Find the right fin (s) to your board and save money Part 1

Have you purchased a lot of fins during your windsurf career you haven't found useful?

Have you got some bad advices from some windsurfing shops that will be off with some fins?

That has happened to me. I understood early that the fin you have under your board is important. I tested out several fins and used a lot of money, and I ended up with a bunch fins I was not satisfied with.

What should you do?

The Answer is simple, you do nothing, only send an email to some pro and they take the decision for you. I did that some years ago to MFC, I told them which board I had, what sail I use and what kind of windsurfer I am. Windsurfing in onshore or sideshore conditions and so on. So before I got quad fins and had a single fin board and I ended up with two fins one for strong wind and one for lighter wind. Ok, then I was finally home in the choice of fins and I could concentrate on windsurfing as best as possible, with fins in total balance with my board, sails and my style, and no longer uncontrolled spinouts. The fin under the board was then not anymore the limitation for radical moves or nice rides, the limitations was only me.

When you get advice from pro and if they are good they are sort of able to read between the lines in what you write or say, and really give you the best advice for a good choice of fins. There are probably a lot of fin companies who do that, but my choice is Maui fin company. At their web site you will find a contact tab on the right site of the page. My advice is simply test it out and send them an email. I am not in anyway sponsored or so by MFC. I have just had the Idea of this article for long time because it gave such big advantage to myself, and hopefully it can be a big help to other windsurfers and finally find the right fin and save money.


I am also happy to announce that I have invited, the President of Maui Fin Company, Pio Marasco to write some thoughts about the philosophy behind the fins. Keep following the blog and look for the part 2 of this article with the first guest writer on my blog by Pio.

Small cuts and wounds part 2 Use of Aloe Vera

I have now wounds in some of my toes here at Maui and have then now sort of some new expertise in how to deal with it, so therefore here you have a part 2 in this article serie.

Part 1 here: Small cuts and wounds on your windsurf or surf trip part1I have for sure followed my last article of using chlorhexidine to prevent the wound get infected. And it work! But this time it has not be necessarily to use the toothbrush technique, and since the wounds are in a flat area I don’t want to brush out the thin skin witch is established during healing periods between surf and windsurf sessions. For a week ago I got a good advice from my doctor friend about use Aloe Vera in the wounds. Why? As I understand Aloe Vera help the skins to heal faster. But most of all Aloe Vera help you to cover the open wound from dirt and sand. The Aloe Vera also sort of breathe, so the wound get air witch in my opinion is good for the healing process.

What do you do?

In the evening:
Ok, so then in the evening you do it this way: Clean the wound with chlorhexidine and then add some Aloe Vera in the wound and If necessarily even some protection. But as in the first article about this I like it best without any band-aid.

Before surf or windsurf:
If you next day want to go windsurf or surf, add some more Aloe Vera in the wound and then a band-aid on top of it. I also now use windsurf shoes even when I go surfing to protect the wounds. The picture show how the marvelous Aloe Vera dirt/sand protection work. After the surf session when I took the band-aid of you clearly see the wound it selves is without any sand. To day I was out in the water again, but now without the Aloe Vera, like a control group situation. The consequence to day was that the wounds were full of sand after the surf session.

Good luck with your care and healing of cuts & wounds and hopefully it prevents you to stay out of the water. I repeat, I am not a doctor, this is just a text from own experienses!!

Test of quad windsurfing board part 2

How quad works in onshore conditions?

I have got questions by mail from some readers who wonder how quads works in onshore conditions. Before I try to give a constructive answer on that, I really recommend you to contact Ocean4Hawii with specific questions. I think I almost have the record there with amount of mails to them about the boards. They are so pro and helpful. For me after a lot of mails about lot of details, they sort of analyzed my windsurfing style, and for sure they really managed to build two boards I now am really starting to Love. The boards are so on my team all the time.

First of all my quad customs is ordered to work good at Kanaha in sideshore waves up to logo and mast high. But ok, I try to imagine how they will work in onshore conditions. When I am back home I usually windsurf in onshore or shoppy small waves conditions. So far I think the quads I have will work extremely well in onshore conditions. Why? If you want to ride small or onshore waves the quad board give you possibility to turn very fast, and you can therefore utilize even small waves or shoppy waves who disappear fast. So about waveriding in onshore conditions, I think quad is absolutely perfect.

