Top 5 – ‘NOT Hookipa’ videos – Alternative Windsurfing Spots

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Published on April 24, 2020 by Windsurfing.TV

Top 5 – ‘NOT Hookipa’ videos – Alternative Windsurfing Spots

Our Intern Ruaraidh Somerville has put together a NEW Top 5 for you… here are his thoughts:

From around October through to April, when you scroll through Facebook or Instagram, you’re bombarded with clips of pros in boardshorts shredding at Ho’okipa, reminding you how dismal the quality of wave-riding is at your local spot. When (European) summer rolls around, the pros migrate to the Canaries to get the best of the consistently strong winds and you see loads of huge jumping and pros doing incredible stunts off the same size of chop that rolls in at your home beach… still, you remind yourself, it’s a lot windier there!

But windsurfing isn’t just Ho’okipa, Pozo and Tenerife, is it? No, it’s not, and it’s refreshing to watch people shred in different locales.

I decided to put together a playlist of some of my favorite clips from less famous spots that can offer really sick conditions.

Read on for more:

Capo Manu – Victor Fernandez

At only 56 seconds, this clip is short but sweet. On a light wind, ever so slightly onshore day, Victor sails a playful reef break in Sardinia, of all places. Watch as the many-times-world-champ proves why he’s one of the most stylish sailors on the planet. Nobody makes soft waves look as fun as Victor; perhaps it’s the fat compact shape he’s on, but whatever the reason, his loose, smooth style flows perfectly in time with the beat of any wave he sets rail on.

Chocolate – Boujmaa Guilloul

Morocco is a well-known spot, there’s no doubt about it. But somehow, it always seems to be missed out. I’ve had many a discussion with sailors, weekend warriors and professionals alike, and when famous spots come up, Morocco is almost always added as a side note. It’s brought up as “…oh yeah, and Morocco…” and then promptly ignored for the rest of the conversation. But why?!

I’m not really sure, and I’m (unusually) not going to offer up my opinion, because (even more unusually) I don’t have one!

Anyway, the spot looks incredibly sick; good quality waves, strong wind and a sick setup, and who better to demonstrate it than the self-proclaimed King Of Pain, all-time sender Boujmaa Guilloul? Siam Images combines beautiful imagery of Morocco with Bouj’s trademark heavy hits and huge stalled forwards.

Is anyone keen for a trip?

https://windsurfing.tv/video/chocolate-boujmaa_guilloul/

Galicia – Marc Paré Rico, Marino Gil, Antoine Albert

I hadn’t ever heard of windsurfing Galicia until I heard about this trio of rippers’ upcoming trip to the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, but their video (as well as Ricardo Campello’s separate edit from the same trip), both filmed by the talented Siam Images, really puts the spot on the map.

Marc Paré has already established his credentials as a quality down the line wave rider, and anybody who’s watched Antoine Albert’s winter outputs from New Caledonia will know he’s more than just another flatwater freestyler, but Marino Gil isn’t (or wasn’t until this video was released!) well known for starboard tack wave riding. Well… all I can say is watch and learn. The young Canarian links together some really nice flowing rail game with a couple of sick hits, and it becomes clear he’s not just a one-trick Pozo pony.

Group edits like this are always sick to see; it’s good to watch the different styles and approaches to wavesailing thrown together on one consistent wave break. The results are sick:

https://windsurfing.tv/video/ever-been-to-galicia-spain/

It’s worth mentioning that the spot wasn’t entirely undiscovered by PWA rippers – a couple of years ago Flo Jung and Camille Juban scored something epic there too, captured by Pierre Bouras’ keen lens:

https://windsurfing.tv/video/galicia-express-florian-jung-camille-juban/

No Waves in The Med? – Thomas Traversa

When I put together this list I knew that Traversa would have to be on it; no other pro has explored and ripped in so many different and unique spots as the 2014 world champ. But which video to put in?

Well, the answer actually came quite easily. Because as awe-inspiring as his Nazare instalment in the Windsurf Project or his trip to a slab in Galicia with Julian Taboulet and BSP Media are, the whole looming risk of breaking all your gear and maybe dying is something of a red flag for most people, especially if they don’t have a water ski + crew for safety!

Luckily, the French ripper is also really really good at sailing small waves too, and his Mediterranean edit, produced by Jamie Hancock and supported by KPark, a window company(?!), is arguably one of his most fun to watch. Small, with some power and fun – not unlike the man himself! – the spots certainly look more manageable than his usual deadly slabs, and proves that yes, there are waves in the Mediterranean!

https://windsurfing.tv/video/no-waves-in-the-mediterranean-thomas-traversa/

Leon Jamaer & Thomas Traversa – Mada

Granted, Madagascar isn’t exactly an ideal tourist destination what with it being in the middle of the ocean with not much going on anywhere… but it looks really fun to windsurf!

This is a really under-appreciated video in my opinion; we get to see two vastly sailing different styles meet on a sparkling blue canvas of completely mellow perfection, the results are so enjoyable to watch.

Leon’s broad brick-sh*thouse of a frame, with his powerful turns and raw style, combining elegant rail game with power hacks (and impossibly light footedness when he needs it) meets Thomas Traversa’s ballet dance of impossibly snappy, quick turns and a cheeky Spock-off-the-end-section at the end of the clip in a chilled out three minute runtime, interspersed with some good shots of the surrounding area, including some local fisherman riding one of the inside waves on an outrigger fishing boat.