Congratulations, Bruce Peterson, for a remarkable 30 years of designing and running Sailworks! It is a well earned “end of an era”, and it is an honor to have been but a small part of that journey. From the beginning of a windsurfing addiction when I thought a 5.0m sail meant 40 knots (see video) […]

Imagine that every single time you get to the beach you quickly rig your sail and perfectly tune for the conditions. You never fumble with your extension length, never need to stop to move your mast base, never have to adjust your boom height, never wish you had more downhaul tension and never fiddle with […]

A five discipline event! Well, if you count my free clinic and Friday wave session. Hatteras OBX Wind once again delivered the goods. A packed start line for the long distance race with 170 racers, competitive slalom heats for the US National Slalom Title, and an insane freestyle level to crown the US Freestyle National […]

It’s crazy to think back on this season and realize how little I travelled compared to when I was doing the PWA World Tour. I managed to squeeze in a trip to somewhere warm early this year before the pandemic broke out to create a magazine project, which I’m sure you will be reading about […]

Although all the windsurf contests I was planning to attend this summer have been postponed and cancelled, it definitely hasn’t put a damper on the amount of windsurfing I’ve been doing. The early spring closures and lockdowns forced me to explore new launch spots in the Gorge, and the limited services at campgrounds on the […]

Three days of completely overpowered slalom sailing! What a blast! I arrived at Kanaha Beach Park on Maui one day early for the 2019 Slalom US Nationals, and immediately saw there was something wrong. As I walked around and browsed the different equipment set-ups everything looked awfully small compared to mine. It was going to […]

I love heading to the Oregon Coast. It’s windy, wavy, beautiful, rugged and wild. In the spring I did a few weekend trips to Newport, conveniently camping at South Beach State Park, which is right at the windsurf spot. Newport is a convenient wave spot for Gorge windsurfers because it’s only 3.5 hours drive from […]

OBX-Wind – North Americas biggest, and fastest growing windsurfing competition once again delivered the goods! With 300 people registered for long distance racing, Slalom racing, freestyle, and clinics, it was a busy week. I flew in from Hood River, Oregon, to Raleigh, North Carolina with my girlfriend Kelsey. We rented a car and drove 4 […]

As some of you may know already I’m not headed to Bonaire for the PWA event, and I will no longer be attending PWA events. I’m including a press release below regarding this, but basically I’ve moved to Hood River, Oregon, taken up an opportunity to work more closely with my sponsor Sailworks, and decided […]

Since the PWA World Tour stop in Fuerteventura I’ve been back in Hood River, Oregon. The summer season there delivers some of the best windsurfing in the world, and in the couple months between PWA competitions in Fuerteventura, Spain, and Sylt, Germany, the Gorge didn’t disappoint. Besides some epic days on the water freestyling, I […]

The 2018 PWA Fuerteventura Grand Slam was an event to remember! For two days straight, 4.0 conditions kept the sailing on edge, followed by two days as the first heat on standby that kept the mind on edge! The journey started off with arrival in Fuerteventura and meeting up with team UK Max Rowe and […]

Spring has been buzzing: 230 windsurfers on the start line of the OBX-Wind long-distance race in Hatteras The OBX freestyle contest The OBX slalom racing A week long clinic US Nationals in Virginia The first Gorge Cup of the summer Getting settled in Hood River The IWT Pistol River Wave Bash I had not been […]

A break from turquoise waters to pristine snow! Life is good! Last week I had a chance to join a group of 12 friends on a ski trip in the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area in the Wallowa Mountains. We camped at 2300m in yurts and skied pristine powder. The trip started with a 3km tow […]

After a few days of resting, hanging out with the family and eating Christmas food at home in Canada I flew to windsurf a popular winter destination for North Americans; La Ventana, Baja Sur, Mexico. I’ve never seen as many kitesurfers in my life as in La Ventana! Turns out it’s such a popular place […]

***Don’t forget to scroll below the galleries to see a few video clips! Over 24 months of my life has been spent in Jericoacoara. Why so much? I love both the daily routine Jeri life, and the other attractions the town and surrounding area offer. A routine day is wake-up, breakfast, windsurf, lunch, windsurf, dinner, […]

I got “Cappuccinoed” in Sylt, and it was fun 99% of the time. The fun times started in the 2nd round of the single elimination, the round of 32. I was up against long time friend Max Rowe from England – we roomed together on Isla Margarita a couple winters. He’s a solid sailor and […]

It’s not due to lack of content that I haven’t had a blog update for a month now. So what’s been keeping me away from sitting down and and opening the laptop? Firing winds, forest fires, coast trips, sick days, mountain biking, chasing Jose, flying to Germany and forgetting my password. …just kidding about the […]

After the Fuerteventura PWA World Cup I flew into Portland, somehow getting away with checking in all my board bags for free, and drove down for the US Nationals which were held on the East side of San Francisco Bay, at a launch called Berkeley Marina. The US Nationals consist of 3 disciplines, course racing, […]