But, as written in post 1 I still have a slightly feeling of that MY boards is a bit difficult to go up winded with. And as we know the capacity to stay upwinded is sometimes even more important in onshore conditions. I am now getting better to it with some adjustment on my sailing. And for sure I now know that so much of the reason to end up downwinded is that the boards really want you to go down the line, even if the wave are small. The reason for the feeling of not have the possibility of stay upwinded is maybe because of that my old JP rww 76 Liter had a really fast rocker, and was really easy to hold up in plane and upwinded, but as told the rww was really crappy in waves and now I more and more not anymore not consider it as a waveboard, but more like a freerideboard. My boards now have probable not so fast rocker so I have to work more with the speed and then also work with it to stay upwinded.
Anyway If you order a custom and are going to use the board mostly in onshore condition you just tell that in mail to ocean4 hawaii.

I will later on test out the boards at Sprecks, witch have more onshore conditions. If I experience something new I will for sure write about it.

There will be a part3 about quad later on in some days!

Test of quad windsurfing board part1

I have now been on the water in two days in row with the biggest one of my 2 quatro quad boards. The biggest one is a 95 liter board, built for light wind or up and down conditions. A board you float on and you will be able to go out and catch waves even when the wind is marginal. My weight is around 82-83 kg.
First of all, I had planes for this article to give a full description of how the board works. But then I realized that I have a practical problem. The board work so extremely in the heaven freezing good in the waves so it is hard to describe it. It is also hard to describe for me since I in 2007 and 2008 at Maui mostly have been windsurfing with my 2006 model jp rww. And now even more, I know thet the jp rww is a really shitty board for waves. As I have heard that later models of rww is better. I have now and then been testing some real waveboard, from ocean4 hawaii, or from the nice people at goyanorge.no But my run on really good wave boards as Goya boards have not been enough for really good comparison of single fin and quads. The new board is in fact a dream for me, but I don’t know exactly, Is it because of the 4 fins or is it simply because of it is a extremely good waveboard, made for me.
Anyway I give the description of the board a try even with the limitations in mind.

How quad works in waves?

It is here my words get few. The the description of it leads ot be sort of poetic or kind of fantasy. The board seams to have a magnet and search for waves. It seams to have a kind of a radar. Now it is suddenly my turn to get on the right spot on a wave. In this two days with small waves up to knee high sideshore waves the board sort of help me out to be ate spot in the waves it is best to be. When other loose the wave, in meaning the wave go away after a cutback trial, or you stand in middle of two waves, this board, I don’t know why, lead you to don t miss the wave and force you to be on the right spot. The board kind of search to go down the line, and when the wave rise the board sort of tell me here is it fun to be, let us stay here. (compared to my rww who told to me: “let us go away from here”) So far in small waves I have had a feeling of a cind of positive strange drive. It is kind of a new language from the board, trying to tell me something, witch lead me to go in the waves to find out what the board want to tell me! ☺

How quad works in small shoppy waves?

This is maybe the best part for all over the worlds sailers. I tested to do some short bottom turn/cutback at shoppy wave inside the reef at Kanaha, and still side, but small waves, and the board really had a search to go in the small waves as well

How quad work when going straight forward?

Short description here. I was in fact a bit afraid of that the board should be kind of too lose when going straight forward. But it is going extremely controlled fast forward.
To day at kanaha the wind was really up and down, therefore it was nice to go on with the big board. But even when it was blowing around 12 m7s in the gusts, and with 5,3m2 sail, the board never felt bigg

How quad work to stay up winded?

Ok here maybe a negative part. And as announced, my goal with this article is to give my honest experience. So far it is a bit hard to stay up winded. To day and yesterday I had to have an extra attention of the highness in the wind. Maybe I will sort out this problem later on with staying in a different position or how I keep the board. Is it the board or is I the sailor, or is it an another way to keep up in the wind. Maybe it is some tuning thing.
But there are 2 reasons as well why I have had this problem. First of all the board, even if the wave is small it really searched for go down the line. Several times when I forced my selves to go more up winded, and when I was sailing to the beach over the braking zone at the reef, even if the wave was small it just wane to go down the line, And almost every time I ended up down to kite beach. The second reason for problem to stay up winded was that the wind specially to day was really up and down. In the afternoon it came a rain cloud, and together with the rain the wind got week.


keep up following the blog, more reports on quad boards later on.
If some readers have some particular questions or some advices consider quads, feal free to write a comment, or mail me by the contact formula et the topp the page

