warum war Swoard nicht an der FCM???

[Fechy]

ich war mit ein paar Freunden vom 1.-2. Mai in Sölden an den Freecarving-Masters. und es hat sich riesig gelohnt. übergeiler Event. super leute. super stimmung. super testmöglichkeiten. fast alles an diesem anlass hat gestimmt....
nur eines nicht: ich habe mit vorgenommen mal ein SWOARD unter die füsse zu schnallen und den hang damit zu zersägen.. finde die bretter wirklich übelst geil, hab halt noch nie das vergnügen gehabt um ein soches Geschoss zu fahren. hätte bestimmt allen teilnehmern der FCM riesigen Spass gemacht mit den jungs zu plaudern (halt beschränkt französisch), welche den EC fahrstil so im griff haben und auch geprägt haben. es war einfach nur schad das die SWOARDER sich nicht blicken liessen.

kann jemand so gut französisch um Jacques oder Patrice diese Frage zu übersetzten?? würd mich echt interessieren.

stay deeper..

gruss fechy

[nils]

Leider ist unser Deutsch nicht so gut:

Warum nicht am CM in Soelden:

1. Kein zeit ( wir haben anderes arbeit also mit Swoard, und familien) das ist number 1 ...kein zeit = wir können nur nicht weit von unser stadt/mountain fahren.
2. EC: EC brauches weit ( wide) brett und spezial technique das kann mann nicht ins 1-2 stunden lernen.. wir haben unser ECS meeting für das wo es ist besser um das zu schauen...CM ist viel sehr " skwalish" narrow brett mit different riding techniques...also ein anderes "difference"

Vielleicht kannst du in zinal nächstest jahr kommen?

Tschuss
Nils

[WokkingMax]

Ok, so dann werde ich mal auf Englisch antworten:

Leider ist unser Deutsch nicht so gut:

Warum nicht am CM in Soelden:

1. Kein zeit ( wir haben anderes arbeit also mit Swoard, und familien) das ist number 1 ...kein zeit = wir können nur nicht weit von unser stadt/mountain fahren.

That's completely fine! Agree on that!

2. EC: EC brauches weit ( wide) brett und spezial technique das kann mann nicht ins 1-2 stunden lernen.. wir haben unser ECS meeting für das wo es ist besser um das zu schauen...CM ist viel sehr " skwalish" narrow brett mit different riding techniques...also ein anderes "difference"

Although I haven't been in the organization, I'd like to comment on this Bu**sh**, cause I think its a slap in the face of those who made a great job!
This drives me nuts and I already slept over my answer already, to keep some respect in my (last) answer (here)! CM was intended to be an OPEN carving event. CARVING not "skwallish" "narrow" ..blah, CARVING! So everyone interested in the sport of carving (and I think this includes extremeCARVING too) was invited to come. I'll just skip the part about "different riding techniques" and just comment about the board width:
Lets have a look at he Judges boards (hope they don't mind): Jörg - TWO - width >20cm!, Matts - Alpinepunk - width >= 20cm!, Alex - GForce- widths ~20+cm! And also there were many people with wide boards, no restriction, no max./min. width, every brand (also SWOARD) had been invited if possible... If I would be interested in a wide board (today there are many brands, who produce 'em), should I go to a "Only one brand"-event and compare different boards!?, or should I try to find a place where most of the brands are present?

Sam once wrote "Narrow boards killed alpine snowboarding!" and I disagree,

Narrowminded people are killing the alpine snowboarding community!

And to conclude: Patrice accused the FB of having "untrue things (posted by users (added by me))". Well as it seems, here even the mods./admins do post "untrue things"?

Farewell!

[frunobulax]

Before things get out of control again I'd like to ask everyone to stay calm...

Since I'm also not in the organization team of the FCM I take the opportunity to speak freely.
Nils, I think you're wrong in what you said. I respect your decision not to attend the FCM, and up to a certain point I can understand you. Maybe you had the impression that the FCM was about narrow board carving, maybe you feared that it would be sort of a biased event (to avoid mentioning any brand names). And of course, winter time is short, as all of us know...

But I do think that it was the wrong decision and I personally hope that Swoard will attend future FCM events.

There was no bias whatsoever at the FCM, it was a great feast for all carvers (despite the fact that I injured my leg on the first day and had to sit and watch...) on narrow, wide, long, short, race, beginner, skwal and powder boards.
I saw boards from every brand I can name, and styles ranging from the so-called frozen-backside-style to racing-, bomber-, and of course EC-style.
Yes, and I saw some Swoarders EC-ing and having fun with the others boarders.
I heard complaints that Swoard was missing and some people (including myself - if not for the injury) would have loved to take the opportunity to testride a Swoard.

I had no impression whatsoever of a rivalry between narrow- and wide-board-owners, only of mutual interest and the willingness to learn.
I had also the impression of a great spirit of optimism and hope for the future of snowboard carving.