After 5 days of competition and a full double elimination I managed to finish the PWA Fuerteventura Grand Slam in 13th place. This past week Fuerte delivered some of the best conditions we’ve ever had. The wind was blowing over 30 knots side to side-off. The tides were extreme, flooding the lagoon and even the […]

The flying sand of Sotavento Beach is impossible to get use to. Actually the more days you spend here the more frustrated you get with it being everywhere; in your mast, rolled up in your sail, in the car, in your apartment, on your bed, in your ears and grinding in your teeth. The strong […]

40 degree heat and dry camping are not the best combination. Luckily the Sacramento River off Sherman Island was refreshing enough to keep the Rio Vista Grand Slam competitors cool during the event July 15th – 18th. On the first day we ran 5 slalom races on 8.6m sails. Diony Guadagnino from Venezuela dominated winning […]

It was my birthday 2 weeks ago and I celebrated by completing my best workout of the year and most skillful negotiation; I dragged 6 checked bags through airports, and convinced the check-in girl it was only 2 sets of windsurf gear. I paid $300CAD for my excess luggage, for those of you not well […]

People often ask me “Where are you off to next?”. It’s an easy question and I often reply with a simple answer. However, I often find myself feeling guilty for replying solely with the name of a destination. It feels too shallow. When I plan travel, pack my bags, check-in and set foot on the […]

Cape Hatteras has always been a “family” destination for me. My parents use to take my brothers and I down for a week every October. A 14 hour drive from Toronto, it was a perfect way to get together and take a week off school to do some windsurfing. Although I was only accompanied by […]

I’m not much of a tourist. Spending 2 months in Cape Town I only went on 3 hikes and wine tasting once. However, I did drive 7000km to windsurf and occasionally sup-surf 16 different spots. To give you an idea here is a map where I marked all the spots we windsurfed with a red […]

The wind blows nearly every day in the Cape Town area. Most days it’s a matter of looking out the window to know what the wind’s going to do, while others take serious meteorological analysis to know where to invest your gas money. Here is what one of the more common windsurfing days in Cape […]

I’m seriously stoked on how my 2016 shaped up, and if the first few adventures of 2017 are a sign of things to come, it will be another epic year…less the car accident I’ll probably get into! This driving on the left and sitting on the right thing here in Cape Town is from another […]

So we continue with the eat, sleep, windsurf theme of my blog. After all that’s pretty much all I do. So in this post you’ll read about bakeries, what I do when I should be sleeping in Jeri, and I’ll even squeeze in a bit about windsurfing. Food secrets – bakeries!!! There are numerous bakeries […]

I had a week of adventures here in Jeri. Lagoon sailing in Tatajuba, a return roller coaster flight in a helicopter, a downwinder to the Guriu river mouth with my brother and jumping over Guy Cribb’s clients. It started off with a trip to the lagoon. Lagoa Tatajuba is about an hour drive from Jericoacoara […]

My top four Jeri Foods: Kiwiroska, Abacaxiroska, Maracujaroska and Caipirinhas. No…just kidding ;-)… Every person organizes their life priorities differently – some opt for party, sleep, windsurf, eat, others for eat, sleep, party, windsurf. I prioritize eating, and as good as the windsurfing and nightlife is in Jeri, I return every year looking forward to the food. […]

A week in Poland, a week in Canada and now day 3 in Brazil. After the European Tour event in Brouwersdam, Holland, I flew to Poland to visit family. It was a nice trip and a welcome break from back to back competitions. I got in a good routine there to work out every morning, […]

After the Sylt PWA event I had a 2 day break at my  friend Steven’s house in Belgium, then we went straight to Holland to probably the coolest windsurfing center ever, and the European Freestyle Pro Tour Dam X contest. Brouwersdam is probably the coolest windsurfing center I’ve ever seen. It’s October, between 7 and […]

1 drive, 3 flights, and 2 trains is all I needed to get myself and my life packed in a suitcase and board bags to Sylt, Germany. All that effort paid off as I boosted my world ranking to a career high 5th place, and finished the Sylt Windsurf World Cup PWA Grand Slam in […]

Although generally the fall is decent for windsurfing in Southern Ontario, these last couple weeks have been below average. I still managed to squeeze in 5 days of windsurfing at some of the classic spots around here including: Sherkston Shores on Lake Erie, the Toronto Windsurfing Club at Cherry Beach on Lake Ontario, and both […]

Or is it?… I just got home to Toronto from 4 weeks of chasing wind up and down the Columbia River Gorge and it’s probably the hottest day I’ve experienced all summer – 42 degrees here in Canada! That’s 107.6 Fahrenheit in American 😉 Four weeks is my record  for how long I stayed in Hood […]

