Following Graham Ezzy’s interview with Josh Angulo he now catches up with Camille Juban. Camille (1990) moved from France to Guadeloupe when he was a kid (‘My parents were doing windsurfing on a lake but I guess they got tired of the cold and they wanted us to grow up on a warm place’) where he found the perfect setting to develop his windsurf skills. Graham (1989, born and raised on Maui), followed a different path and actually moved away from perfect waves to study English literature at Princeton University. Graduated last year, he is now back on Maui to perfect his own skills in the waves. Two boys with a totally different background, yet both part of the new generation of windsurfers at Ho’okipa.

Graham: I remember seeing Camille sail the first time when he came to Maui years ago and being really impressed by his windsurfing. Six years later and I’m still impressed. He’s established himself not only as the best French wave rider in the world but also one of the best down-the-line riders in the world, with a win at the Maui Makani Classic 2011 to prove it.

Camille, you’ve always had one of the best cutbacks in the world, but you weren’t very consistent on the tricks. This last fall however, I saw you land some insane takas, goiters, and 360s; umi even captured a wave with two wave 360′s on it! What changed for you?
Camille: ‘Well, this is a big part because of you guys; Ricardo, Victor, Brawzinho, Levi, Kauli, you all pushed the level so high landing all those tricks that I had to train on landing them too and I think the experience from the years before just paid last fall.’

The final heat of the AWT Ho’okipa contest had big waves, light wind, and gnarly currents. How did you feel in the heat and what did you think about in order to win?
Camille: ‘My main goal in this contest was to arrive in the final and I was really focused and concentrated for it. So once I was in the final I knew I had a chance to win, I had the feeling that it was ‘my day’ and felt confident. Despite the stress I tried to stay focused on the two bigger and best waves I wanted to have. I got them and I think it was one of the best moments of my career!’

Landing two tricks on one wave is very rare, even for the best windsurfers in the world. Do you think about this before or just see what happens?
Camille: ‘I try to do more tricks on a wave when conditions are good for it and when I have the feeling. To be honest, on the wave umi filmed (see below), I don’t really like the way I turn the first one but the second section was calling me to make a 360 on it and this one felt way better.’

Who from the windsurfers of the past inspire you the most?
Camille: ‘I get a lot of inspiration from Levi Siver, Francisco Goya, Jason Polakow and Keith Teboul because Levi and Polakow were powerful and Keith and Francisco have an amazing style.’

What about the current generation?
Camille: ‘I really like Alex Mussolini and Thomas Traversa because they have a super nice fluid style, Marcilio Browne because he has a powerful style and he’s the best at jumping, waveriding starboard and port tack. And of course yourself, Graham Ezzy, because we push each other in the water for new moves, and cause you’re killing it at Ho’okipa.’

Enough smoke up my ass! You’ve won at Ho’okipa and are considered by pretty much everyone to be the best French wavesailor in the world, what’s the next step?
Camille: ‘Even if I improve in contests at Ho’okipa I still want to improve on PWA spots because it’s a challenge for me, but the next step would be to keep on trying combo waves and new moves.’

I’ve noticed that with a lot of windsurfers, their fathers play a large role in their windsurfing career. Did your father teach you to windsurf? Did he want you to be a pro?
Camille: ‘My father definitely played a big role in the beginning of my career. He paid my first trip to Maui, took me to Morocco in the summer time to train starboard tack when I was younger, he was dealing with my first sponsors… And yes he wanted me to be a pro but he did it for me and not for him. It was my choice and I was not so good at school anymore, so he just showed me the way until I was old enough to take care of myself, and my career.’

I feel that you and I are from the same generation of windsurfers. What do you think best defines the style of our generation?
Camille: I think we started sailing much younger than the old generation and the gear is much lighter, so for those reasons we are able to push the level of the tricks and have a more dynamic and aerial style.’

Here’s a little rough cut showing the aerial style of Camille; keep an eye on this page for the full Maui clip featuring Camille, Graham and Brawzinho, out soon!

Going to put a little poll on Facebook later about these wave grubby’s…

On our last trip to Maui Graham Ezzy spoke about this move he had toyed with a few years back called the ANGover. When Graham saw Camille Juban nearly pull one by accident he was really keen to get it on video before anyone else, so he decided to get some tips from the man who invented the move, Josh Angulo.

