Articles by Tez Plavenieks

Windsurfing history encyclopedia

S – Sotovento, Fuerteventura: long time speed sailing venue, PWA event site and reliably windy holiday spot

Fuerteventura’s south facing Sotovento is a world famous speed windsurfing location and host of the PWA’s freestyle and slalom events that roll in to town during summer. Firmly on the map as a bona fide windy location the Sahara like landscape had little more than a bar and a few apartments 20 years ago. But once windsurfers started clocking serious […]

Windsurfing history encyclopedia

Q – Queen Mary Reservoir, Ashford, Middlesex: London’s closest inland windsurfing spot

Queen Mary Reservoir, Ashford, Middlesex, has long been a staple of landlocked London based windsurfers. Due to its high rise nature (the reservoir sits above a lot of the surrounding land) wind strengths can often be 1-2 forces stronger than forecasts suggest. 700 acres of water is where you’ll find every type of windsurfer, from beginners to advanced, and of […]

Windsurfing history encyclopedia

L – Luderitz Speed Challenge: windsurfing’s premier speed sailing event and location

Held every year since 2007 the Luderitz Speed Challenge, Namibia, is speed sailing’s premier go fast event and location. A purposely dug canal, 800m long, including starting and stopping zones, sees windsurfers test their mettle by flying along the canal’s shallow waters aiming to break personal and world speed sailing records. One key factor in why Luderitz is so important, […]

Windsurfing history encyclopedia

K – Kos, Kefalos, Greece: popular windsurfing holiday hotspot

Situated 15k to the west of Kos’ main airport Kefalos is the quintessential Greek windsurfing destination. Featuring azure coloured water, with cross offshore Meltemi winds and flanked by hilly olive groves and traditional architecture (mixed with modern) it’s a spot that screams summer windsurf holiday resort. It’s also famous for being the birthplace of Hippocrates, who is noted as being the […]

Windsurfing history encyclopedia

M – Moreno twins: two ladies who dominate competitive female windsurfing

Iballa and Daida Moreno are two fiercely competitive twins hailing from the sunny Canary Island swho have dominated women’s windsurfing over the years. Both are extremely skilful in a variety of disciplines including wave sailing, freestyle and stand up paddle surfing. With the consistent Trade Winds of the Canaries, plus the proving grounds of Pozo on their doorstep, where inspiration […]

Windsurfing history encyclopedia

I – the iRig: 100% inflatable windsurfing rig designed for easy access to windsurfing

Designed to make windsurfing as accessible and easy to learn as possible the iRig debuted late 2016 and is billed as the first fully inflatable windsurfing rig. Utilising kitesurfing technology it’s described as being 70% lighter than standard rigs, floats on the water’s surface and requires next to instruction to use making is a hassle free product to use. Having […]

Windsurfing history encyclopedia

N – Nik Baker: x6 World Indoor Windsurfing Champion, Aloha Classic winner and one of Britain’s best windsurfing talents

In 1990 indoor windsurfing was born with the Palais Omnisports de Paris – Bercy making its spectacular debut. It was during this first indoor event that Britain’s Nik Baker, from the south coast, flourished and went on to add a whopping x6 Indoor World Championships to his name. Nik’s no slouch in the actual ocean either and following a long […]

Windsurfing history encyclopedia

O – Olympic debut for windsurfing during 1984; Stephan van den Berg takes gold

Windsurfing made its debut during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. As a new sport anticipation was high but it was ultimately Stephan van den Berg who took the gold. Stephan then went on to also win the 1988 Olympics which took place in Seoul, South Korea. Competing in the LA Games against Stephan was the UK’s Dave Hackford who eventually ended […]

Windsurfing history encyclopedia

G – GPSspeedsurfing.com launches in 2008

When GPSspeedsurfing.com launched in 2008 this provided a virtual leaderboard and space for windsurfers addicted to breaking sound barriers to pit their wits and compete against fellow speed enthusiasts on a global scale. With cooperation from the ISWC and PKRA it was also an online platform for other craft to also get involved and compare just which water born sled is the […]

Windsurfing history encyclopedia

G – Goita: new school wave sailing manoeuvre

The goita, which crossed over from waves to flat water via the ponch (invented by Maui based Kevin Ponchitera), is a new school wave move that sees riders hit the lip before throwing the sail to windward and towards the tail. This causes the rider and board to rotate over the rig in 360 fashion and ideally land back on […]