5 OCEANS

Stormy

2012-01-03T14:28:00.000-08:00

A bit wild at marazion early on- it moderated a bit and ended up quite good in the end, Matthew chose the camera rather than the cold.....

It was wild in the North as well- some mad speeds were had by some mad speedsailors at West Kirby- well done to everyone especially those getting over the magic 50 Knots..... SCARY! Check out gps speedsurfing for some write ups...

Ian on 5.0 5Batten

and Andrew on 4.3 4Batten

Mid taka

The magic number part 2

2011-12-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

A video showing the 3 batten sail in a mellow little session we had in West Cornwall recently.

and a new white and black version with a few little tweaks in the 4.7 size ready to go....

more, more, more.......

2011-11-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

Once again more than one place was working in the sunshine, different spot with some low light and a tricky wave. Andrew on the 3 batten... think his testing of the concept is over he just wants us to build the rest (more , i need more) of his 3 batten quiver as he is loving the extra dimension the sail is bringing to his riding.
Meanwhile in the loft its all go with a partial refit, extension and more new machines with more bells and whistles, and us burning more of the midnight oil to keep on top of it all!

Pics

The French connection

2011-11-17T00:58:00.000-08:00

Well done to Kevin on winning himself a brand new 5 Batten sail.
Kevin entered the Photo competition of the Wave Games held in Normandy and entered the best "action" picture.

The wave games themselves, co-organised by Pierre Fremion, went off well this year with strong winds and a high standard of competition, have a look at the pictures here .

And Pierre has been in action, both in the wave games and outside of it, you can check out Pierres Blog here

Rozel-->

and a bit of Lightwind riding!

Light wind :) from Fremion Pierre on Vimeo.

What a week.

2011-11-06T05:14:00.000-08:00

So the lows tracked over and so did the swell, we have had a pretty good week in Cornwall, getting out on both coasts, the south for some very rare reef waves and the North for Gwithian firing mast high. I have to say that watching Ian at Gwithian was a little scary, when its breaking like that there isnt anywhere to hide....

Ian at Gwithian getting spat out by a frothing monster, cropped in-->

And the same pic but uncropped-->

Some atmosphere here with Ian on a South Cornwall reef

I like this one- more atmosphere! Andrew-->

Andrew again love the light in these-->

Meawnhile in France Pierre has been keeping busy too-->

Colourless

2011-11-03T01:07:00.000-07:00

From yesterday....

long period

2011-10-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

Long period swell hitting Cornwall this evening.
Started to come in with the push around 4. Snapped a few pics ( after snapping another extension!) in the rain.

Andrew boosting on the 3 batten

and Ian on the "made to make your mouth water" 5 batten

Nice picture of the back of the 2 sails...

Danish Dreams

2011-10-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

Roelf Hans van der Veen sent these pics in of Klaus on his 4.0.

"i send you pictures of today, with Klaus sailing his 4.0 and me behind the lense. It was a bit dark this morning but i pushed it a litle. Klaus is sailing amazing with his 4 battens, he is surfing so extremely light-footed, its like he never touches the water. He jacks of like a rabbit when he pulls his sail, he accelerates so fast........................
Your sails are well in the picture here Matthew, people talk about them and becoming more and more curious. I was in the Netherlands some weeks ago and sailed at my old homespot in Wijk aan Zee, my old surf buddys where crawling over my sail to see and feel what they were like in real. They all been talking about them. Amazing, everywhere we show up with our sails people come to ask how they perform, like they all say, they heard good stories about them. No joke.
nuff talk, here are pictures for your blog"

thanks Roelf and looking good Klaus!

Gwithian jumping

2011-10-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

Finished the smaller 3 batten prototype this morning just in time for some onshore windy jumping at Gwithian.
Andrew took it out, bit nervously as it was windy, i dont know about anybody else buts its always like that with us, anticipation of a new sail, how will it work, will it do what its designed to do, what are the surprises going to be. The 3 batten design is so radically different to any other sail out there (except the Demon Design VG7 which it is derived from) its a bit more interesting than normal.
So far so good, good control in the air, very precise, top loads up as intended, uber light. We will see.. if they keep on working like this........