So I hope for the best, and especially for more "time" in the next season.
Can I make reservations for a testride on a 175 H at the next FCM??


fruno

[Franck Lehmans]

Well said "frunobulax" . I agree with your comments and hope also that Swoard will be at such meetings like CMS. For most of us, it is interesting to have the possibility to test different boards. It makes us progress, and makes also the sport progress (by exchanging our points of view, fellings, inventions... not by stolling them ).

maybe you feared that it would be sort of a biased event (to avoid mentioning any brand names)

It is comprehensive when you know what hapens whith ... (to avoid mentioning any brand names).

[nils]

excuse my german: what i meant is not that we understood that the CM was a narrow boards meeting, we know it was meant for every one etc... i was just trying to explain that to discover EC ( which is the purpose of going to a meeting for us) it takes a long time, learning sessions ( such as the one we organize at the ECS) etc and thus is not easy for us to organize in another meeting... sorry if my answer was mistaken!!...
We were not afraid of any biased opinions because of other manufacturers presence etc....really!

Lack of time is a good reason and our personnal choices not to sacrifice our family our other job's lifes more than what we do for joining a meeting ( CM or any other meeting) will always be a good reason for us.. If we can we do...if we can't, we don't... its simple!

So basically main reason is no time, then the lack of motivation to go to a meeting without enough "time and organisation" to organise EC teaching/demos etc...... for us its totally useless to attend a meeting if we do not accompany people that want to discover EC.

Now on a different topic: Opinions

As for when it comes to different point of views regarding carving, it is normal that we have different opinions and that every " church" believes its own stuff... we all believe in the same thing: alpine carving, we might not believe exactly the same things when it comes to how to do it... its understandable and every one has the right to believe in its own ideas

As promoters of EC that we developped etc, we also believe to have the right to defend our point of view, and it is not to our opinion impossible to be part of a large " carving family" and at the same time not on the same agreement when it comes to style or boards width.

We do not like the style of narrow board riding for various reasons, and we want to promote EC style on wide boards...its fine with this...

We are still part of the carving world when we say this no?
Its all about how you behave with the others that is important: I do respect others opinions and i have never said anything bad like : narrow sucks, narrow riders are bad etc...because i respect people that disagree with my opinion... and beeing part of a community means respecting the others opinion to my point of view...hope this explains things better! I still enjoy riding with people on 16cm wide boards if they are nice people

Nils

[fivat]

For sure, WokkingMax's behaviour and susceptibility are exaggerated...

Apparently for 6 years he still hasn't understood that Swoard is not a brand like the others. We are not only making the original extremecarving boards (besides creating a trend to wider alpine boards), we are also giving many infos, tips, videos, pictures and tutorials about our technique (which is recognisable among all others)! Swoard is the only brand since 2002 that is giving such detailed and original Web pages. Many things have to be explained to people who are asking us how to acquire the same technique. Some trends, like the one about the spring modification on the boots for example, have started here.

Thus the best place for the Swoard team and some selected instructors to explain, inform, coach and discuss our extremecarving technique with other carvers is the Swoard ECS meeting. We can only focus on one main event during the season because we don't have enough time for making everything and being everywhere. Please, don't compare us with other guys who are working at 100% for their brands. They have full time for this, for travelling around the world and for promoting their boards.

Nils was perfectly clear about the point that the EC technique can't be learned in 1-2 hours. And it's a fact that during the CM the majority of the riders were using narrow boards and high bindings angles ( > 70 degrees sometimes). With such setups it's not possible to ride the Swoard properly and enjoy its amazing performances. Of course I personally would have loved riding in Sölden, seeing many riders I already know and meeting others, but I have to keep my little time for an one event only.

Another point: I don't think that Rolex Watches would participate in an exhibition where there are replicas of their products. But we are not Rolex. We have asked friendly and publicly another brand to change one of its model name that was almost identical to ours (what is illegal !). We made a step forward this brand (though it tried to sink us last year!) but we got nothing in return. I don't think that this brand is really open minded and making a good atmosphere in the German community... Some untrue things had been written by this brand on FB and the Web, but the mods/admins can't be responsible of this (especially if they believe what they read with no counterpart).

Finally, I don't think that the legend Serge Vitelli and the crazy rider Antonin Lieutaghi (from the movie "Hard Attack") are narrow minded people. But they have stopped alpine snowboarding in about 1995 because they didn't like the trend to narrow boards and stiff boots at that time. It's a fact. Serge said that such boards are no more snowboards: he called them "skiboards"... Well, OK, it's still carving, as it can be done with skis, telemarks or skwals. Why not invite all winter sports to the next meetings?

Patrice Fivat

[skywalker]

We are still part of the carving world when we say this no?
Its all about how you behave with the others that is important: I do respect others opinions and i have never said anything bad like : narrow sucks, narrow riders are bad etc...because i respect people that disagree with my opinion... and beeing part of a community means respecting the others opinion to my point of view...hope this explains things better! I still enjoy riding with people on 16cm wide boards if they are nice people

Well, OK, it's still carving, as it can be done with skis, telemarks or skwals. Why not invite all winter sports to the next meetings?