Graham: I love windsurfing. Even as a child, I would go through old windsurfing magazines from the 80’s and read them to learn about the early days of the sport. As my dad (David Ezzy) has windsurfed at Ho’okipa longer than anybody, I often turn to him for stories about the old days. Now as a professional windsurfer, I am still obsessed with the histories and intricacies of our sport.
A long time ago, Josh Angulo invented a move he called the ANGover. Basically it is a frontside floater into a sliding 360 (for you freestylers, think of a floater to grubby). I’ve only seen Josh and Nat Gill come close to pulling them. And I saw Camille rotate something similar by accident. It is a rare move, and I don’t think it has ever been caught on camera. A few years ago I started working on it, I tried a bunch and made one or two wet ones, but then I got frustrated and focused on other moves instead. Time to get a clear head and refocus!

Hi Josh, I hope you’re doing well and it’s not too cold on the East Coast!
Josh: ‘Howzit Graham? Actually it’s been a record breaking warm winter over here and I’ve spent five weeks of the winter in Cabo Verde, so quite smooth.’

You’ve been an inspiration for my sailing. And I want to do an interview with you for the web about the latest inspiration: a move I’ve started doing. Years ago, you invented the Gu Press or Hangover (I’ve heard both names for the frontside floater 360). How did you come up with the move? And which name do you prefer?
Josh: ‘I actually called it the ANGover (no h). I guess taking a page from my brother who used GU in the GU screw. It’s basically a surfing move that’s done a dime a dozen by surfers, but is significantly more challenging on a windsurfer. I did a couple of em many years back and I’ll still try one every now and then, just because it’s a cool feeling move.’

It’s a rare move; in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one landed. I’ve seen you get really close and Nat Gill too. Have you seen anyone else do it? Do you have any footage or photos of you landing one?
Josh: ‘The first one I ever did, I think Dave Nash was filming, but he missed it. It was the best one I ever did, a long slide over a barrel and when I pulled the clew in, it was just the right timing and it shot me out into the flats and I landed it dry. Kai Katchadourian was right there and saw the whole thing. I think that’s the only real proof.’

I kind of feel like no one else has done it for a while; it’s almost as if it was forgotten in the last ten years. Any thoughts on why? Maybe it’s too hard?
Josh: ‘It’s a pretty hard move… like why isn’t anybody except Mark doing Mutants? It’s so much a timing and finesse move that comes from a surfing background and not so many windsurfers have a strong surfing background. I think some of the neat stuff my brother and I have come up with is because we see a move in our mind and we go sailing with the excitement to pull that particular thing off and then pay the necessary dues until we do it.’

Do you think it’s the hardest of the main modern moves like takas, 360s, goiters and backside 3’s?
Josh: ‘I wouldn’t even call it a modern move because nobody does it. 99% of the world won’t know what you’re talking about… seems to me that the moves that aren’t done and getting perfected by the general pro population is because nobody can do it. Guys try and give up, so I guess by default that makes it harder, similar situation to the mutant that my brother does, but his I’m sure is even harder. I wouldn’t even know where to start on that. His is so rad that MauiSails even named a sail after his move.

Did you feel any pressure on yourself after seeing your brother invented the two other standard moves?
Josh: ‘I’ve never felt in competition with Mark. He’s been my windsurfing hero since I was a little boy and still is. That guy really is in a class of his own. I just get fired up watching what he does and chuckle to myself as he continues to stump all the youngsters who will pretty much never be able to touch his level.’

I’m trying to be a link between classic Hawaiian windsurfing and the new school. What do you think I should focus on and learn from your generation of wave riding? What about the generation before you?
Josh: ‘First important tip I can give you is to make sure you give waves to me and older generation Ho’okipa sailors who were out there when you were in diapers. Jump back on a single fin every now and then to remember how much more drive you can get and “burst” off the top, but mainly that first tip is the most important.’

I’ve been trying the hangover a ton of different ways: in the air, floater to sliding down, and a combination of the two. But any way, it’s a bitch to land! The problem is coming up on top of the sail at the end of the move. Any tips?
Josh: ‘It’s all about the right wave. You almost want it slightly bending away from you, but it needs to have power, get up on the top slow and once you get those fins free, you need to get some speed down the line on top of the barrel from the power of the wave and the wind, then just flick the sail around when it feels right.. You can force em all day long and land wet, but it’s when you get that slippery one on top the barrel and you’ll get launched so quickly around that you’ll land planing… that’s the one!! Double shaka!’

