Josh Angulo joins Point-7 – Interview

“The vibe, the freshness , the excitment. My goodness it’s amazing how your whole excitment level and mental focus can change so dramatically when you get put into a group of motivated people. Basically the opportunity came up to align my talents and experience with Point-7 and as I delved into researching what the Point 7 philosophy and vision was about, I knew this was one of the coolest opportunities in my life and plus… have you seen how fast those guys are going on those black babies?!”

That´s, what Josh Angulo stated about his new sailsponsor Point-7. We digged a bit deeper and worked on an interview with the two times PWA wave worldchampion, about his signing with the dark side. Read more below.

C7: Less than a month ago you were talking about a break in your career as you had no sailsponsor. The contract with Gunsails was history. Now things have changed for you. Can you tell us some details?  

Josh Angulo: Yes, things have changed drastically in a short period of time. Sometimes when we are in the moment of uncertainty we can get a bit overwhelmed, but since I basically just released it and let it go it has come back to me in a much newer, brighter and fresher way than ever before.

C7: Did you contact Point-7 or did they contact you?

Josh Angulo: Andrea Cucchi sent me a brief e-mail just sniffing around and as we got our dialogue going and as I looked further into what Point-7 was really about then they quickly became the only brand that I pursued. 

C7: Is it a contract for one year or for several years?

Josh Angulo: We both agreed that the goals that we will achieve mutually are best set in a multi-year setting.

C7: Did you have any other offers?

Josh Angulo: We can imagine, that it´s hard to get on the team at this time of the year. I had a few other contacts, but it’s quite easy just through the mathematics and industry politics to know where I should even knock and where it’s not worth it. I definitley wasn’t  frantically chasing down any situation just so I could say that I had a sponsor. I knew it would take a very special situation to come along for the right people to have similiar views,  and goals as mine with the proper support network. And Point-7 is the special situation and now it’s full speed ahead .

C7: What was then the main reason that you´ve decided to sign with Point-7?

Josh Angulo: The snowball effect started, when I showed my wife the sails on the website and she said ” those look sooo cool , that’s you all the way.” I put a lot of importance on Claudia’s tidbits of wisdom she throws my way. She has incredible vision. Once I got the heart to heart “OK” from Claudia then I delved into the Point-7 website pretty enthusiastically and than started seeing how, besides being a fresh and sexy company, Point 7 is very technically minded and customer service oriented, which shows me that they have the “passion”. At the time I was between Cabo Verde and Boston so there were various communication exchanges with Andrea, that were a huge “breath of fresh air” . This guy talked the same language as me. It didn’t matter if it was Italian, English or French, we talked the same language  of WINDSURFING and I knew that Point 7 was my destination .

C7: Looks like all went really quick. Did you know the sails already or did you test them in the past weeks?

Josh Angulo: I’ve briefly experienced the  2011 sails and know how fast they were. I understand the improvments that were made for 2012 will give me the motor I need for top level racing and the main thing is that I will be immediatley included into the r & d program for the 2013 sails. As we speak sails are arriving in Boston and I’ll be tuning right away for Italy. All last year I got rolled a number of times by Andrea, Pascal and even Greta, so I know those sails are damn fast.

C7: How does it feel for you to be back in the game again after losing Gunsails as a sailsponsor less than a month ago?  

Josh Angulo: Once again, it’s not just a question of being back in the game, but being back in the game with the right tools for the job. Point-7 has  one of the most advanced masts on the market. People don’t always talk about masts, but your race mast is about as important as your sail and Point 7 has worked tirelessly to develop a mast that will work well on the sails and won’t be breaking  . They have a  commited R & D team. I mean the company owner is racing on the PWA, living in Garda and Tenerife. These guys are serious about Windsurfing. They have created a team atmosphere, which is Point 7 exclusive in the industry, and it’s a team concept which directly includes our  clients so they can have direct access to all the team’s experience .

C7: At GunSails it took you a year to have the sails there where you wanted them to have. You could sail on the podium in South Korea. Is that possible with your new sails from the beginning on or will you need a while, to be on top with Point-7?

Josh Angulo: With Point-7 the sails are already at an extremely competitive level and from here out it will be  fine tuning, so I’m starting out in a much stronger position. Also they have a year round  race development and they really live it, which can only produce positive results.

C7: Is there enough time to be prepared for the first event in Italy, which will start in one month?

Josh Angulo: In Italy, the cards will fall where they will.  

What do you expect from this first season on Point-7? How much potential have the sails right now?

Josh Angulo: I believe the sails  have winning potential right now. The rest is up to the different pilots and all the other factors that go into racing.

