January 23, 2012
Maui Sails Blaze video, check it out
January 23, 2012
Finally got my van back after getting it repainted and all the rust fixed, only took five weeks but now I can finally fill it back up and get organized again. As you can see I got all my new gear packed in and ready to go. Now I just need the wind to come back here in Maui. Seems like we will have a couple of days of light wind till it is back to normal.
9th January 2012
Do you wanna go sailing with me?
4th January 2012
Micah Buzianis (USA 34) joins MauiSails
Micah Buzianis, former World Champion, joins MauiSails in 2012. With over twenty five years of racing experience and several World Titles under his belt, Micah will be blending his experience with Barry Spanier, Art Szpunar, and Phil McGain to go after another Title.
Micah commented, “I couldn't be happier about my new relationship with MauiSails. This is an exciting opportunity for me to work with Barry, Phil, and Art. The knowledge, experience, and history these three guys have in our sport is immeasurable and unsurpassable, with more World Titles under their belt than any other team in Windsurfing. For me to have people like this to work with and support my racing is going to be magical”.
Phil McGain said,“The TR-8 race sails are our best effort yet. They are primed to win and have been delivered to the market. We expect big things in 2012 from a sailor of Micah’s caliber . Having him based here in Maui will advance our development, help him with his preparation, and improve the performance of all our products at MauiSails”.
Micah further comments, ”I've had some good sessions on the TR-8s already and am very impressed. They suit my boards very well and the comfort and speed is going to allow me to focus on the course, get a good start, pursue a tactically clean race, and finish ahead. I've also had a chance to play with the Legend and the Ghost XT… both feel very light and lively in the surf and in the air”.
All of us at MauiSails wish you prosperous New Year and good winds on the water.
December 30, 2011
Good morning 
Nice calm morning here in Maui, working on a new website for next year with This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Aloha
Micah
March 4, 2011
Mui Ne Beach, Vietnam
Slowest day so far here in Vietnam. It actually had a bit of a promising look this morning as there was about a 15 minute window where the winds switched around to the left at what seemed to be the right time of the day but it was very short lived and went back to the right again. It was sunny early on as well which gave me a bit of hope that it may heat up enough to clear the clouds and increase the wind, but with the weather system that is around us that didn't happen. Around lunch time it clouded up even more and we even had a short and very light bit of rain, these two combined pretty much sealed the fate of the wind for today.
I decided to take a couple of shots one with the view from my room that I share with Pieter Bijl and Josh Angulo. It shows a perfect view to the beach and if you look closely you can even see the yellow mark in the distance which would be the start line or the first mark depending on what direction the wind came in at. So you can see that it is very easy and relaxing for us to keep an eye on the wind and the race course from the air conditioned comfort of our room. We could do some work and stretch while remaining on hold for the entire day. The second shot is the view outside our porch with the restaurant of our hotel in the back ground where we get breakfast and afternoon tea. You can also see along the beach, this is right where we launch to go out to the racing area.
There were a few moments where it looked like we would possibly get out on the water today but it never really came up to the point where I needed to get my sails out of there bags and on masts, nor did anyone else. I have given up on the forecasts here and give it a 50-50 chance for racing tomorrow. I certainly hope we do get some more races in so I can at least go home with some knowledge of what I need to work on and what is working. Less than 24 hours to go till it is in the books what will tomorrow bring.......
Mui Ne Beach, Vietnam March 3, 2011
Midway through the event here in Vietnam and still no official result for the top ten of mens racing. It looked much the same this morning as yesterday when I got out of bed, glassy calm with a trend of wind from the right instead of the desired left. All through breakfast and lunch it remained much like yesterday and then the clouds started to dissipate and the texture on the water started to increase. It came in quiet rapidly to around 10 knots and a few sailors went out to take advantage. However it tapered as quickly as it came in and we were back to being optimistic about actually doing something official today. It did however get me to rig up my 8.6 and 9.5 and get my 82 board down on the sand. I went back to my lounge chair to relax and see what the wind would do.
The wind came and went over the next two hours and was steadily teasing us and the race crew to get out on the water. I finally decided to go out for a warm up sail and it was clear that it was not strong enough to do an official race. So back to the beach for some more lounging. It didn't change much throughout the remainder of the day but the race crew decided to give it a go and send us out. So I took my 82 and 9.5 and stuck in a bigger 52cm fin to get all I could out of my gear in the light winds. Right from the beach it did seem like the wind had steadied just enough to get the final done, however after one test run of the course it was still looking clear to me that we would not get this thing done.
Start one was barely powered and as I turned it off the wind at 2 seconds to green the power and acceleration that I expected to get never came. I battled hard down the first reach and after almost having to get out of my harness and start pumping I arrived about fifth to the first mark and proceeded to park it at the mark along with everyone else, blue and white checkered flag came out heat cancelled. Back to the start to see the womens loser final go and the had about the same result as the men, they did manage to make it to the second mark before being cancelled but half the fleet wasn't even planning down the second reach. So what the heck lets try the men again, this start was about the same but slightly less wind and again almost needing to get out of my harness and pump on the first reach we all parked at the mark. Needless to say they abandoned this heat as well.