Checking in my windsurf gear for free has become a norm for me! This was my 2nd check-in in a row with a ton of gear and taking it all for free. Leaving Fuerteventura I lucked out and the employee working the ticket desk didn’t show up for work, so the airline was not charging […]

The PWA Fuerteventura Grand Slam opened up with a bang as gusts to 40 knots greeted us riders on the first day. Classic Playa Sotavento conditions continued into days 2 and 3 in which we completed the first single elimination where I placed 4th, followed by the double elimination where I dropped down to 5th. […]

The lead up to the PWA Fuerteventura Grand Slam. What’s it gonna take to win? Who’s hot? And live scoring. 2 weeks of warming up in Fuerteventura, and 2 weeks of sailing 4.5 or smaller. Sotavento has been delivering strong winds, but also very difficult conditions. This is nothing new, as the competition here at […]

The Gorge Beach Bash sponsored by Sailworks was held June 24th – 26th in Hood River, OR. The event featured freestyle, slalom racing, tandem racing and freeride. Friday and Saturday saw good conditions to run all disciplines, and the awards were held on Sunday morning when it was obvious no wind would materialize. I participated in […]

The beauty of windsurfing competitions is no matter how you finish, at least you were on the water windsurfing. Well, as long as it’s windy. Lucky for me I arrived early for both the Pistol River and Rio Vista events and got some great days before the events started. I’m glad I arrived 2 days […]

Sorry I can’t fill you in on the big project I’ve been working on the last 2 weeks with Max Matissek, you’ll have to check our your local windsurfing magazine in the next few months to see that… Besides those secret adventures, I’ve been cruising in my rented Escape Campervan and windsurfing a lot. I […]

Everything truly is bigger in Texas. Big sails, big boards, big fins, big gear bags and a big event. The 2016 US Windsurfing Nationals held down in Corpus Christi was a great event with 50+ competitors. Not only were the best US windsurfers there, but also top racers representing Turkey, France (Martinique), England and of course […]

112kgs it said on my luggage sticker. That should be enough to cover any wind and weather Podersdorf throws at me I thought. Podersdorf is a small town on Lake Neusiedl, not far from the capital Vienna, and host of the annual “Surf World Cup”; the first PWA World Tour event of 2016. I windsurfed well […]

Cape Hatteras was erased off my calendar last year due to the last-minute PWA Leucate event being on the same date. Thankfully this year there was no such problem, and I enjoyed two weeks of incredible windsurfing, SUP surfing, and even squeezed in two tennis matches with my brother on the only two windless days. […]

Although my 10 days in Maui weren’t the windiest, the trip was a success. I had the opportunity to windsurf various beaches around the island and take part in the photo shoot for the 2017 Starboard Windsurfing product range. Even if it was my first time on the island, I felt right at home from […]

The lightest wind of the winter plagued the 2016 El Yaque Freestyle Crown. Thankfully that didn’t stop either the Freestyle or SuperX competition from taking place. With 12 freestyle competitors, half of them being PWA World Tour riders, it was clear the competition was tough. In the elimination ladder I was in the same heat as […]

What do I do to stay in shape besides windsurfing? A change in the weather pattern lead to a week of lighter wind, even a couple of days without wind at all here on Isla Margarita. It was nice to rest a couple of days after the relentless last 2 months. Relentless windsurfing, but also […]

So you thought I windsurf at the same beach for 2 months straight?!? Hood River and Cape Town are destinations where you windsurf different spots every day depending on various factors like the wind, conditions you’re searching for, and for some the satisfaction of windsurfing places with names like “The Hatchery”, “The Wall” or “Big Bay”. Rigging, […]

2004 – My first ever visit to El Yaque – 10 windsurf centers – Over 100 windsurfers on the water – Windy every day. 2016 – My 8th visit to El Yaque – 1 windsurf center – 15 windsurfers on the water – Windy every day. International news about Venezuela’s economic mis-management and safety concerns […]

No better way to spend the winter than on a Caribbean beach! I’m back in El Yaque for some winter training, and the season is on fire!  Generally speaking January is not peak season, but the wind has been on and strong nearly every day. I’m windsurfing out from the Club Nathalie Simon center, the best […]

Happy New Year! Hope if you’re reading this you enjoyed the holidays and welcomed 2016 in style. I spent Christmas at home in Canada at my parents house with family, it was a fun contrast to the months spent in Brazil. To keep things exciting I went off with my brothers for a short ski […]

Praia de Malhada Backloop. Photo by Adrian Irvine. I had a great 2 months on Brazil’s North Eastern coast this past November and December. My 9th time going to magical Jericoacoara – and I will surely be back again next year. There is no place like it: the wind blows every single day. I had […]

Two weeks ago I flew to Poland’s capital, Warsaw for an indoor windsurfing competition. The first indoor event in the last 8 years. I was really excited going there, because as well as being Canadian I’m also Polish, both my parents being from there. I flew there with a spot in the trials in both […]