, whose Swiss precision and dedication is influencing everyone here, each board and sail has to be measured, weighed and photographed. Before anything hits the water it is inspected, probed and evaluated as if undergoing some strange medical procedure. It's hard to watch all this beautiful gear arrive and know that we just can't take it straight out onto the water. That day will arrive soon

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October 1st. Guest testers Fran Conway, from Baltimore, and Leonard Smith, here with his wife Jane, both from Florida, are some of the first people to sail. The winds are light and the waves on the nearby reef look manageable. For the first day on new gear it's good that we aren't facing Ho'okipa-like conditions. Fran gets into his groove on a 6.5 freeride Tushingham sail and Len on a 7.0 Tushingham Hekler. The Pro Testers are skipping around like excited children, but everything turns serious when they hit the water; this is when the work begins. Even in light winds and with big sails these guys can throw some exciting moves. Graham Turner, team rider with Tushingham sails from England, launches himself into a Spock 540 with a big grin on his round Yorkshire face. "It's a lot of fun is that" he tells me later.

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October 2nd. The first serious testing began today—ahead of schedule. First up was the Wave boards 85 liters /Freestyle category. The team of Pro Testers used the same selection of 5.0 sails and simply switched boards to ensure that the true characteristics of each board could be felt without the influence of introducing a new sail. Considered to be the all-around group, these boards are expected to be excellent in small waves and chop, to handle well in transitions and be controllable during freestyle maneuvers. Preliminary results for this category look good, but there's more testing to come.

The YES sails arrive in mid-afternoon. They'd gotten stalled in US customs over the weekend and YES designer Peter Munzlinger had been wandering the test site like a lost puppy. YES sails come from an exciting new loft in Italy. (Check our Profiles section for more about these sails and the man behind the designs.)

Nori Hubbs arrived at Club Paradise today. She's the talented pro windsurfer who took third place in the Subaru Gorge Games this summer in Hood River. She's fast and aggressive on the water and not much slower on land. She's here one minute and gone the next. If I can convince her to slow down I'll ask her about her passion for the sport.

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October 3rd. I heard a story the other day about footstraps, but first some background is needed.

Some of the early comments about several boards in the test concern footstraps, their ease of use and whether they stay in place. Some straps, like the ones made by NSI, a small company in Hood River, OR, have easy-to-use buckles on them for instant adjustments—ideal for rental fleets, shared equipment and, of course, a test like ours where many different people are trying the same boards. Other straps, looking like their design hasn't changed in the past ten years, require riders to peel open layer-upon-layer of neoprene and Velcro for even the smallest of changes. Still others, like Da Kine's new Contour system, are so advanced that they have a built-in shape for front and back positions. They offer a positive fit for the rider, but unfortunately they are not adjustable once placed on the board and could not be used for the test.

Another common complaint is that many straps do not go small enough for our female tester's smaller foot size. Regardless of the ease of strap use, the comment I hear the most is that the straps are twisting during use. Pro tester Royn Bartholdi summed it up best when he said, "With all the freestyle tricks being performed these days, it's more important than ever to have footstraps that don't twist." Of course, everyone knows that if manufacturers would use two screws to affix each end, instead of one, straps would be unable to twist and the problem will be eliminated. A simple solution ignored by a surprising number of board manufacturers.

This brings me to the story I heard: Apparently one of the main overseas factories which builds many of the production boards on the market has an overstock of single-screw footstrap inserts and requires that all boards made at their facility use them until they can switch to the double insert. If I can confirm this I'll get back to you. For now just keep it under your hat.

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October 4th. Rains greeted us as we awoke this morning, but by mid morning they had dissipated. It’s 9:15am and the wind is blowing through the palm trees, making that distinctive crackling sound as palm fronds brush one against another. When the wind blows this early in the day it’s just plain frustrating.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited that it’s blowing, but the problem is that we are not allowed to windsurf until after 11:00am. Enacted in the 1980s this rule protects the livelihood of local fishermen and also helps protect snorkelers and swimmers from injury. We must wait our turn, but it’s hard sometimes.

While sail testing has not officially begun the pro team has had enough time on the water already to make some interesting preliminary comments. Sail designs, it seems, are beginning to reach an evolutionary convergence. Several of the sails look very much alike in both shape and panel layout, yet they were developed in different parts of the world. Also, I’ve overheard some comments about the padded sewn-in protectors at the foot of many of the sails, but it’s too early to tell if they’re a hit or a miss with the testers.

Klaus Simmer, and designer Jason Diffin, of Simmer Sails dropped by the test site today and Svein Rasmussen of Starboards has been in and out of the place for the last two days

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October 5th. Annabella Hoffman, whom many of you will have read about in a previous issue of AW (Vol. 3, Issue 4) arrived today. She flew in from Lake Garda, Italy, and is now ripping it up on the water where the first of our sail testing is underway.

Bill Hansen, the Windwing designer and all-around technical guru of the company, is busy rigging his extensive selection of sails. The noontime sun has driven him into the shade and as soon as the sunlight is right his sails will be photographed—probably tomorrow. Most sails get photographed before they’re sailed, but Bill is either super-confident about his sails or too excited about the wind and heads to the water.

Svein Rasmussen, who spent the day at Ho’okipa on a photo shoot with the Tushingham guys, has finally slowed down a bit. He is one hyper guy. He and John Chao sat on the sofa deep in conversation well into the night.

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October 6th. It blew a fully-powered 5.0 today and the surf seems to be picking up. Monty Spindler, designer of The Loft sails, stayed to dinner this evening and led a discussion about his sails and about sail design in general. He has some definite opinions about how to simplify our sport and I hope to talk with him more about them.

Masts have been a recent topic of conversation. In this year’s test, sailmakers are supplying the masts on which they want to see their sails rigged. Several sail makers/designers have expressed concern about the inconsistencies in mast construction, and welcome the chance to choose the brands they prefer. I notice that Monty has supplied Fiberspar masts for the test. Peter Munzlinger of YES sails addressed this issue by making his own masts (see Profiles).

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