While on the warm water subject Vincent Langer is back from Tenerife, defrosted and with a bag full of good slalom days and an occasional wave sailing day here and there. Next up is a roadtrip to Sardinia to break in the new racing and slalom sails, after test rigging them Vincent is convinced:

"– I'm sure that they will perform even better than last years models, I've never seen a sail with such nice and easy rotation."

So there you go, a word from the wise who probably spends more time on the water than on land. For more good hints drop by: http://www.vincentlanger.de

Speaking of which, UK's Simon Hurrey is one of those 3 riders being featured on the PWA site so have a look at the link below, as well as the picture below of Simon cutting back on flatwater and freestyle at Sunset Beach, South Africa. Photo: Simon Crowther.

Now for the 3rd good reason, and that would be a Victor Fernandez "Victoryman" video from Pozo that's one click away: HERE

Kiwi man Mike La Franchie is holding it down in the southern hemisphere with some damn good surf, and with the upcoming New Zealand wave nationals at Taranaki between April 6 and 9th, including an open invitation to the world to come experience what Taranaki has to offer, it looks as if Mike is more than willing to share his un-crowded waves. Any questions regarding the event feel free to drop Mike a mail before Feb 28th on: . Photo: Fleur Foote.

Another one getting the best of Maui is Rudy Castorina who got served 5 days of Apocalyptic 50 knot Kona winds along with 8-10 foot waves that made way for some glassy surf at Ho'okipa and tow-in on the outer reefs once the wind finally dropped. As Rudy wrote to tell us this he got a call from the beach saying that the tradewinds where back and Ho'okipa was firing so he had to go. Ah well, until he's back, check out these recent surf shots of him. Photo: Jono Knight & MNeal.net

Francisco Porcella has joined the guys over at Drops Boards and he's been putting them to good use during the recent Tropical Energy Contest at Ho'okipa in great wind and waves as seen below. Photo: Pietro Porcella, Media Fun.

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Speaking of senor Fernandez, we're happy to announce that he just signed up for another year with Simmer Style as well as his other current sponsors including Fanatic, Quicksilver, Hotel Almerimar Resort and Viajes Alysol. We just like to say how stoked we are to have one of the worlds most talented, upcoming young rippers on the team. Check out two teasers below from Victors recent Chile trip as well as a few shots of him killing some time in his backyard while waiting for the upcoming PWA Cabo Verde event.

After his recent haircut Frederic Steineck aka Hawaiian Derelict may be short on hair these days and you might even find him a bit short in our feature EITHER / OR last in this newsletter but it's not like we give em´ a choice, it's EITHER / OR for Christ sake. One thing he's not short on though is tricks and motivation people. Just have a look below.

pic1, pic2,

Junko Nagoshi enjoys the winter swells on Maui. Michel Maldini on the other hand enjoys shooting pictures of Junko, while she enjoys these swells. We enjoy writing about it just as much as we enjoy attaching these pictures of Junko by Michel Maldini for you to enjoy. So enjoy!

The newest addition to the Simmer Style team Jonas Ceballos just got back from a warm-up trip for the upcoming PWA Cabo Verde event. Fuerte Ventura served up 4,7 side off winds and mast high waves almost everyday. Don't miss out on this recent clip of Jonas back home in Pozo.

Now for a quite chilly wake up call after that little Caribbean daydream that was on the house:

"Sorry fella missed your email! Getting about million emails about Viagra a day and your got lost in there! Cheers – Ben"

With a mail like that we figured we wouldn't have to much to write about Mr. Proffitt this month, but what do you know, he got back on track and dropped us a few lines saying he's currently in Cape Town, South Africa and that the wind's been a bit strange. With strange winds it's not so strange he's holding on with just one hand while back looping and making sure his other hand keeps fingers crossed for the wind to go back to normal.

Meanwhile in the northern hemisphere, Mother Nature was kind enough to arrange a windy end-of- the-year for local Simmer Style rider Marko Simic, and switched on some good winds in his hometown of Pula, Croatia. Freezing? Who cares? Fun? Without a doubt. Just have a look below.

Apart from sailing all these un-crowded waves at Ho'okipa with the rest of the Simmer Style team, Francisco Porcella is eagerly waiting for Jaws to happen for some windsurf and possible tow-in sessions. Check out pictures as well as a push loop sequence of Francisco below, courtesy of Pietro Porcella (Media Fun).