So I returned to the ANGover. I started out doing them the traditional Angulo way. But after a month of working on the move, I saw a new rotation inspired by the original. I took out the floater and put the spin in the air. So now my variation is like an air grubby off-the-lip or an alley-oop in surfing. This move is totally indebted to ANGover, and so as to keep the lineage alive, I’ll refer to it as a Hangover.

After a few days filming we had one in the bag, which you can see below in this little rough cut. The move will be part of our next online video shot on Maui, and with that in mind we are hoping to do a rough cut from each of the main riders Camille Juban, Marcilio Browne and Graham. Keep your eyes on the site!

For more of Graham’s writings and excellent Foto Fridays be sure to follow his blog and twitter.

Over the years we’ve been able to work with some of the best sailors on this planet and got to know some really interesting and dedicated people. One of these people is former Gaastra/Vandal sail designer Dan Kaseler (39), who recently launched his own sail brand Avanti. With a philosophy of quality over quantity the brand seems to fit right in with the umi ethos. So for once no wave action here… buckle up, umi goes racing!

A quick look on the Avanti website gives us some insight on the foundation of this new high quality brand: Avanti was born out of a core collaboration between Dan Kaseler and Finian Maynard. With 40-years of combined experience, they bring an outstanding skill set and lasting passion to the windsurfing market. Between 2003 and 2005 Maynard made sailing history by breaking three WSSRC speed sailing world records using Kaseler’s sail designs. Smashing the outright speed sailing records, while bringing the title back to windsurfing after an eleven year absence, is still considered a major milestone in the sport of windsurfing. These historic successes resulted in a long-time friendship between Maynard and Kaseler, and serve ultimately as the foundation for the Avanti ethos.

How and when did the idea of starting a new windsurf brand originate?
Dan: ‘I left Gaastra in the fall of 2010. At that moment, my spirit for the windsurf business was broken. In walking from Gaastra, I had lost Vandal as well, and that was hugely emotional for me. Vandal was my child, and letting go was not easy. I had been preaching the idea of brand focus for years on deaf ears. Really, I believe a brand’s personality is important. Simply put, a brand cannot be good at everything. Vandal made sense to me, it was a highly focussed brand. We knew our target audience, and we built a real skate-style brand from top to bottom. For many years, I had as well believed that you could do something similar if you went after racing kit. To me, it seemed, way too many compromises were being made for the sake of marketing. If you’re going to build gear with the ultimate goal of winning races, shouldn’t the product be based on pure performance? Avanti was started in response to that question.’

What can you say about the philosophy behind the brand?
Dan: ‘The philosophy behind Avanti is really one of quality over quantity. There is no sense in following the big brands, with half-baked products in every possible genre. For example, you won’t see a SUP board from us. Instead, we made a very conscious decision to focus all of our energy on a small handful of products. Take the Machine M-1 for example. The development cycle on that one was absolutely massive. Obviously, we are very aggressively targeting a small slice of the total windsurf market. Going forward, our philosophy will be centred around only doing a few things, while trying to do them very well.’

What makes Avanti sails better than any other sail out there?
Dan: ‘It’s pretty simple. We embraced technologies normally classified as prohibitively expensive. First and foremost, our sail-bodies are custom strung Technora membranes. The masts are computer wound by aerospace grade tow-preg, and our sails come stock with six or seven real carbon battens. Every component of the sail, from cambers and tack pulleys to clew closures and head caps was designed from scratch leading to our recent launch. There is really nothing else on the market that compares.’

Like mentioned before, Avanti was born out of a core collaboration between you and Finian Maynard. How did this come about?
Dan: ‘Finian and I have a rich history together. The collaboration really started all those years ago when we worked together developing gear that led to the outright 48.7 knots speed record. After Gaastra, I had been working on software and design tools to deal with properly stringing small membrane sails. I had it in mind for ages, but I had yet to really crack how to scale the technology. I knew I was on to something big, but it would be useless without a top racer, both for testing, and actually proving the product on the world stage. Atop that, it was key to find someone with a complimentary skill set, so that I could focus on technical design issues, and branding. During the spring of 2011, Finian and I had entered into discussions. He brought a certain business savvy, and an unyielding determination to the table. Soon after, as shareholders and partners, we gave birth to Avanti.’