C7: Are you familiar already to have black sails now? Does the slogan “The dark side of windsurfing” fit for you?

Josh Angulo: Well, I appreciate you asking me this question as you know I’m a Christian and you wonder if I’m OK to tie myself in with the “Dark Side of windsurfing”.  The way I look at it is Point-7 chose a play on words for marketing use since they have black sails and could take advantage of this somewhat hardcore and ominous saying of “the dark side”. Point-7 has done a great job through their marketing of distinguishing themselves as a unique, independent and desirable brand and I in no way see any of the company players as dark or  ominous or trying to promote something bad. It’s just a marketing spin for the black sails and in no way are they the bad guys or something….. I guess it’s like me saying ” Once you go black you never go back”… are we OK with that ?

C7: Point-7 has a strong racing team with Andrea Cucchi,  Pascal Toselli,  Sean O´Brien,  Oliver-Tom Schliemann,  Malte Reuscher,  Manuel Zugsbratl, Greta Benvenuti. You will probably be the new number 1 now. Do you like it to be the number 1 in a team?  

Josh Angulo: Let ‘s also not forget  our wave-guys, Adam Lewis and Martin Ten Hoeve  If you haven’t seen them sail, you need to click on Point 7 site and  watch those guys killing it…….Number 1 in the  team rankings  will be the person who puts in the most work and the chips fall their way during racing. For the team ,  as I get to know better the different members we will get to understand better which is each and every one of our neccesarry needs and I hope to be able to share with the team  some valuable experience and assistance that will help make each team member their own personal number 1 . A team is made up of many members doing a good job in unison to raise the overall strength of the team and one person by his/her self does not make a team. I believe we will organically adjust and divide our efforts to make sure each and every team member gets the attention that him or her needs to do the job which puts Point 7 on the top.  

C7: It looks like Point-7 is focused on teamtraining a lot. Will you participate in this team trainings or is this not interesting for you?

Josh Angulo: For sure I’m interested. This is pretty much every racers dream to have a team support and people pushing and  encouraging you. From day 1 I have received a morale from Point 7 which has raised my confidence level intensley. Of course there will be moments with intense team training and moments where I need to train by myself, but all in all, I’m walkiing into a situation which has been  a goal of mine for many years.

C7: Will you be a teamrider only or will you collaborate with your Angulo boardbusiness with Point-7 in the near future?

Josh Angulo: We will take it one step at a time. Point 7 has given me a platform of concentrating as being a pro windsurfer. Of course I have other business interests. But not being full time in Cabo Verde has greatly freed me up to concentrate on training as I don’t have to deal with every detail of my day to day operation over there and by God’s Grace we have a great team running things. So for  the moment , it’s teamrider and development/promotion  and sweep the loft  and wash the car.

C7: Will you work in testing and development for Point-7 as well. You could give a lot of input on the wavesails as well!

Josh Angulo: 100%. Andrea and I already have some ideas being exchanged about wavesails and I’ve learned a lot over the years owning a windsurf center, what clients want and need in a good freeride/ all-around sail, so I’ll get to be involved there. Looks to me , however, these guys really are ahead of the curve on development and so it will be interesting to get involved in such a dynamic development team.

C7: The headquarter of Point-7 is located at Lake Garda. Will you spend more time in Italy in the near future?  

Josh Angulo: For sure !… Parlo benne Itialiano ! Italy is the bomb and I’ve never been to Garda in my life, so I’m super excited to rig on grass, sail on fresh water, have some nice food and sip espresso while watching all the interesting sites.

C7: How is your relation with Italy?

Josh Angulo: I’ve had numerous trips to Italy many years back and havent been there in quite some time so it will be very cool to reacquaint myself with Italy. I’ve had much experience with Italian people in the recent years living in Cabo Verde and I find that as a whole , Italians are happy and fun people, that like to joke around  and laugh. That is a very important thing to me and in life we need to have fun, laugh, joke around and enjoy the finer moments in life and I believe Italians are experts at that.

C7: Will you have Point-7 sails in your windsurfing centers as well?  

Josh Angulo: Yes, looking forward to that.

C7: Will you compete in Formula as well, as Point-7 has Formula sails in their range?

Josh Angulo: Could be something to think about . Living in Boston and being close to Virginia and Florida as well as South America , there’s quite a Formula scene. It won’t be an immediate priority, but is something I have been thinking about more lately.

C7: Was this your last sailsponsor change in your career as a professional windsurfer?

Josh Angulo: Yes!

©continentseven.com 2012, Josh Angulo, Point-7