Classical Kanaha picture

Quad fin, pick up boards at ocean4hawaii

Picked up my two new boards today at ocean4hawaii. I must say again they are so extremely professional. Of course they run a business, but in my opinion it is not only a business, they are all water addicted persons like everybody else and just love the sport so much and love to share their experience with everybody else. So I say it again if you are thinking of by a custom , you should give it a try and make them an e-mail. (you find contact formula on their sites.)All of them was involved when I was at the shop today, first of all Pascal who joked about all the e-mails I have sent about this, and Pio, kieth Lalo and Francisco Goya . Everybody wants me to have fun with the boards. I was in the start with ordering so nice boards thinking that this is to much for me and probable only suitable for more pro windsurfer. But I think that my communication about my intermediate happy going windsurfing style, maybe typical Kanaha in logo up to mast high really was projected in to the boards, and I really feel this boards is made for me and fit for me. The two board I ordered is for typical 4,2-5,3 conditions. My weight is around 83 kg (183 pound) and the big board is 95 liter big. I was a bit afraid that the 95 should be a bit big. But when I look at it just not look big at all. The smallest one is 80 liter big. Typical sailsize for the big board is 5,3 and for the small boards typical sail size 4,2-4,7. The thought about the 95 litre board is to use it in light winds and the big volume will make me able to go out in the brake, even when the wind is really week. Ok, so this was the pick up situation who came out with an extremely positive feeling. But the most important part is still to test it out on the water. Not mush wind here today, hope for more wind tomorrow and I Can test out how its really works. As said I am not a pro windsurfer, and I will by this labeled article in the blog reflect an "ordinary" windsurfer point of view on quads, and how it work for me. In the shop today they said that “everybody” is going on quad now. I will for sure later on come with more info and reports when I have tested the boards.
So far, here we then have some pictures from the pick up/mounting. situation:

Quad fin versus twin fin versus single fin post 1

Ok, I have done it, my first time of order custom board. The custom boards, two of them is orderdered from ocean4hawaii So then after a lot of mail the boards is finished. Ocean4hawaii is really professional with lots of advices. If you want a custom board or wonder about something else I really recommend you to contact them.

I am not a pro sailor, more a ordinary windsurfer who try to be at the water as much as possible catch some waves and “talk” with the nature. I don’t change my board every year, and if some new things arrive, I don’t have to run and by it right away. So as the name of my blog reflect the most important is to be happy out in the water, and the coolness factor have almost no importance for me. The decision of new board was taken last year on this day: testing Goya 90L


One of the hardest decisions on the new custom boards was: shall I go for single fin, twin fin, or quad. The best thing would be if I could have tested them first. But I want a new board before I arrive Maui this year so I had to do the decision by info in mail. I don’t either want to spend to mush time with testing out different board. I want a good board and become familiar with it as fast as possible. It was also important for me that ocean4hawaii understood that I am a sort of intermediate sailor and then the boards is shaped for typical Kanaha logo until mast high waves.

First evaluation: Single fin or twin fin?
A sum up from info: Twin fin shapes with looser tail than single fin are not only for the advance sailors, they are also good for intermediate sailors, but have the only drawbacks that twin fins plane a tiny bit later.
Ok if I had to choose between loose tail or early planning, I must admit that loose tail sounds nice but early plane is even more important. So then the choice here would have been single fin.

Second evaluation: Single fin or quad?
A sum up from info:
Quad (4 fins), those boards are nearly as fast as single fin boards and are very loose like twin fins. If you then go with a quad with a fast rocker - best of both worlds, loose and fast. Fast and loose sounds nice to me so then the choice here would have been quad.

And quad was the final choice, and the board is shaped with the fastest rocker of 3 different rocker, ref:

We currently offer 3 different models which are differentiated by rockers and their respective curves: (rocker #6, rocker #4 and FW rocker).
# 6 being the most turny rocker. 80% BACK FOOT.
# 4 being faster and most widely used as it is the most versatile for all around wave sailing. 80% FRONT FOOT.
FW rocker being the fastest rocker - for windsurfers who sail mostly in onshore and/or conditions with a lot of currents.

And about rocker if I had chosen a single fin it would have been with a # 4, so then with a quad and FW rocker they probable plane about equally.

With the assessment of the election of the quad is its possibility it will provide of manoeuvre qualities in waves. I hope therefore I with quad shall be even better to ride waves. The riding waves is the ultimate I can do compared to everything. As I understand by reading about it the fastness of quad fin is also given by the channel the four fins make in the water. The fins is smaller then ordinary fins, and the fin brackets is lighter, so the board is not much heavier then single fin. The quad should also work well upwind and therefore good for onshore conditions. In my opinion I think the quad is the next step after twinfin, so the quad to day is sort of developed from twin fin, and then maybe the only real alternative is quad or single.