Dutchman Peter Volwater is part of the team as well. What can you say about him?
Dan: ‘1 minute 30 over second place in the Lancelin Ocean Classic haha! Peter is my kind of athlete. He is hungry and he knows what he’s doing. When Micah Buzianis went to MauiSails, Peter sought us out. His goals and vision matched well with ours, and Finian was extremely motivated to offer him a place on our roster. There is no question that he can win at the highest level, and his contributions will be massive as a tester as well. Backed by our gear, there is no doubt that we could see him on the podium this year.’

Who else is involved?
Dan: ‘Avanti is its own company, but we didn’t make it all alone. Countless individuals got caught up in the promise, from programmers and web guys, to adhesive experts and technicians. Pretty much everyone was hooked from the start. When you start asking the real crazy questions, not about dollars and cents, but of what is theoretically possible, it seems to bring out the best in everybody.’

Where are you based?
Dan: ‘My office is mainland USA, while Finian splits his time between Germany, the British Virgin Islands and the tour. On paper, our company is BVI based.’

Nowadays with the internet, it’s hard to keep things secret. There were some rumours before you launched, did you post or reply anywhere or just let it flow?
Dan: ‘To be honest, I didn’t follow along with the various forums and rumours. We worked very hard to keep the brand dead secret. This meant a lot of signed non-disclosure agreements with our partners and suppliers. The project was approached very professionally from the start. It was a big relief to finally go public on January 1.’

You decided to go direct sale. How has this been working out so far?
Dan: ‘This is 2012. We really felt there was no choice but to sell direct. Our X-factory costs are easily double that of our competitors. We are simply using much better ingredients all the way around. By selling direct, we cut out the usual mark-ups that come along the distribution chain. Instead of pocketing that cash, we put it directly into the products themselves. I think people can respect what we are doing for that reason. We are not out to kill the retailers, or to sell something way under par. Our goal is to pursue really high-end technologies. Within the windsurf market, it’s just not possible any other way.’

Will you also do other type of sails?
Dan: ‘The Machine is off with a bang. We have shipments of sails leaving our warehouse weekly. The online store is clicking away, and we are looking forward to seeing how we stack up on the PWA tour. Even that we put tremendous value on keeping a very tight range, I’d be lying to say we weren’t working on at least one additional product. We are trying around with a bunch of stuff, not yet committed to a particular direction. Peter is shooting for Fanatic right now, so I made him a proto wave sail. But we are still deep in the prototyping process, my lips are sealed for now!’

Photo credits: John Carter, RRD, Avanti, Dan Kaseler

Have a read of Graham excellent musings from the trip here.

1. ‘Windsurfing back time’ by Marc Broersma
2. ‘The Daydream’ by Matej Trojan
3. ‘Michiel De Cooman’
4. ‘Bonaire Aliens’ by Bartek Jankowski
5. ‘Editing The Wind’ by Diego Loppolo
6. ‘Hello World’ by Bjorn Jorgensen
7. ’3 Styles 1 Passion’ by Tim Kahlhofen
8. ‘Three Musketeers’ by Martin Alteirac
9. ’3 Riders in Bonaire’ by Jaimie Lloyd-Anderson
10. ‘Three for Tricks’ by Florian Cao

Thanks again to everyone who entered!

Drumroll. Excitement. Palms are sweaty. Wawaweewaa. Someone is going on a summer holiday…

Click here for the Vimeo channel with all the entries. The comp website can be found here.

Our buddy Max Matissek (famous for his hair, his part in the movie Gaining Grounds and of course his cooking), just boarded a plane in Bonaire, making his way home to Austria. On his last day on the flamingo island he managed to change his ticket, return his car, clean up his apartment, pack his bags, windsurf AND film Taty Frans revealing the winners of the umi Bonaire editing competition. This clip is on its way to Europe right now (Bonaire – Curaçao – Düsseldorf – Vienna) after which it will be handed over to a man in a dodgy alley wearing a raincoat, who will deliver it to the umi headquarters pronto. And then, hopefully this Thursday, you will see it too and know it all! Follow this site and our Facebook page for the latest!

Article source: http://www.umipictures.com/promotions/bonaire11/?p=566