Tech Tip – How to Always be Dialed-In! Imagine that every single time you get to the beach you quickly rig your sail and perfectly tune for the conditions. You never fumble with your extension length, never need to stop to move your mast base, never have to adjust your boom height, never wish you had more downhaul tension, and never fiddle with your outhaul setting. You are completely dialed in from the get-go, every time. Is that even possible? Yes, absolutely! With a combination of a short gear debrief at the end of your sessions, and recording previous settings that worked well, you can ge ..read more

A 5 discipline event! Well, if you count my free clinic and Friday wave session. Hatteras OBX Wind once again delivered the goods. A packed start line for the long distance race with 170 racers, competitive slalom heats for the US National Slalom Title, and an insane freestyle level to crown the US Freestyle National Champion. Our home in Hatteras for the week!Traveling with freestyle and slalom gear! Although we missed the Canadian contingent that make up close to half the OBX Wind participants due to a closed border, we still had over 150 racers on the start line. The long distance start li ..read more

It’s crazy to think back on this season and realize how little I travelled compared to when I was doing the PWA Tour. I managed to squeeze in a trip to somewhere warm early this year before the pandemic broke out to create a magazine project, which I’m sure you will be reading about in your local windsurf magazine shortly, but since then I’ve been doing all my windsurfing at home in Hood River. All the North American events have been cancelled and postponed until next year, so there’s been no travel for me.   To be honest when you live in Hood River and you’re a windsurfer it’s a beaut ..read more

Although all the windsurf contests I was planning to attend this summer have been postponed and cancelled, it definitely hasn’t put a damper on the amount of windsurfing I’ve been doing. Kelsey and Phil Soltysiak Windsurfing Rowena, Oregon. Photo by Kilii Yuyan. The early spring closures and lockdowns forced me to explore new launch spots in the Gorge, and the limited services at campgrounds on the coast meant no showers after our salty sessions. In the early spring our “go-to” spots on the Washington State side of the river such as “The Hatchery” and “Dougs Beach” were closed along with most ..read more

Phil Soltysiak with a tight jibe around the pineapple buoy followed by Mathias Pinheiro and Casey Hauser at the 2019 Slalom Windsurfing Nationals on Maui Photo by Jimmie Hepp Three days of completely overpowered slalom sailing! What a blast! I arrived at Kanaha Beach Park on Maui one day early for the 2019 Slalom US Nationals, and immediately saw there was something wrong. As I walked around and browsed the different equipment set-ups everything looked awfully small compared to mine. It was going to be a tough 3 days of racing! Mayhem at the first mark as Phil Soltysiak chases Jesper Vesterstr ..read more

Highway 101 near Cape Sebastian windsurfing spot on the Oregon Coast photo by Si Crowther I love heading to the Oregon Coast. It’s windy, wavy, beautiful, rugged and wild. In the spring I did a few weekend trips to Newport, conveniently camping at South Beach State Park, which is right at the windsurf spot. Newport is a convenient wave spot for Gorge windsurfers because it’s only 3.5 hours drive from Hood River. Grab a buddy and make a day trip out of it like I did with my Toronto Windsurfing Club buddy Max Robinson, or pitch a tent at the campground and stay a few days. I’ve had perfect days ..read more

Phil Soltysiak is 2019 US Champion in Freestyle Windsurfing OBX-Wind – North Americas biggest, and fastest growing windsurfing competition once again delivered the goods! With 300 people registered for long distance racing, Slalom racing, freestyle, and clinics, it was a busy week. I flew in from Hood River, Oregon, to Raleigh, North Carolina with my girlfriend Kelsey. We rented a car and drove 4 hours to the Outer Banks, where the annual event takes place. Kelsey proud of her windsurf car packing skills before driving to the Outer Banks The Sunday was registration and the first day of my clin ..read more

As some of you may know already I’m not headed to Bonaire for the PWA event, and I will no longer be attending PWA events. I’m including a press release below regarding this, but basically I’ve moved to Hood River, Oregon, taken up an opportunity to work more closely with my sponsor Sailworks, and decided to focus my windsurfing efforts on travel and media projects as well as local and North American competitions. Phil Soltysiak windsurfing on the Columbia River So what have I been up to since my last PWA contest in Sylt? The fall sailing season in the Columbia River Gorge was a good one, and ..read more

Since the PWA World Tour stop in Fuerteventura I’ve been back in Hood River, Oregon. The summer season there delivers some of the best windsurfing in the world, and in the couple months between PWA competitions in Fuerteventura, Spain, and Sylt, Germany, the Gorge didn’t disappoint. Phil Soltysiak windsurfing at “The Wall” in The Gorge. Photo by Bob Stawicki. Besides some epic days on the water freestyling, I also managed to win the overall Gorge Cup Race Series a regional slalom racing series, and be awarded the 2018 Male Windsurfer of the Year by the Association of Wind and Watersport Indust ..read more

The 2018 PWA Fuerteventura Grand Slam was an event to remember! For two days straight, 4.0 conditions kept the sailing on edge, followed by two days as the first heat on standby that kept the mind on edge! Golden Sands of Fuerteventura – Photo by JC/PWA The journey started off with arrival in Fuerteventura and meeting up with team UK Max Rowe and Jamie Howard who landed an hour before me. They were supposed to have a car rented, awaiting my arrival, but a windsurfer’s travels are never so smooth. Turns out the rental company saw the windsurf gear Max and Jamie had and requested a 1000 euro cas ..read more