yet another ridiculous name for a move! It also turned out he had landed some double air flaka and wanted to call it "del toro" or something like that. Some guys tried to convince him otherwise and call it something everyone can understand like "corkscrew". I dont think theres any point coming up with these ridiculous names and what needs to happen is to take some snowboard/ skateboard names that more people are familiar with and use them for the new moves. We had a massive heated debate in Austria when Kiri named his new move a " Kabbikuchi " which me and Bubble have dubbed the " Scratchmygoochie " dont think they are even going to get the point though!

Right off out for Bubbles birthday dinner tonight in town! Tapas so should be good!

Keep an eye out for some pictures on my blog coming soon- [maxrowe.blogspot.com]

Max Rowe
K-448
Sponsored by
Mistral, Simmer sails, Club Vass, Spartan wetsuits, Boardwise, Globalshots

Just headed down to the beach to check the wind and still extremely light at the moment! Forecast is for it to build this afternoon so fingers crossed we will be able to run some heats today. There was a rumour yesterday that if conditions were similar then we would run it only scoring moves on the way in as it was possible to get planning using the swell!! Sounds a bit ridiculous and I'm sure there would be a big uproar from everyone who has spent all winter training moves on both tacks!!

Also the womens freestyle in Fuerteventura has now been cancelled so the pressure is on at this event for them as the result will stand for the overall title.

Max Rowe
K-448
Sponsored by
Mistral, Simmer sails, Club Vass, Spartan wetsuits, Boardwise, Globalshots

Just got back from the beach after an action packed day here Lanzarote! after it looking so unpromosing this morning with all the signs saying it wasnt going to happen today it was quite a shock that straight after lunch it filled in perfectly. I was in the second heat so rushed straight out on my 5.4 Simmer Blacktip. The heats were 7 minutes with the best 3 moves on each side counting with a maximum of 6 attempts!

Before I knew it I was at the upwind buoy wishing I had my 5.1. I was up against the German Adrian Beholz G-888 who has had some good results this year including a 2nd place at the efpt in Leucate. I sailed a solid heat opening with a massive shaka that I was pretty happy with and found myself looking for my watch at the end with a few minutes left after I had done all my moves so I threw in a no handed flaka, must of been at bit to far downwind though as all three of the judges wrote it down as 1 handed!! We knew it was close as we were stood waiting by the elimination board for ages. It was then announced that Beholz had advanced on a tie break decision. I ran to check the score sheets and what happens when its tied is they take the best score from the technical difficulty points above the other scores so even though I had more style points he passed the heat. Throughout the day the difference between the guys winning and losing was mostly the ability to do the moves even when they are hardly planing! I can do those moves when im fully powered on 4.8 but definitely havent been training them enough in crap conditions!!

Bubble was up against his team mate the Brazilian Ian Mouro Lemos. Straight away you could tell Bubble was overpowered on 5.3 and struggling to make the moves quick enoughwhere as Ian on his 4.9 was flying round some of his! It was pretty close but the decision went with Mouro Lemos!!!

Main upset in the first round was young Bonnare hot shot Bjorn Saragoza knocking out current tour leader Taty Frans!! Saragoza advanced until the last 8 when he then met Canadian champ and good friend of mine Philip Soltysiak (or Saltysack as we call him) Saltysack was on fire after just knocking out local boy Antxon Oetagui at his home spot. He sailed the heat of the contest so far against Saragoza and completely nailed all his moves including Culos, Burners, konos and a triple flaka!!! For me it was more exciting watching Phil on fire and clearly winning the heat than any of the England matches this world cup!! I almost felt that he was on my team and we were winning!!

On the other side of the draw in the fight to get to the last 4 was Steven Van Broekhoven up against Tonky Frans. For us sitting on the beach it looked pretty close but I we were all certain that Steven had won the heat. Next thing we know Tonky is heading back out to sail in the semi final and Steven Is pretty angry walking over to the judges box. Steven was annoyed that in the split decision two of the judges had missed named one of his moves and when questioning them it turned out that they didnt even know what it was!!!!!! To be fair this "skopu" that he did land was a bit sketchy but still eveyone was a bit shocked by the decision. This Meant it was Gollito, Kiri, Tonky and Saltysack left in the battle for the top however the wind dropped leaving this heated battle for the morning!!!

On the ladies front Laure Treboux was looking super stylish as per usual and after passing Nayra alonso in a close heat she was then up against current womens chap Sarah Quita Offringa!! Due to Laures seeding she was unlucky to get Sarah this early on. Sarah won the heat looking as dominating as ever to the be up against the Venezuelan Yoli de Brendt! Because the wind had dropped by this point again another battle that will have to wait until the morning.

Will keep you updated as soon as things kick off again in the morning! Once again any questions regarding anything going on at the event feel free to ask.

Cheers John K- Club Vass enthusiast. Will see you in Vass as I should be back by then!!!

