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Basher said..

kato said..
Good luck. Although I'm a speed sailor I'm loving the footage shot so far. Keep up the great work.

Good luck to all indeed.
But, weirdly this seems to be the only information posted anywhere - and believe me, I've been looking.

I subscribe to most of these channels and follow on Facebook so I'm getting all the updates.

oddly I haven't watched tv for a couple of years now. Everything I watch on the Tele is YouTube based channels

Thanks Paul, but what's actually happening?

I'm subscribed to every channel but there's no information coming through about what is happening or what the conditions are like today.
It's 2.30am here and I'm about to give up and go to bed.


Is there too little wind so far?
Or is the swell too small?
Or are there technical difficulties, preventing a live broadcast?

We can't see all the obvious stuff that you guys can see, because we aren't there. And that's why we want simple updates, as to what is happening. Like the PWA live ticker. Or anything on the IWT site or its facebook page.

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Basher said..
Thanks Paul, but what's actually happening?

just watch live on IWT ...

Tomorrow, there should be the semi finals and if they have time the finals too.

Just spoke to someone who recons it'll probably happen from 12-1pm E.A.S.T as they are two hours ahead over there and afternoon breeze might kick in. This may also happen earlier. Just keep an eye on the IWT website and click on the Fiji Pro tab.

Hoping Robby Swift wins.....

Sadly I'm missed the live stream, the wind came up and I had a foil. Did it happen?

They got through 4 heats of the mens pro's.

It wasn't the best coverage is it did drop out and just go blank a few times and the sound on Kai Katchadorians mic is always distorted but I think thats just the way he talks, and you couldn't hear what Jace who was co=presenting was saying but there was action and some good rides.

Just nice to see something live.

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Wind Smurf said..
It wasn't the best coverage

without the scoring visibility like on the PWA events, it was hard to follow and hence enjoy .. didn't really feel like a competition .. just some good wavesailing.

Its good to see new names in the mix. Baptiste Cloarec seems to be attracting lot of attention. Bernd said in his interview with Ben that his day 1 was impressive, but people may have thought he would come unstuck, but day 2 he continued the impressive sailing. I hope he keeps it together tomorrow.

I picked Baptiste Cloarec early on as someone to watch, and as a possible winner here. And that's because I've already seen him sail in tricky port tack down the line conditions.
(A 'port tack' launch = starboard tack riding of course, as here at Cloudbreak.)

Baptiste is a likeable young guy but he's also hardcore with his water skills, being a surfer as well as a windsurfer, and now a wingfoiler.
He's based in north west France and so he's used to the bigger waves they can get there, but I think he also spent an exchange year at college in Cape Town, honing his wave selection skills on the winter swells there.

He still does the European winter trip to Cape Town each year (to catch the reliable Cape Town summer SE wind) and that's where some of us have been lucky enough to watch him at the bigger breaks when those rarer summer swells come through.
There's a little game of chess to be played with each set as it arrives, and where you choose to start is really about anticipating where that particular wave will peak and end. This is what we mean when we say a sailor is in synch with the conditions. He can make it look easy when others are struggling.
Baptiste also has takkas and goytas and wave 360s on lockdown nowadays, so we can expect some add-ons to each wave ride.


He's maybe not yet as heat savvy as many of the known PWA competitors, and that's his potential weakness at this event. But his positioning and wave selection are both first rate, and that's what seems to matter at Cloudbreak.

I've taken tomorrow off work, in the hope that we get the live heats tonight that will see this excellent competition to a result.
Thanks to the film crew and all their technology. And a special thanks to PVB for his drone footage and background videos.

Possible heat start around 2-3ish Fijian Time. Big & light today. Low tide. If the heats happen will be interesting viewing.

Latest update.. Wind is in earlier than anticipated. Maybe earlier start. We are still on the boat 20min from the lineup

was Antoine Martin catching waves in the final or was someone on his kit?

Got up early this morning to see the final taking place, so a quick rewind in youtube to the start. Epic from the young Frenchie, clearly getting longer rides, more top turns at the very top of the wave and higher aerials. At 1 point I was wondering if they were scoring 3 rides his total was so high.

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windsurftom said..
was Antoine Martin catching waves in the final or was someone on his kit?

Seems they had rule about getting a lift out with a jet ski to a certain point, marked by a yellow bouy. Kai & the top judge (or whoever it was) said Swift was the first to go past and break that rule in the SF, then they all did it. Martin was the last to do so, got the least advantage, so they put him in the final as well. I think they should have DSQ'd anyone breaking that rule, but whatever.

Pleased to see thy got the women's event done as well. Sarah Hauser got a couple of excellent rides staying close to the breaking wave and was a cut above the others. From the drone the waves looked smaller, but dont think they were. There should be some good shots from the water.
Sarah-Quite Offringa just missed out on getting on the wave a couple of times as she was further downwind and had to give way. I think that cost her.
Nice to see a wave event delivering what it should, and the drone footage getting most of the action. The camera from the boat bobbing in the swell was good, but drones give a better close up DTL shot.

If you throw away Baptiste Cloarec's 2 top scores from both the semi final and final, he would still have won. Amazing performance.

Well done to everyone for making this happen.
The live footage is just amazing.

The finals day action starts at about 2hrs and 5minutes in here:

Such an awesome event!

That was epic, you did great Paul, thanks.

Simeon, Paul and rest of crew involved, that's an amazing effort and outcome. Got to be one of the biggest moments in windsurfing since I've followed it. Actually haven't watched much but will today.

well done legends


beachgrit.com/2023/06/world-surf-league-shaken-to-core-as-international-windsurf-tour-hosts-most-legendary-wave-riding-competition-in-recorded-history-at-pumping-cloudbreak/

Thats too Funny. Lol.

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Sea Lotus said..
That was epic, you did great Paul, thanks.

mad respect to PVB