The choice of twin fin and order custom from ocean4hawaii is also done because the boards is then shaped by Keith Teboul. I think he is probable one of the top 5 best shapers in the world, maybe the best, always out at Ho’okipa and testing out new things. I have also met him several times at Maui, and I hope and think he then have a bit knowledge of what kind of windsurfer I am…a happy one :-)

I look forward to come to Maui in a few weeks from now and test out my new boards. Keep up following the blog, I will later on ad post here about the testing of quad. All post about quad will be found under the articles tag on the top of the page.

I then hope this short quad versus twin fin versus single fin discussion would be useful for someone.

How to make your dream of windsurfing or surf trip come true, a simple guide

You have for some month been dreaming about to travel to a spot of your dream. You have even started to look at some relevant dates, and even started to make planes for stay there longer than a normal holiday. Yes, you want to move your skills to a new level.

But when the relevant dates get closer the dream get longer away. Why? Two typical reasons:

1. To much work at the office right now!
2. I don’t think I have enough money for it!

Sound’s familiar?

There are for sure a lot of other challenges to make a windsurfing trip or surf trip to come true, but the work and money part is maybe often the main challenges. Then, here you have a sort of a guide to deal with it. To take care of the money part you have further down a free download spreadsheet template for xl or google doc.

Challenge 1: To much work right now! Yes, you have probable to much work or some another important appointment that tie you up to stay home. This is no excuse. The way to deal with this is to very early prepare all your surroundings, your work friends and others that you are going for a long holyday from a specific date. If you do this in a year in front you have good opportunities to make it come true. You should set up a realistic tie schedule suitable for your work and for your economy and just go for it. If you prepare yourself, your work, your boss, your friends and others for it in a really early stage you have a good chance.
The problem here is if you don’t really go for the dates in an early stage, suddenly there come some important meetings an important wedding or something else. If the trip not is totally clear it is already in danger to become cancelled.

Challenge 2: Not enough money! There are in fact two situations here that’s true, ok, you don’t have enough money for it. But there is also a situation that you don’t know in detail exactly what the trip will cost you. So the complexity of this may lead to a cancelation of the trip. The guide here is for sure a matter of course, just save money for it, but it is also meant as a motivation for you. If you here as well start a year or so in front of your trip and think about it everyday you have a good chance.
You should really look at your economy of where you can spend less money. Do I really need a new mobile phone, is it possible to change to a cheaper mobile subscription, do you really need the subscripting on that magazine, do you really need new clothes and so on. If much of your expenses is on food, you could now have a motivation of by smart. It is in many way boring to think like this, but the motivation factor here is strong, and a few money here and there get much after a year.
The next thing is to have a good overview of the costs of your trip. You should think about everything. Staying, airplane ticket, car, board, broken gear, food, gas, and so on. If you have planes for period of unpaid leave from your work you should even set up for cost back home.

One way to handle all the different costs is to set it up in a document. If you are familiar with spreadsheet you could set it up there. In the picture under you can see an example of a spreadsheet like this. (click on it)
If you want to, you can for free download a template of this spreadsheet. I recommend you to use google documents spreadsheet, because you then have access to it where ever you are and you also have the nice detail that the currency is updated automatically. The currency part is a nice thing if you are travelling form a country with another foreign currency. But if you like a Microsoft xl document better you can download that as well. But if you use the Microsoft document you have to change the currency by your selves.

(I am not a spreadsheet guru, so you readers may know a better way to use them so fell free to edit them as you like)

Download for free here:

To open the spreadsheet in google doc you need to have a google account and user of google documents. If you not are a user it is free to sign in.

Here in the picture below some explanations of the details in the document.

Some explanations:
The coulomb on the top left is all the charges on the trip. As you can see the example have a set up for 90 days. When you order to a trip you have some charges in front or during the trip. It is then nice to take it out from he total budget so then there is a area to put that in. The amount nr “4” on the document is the money you must save in total. In meaning revised budget minus your savings now. It is nice to have control over how much you have to save each month, and then it is a tool to may adjust your monthly savings. Nr “5” is then money you have to save divided to month left to the trip. (in the example 8740/10)
The number of month left must be changed manually each month. (maybe some spreadsheet guru know how to change this automatically)
The currency in the template is set to euro “EUR” You can change the currency to what ever you want to. But you have to remember to do this in all the document. Just double click on the currency area, and change it. As an example if your travel goes to Australia change USD to AUD.

Tips: Change the picture in the document to a pix of your selves as an extra motivator!

As said the guide here is for sure a matter of course, but I hope someone find it useful as a motivator to make a dream of a windsurf trip, surf trip, or maybe a bike trip snowboard trip, ski trip or something other kind of trip come true.