Should have some video clips up on my blog later on- [maxrowe.blogspot.com]

Max Rowe
K-448
Sponsored by
Mistral, Simmer sails, Club Vass, Boardwise, Globalshots, Spartan wetsuits
Picture by John Carter/PWA

Check my blog to see a clip from today of me & Bubble! [maxrowe.blogspot.com]

Just got down the beach waiting for the semi finals to start on Day 3 here in Lanzarote! At the moment its overcast and super light but the forecast is for it to improve in the afternoon. Apparently for the last month it has been like this everyday with it only getting windy in the afternoon.
Some of the guys have been discussing how they are going to get to Pozo next week. Tonky sounds pretty pissed that he missed out on the wild card application! Antxon Oetagui has a place so it will be good to see how he gets on.

Max Rowe
K-448
Sponsored by
Mistral, Simmer sails, Club Vass, Boardwise, Spartan wetsuits, Globalshots

Just got back from the beach after a rather frustrating afternoon! The overcast clouds didnt clear up as was hoped earlier on in the day but this did leave us with an action packed afternoon watchinh Brazil VS Holland!!! With about 40% of the riders either being Brazilian or Dutch or some kind of Netherlands antilies the tensions were running high. After watching the Brazilians loose a fun game of football when waiting in around for wind in Podersdorf I knew how upset they would be if they lost and I definitely wasnt wrong! There were some tears, they were all ripping their shirts off and they all made a very sharp exit just before the final whistle to get back to their hotel rooms before the Dutch could run around screaming rubbing it in their faces!!!

Shortly after the game ended the clouds began to clear and the wind started to look promosing. The competition area was moved further upwind to make the most of the light conditions and Both the men and women headed to the water to complete the finals of the single elimination. Bubble and I were both sat on the point with Mr Paul Griffiths PWA live ticker man himself helping to guide him through the moves as there was so much going on. It was unbelievable what the guys were doing even in the difficult condition, Saltysack put up a good fight against Kiri Thode but it wasnt quite enough and Gollito cruised past Tonky Frans making everything look effortless as always! After that the wind dropped and the final and womens finals were all attempted but kept on getting canceled in the gusty crap conditions!

Turns out Gollito has called his new move "The Matador"?!?!?!?! What do you think about the name?

Fingers crossed for there to be enough wind to start the double elimination otherwise I'm completely screwed! My draw isnt to bad so hopefully I can break into the top 16.....

Max Rowe
K-448
Sponsored by
Mistral, Simmer sails, Club Vass, Spartan wetsuits, Boardwise, Globalshots

Right its all over here in Lanzarote! After arriving at the beach this morning to perfect 5.0 weather I was getting pretty excited at the thought of being able to run the full double elimination. We started of with the womens final and Sarah Quita went on to beat Yoli de Brendt rather convincingly! Next up was the men and once again it was a Gollito vs Kiri showdown! The heat was super close with all the latest moves being done back to back but it was Gollito in the end who took the first place in the single elimination. At this point I was rushing around taking my boom of my 5.4 and putting it on my 4.8 and almost as soon as I had I walked out the tent the wind had gone offshore and completely dropped!! Whilst the wind was dropping the womens losers final was taking place and Laure Treboux sailed a convincing heat against Junko Nagoshi only to find out when she came back to the beach that it was going to be re-sailed.. She was not happy especially after she had been planing the whole time on 4.7 and it appeared Junko was on to smaller sail. Despite Laures protest Head judge Duncan Coombes stuck with his decision and they would be on standby until it got windy enough.

Until about 4 o'clock it seemed everyone had given up hope; I even saw a few people de-rigging but then out of nowhere it seemed to kick in full power. There was a mad rush to get kit ready and this was good news for me as it would be my last and only chance to improve on my ranking. I was fully powered on my 5.1 and was considering going in to get my 4.8 but put some more outhaul on and decided against it. I was up against a french guy Adrien Bosson who I knew I was going to have to sail well against if I wanted go through. Just before the heat the wind had started to drop a bit and I was beginning to get a bit nervous. I sailed a solid heat and made 10 moves without falling once! Lucky for me it was enough to advance into the next round which brings me out of last place. Unfortunately the wind started to drop and the judges caved into a bit of pressure from the riders to cancel! The guys that were sat in equal 9th would of had to split their money if many more rounds had continued and they were looking anxious and not very sportsman like at all. They did attempt to carry on but it want quite enough and when Duncan made the decision to sack it off there was a massive roar from most of the riders except me and a few others. Almost as soon he had done it began to fill back in and by the time we were all de-rigged it looked perfect!! Typical!!

So off out tonight to the closing ceromany and Satlysack is heading round in a minute with a bottle of rum to start the celebrations!

Hope you have all enjoyed the blogging and I will hopefully be doing the same again for the event in Fuerte starting in a few weeks time.

Cheers

Max Rowe
K-448
Sponsored by
Mistral, Simmer, Club Vass, Boardwise, Spartan wetsuits, Globalshots