Hello and welcome to CarbonSugar.com. Hopefully you are here because you windsurf. If not, this is probably the site for you - please click here. Windsurfers: This weblog was a result of having never found any decent ‘windsurfing-specific’ books, articles, tutorials on any racing related tactics, technique, design or construction of high-performance windsurfing gear. Sure, there’s sporadic articles available on the internet with important tutorials and many of the popular worldwide windsurfing magazines write great tutorials, but I wanted more information.

The articles on the web and in magazines were always targeted toward beginner windsurfers and never had enough detail. I wanted more information. I didn’t want to have to scour the web to find more information and I didn’t want to have to always painstakingly disect C.A. Marchaj style books in order to work out how I could apply more information to our highly tuned 5 cam, 10 batten aeroplane wings…

And so CarbonSugar.com was born. Inspired largely by a few of the windsurfing masterminds out there who have put their thoughts and knowledge to the public domain. Chiefly, windsurfers like Boogie, who blogs about speedsailing design has collected some great articles and links to design related information. Kevin Pritchard, the legend, who writes about his daily life on the pro tour. Steve Bodner, who like myself (but to a larger extent), writes about the day to day activities at international windsurfing events that he competes in - something a lot more pro sailors should do in the guise of helping out aspiring young windsurfing grommets.

I am just as interested in the science behind how to go fast as I am at getting my FW board over the elusive 35 knots (64.8 km/h). As a racer on the international circuit, I have seen how hard a road it has been to get to the top level, especially when knowing it all could have been a lot easier with the right information, coaching and help in the early stages (something which I believe is readily available for other sailing classes). I wanted to make a weblog dedicated to advanced tutorials on racing, tactics, technique and the psychology behind going faster and winning more races. I also wanted to start some discussions and propose ideas about windsurfing design, construction, the sport in general and anything that people might find could actually help them be better racers.

Working with a father who is really into designing, repairing and playing around with carbon products and windsurfing gear, over the years we have made our own boards, sails, wide-tail boom-ends, repaired and modified boards and even made our own racing fins. So I feel like I know a little more about how windsurfing gear goes fast as a result of putting the pieces together (or back together) in the garage before I go sailing (and then breaking it). I don’t know everything yet however, so hopefully people will come onboard and start some discussions to fill the voids.

Active participation is encouraged and I hope that everyone who reads these articles will post a comment and contribute to making the articles better. Everything I write will be researched, but seeing as hardly any of the things I want to write about exist anywhere in print, a lot will be from personal experience - so get on board and critique and help us all get better at going around the course faster…

Imagine one-day that a book as legendary as High Performance Sailing existed specifically for windsurfing?! Admittedly, most of what Bethwaite writes can be applied to windsurfers (and I will reference the ideas I have taken personally from the book as much as I can here), but a lot of ideas about trim and boat setup can’t be, so in that imaginary book’s abscence, this will have to suffice. Hopefully others will cotton-on to the gap in the market and start weblogs like this one in their own areas of windsurfing expertise.

Enjoy.