Why not stop this "we are good - the ohers are bad" thing here?

I don't know much about snowboarding, but I'm sure, that I am the only one riding properly (o.k., except Pogokönig maybe... he at least tries). I'm not sure, if what the others do can be called snowboarding at all

skywalker

[nils]

ok you ride good also tom so is Joerg from pureboarding etc..

I dont see any " i ride better than you do " idea... its more a "i prefer my style to yours"....which is ok to say or claim i guess.... anyway i guess we always have to explain all the time what we do, why we do it, and what we want to do with our style...
we agree that carving is a big family
we agree that snowboarding carving is better than the rest
we claim that EC technique is the best for many reasons...we never say we ride better than you ( ok except when it is EC ...

N.

[richard1]

dear Swoard team,

I participated the CM and i can tell you, that I only met open minded people there. Some of them was riding on narrow boards (ok, mor the 50% of them) and some preferred wider boards (as I do). And many of the riders who normaly ride narrow boards tested some wider boards to broad their horizon and maybe to improve their riding skills by trying something different.

Concerning on "your" EC technique and the time it lasts to teach/learn: I've never seen as many riders with that highlevel riding skill on one place. I assume, that there were at least 100 people which are able to adapt their riding style within 1 or 2 runs on many different boards. It was amazing to see that.

It would really enhance the next CM if we have the opportunity to test your boards their.

[fivat]

The ambiance is very good in all events: central USA, east USA, west Europe, central Europe, etc. All the carvers I have met are cool: it must be related to our common passion which is not a mass sport. At the ECS the atmosphere is really excellent. Among the 200 participants of the last edition, many riders have already come to previous editions. They have improved amazingly as it can be seen on the videos! Some of them have now a style very close to "ours": this means that they have understood "our" extremecarving technique which is based on rotation, push-pull, laying down armpit to armpit, etc. (it's a synthesis of different influences plus some crucial tips that we are explaining on this Web site since day one). We are not talking about just riding on the edge, what can be done with any board.

For sure, Richard, you would also love riding at the ECS and would benefit many advices from other excellent extremecarvers. As explained in the other posts, it's also the best environment for testing and learning the Swoard. I hope that you have more time than us for travelling.

Patrice Fivat

[Fechy]

i can agrre with the most riders here in this forum: you are in line with the big family of all the carvers. but i think you are a bit too arrogant. if i listen to this conversation, i think by myself: are they somthing better than all the others?? i dont think so. for every style you have to learn a lot. not just for the EC thing. every carvingstyle is a special one, but the very special thing on FCM is the mix of ALL kinds. also arnold schwazenegger said: "Mix it baby!"


please come to FCM09 and enlarge your horizon! (but just if you have a lot of time. because the family is on top. and i agree to this)

king regardens Fechy

[fivat]

In Switzerland we say: "One can think what we want, freely, but one should not say it too loud".

Fechy, you confirm this about what the Swoard team is saying! You imagine arrogance where there is nothing special actually. We simply give our opinions since day one (there only: no "arrogant" expansion to other Forum for example). Because of the new comers to this Forum (and the few ones who still don't get our ideas and philosophy), we have to repeat what is however written on the Web site for a long time: our convictions, what we prefer, how we ride, our technique and settings, etc. That's all.

Nils is clear:

I dont see any " i ride better than you do " idea... its more a "i prefer my style to yours"....which is ok to say or claim i guess.... anyway i guess we always have to explain all the time what we do, why we do it, and what we want to do with our style...

About "enlarging our horizon", for example it's exactly what we did at the end of the nineties when the alpine snowboard industry was going in one direction mainly: we went to the opposite alone (with wider and softer boards, modified boots, a different technique, etc.) and against the critics. Now it's funny to see some copy attempts (what is not bad for the wide boards trend) and rare denials of our contribution. But that’s life.

My horizon also includes riding other techniques (race style for example) or riding with soft boots. But it's not (yet?) in the videos.
Well, laying down is a question of horizon..tality, no?

Patrice Fivat

[richard1]

@fivat & nils:
As I remember, even Donek was represented at the FCM. If I'm right it; have been done by a dealer (Axel from Freecarve.de). Do you think, that this is also an opportunity for you?

Unfortunately travelling time is my problem too

So, I still hope to find any testing opportunity (Where there's a will, there's a way. )

[nils]

When we have a dealer able to do it for us maybe... for the moment we don't have the time because of personnal lifes and jobs... and this will not change unless dealers can help us create time... Donek is way bigger than us, and thus has dealers etc that can attend carving meetings everywhere... Sean does this as his main activity too and for a longer time so he is earlier in developpment.
I think that what we achieve with our limited time is already incredible, bear with this too
Nils