They gave it a good try with what we had I don't think they could have been on it any more than they were, it came and went so fast it was hard to judge it. So another day we wait to have the first final of the 2011 season, lets hope that the normal wind returns soon and we can do some actual racing.....
Heres a nice little artsy JP pic from our faithful and talented PWA photog John Carter aka JC
One of JC's better portraits of me, at least I am not looking sick or extremely old....just a little unshaven...
Had some extra time to organize some of my photos today and wanted to share these two photos of an outing up to my dad's house in Kula with the family. I did a short bike race before hand down by Grandmas coffee store and then came back and did some target practice with Lance and our new bow's. I have started shooting some archery and am really getting into it in hopes of doing some hunting on Maui and the mainland soon. I really love this shot of Lance!!!
Mui Ne Beach, Vietnam March 2, 2011
What a build up and what a let down. After yesterdays mediocre appearance of wind and racing a solid final was at least set and with a good outlook for wind today anticipation was high with sailors, public and the media for the first PWA racing final of the 2011 season. That sentence however is about as exciting as it got today, never did it look even close that we might go on the water to sail that final. So far away it was that no one even unpacked their gear from yesterday to get ready for today.
It was so uneventful today that I decided to take a couple shots to show the difference in the pit area of Antoine compared to the pit area of Pieter and I. At this particular event Antoine has a different approach to gear storage and prep. He is lucky enough to have a pretty good spot in the sailors area here in Vietnam. For the most part it is a small area compared to most places on tour but as usual Antoine has scored a prime spot and has used the limited space well. With his pole spot he has enough room to keep his rigs and boards at the ready making morning prep a bit less time consuming. Some may argue that this isn't as good for your gear leaving it set up like this all night but Antoine has enough experience in how to make it work fine.
On the other hand you will see a nicely organized pile of gear for me and Pieter, I think at this event we have even outdone Antoine in our space acquisition. We have the whole front lawn of our hotel, which happens to be right next to the race site, to rig and store our boards and sails for the day. Given this luxury of lots of room and nice clean grass to rig and de-rig on I prefer to completely de-rig my sails daily to add to their life. With all this room it makes rigging up in the morning very easy. To be honest though I can't take the credit for this great spot this has to go to our room mate Josh who arrived here early and set us up with this great spot!! Our bungalow is even right on the race site beach so we spent the day in our nice A/C room on the internet watching out our patio at the calm Mui Ne Bay!!!!
CHECK OUT MY USED GEAR SECTION I HAVE A BOARD UP FOR AUCTION ON THERE ALL PROCEEDS GOING TO DORIS TODD MEMORIAL CHRISTIAN SCHOOL. GOOD CHANCE TO GET A 2011 JP RACING BOARD!!!
Mui Ne Bay, Vietnam March 1, 2011
Registration day and first round of slalom in Vietnam, 2011
With a new tour stop and a short off season Vietnam is sure to provide some interesting and perhaps upsets in the PWA racing season. Never before has the PWA been to this location nor have many of the regular tour vets so the learning curve for both would be steep and hopefully positive for most. Registration day was mostly relaxing with light breeze and very comfortable temps prevailing it was very stress free. However once the 2pm start time grew closer so did the angst of the fleet and of the race crew. Very gusty and shifty winds were the norm for most of the early afternoon but around 3pm the light winds steadied up enough to get the first round of the year of to a start.
There weren't many surprises in the first bracket of the first round with most of the favorites advancing through their heats. One surprise however was Josh Angulo not making it through his first heat, he had good speed and was first off the line but the substandard gybe marks here made it hard for him to spot the first mark and he almost missed it. He did manage to make it around but it was a little to late as he had gone from first to mid pack and with the light winds he wasn't able to catch back up. He did however get a redress for the first round after a long talk with the race committee. It was very difficult to see the marks in the flat light and choppy seas. The marks are much smaller than the regular marks we race with and they are white as well which makes it even harder to see them after they blend in with the white caps and the back drops.
In the second bracket which is the semi finals in this small fleet there were a few victims that failed to make the finals. Ross Williams who finished off well last year was a bit to eager and sailed across the start line a little early resulting in a dsq and a place in the losers final. Pieter Bijl also had a bit of bad luck at a gybe when his foot slipped of his board and he nearly went in losing all his speed at a gybe. Pieter was showing good speed in his first heat and after being away from the tour for over two years he was fired up and ready to get back to the final, but he would have to wait till round two.
The final was set with a lot of regulars in there, Antoine, Bjoern, Finian, Cyril and myself there was just one little problem the wind was starting to drop and become very irregular at the marks. The losers final did manage to squeeze in between three cancellations of the final and Ross Williams came through with a spot on start to take honors. The final however was not meant to be and eventually the day was called off with the final set to be run first thing tomorrow morning.
