With Hawaii in its off-season I decided to pack my surf and windsurf equipment and head down to the South Pacific islands to test some of the new 2010 range from JP / NP and also put to use some of the safety equipment that I have been developing with my sponsors.
The use of safety equipment such as jet skies, safety sleds, flotation vests and suits have made a big impact to big wave surfing and sailing, opening up new doors and allowing athletes to push themselves further than ever before.
I have purchased jetskies and safety sleds in places like Australia, Tahiti and Hawaii to make sure that when I arrive there, by mid afternoon I will be towing or windsurfing 15 to 20 foot waves with the reassurance I have all the safety gear necessary to ensure a safe and fun day on the water.
In some cases you might not get a chance to test your specialized equipment in a certain seasons due to limited surf conditions, so by having these sort of set ups spread around the world it really increases your chances of scoring large surf and thus being able to test all your gear effectively.
For those of you who don't know your history on how floatation came about into the surfing and windsurfing world here's a little flash back. In the early days of riding big waves, people used nothing but a wetsuit, basically relying on experience and a bit of luck to get us through the day unscathed. As time went on and the level of performance rose we quickly realized we needed some floatation to help us survive those big wipe outs. A few surfers had started using floatation vests but there were mixed opinions regarding their worth. Some speculated that because of the buoyancy one would stay in the white water longer. Like throwing a beach ball in front of a rolling wave. It would just keep getting tumbled and tumbled.
As time went on, we quickly realized that this was not the case and the general consensus of most big waves riders was to wear some form of flotation especially in the case of being knocked unconscious or drowning. The victim could at least return to the surface for possible revival.
It was not until the start of the millennium that windsurfers started looking into safety equipment and the possible benefits in enhancing performance.
In the early stages of experimentation with floatation we simply wore a life jacket over a harness. It did the job, adding floatation but it was bulky, therefore restricting performance. The development of a flotation vest incorporated with a built-in harness, amalgamated these two devices, freeing up movement and allowing for better performance.
By the start of the new century company's had already started producing this combination harness / jacket and a lot of the elite windsurf clan jumped at the hot new product.
The next step was the development of the floatation suit. Floatation suits have been around for quite some time predominantly used in water skiing but never in the surfing world. Initial prototypes were restrictive, until the bands of floatation material were strategically placed throughout the wetsuit allowing for maximum flexibility. The bulk of the floatation was distributed around the entire body making the suit extremely thin and comfortable to wear. This allowed for almost effortless movement making a big jump in safety and pushing performance to a higher level.
Anyway enough of the history lesson! |
