2001 Adecco Asian Windsurfing Tour

Five tropical locations, five events, five weeks, some of the best sailors in the world - why the hell not! "its a bit of a trek to get to all five" I was told by the overall organiser of the tour "but this is how you do it....." I printed out the instructions, booked my flight, packed my gear and kissed mum goodbye.

After heading over early and sailing in the Formula Windsurfing Worlds in Thailand, my 120kgs of gear and I arrived Christmas Eve on the small Philippine island of Boracay, AAWT Event 1. After surviving Manilla, two flights, three taxi rides, a mini bus, a bamboo longboat, a bicycle transfer and what seemed to be a million Peso's in tips, I'd realised what "trek" meant.

Boracay is covered by bars, restaurants, palm trees and sailboard rental shops, and it's purely there to party. Don't take shoes, you won't need them - no place there has sealed floors, just sand. As for sailing, my practice days were filled with 12-30 knots winds, and almost dead flat water.

Too good to be true, it was - 'cause as soon as the comp started the wind stopped and we didn't get a result. Fellow Aussie Robby Radis and I teamed up to win most of the beach events and then helped each other to trek out. As a "bonus", our taxi driver in Manilla offered me his daughter for a wife. I then found out Robby had the same offer five minutes earlier.

Bintan, Indonesia was home of Event 2 but still the wind refused to blow. "the monsoon not good this year Mike, should have been here last year!" thanks guys. Party of the week was Club Med, and some of the boys guest-starring in the evening's drag show. Just two races gave us a result with Robby and I scoring the quinella.

After the presentation night I dragged the comatose winner from the arms of a local "admirer" onto the ferry transfer and we headed to event 3 in Malaysia. Robby's admirer followed us for some more "wobby" and pro Jimmy Diaz joined the fray. After a nervous start against the Aus boys, Jimmy also took the win - in his words "that's why they pay me the big bucks!".

Point your finger on a map to the middle of the Pacific Ocean and that's Saipan, site of Event 4, and THE most amazing coloured water in the world. A big contingent of Japanese and more pro's arrived but favourite was a Frenchman, introducing himself "hi, I'm Antoine Albeau, I'm number four in the world" and somehow pulling it off with class. And the pro's know their stuff. Nobody and I mean nobody can hustle their way into strip joints like ex pat Aussie Phil McGain. Race results for Oz in a rather fast field, Phil (3rd), Robbie (6th) and I (8th) all made the top ten.

The boys, about ten of us by now and well over a tonne of excess baggage, teamed up and journeyed to Taiwan together for Event 5. There's not a lot of English in Taiwan but this is where four events of wind had been stored up and was now hitting us. Over three days of racing the wind never dropped below 30 knots, which by that time of year was very cold - for the past four events I had worn nothing but boardshorts and a harness so this was just rude (thanks to Jimmy for lending me a wetsuit). The only thing we successfully described to the local shop owner was fried rice so that's what we ate......all week. As for the comp, Phil came second, Robbie fifth and I got creamed.

Overall, amazing - the locations, organisation, atmosphere and above all people are unique and indescribably fun. Each event had 50-60 sailors of all levels and at least that number or more in groupies. If you're serious about results at the expense of fun- this tour is so not for you (and you're probably not Australian).

 

Check out www.asianwindsurfingtour.com for more details.