last super x was in 2006... I guess died along with some of the locations the PWA stopped at.

Haircut said...

was like slalom on steroids i loved watching it, and seemed like they were on to a great thing. it was probably far too tricky for the masses and therefore maybe most couldn't relate to it??

some poor poor decisions have been made lately - bring back super X i say

So get rid of freestyle and retain SuperX

well freestyle's tricky enough, but add racing to it and makes it over the top somewhat i guess

yeah freestyle in the surf sounds great

I reckon freestyle in the waves is a great idea. It will make for heaps more sailing options. It would make it a lot more viable to hold local freestyle comps in Australia. I think people have been reluctant to hold freestyle comps here because there aren't many people that can do the flat water spinny stuff. There are heaps of people that can do forwards and backies etc well ,which would be high scoring moves. It would then become a bonus if you could do a few flat water moves.
Bring back the Dutchies event as a wave/freestyle comp.

That's exactly the point though. If there's bugger all swell it doesn't really matter. You can still do loops jumps or freestyle spinny things.

Always thought it would be great to organise an 'everyday sailor' super x.
You could create divisions based on levels or simply make the tricks worth points like a handicap system... if you go all the way through without any tricks you get time added to your overall result.

I also think it would be a bloody great laugh to get 5 of your windsurfing mates and go gang busters around a course chariot race style... last sailor standing wins !

One time at band camp... well actually a yearly sailing trip with mates where the swell failed to appear we got an inflatable pool toy (crocodile) tied a brick to it and took turns trying to jump over it... which then degenerated into attempting to land on it and burst it.
Very very entertaining, and plenty of carnage caused.

funny how loops and stuff in waves that used to be considered wavesailing will now be called freestyle, and sailing in the surf with no tricks will now be called wavesailing look out you wavesailors who can loop, you are about to be known as freestylers under the new PWA laws hehe



watching that recent pwa freestyle event in the waves wasn't far removed from watching a so called wave sailing event from early 2000's just with the odd flakka, chacho, shaka thrown in (but still great to watch no matter what they called it)

myusernam said...

a slalom race through small wavs (on slalom gear) might me fun...like motorcross.

Thats what slalom was all about before. Something like the Sony comp at Long Reef years ago. Two events at the same venue, a wave event and slalom. The action takes place up close and is exciting to watch.

Perhaps Super X was trying to revive that excitment but wasn't able to. Contrived tricks are not in the same league as do or die gybes in the shore break or with big waves crashing down on the mark out the back.

did i happen to metion that poor decisions have been made lately? if not, i just want to reiterate that poor decisions have been made lately

I am not sure why it was dropped, but I personally didn't like it at as a real series. Fine for a one of novelty event. Racing in swell always looks good. I remember back at the UK, Brighton event when there was a decent shore break and they put the gybe marker 10 meters of the beach. Great racing.

All it really did was produce some good boards and sails. Sponsorship works both ways, money allocated to superX could be used in other disciplines. I don't know about the visual spectacle of it, to me maybe it would be deserving of a one off 20 second grab on like something like sports tonight, that is about all. Maybe it would work as a one off promotional fun sort of thing at races- get the freestyle guys racing their gear

In a world where the PWA can't even run an event in Maui disciplines such as superX don't have much chance.

I agree, making racers do tricks because thats the rules is a bit stupid. Sort of like making a GP bike rider pull a mono a lap. Its not the trick that makes the race exciting, its the racing.

So if the PWA or whoever wants to make windsurfing more TV friendly, get back to the roots of professional windsurfing competition. Wave sailing and slalom racing at the same venue.

Just finishing watching the some footage from the wavesailing at Pozo this year. It would be fantastic to have racing in those sorts of conditions and locations. No need for Super X rules when racing on the limit. Same at Slylt. Mental conditions would make racing exciting without the need for forced tricks. It would be hard to racing on full on slalom gear in those sorts of conditions as 3/4 of the battle would be keeping on the water.

I have not really kept up with how professional windsurfing runs now but it appears that the different discplines of wave, racing and freestyle happen at different places. If I am incorrect please correct me. However if I am correct I reckon its a mistake. Back in the 80s and 90s the wave and race guys and girls competed against each other. Would be great to be running events when the waves are good and racing when the waves are not so good. It would be TV, Wide World of Sports, friendly too.