Steve King on the 4 batten was contorted and controlled as well, super contorted half the time, Mr Bendy..... and its a shame Ian isnt quite as bendy, tweaked his neck landing a super high back loop, ouch! Ggot that whole, turn the whole body to look at you, neck frozen thing going on, and its meant to be windy the next few days...think he is at home now with it iced up.....

Andrew on 3 batten --->

Ian on 5 batten---->

Steve on 4 batten--->

3 Batten --->

what it was like! --->

Small but heavy.

2011-09-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

A bit of fun today in Cornwall, a session on the North coast followed by one on the South. Got to love sailing in Cornwall. :-)

Backlit

2011-09-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

Small waves and amazing light at Marazion a few days ago.
Steve King and Andrew Fawcett modelling the 5 and 4 battens respectively!

Sunny Saturday

2011-09-10T13:31:00.000-07:00

My face is glowing- plenty of sun today at Gwithian, plenty of wind and plenty of sailors- not quite enough waves!
Maybe tomorow......

A Technora 4 batten--->

The Magic Number?

2011-09-06T02:54:00.000-07:00

Andrew has 20 odd sessions on the 3 batten 5.0 now, in a range of conditions.

Initial reactions were cautious as to this sails upper wind range but they need not of been, it works pretty good fully powered. With more down and outhaul applied its upper wind range is the same as the more conventional sails. This is due to the panel layout, geometry and load paths of the complex cut, which is working as designed (protos dont always!). Bottom end power is very good, with the down and outhaul released the sail gets very full till quite high in the sail- super powerful.

On the wave andrew likes the way he is coming round a bit more vertical- interestingly this probably isnt to do with how the sail works but due to the fact that it doesnt have a window above your back hand, so vision is a bit impaired....... meaning you turn a bit longer than you would otherwise! quite funny really- we are going to incorporate a window here on the next proto.

So, for a 68kg sailor, this 3 batten sail is working well and doesnt seem to have any obvious drawbacks so far........ next up is to test it with some different sailors and bodyweights.

pics----->

The sailors return

2011-09-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

Its September and the factorys annual shutdown for August is at an end, everyone back to work- nose to the grind stone, designing, cutting, sewing and sailing!
Matthew spent August in Bretagne with the family- and got a couple of lightwind ankle high sessions in at Le Dossen on the 6.2 before breaking his toe.....again!

Meanwhile in Denmark, the wind has been lighter than usual, but still its allowed the sailors to get out on their smaller sails occasionally, here is Vincent on his 4.1, lots of bottom end power on this sail- vincent at 86kg uses it when lighter guys are on their 4.5's.

Vincent out sailing- picture by Roelf ( i think)

And in Normandy, Pierre Fremion is trying out his new Harness mount.........

First test from Fremion Pierre on Vimeo.

Top Tips!

2011-07-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

Part of the 5 Oceans mast system is the 150mm tip extension that fits all of our masts.
The tip extension means you can extend the length of your mast that extra bit- or maybe even more importantly reduce the amount of base extension you are using. RDM base extensions just seem to break all the time when extended to a longer length and exposed to our Cornish conditions, If you fit a tip extension it means you can safely use your extension without worrying about it breaking in the first rinse of the day.
The tips when used soften the mast slightly and make the mast slightly more flex top.
The tip extensions just give that extra bit of range to any of our masts, and combined with a myriad of options through the mix and match nature of our masts( tips and bases of different lengths compatible) give a huge tuning range!

pic 1 - tip extension, mast bung with o-ring and top section of mast with Aramid wrap-->

pic 2. Mast tip extension inserted

pic 3- Tip extension partially inserted- close tolerance fit.

Wave Games 2011- win a 5 oceans 5 batten wave sails.

2011-07-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

5 Oceans team rider Pierre Fremion is organising the Wave Games 2011 in conjunction with Funboard 76 in Normandy, France.
We love this kind of Competition, local rider organised and in it for the Craic. When Pierre asked if we would like to be involved in a sponsorship role, of course we wanted to help out.
So, we have put up a STATE OF THE ART 5.3 5 BATTEN sail as a prize and Funboard 76 are hosting the......

5 OCEANS ACTION CONTEST

This is a bit different to Win the sail you need to send in a picture or video (send entries to actioncontest@orange.fr ) of yourself ripping as hard as you can, anytime between now and the 20th of September 2011. The video or picture that impresses the most wins the sail. We want to see you having a go, getting stuck in...... to the best of YOUR ability.