Small cuts and wounds on your windsurf or surf trip part1

“Your dream have become true, you are in windsurf and surf paradise, you have looked forward to this and made planes for it in several months. After some days you feel as king on the water, and suddenly in a turn or manure you fall in the water on the reef and on a reflex you kicks down in the water, and out of nothing you suddenly have a wound…”

Sounds familiar?


When I have got some cuts and wounds on a windsurf surf vacation, I have tested out different methods, ignore it, use big bandages, use wound ointment, stay out of water and so on. By all different methods I have tested out, the method described here in this post have so far worked best for me.

If you live on a place with good conditions, and you get a cut, it is maybe not a big problem, you deal with it and take a rest for some days. So this article is not for the lucky ones living by a nice spot. They have after all maybe thicker skin on their foots.

But if you are one a windsurfing or surf vacation, a cut can be a big problem. You don’t want to use precious time to wait for the cut to be healed. Even a small cut can give you problems for days. It is typical when you have had a wound for several days in a windsurf vacation, you almost can see it grow again when sitting on airplane back home. The reason for that is may that the tissue don’t get so much stress by water and moist climate.
I must emphasize that I am not a doctor, so this kind of advice is from my own experience with small wounds combined with water sport.

See the picture from a cut I got from surf on a reef at Maui. When I am used to European conditions it is sometimes only on a reflex I kicks down in the water. But if you do that when you are on a reef you may end up with a cut as on the picture . As you can see not a big cut, but for me it was important to prevent it from be infected.

First of all if you get a cut and it not is to big, just stay out there and be in the water as normal. When you come to beach, you for sure as best as possible try to not get any sand or dirt in the wound. When you come back home even if the cut is small you should take it seriously and take actions to clean it. I use Chlorhexidine to clean the cut. I also use a NEW soft toothbrush to brush out all visible dirt and sand. It is important to sterilize the toothbrush first. You can do that in boiled water, and let the toothbrush stay in boiled water for about 5 min. (remember to cool down the toothbrush in air first) When you repeat the cleaning process every evening as long as it needs it is important to clean and sterilize the toothbrush every time. When I use the toothbrush in the cut I also add more Chlorhexidine simultaneously.

As told you should do this process every evening until you feel that the wound is healed. About the healing time: I think the healing process will go much faster if you stay out of water for some days. And the toothbrush process may hold the wounds opened, because you brush out the thin skin witch may have been established. But you are on an expensive vacation, and can’t stay out of water. In my opinion it is better to have a wound, be on the water, but be sure so the wound not get infected.
So now you have a clean wound, what to do then?
Many people want to have a bandage on it! That is maybe ok if the cut is under the foot. But if it is possible I recommend having the wound open, so it get air and can dry out. I have earlier tested some wound ointment. I don’t recommend that, the wound get wet, and I think it is better for the wound to get dry. But if you for practical reason had to use some bandage rest of the evening I think it is smart to take it off during the night.

So what to do next day?
There is wind and waves and you want to be on and in the water with your board!!
I then recommend using some protection, maybe a waterproof band-aid. And when you windsurf you should use shoes. (If you surf you probable don’t use shoes) In my experience if the band aid is waterproof or not it will anyway work loose. In my opinion, it is ok it has after all may done some protections. When you are back to the beach, maybe packing the gear back in to the car and later take of your windsurf shoes off, remove the wet band aid, and add a new one. When you come back home repet the cleaning possess….and so on.

I Hope this “article” is helpful for someone!
I, as everybody else have had some cuts and wounds when on a windsurf surf vacation. I have tested out different methods, ignore it, use big bandages, use wound ointment, stay out of water and so on. The description above is what worked best for me, when I got several cuts, but non of them got seriously infected.
I repeat I am not a doctor. this is just from my own experience!

About articles!

I have plans for to write some articles and add it into the top menu. I think it is cool to write, and have some ideas of some articles that sort of earn to be available independent of the posted date. The articles will not in a direct way be about the last windsurf session or other happenings, but more about thoughts and practical contents. I hope the artickles will be in interest and maybe useful for other people. I will not now expose what the articles will be about, but for sure it mostly will be articles about windsurf and water sports.

I was then the 11 aug happy to put on my blog my first article
in the article series. As you can see it is about how to deal with
Small cuts and wounds on your windsurf or surf trip,..

Ok, so then it was time for even a new article, and now a sort of a guide
and hopefully some usable tips for how to make your windsurf surf sport
trip come true, both practical and a suggestion of how to set up a budget

I have now even more ideas to write about.
Keep following the blog !