Thomas is back on track and decided to test his ankle in the waves of Fuerteventura. Nice one Thomas, welcome back!

Brendan and Mart working hard at Punta Preta

The PWA comp at Sal was brilliant (again!) this year and it was great to have both of us there working together.

The first day was a bit of nightmare as I didn’t have all my gear due to TAP loosing my bag! I filmed using a borrowed tripod and was still able to get some decent clips but I really missed my solid, levelling tripod…

It was the first comp where all the sailors had the umi logos on their boards and there was buzz going around about umi and what we are trying to acheive! It felt brilliant to have sailors asking to have the umi logo on their kit.  Trying to make a career out of windsurfing is really tough, especially in these testing times.

Kauli had a great comp (when doesn’t he?), Thomas and Jonas both put in solid performances but it was hard for Musso – new kit and a foot injury meant it wasn’t to be for him…

We got some great footage from Sal and will be putting together a couple of web videos from the event – one about the umi ‘team’ and another one about Josh – who was inspirational! Keep checking the site for more info about these!

Has waveriding legend Jason Polakow joined team umi? No, we can’t afford him (yet)… it’s just Alex sticking an umi logo on his board. That’ll teach you for waking up the team at 7.30 in the morning looking for your harness Pozza!!

umi supports radical sailors. radical sailors support umi. I guess that’s it…

Dario Ojeda by John Carter

Graham Ezzy by John Carter

Jonas didn’t have any stickers, so he decided to draw his own umi logo on his board. Now that’s what we call dedication!

The media sure know to find Kauli. At breakfast he was already wearing a wire, these guys want to know everything!

Here’s some more shots from Cabo Verde. Courtesy of John Carter.

Thomas on a roll

Kauli putting all his energy in this sick goiter

Jonas loves his aerials

After having spent a good 11 hours on the beach of Punta Preta today, a dramatic final saw Josh Angulo win the Cabo Verde wave event today. Kauli got some sick waves and even landed a goiter in the wave but it wasn’t meant to be. Respect Kauli, you gave it all you had and even having to avoid some stupid kiters didn’t seem to put you off… If it had been us on the mic, we would have cheered every wave you had…

Thomas was also on fire today, he advanced several rounds before he was stopped by himself Ross Williams and Brawzinho. He was only late for being late a couple of times, and got some sick waves that made us all smile. Well done Thomas! (pics soon, Carter is being bullied by McKercher, who’s had 1 too many…)

This is it for now from Cabo Verde, Brendan and Alex are leaving tonight, lets see if TAP takes their stuff or keeps it in Lisbon for a couple of days…

After having joked for two days about how team umi is always late for being late or out in the first round, we completely forgot I completely forgot to add a picture of Kauli to the last post. I also forgot to say things like WAWAWEEWAA, CONGRATULATIONS and HIGH FIVE! Big mistake! We didn’t forget Kauli, we were just a bit stunned still! This one’s for you Kauli, the only sailor on tour to have his own sail storage… THE Kauli.

Ripping it up

THE Kauli

You would be smiling too…

And the single elimination goes to… the man with the biggest smile of course!

A quick note from the Cabo Verde world cup. We’ve had two days so far, and another swell is on the way. Kauli won the single elimination followed by Josh Angulo, Kevin Pritchard and Francisco Goya. High five for team umi! However, it has not all been jaksemas for the team: Alex ‘Musso’ Mussolini had a real tough draw in the first round and got injured as well. Today in the double he couldn’t show his worth with only a few waves coming in during his heat so it was the end for him.

Musso you still rip even though the PWA think you didn’t!

Next up was Thomas ‘Waterman’ Traversa, who as the PWA say ‘settled on a happy compromise between his usual balls-to-the-wall approach, and solid, secure riding’. This basically meant doing some down-the-line chop hops and trying not to be late for being late, and the jury was impressed! Together with CaMimi Juban he now faces Victor Fernandez and Jonas Ceballos, who is so umi that he actually drew his own umi sticker on his board, restecp! Jonas was kicking culo yesterday with massive aerials so we’ll see what happens. We’re ready for the next swell, Brendan even got his tripod now so the Velbon can stay in the bag…

Thomas and Jonas in one heat, well, 2 advance to the next round right?!

Thanks to the John Carter and the PWA for the pics, check the PWA site for more classy Punta Preta shots and click here for the double elimination ladder.