The competition is open to any non sponsored sailors, with the only proviso that if you win you have to turn up at the wave games in Normandy to collect your prize!

Come on........ get your cameras out......... :-)

Testing Testing, 1, 2, 3......

2011-06-21T11:26:00.001-07:00

Wissant summer session

2011-06-19T02:53:00.000-07:00

these pics by "jac jac" of Pierre Fremion getting some nice action in Northern France.

Pierre says "if looking for stronger wind, go to Wissant. A great summer session: small waves, wind for 4.7, sun, let’s go jumping!"

Looks like fun!

Not to be outdone, in Cornwall we have had some wind and a bit of sun at Marazion , lots of sailors out and a few near misses.....!

Steve king--->

and Andrew Fawcett--->

Hard at work.....

2011-05-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

.... in the sailloft.
The Number 2 daughter of Matthew and Kirsty was playing with the camera and came up with these photos.....We think they are pretty cool.

We have been doing some funky colour schemes too- check these out......Hopefully we will get some action shots from the customers soon!

Team effort

2011-05-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

Some nice pics from the last few days. Its been quite windy with a small swell but sunny and warm to go with it. The light has been amazing and some of the action superb!

Ian At Gwithian,

Andrew at Gwithian earlier today

Not to be outdone Steve King was goitering all over the place....

Im not entirely sure what this jump was- steve gets pretty contorted some days!

Ian Black-getting into the one handed back loop thing...

Jeroen our dutch friend is still on holidays and loving Cornwall!

Meanwhile in Normandy Pierre Fremion has been busy with his mast mount!

30 minutes at the beach

2011-05-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

Had to deliver a board to Gwithian this afternoon and really wished i hadnt!
Turned up to see a small fun wave being ripped apart by Ian Black, the next one by Timo Mullen and yet more by Jeroen ( over on his holidays, he is in love with Cornwall...) Rupert and everyone else!
Stayed for 30 minutes took a few pics and then back to work in the loft.... almost didnt go back to work but we are real busy at the moment- race sails, wave sails, speed sails, its all happening!
a few pics

Ian

Jeroen on his new 5.3

and a few of Ian

And here is a sail for one of our Danish Customers- just been packing up a batch of sails to send over this evening, these will be on the water in Denmark next week we hope! They all ordered differnt colours and some funky colour schemes- we will post some more pics over the weekend.

And again!

2011-04-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

More of the same today......

Reflections

2011-04-25T01:41:00.000-07:00

A bit of action over the Easter break.
Gorgeous sunny day and a chunky wave!

Ian--->

Andrew--->

Busy Busy

2011-04-14T02:05:00.000-07:00

Its spring and that means the busiest time in the loft- answer machine on, nose to the grind stone all hands to work and get everyones sails to them to enjoy!

Matthew took 5 to take some pics of the cut sails- these are all cut on the cnc laser cutter

This pics shows the Technora fabric off nicely

and this one we just like!

Funny old day

2011-04-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

Funny old day at Gwithian today- the swell forecast was pretty big on Windguru- 3.5m- but the full swell breakdown showed a large south component to the swell and hence it never came through that big.
Still plenty of people on the water - 30 at least- bit crowded really!
Cleaned up good at mid tide
A few pics

Team shot- Andrew foreground, Steve middle- Ian background- matthew behind the lens and Pierre....well pierre is in Normandy!

Andrew -->

Steve -->

Ian --->

A long time coming

2011-03-31T12:55:00.000-07:00

We have had a windless spell in Cornwall- well I say a windless spell, some sailed and had a good time but we have had our noses well and truly to the grindstone!

Nipped out for an hour to Marazion and managed to miss the cloth delivery, a lovely fabric is coming our way, something a bit different to the Technora, this ones a square scrim without the 22 degree fiber. This gives it a bit more give on the bias and will allow some funky attributes to be designed into the sail.Watch this space!

In the meantime here are a couple of pics from Marazion today.

