the Alex files (2) + carpal tunnel syndrome + Sylt +links

Here's another sequence from the Alex files.

If one would do a survey asking all the Hookipa sailors who they think is the guy ripping the hardest (I may well do that soon), I believe that the large majority would say Levi Siver.





This instead, is the solution to the quiz of the last post (thanks for those couple of guesses in the comments), starting from the last photo of the previous sequence.
I look still in control. Then something went wrong, maybe I wanted to hit the aerial in front of me without going back all the way down to the flat and a chop on the face of wave made me lose the grip, but somehow I lost it. Even watching the photos it's not clear what the hell I did... sometimes you just can't explain talent!









And now the second part of the title.
Yesterday I was having the usual blast riding those big windswell chops that we are blessed with these days (even better with light wind!), but I had to stop my session because my right hand couldn't grip anymore.
The problem actually started the night before while squeezing a sponge when washing dishes: "ouch! Damn, that didn't feel good..."

It's a pain in the wrist that is triggered by trying to grab the boom or just moving the hand around. Too much sailing was my easy diagnosis. Then I went online and figured it could be carpal tunnel syndrome, especially since I ran into statements like this:
"One of its many causes is prolonged windsurfing with harness-lines that are too long"
or this "Most windsurfing injuries are overuse injuries related to gripping the boom. Typical problems are rotator cuff impingement, carpal tunnel syndrome and elbow..."

Fortunately I don't have some of the symptoms, like numbness, tingling or pain at night, so maybe it's something different not as serious. For sure I'll have to rest a few days. Any experiences or grandma remedies out there?

Links:
- Congrats to Alex Mussolini for winning the single elimination in Sylt. Here's the ladder. Angulo was second while Kauli lost to John Skye a couple of heats before the final. So being the leader already, Josh has big chances to become the new "World champ"... whatever that means, since the title is based on a ridiculous small amount of contests: three (Capo Verde, Pozo and Sylt).
The number of contest to crown an ASP world champ is ten! Contest number 8 coming up soon at Mundaka.

Anyway, this is the video that shows the single elimination day at Sylt. Amazing what those guys can do in such challenging conditions.


More links.
- Fabrice Beaux hit a big NW swell in Oahu.

- Kauli with four footstraps

- in case you missed or overlooked it on the last post, this new HD gopro preview video is absolutely killer. What happens at min 3 looks like out of a video game. Once again, that is the best video I've ever seen in any genre. And the surfing one is pretty damn good too.
Forecast:
a couple of more days of trade winds and superfun NE windswell and then the big high pressure will gradually be replaced by a complex patter of lows. That means light or no trade winds and back to back, increasingly bigger NW swell episodes.
In particular, the weather map of next Friday (the last available) shows a very typical winter double low configuration. That usually evolves into a captured fetch, hence a major swell around Monday Oct 12th. But I'm totally guessing here. We'll see.