To honour the first wave world title of Victor Fernandez, this week will be V1ctory Week at umi rough cuts. Over the years we have gathered thousands of clips of Victor in Pozo, many have made our vids, many haven’t! What strikes us is not just his phenomenal jumping; his wave riding in Pozo is definitely where he stands out in the score sheets. He is one of the few riders who has been able to consistently do goiters, takas, shakas and wave 360′s in the tough onshore conditions… Keep an eye on our V1ctory Week channel on Vimeo as we will be uploading a whole bunch of clips throughout this week, starting with this massive backloop from the 2007 contest.

Thanks JC/PWA for the pics (you can hear John click sometimes in the videos!)

With this wave and others like it, Nik came second in the Brazilian PWA world cup in 2007. Riding like this is often underrated because the wave isn’t massive or barreling, but Nik’s waveriding here is more than just milking white water, he carves his board from rail to rail in a beautiful dance with the ocean. In that event, Nik showed that linked-together, perfectly timed carves can impress the judges more than a goiter or taka.

It’s been a while already, but for those who haven’t been following Riders Match: we made it to the final of this year’s comp! Thanks to everybody who voted for us (was it you?), Kauli’s clip got second with around 3,000 votes and Musso got 5th and was the last to make it through. Now it’s up to Jason Polakow to choose the winner. Kauli seems like a good choice: sick down-the-line Cabo Verde action and for sure mister Brandner would be pleased, but maybe JP will stay away from any hint of FIFA practices, become politically correct and go for the tricks of Leo, the adventures of Sarah, the jumps of Philip(p) or the skatey wave moves of Musso. Whatever happens, we’ll find out in about three weeks and let you know!

Here’s another rough cut, this time it’s Francisco Goya at Ponta Preta from the PWA wave event in 2009…

We have just opened up a new vimeo account for sick clips that have no home. Rough cuts that somehow didn’t make it to the actual videos or just random stuff from our archives. Instead of killing our darlings, we put them in the limelight at umi rough cuts.

Here’s the first one, shot in Maui this month of Robby Swift riding a wave at Ho’okipa!

Like it and share it. Give a clip a home.

The other morning I got a behind the scenes look at an Ezzy photoshoot. Darrell Wong was shooting Graham and David on some new freeride sails downwind from Babybeach. It was cool to hang out with the legend that is Mr Wong but what I was really impressed with was how they roll at the Ezzy shoots. After 30 minutes or so a lovely lady appeared with a tray of sumptuous food and iced drinks. We really should roll like this too, but how to convince someone to carry a tray of food and drinks out to the bunker at Pozo? In fact, can anyone carry a tray in 60 knots of wind? Apply here please.

Just to remind us of how good Cabo Verde can be, here’s a little repost of two of the main contenders for the title at the upcoming world cup. So far they’ve shared it between them, with Josh winning it in 2007 and 2009 and Kauli in 2008. With the overall wave world title at stake, Kauli will be going for it big time. Josh celebrated his retirement from the wave tour with his second world title last year but goes into active duty for the event he started up himself and will be hungry for another win at his home break. As will all other riders of course: Victor, Ricardo, Philip, Dany, Robby, Klaas, Alex, Jonas, Dario, John, Kevin, Ross… in theory they are all still in the running for the overall title, hopefully CV plays ball!

By the way, you can still vote for Josh or Kauli on riders-match.com!

The latest issue of Windsurfer International just got out, featuring a sneak preview of the trip we did with Kauli to Peru. Wave after wave after wave after wave after wave… Click on the pic for the full mag, or click here to go to the story directly.

About two weeks ago I left for Brazil to film Kauli Seadi at his new centre. Sao Miguel do Gostoso turned out to be a wonderful spot; beautiful, clean and warm with good winds, welcoming locals and amazing healthy food. You really couldn’t ask for more.

Kauli’s parents had organised a program of events to showcase the town including trips to local beaches, parties, visiting local artisans and even a massage treatment; although, the non windsurfing hi-light of the week was an impromptu session of feeding wild monkeys by hand. We had action on the water everyday including kiting, SUP, freeride and freestyle windsurfing. It was great to shoot Gollito again, I hadn’t seen top level freestyle in a few years and it was really exciting. He even managed to land a new move which will be the video we are producing due to be out in a couple of weeks.

If you are looking for somewhere to go for some blasting or freestyle then this place is highly recommended. It’s not a party spot but there are many restaurants and bars serving great food and ample caipirinha’s to wind down apres surf. Wind is pretty much guaranteed and you can windsurf in board shorts; for more info check out Clube Kauli Seadi’s website.

Photo credits to Jean Souville.

Leave for Maui early tomorrow morning and with the talk being possible Jaws action it couldn’t be better! Not sure how things will go but decent sized Ho’okipa would be great.  Have some interesting interviews planned with a few legends to find out more about what it was like to grow up on Maui…

Credits for the pic to Jerome.