Pierre on Fuerte

2011-03-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

A weeks sailing can play havoc with your hands, Pierre Fremions are suffering after 7 days of sailing in Fuerteventura - in his own words--->

"Nous avons passé une superbe semaine à Fuerteventura avec mon pote Edouard. Une parenthèse estivale en plein hiver: des températures entre 20 et 28 °c, une eau à 20 °c, un grand soleil et des conditions tous les jours ou presque: nous avons eu 5 sessions en 7 jours sur place! Nous avons pu rider à Majanincho, Punta Blanca, Puerto Lajas et Glass Beach, avec à chaque fois des vagues de 1 à 3 mètres. Quelques photos, même si nous n'avons pas sorti l'appareil ni aux meilleurs moments des sessions, ni pendant la plus belle session à savoir Glass Beach! On vous laisse imaginer ce que cela peut donner........ Un grand merci à Bouke (shaper de Witchcraft) pour son accueil et ses précieux conseils sur le choix des spots."

and in translation

" I had a great trip at Fuerteventura: a summer week in this French cold winter! 20 to 28°c, water at 20°c, sun and 5 days with very nice conditions: 1 to 3 meters waves and wind for 4.7 and 5.3. My favorite two spots during this week: Puerto Lajas: a long clean left with sections for aerials and Glass Beach: a short but powerful left! And a life without pressure, relax with friends, “apéro”, farniente, summertime! "

Unexpected

2011-02-26T07:43:00.000-08:00

I was busy working when i got the call from Steve Thorpe asking if it was on, to be honest i hadnt even looked out the window, full work mode, but sure enough soon as i turned on the phone a flurry of texts arrive and i had to high tail it down to the beach. Beautiful light, chunky wave and only Ian Black out, unfortunately Steve didnt get down in time!

Ian Black laying it down.

Bit of a tease

2011-02-20T09:53:00.000-08:00

One of the reefs in deepest darkest Cornwall was on the cards, but in truth it wasnt working properly.

This spot is soooo fickle and refuses to be bound by forecasts- you can check it on a rubbish forecast and its booming, you can check it on a 5 star plus forecast and it just isnt working, that combined with the boulders and the occasional alpha set to throw you up the rocks if you mess up mean you value every wave you take.

A few pics

Bread and Butter

2011-02-18T06:17:00.000-08:00

We have had some good swell in cornwall the last few days but not unfortunately the wind to go with it, One of the "secret" spots on the north cornwall coast was breaking and reeling double mast high a few days ago, but no wind on the inside and too offshore to sail it.
Jan Sleigh paddled out at the Cribbar on his SUP yesterday(his birthday happy 42nd Jan)- nutter, struggled to get waves but he was out there, hats off to you Jan and here is a pic-->

The swell dropped right off today and left us with the normal "bread and butter" Gwithian- cant complain the pics speak for themselves...

Ian Black out on his 5.3

Pierre at home

2011-02-11T12:01:00.000-08:00

Pierre has been out sailing quite a bit recently with his friends at home in Normandy- here are a couple of videos they have put - have a look----->

Smoothy from Fremion Pierre on Vimeo.

WINTER WARM UP from thomas daumail on Vimeo.

testing testing.........

2011-02-07T13:41:00.000-08:00

A few pics from our trip to Cape Verde for some winter testing and R&R..lots more to come!

Andrew and Matthew(sail designer)--->

Andrew----->

Matthew ---->

And then it was back to earth with a BUMP- a few weeks in 24 degree water temps definetly makes you(well me!) soft. The UK is a bit more grey than blue at this time of year.

Ian Black The Bluff-->

Steve King, Marazion--->

Winter brrrrrrrrr!

2011-01-09T02:43:00.000-08:00

When we started the blog we were absolutely certain that we wouldn't leave it week's and month's between posts........ Ha! well that didnt last long.
Its been the coldest December in a long, long time in the UK and windsurfing has paid the price. Im afraid when it gets down to -2 degrees C the motivation to get on the water gets a bit thin! The disruption in the UK has been widespread with deep (and not so) snow causing all sorts of travel and infrastructure problems, roads, airports, schools all closed! That combined with Matthew and his family coming down with Swine Flu well and truly put paid to December.
Happily, January has seen temps rise back up in Cornwall to a balmy 10 degrees, and what a difference, now we are just waiting for the promised forecast to come good, wind and waves- yes please!

