is it just me or is the pozo wave event a little boring for spectators.....

feel it needs something extra, count freestyle moves?
or make it a wave slalom event with scored jumps on the way out for time bonuses.

felt like i was watching a training session.

I watch, agree it's not Hawaii, Fiji etc but it's pretty typical of the onshore conditions I sail in (minus 20knts)
Never seen anyone locally pulling off the crazy jumps

I've watched all the footage from the PWA Pozo event and the local drone operator, all on YouTube.
I have loved every minute of it. The skills in very challenging and variable conditions are out of this world.
We have been spoilt with the footage from FIJI etc, that has taken wave sailing to the next level.
I felt for Ben Proffitt, trying to commentate solo to start with and also the film crew took ages to dial in the windsurfing footage. Always panning away from someone about to smack a lip or launch off a ramp. Even filming free sailors in all in the early rounds. But after the first couple of rounds the footage was outstanding.
I absolutely loved the action, skills, commenters, wild conditions. Windsurfing is awesome and at this level blows my mind.
I just wished we could have some wind again on the east coast. id be happy for 2ft waves and 20 knots !!!!!!

Amazing how guys can throw moves over difficult waves. They were surely getting some good wind. Is tomorrow on for waves again?

Braz was so consistent and Philip did amazingly well given where he's coming from!

I think conditions were sub-optimal. That said the consistency with which people throw doubles and push loop forwards is pretty impressive. Have a look at the photos on the PWA website. Most of them are shot from sea level. It gives you a better sense of the wave height and height of the jump.

The elevated position of the beach cameras as well as the drone always compress the wave height a little bit and make it look a lot smaller than it actually is.

I've sailed there myself and it is much harder than they make it look. At high tide there are waves breaking everywhere, more like a bump and jump spot than a wave riding spot. The tricks that they pull out consistently under those conditions are pretty amazing, I think we are mostly being spoiled. ;)

certainly don't think it's the sailors skills holding things back.

The scoring system and the coverage might benefit from a refresh. the sailors skills have moved beyond the scoring system. doubles are common place now. i'd like to see some newer freestyle jumps/moves getting points.

The coverage method for me doesn't work for bump and jump conditions. all of the bump and jump spots suffer.
Split screen showing 2 sailors at once would be a game changer. keeping more action happening. the heats loose out because the guys off camera are pulling massive airs and we're watching someone riding back in looking for a wave. the heats need to be more like the highlight videos.

The fiji event nailed the coverage yes.. they figured out how to capture the dtl action and went there and executed the plan. capo verde is the same. it's different to bump and jump tho. it's dtl, one rider on one wave. like wsl.

the freestyle pro tour guys have an excellent setup. they have managed to organise a tour that has excellent coverage and doesn't require the conditions to work. they tweaked the scoring system and the coverage to get the most out of the events. plus they have the morning show.

pozo slalom has been the winner for me sitting on my couch.

The person behind the camera [ at Pozo ] definitely didn't know anything about windsurfing, or they were drunk.... zooming out when a single sailor is in-frame or zooming in to the sailor who was sailing back upwind whom wasn't even in the heat.

Cant compare footage to Fiji - CloudBreak has pretty much one line to drop in to the wave, vs Pozo which has 4 sailors in the heat in quite a large area.

That's why I think they need split screen. Looks like they have 2 cameras and a drone. it would be good to see 2 sailors at once on the screen from the cameras with the drone on full screen when needed. ,

give Ben the switcher to control the feeds

not sure how else to get everything live at once. In the pro fleet even after the crew got better we still missed some huge airs from victor and co.

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Gestalt said..
That's why I think they need split screen. Looks like they have 2 cameras and a drone. it would be good to see 2 sailors at once on the screen from the cameras with the drone on full screen when needed. ,

Agree. Split screen would be the way to go but I don't know their platform stats. Assuming most people watch on desktop / Apple TV / Firestick / SmartTV split screen it would work. Very different if most people watch on mobile.

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give Ben the switcher to control the feeds

You can't commentate and switch at the same time. Maybe for one heat but not for hours on end. It's incredibly draining producing sensible commentary.

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not sure how else to get everything live at once. In the pro fleet even after the crew got better we still missed some huge airs from victor and co.

You need a crew that has shot / switched / produced windsurfing before. Also, to have two feeds that show good angles you probably need 4 or 5 camera feeds... but to make that work you need a dedicated switcher as well as a dedicated director calling the shots and talking to everyone on the radio. Given how limited the media budgets are for windsurfing events I think what they produce is pretty good. Could it be better? Sure. But look at the stats. They seem to get around 300-500 people watching live at a time. That's a big investment for very few eyeballs.

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stehsegler said..

They seem to get around 300-500 people watching live at a time. That's a big investment for very few eyeballs.

Currently 470 live viewers. That might go up later.
The slalom peaked around 1300 iirc.
Neither are massive numbers.
Loving the drone following sailors out looking for jumps, shame the waves arent bigger. The drone pilot knows what he is doing.

Watching it live at the moment. Ben really makes or breaks the live stream. I think people underestimate how much value he brings to the table.

Ben did a massive job, both in the container and in the water!! Thumbs up for him!! Regarding footage, streaming I agree with Gestalt. But lets face it- windsurfing is turning more and more into a boutigue sect-especially FIN windurfing, for various reasons. It is a desperate battle to fix the attention of big bucks and media on the sport, getting harder every day. To align everything perfect- wind, swell ,tide, etc makes windsurfing more of a revelation than a sport. But when that happens-OMG! No comparison!

Yeah Ben makes it for sure. Hope hes getting paid?

Nico's coverage was excellent too. Very professional.

i noticed last night during the freestyle comp they were using a pip screen.
was a little small...

fingers crossed they try pbp next.

Gestalt. have you messaged Ben Proffit and suggested all this.?

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Captain_Morg said..
Gestalt. have you messaged Ben Proffit and suggested all this.?

No mate.
I did ask in the YouTube live feed if it is possible to increase the size of the pip screen but it went through to the keeper so I let it go.