Even though it was a bit frustrating not to get the final run it was nice to get a few extra start practices in on the PWA's dime. I personally was not having the best starts, one I couldn't get planning at the start till pretty much everyone was gone, the other two were not quite as bad I was in second in one and fourth in the other after the first mark. Antoine seemed to be right on it with his timing though and was leading all three finals after the first mark only to have them all cancelled. It only counts when it counts though and with no final result it is anyones game. We will see what tomorrow brings, forecast looks good for wind but so did today. Stay tuned for more.......
Mui Ne Beach, Vietnam, February 28, 2011
Here is one of the event posters from the race here in Vietnam, I am really liking this shot!!! First full day here today and had some good sailing, couple hours in the morning on 9.5 and 82 and then couple hours in the late afternoon on 7.8 and 68. Felt pretty good, water was nice and flat on the 9.5 with a small rolling swell but on the 7.8 it was pretty choppy, pretty similar to Kona winds in Kihei on Maui. Tomorrow is registration day and possibly some racing in the afternoon. It will probably take a while to register as this is the first event of the season so everyone will have new gear to register and those that don't have their new gear will need to register their last years stuff but explain what they will be registering at the next event when they get their new gear. So some confusion may ensue and we may not get started I guess we will just have to see how smoothly it all runs. There is supposed to be some wind tomorrow so that shouldn't be an issue, either way I am ready to go!!!
Tokyo, Narita, Japan February 27, 2011
Second leg down and one to go....had two nice surprises in Honolulu-first was meeting up with Darrell Wong in the airport. Funny how much time I spend in airports and rarely run into people I know, but one person that it is always nice to run into is Darrell, by far one of the nicest people you could ever meet. He was just on his way back home to Maui after a stand up photo shoot, said he had some epic conditions with light wind and perfect size surf. If you get a chance check him out at www.darrellwong.com. Second was getting a page to the desk just before boarding and getting handed a nice new boarding pass in business class, thanks or the complimentary upgrade United!!! Made the flight to Tokyo that much better and will make the rest of the trip that much easier.
Now just relaxing with Pieter in the lounge of our next flight to Ho Chi Min City, looking forward to this last leg and getting on with the racing. Was watching the boys doing the freestyle on the live feed from the PWA site and looks like some good wind still, lets hope it holds. More news to come from Mui Ne Beach........
Honolulu, Hi February 26, 2011
First flight done on my way to Vietnam. I am traveling with Pieter Bijl and we have a long day ahead of us. From here we go, Tokyo for 3 hours, then another 6 hour flight to Ho Chi MIn City and then the fun starts. After we hopefully get all our bags at the airport we are then in for a 5.5 hour mini bus ride to the event site in Mui Ne Bay. Form the stories I have heard this is an exciting ride.......I am hoping I am so tired I just pass out for the enitre drive.
All preps in Maui went well considering the lack of wind we have had this year. I feel very well tuned on my 7.8, 8.6 and 9.5 and my 68 and 82 boards. But there wasn't much time spent on the smaller stuff but from the looks of things in Mui Ne it is going to be on the lighter side anyway. I am going to register pretty much the same sizes as last year, 5.5, 6.2, 7.0, 7.8, 8.6 and 9.5 in the new Neil Pryde RSR EVOIII, 59, 68 and 82 of the ne JP slalom boards. I didn't bring my 5.5 with me to Vietnam though as it doesn't generally get that windy there and I am always trying to travel as light as possible to avoid the huge baggage fees for the excess bags. This trip I only have seven bags which is pretty light and so far it has only cost $375 to get it on the plane.
Time for the next flight, stay tuned here and at www.JP-Australia.com for updates and you can see live streaming footage at www.pwaworldtour.com and if you are interested in the wind and weather conditions you can go to http://www.windguru.cz/int/index.php?sc=206923
Maui, Hi. February 17, 2011
Neil Pryde RSREvoIII Integrated Compact Clew Link closing video
I have been hearing a bit of feedback on the new Integrated Compact Clew Link and how some people are having a hard time getting it to close. Well here in this video I show how easy it is, please note the position I am holding the sail and gripping the link this is critical in making the link come together with ease.
Kanaha Beach Park, Maui Hi. February 17, 2011
Had a great day testing yesterday at Kanaha with Pieter Bijl. Tuning and testing all my new racing boards and sails. Pieter had a few new fins to test as well. The wind was very off shore so it was a drift out from the beach at uppers to the wind line but once in the wind line it was perfect for 7.8. I tested my new JP Slalom 68 and my new RSREvoIII 7.8. I have been using this stuff for a couple of months now but my actual race gear that I will be using for this season just arrived last week. It has not been a really good wind season so far this year so it has been tough to get out on the water and get tuned, but this week looks like it is going to be good so I am full on in prep for Vietnam.