However thats only for those left behind in the UK , Andrew and Matthew are heading off with some friends to Cape Verde and another good forecast- not so windy- but 24 degree water temperature is perfect for a bit of R&R from this snowy winter!

Meantime in France team rider Pierre Fremion has been testing out his new sails- some pictures and words on his BLOG and a picture review of his 5batten 5.3 here

Cheers for now- we will try and keep you all posted with whats happening in the next couple of weeks!

Brazil

2010-12-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

Got this email from Christopher McCormick who is sitting out this cold snowy British winter in Jericoacoara, Brazil.
"I'm involved in a mad love affair with my 4.5... crazy good sail, and by far the lightest on the beach on 100%carbon everything... as you will probably notice, I sail them with maximum power... it works for me"
sure does, looking good Chris!

Snow

2010-11-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

We dont get a lot of snow in Cornwall, the Gulf Stream keeps it at bay so its fun when we do.
We got the snowboards out for a bit of fun today... :-)

The Future, Megan Burridge--->

Mark Meardon--->

Ian Black- high definition--->

Megan again--->

Too cold!

2010-11-26T12:37:00.000-08:00

Its been really cold in the loft this week, far too cold to be out sailing that's for sure- well for me (Matthew)anyway the others got out - madness!
Here is a quick little vid showing the sleeve construction on our sails- look out for the reinforcing that's inside the sleeve- you don't normally get to see it.

South coast exploration

2010-11-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

We tried out a new south coast spot today, it has potential but was a little too offshore so the wind was really really gusty and it was difficult to get into.
Ian had a few nice waves (pics below). We will definitely be back, the wave had some punch!

UNITED

2010-11-06T02:42:00.000-07:00

Video of 5-oceans team riders in action at their home break, Gwithian UK recently.
Hope you enjoy!

aerial

2010-10-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

Nice aerial day today on a local reef from Andrew.

Gwithian delivers

2010-10-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

It all started off a bit light, contrary to the forecast, which seems to overdo the wind nowadays by quite a margin... still, plenty of people at the beach- i counted 50 on the water at one time so it was a little busy to say the least. Ian Black was sailing super well- as he does whenever it gets big...
Ian---->

Steve --->

Andrew --->

How bright?

2010-10-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

A couple of pictures of 5-oceans team rider Pierre on holidays in Denmark- Loving his 4 battens of joy in the loudest orange you will ever come across!

and a couple of pictures of Andrew Fawcett at Gwithian today in 1 foot of swell, hopefully get some more wind and waves this week.......

First rehearsal

2010-10-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of some of our R&D testing for the new sail ranges from earlier in the year.

Back in the water

2010-10-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

After a long lay off with broken ribs I ( matthew) got back in the water today. Bolt onshore at the bluff, powered up some of the time on a 5.0 4 Batten. It felt good to be back in the water......... think i may take it a bit easier next time im mountain biking, one fall off a jump in the Alps kept me off the water for 8 weeks.....
took a couple of pictures of Ian Black after i packed up.... it was like that ... a bit of fun!

Superlight!

2010-10-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

Andrew wanted to know how light we could make the 4 batten sail so we built him a SUPERLIGHT 5.3.
Actually we didnt go overboard on the weight reduction, he tends to put himself into some "situations" that can get a bit lairy so we decided to build him as light as we could go without strength loss.

2.6 KG for the 5.3.

He used it today and was a bit blown away .......pics---->

Ian turned up late to the Bluff, NW onshore messy but nice light- he was out on his 5.6....

Made to make your mouth water!

2010-10-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

We LOVE this sail, not only is the colour scheme amazing, its pure joy to use.
You need to have your shades on when you roll this sail out - damn its BRIGHT.

Made to make your mouth water edition- modelled in these pics by Ian Black.

Autumn madness

2010-10-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

Its a mad time of year in the loft, summer has gone and you kind of think there will be time to catch up on stuff but there never is, generally the wind has returned and people are wanting to be out on their new sails, so its time to get on with it.

Our newest team rider is Pierre Fremion a solid sailor form Normandy, France. We were really pleased to welcome Pierre onto the team- his enthusiasm is infectious and any time we may start flagging its his kind of eagerness that helps you burn the midnight oil and get the sails built!
Here is a picture of Pierres first sail - one thing is for sure, he wont be missed on the water!