Wind Surfing

This nice card was sent to me by my friend Karoly in Serbia.

Powerlifter Kenneth ”Kenta” Sandvik

One of Åland’s largest export items, physically speaking, powerlifter Kenta Sandvik, now adorns an Åland stamp for the first time. Photographer Daniel Eriksson tagged along to the gym, Kenta’s home turf. 

About 20 years ago, Kenneth ”Kenta” Sandvik first slunk into the gym behind a friend who was more comfortable in the gym. Today, he competes in 8 to 10 competitions every year. He has seven world and six European championship medals on his shelf and has a place in the International Powerlifting Federations Hall of Fame. 

“I began to compete to stay motivated. And I aimed at not always ending up last,” Kenta Sandvik says. 

He has now been competing since 2001. At close to 40, he sees no reason to scale down or put down his barbells.

“I still find it stimulating and I enjoy the strong sense of fellowship in our club. The only thing that could make me want to quit is if I hurt myself or lose the incentive.” 

For the sake of the anecdote, we should let you know that Kenta Sandvik works for Åland Post. Therefore, we are likely to have the strongest mail carrier in the world working for us. 

Thank you Ella.

Wind Surfing

Merja sent me this card from Limassol. I wonder where she is in this picture ;-))

Well what exactly is windsurfing? Windsurfing or sailboarding is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually 2 to 3 metres long, with a volume of about 60 to 250 liters, powered by wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and consists of a mast, 2-sided boom and sail. The sail area generally ranges from 2.5 m² to 12 m² depending on the conditions, the skill of the sailor and the type of windsurfing being undertaken.

The history of windsurfing began in 1948 on the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, USA when Newman Darby invented the sailboard, which, incidentally, he did not patent. In 1964, Darby began selling his sailboards.

Windsurfing can be said to straddle both the laid-back culture of surf sports and the more rules-based environment of sailing. Although it might be considered a minimalistic version of a sailboat, a windsurfer offers experiences that are outside the scope of any other sailing craft design. Windsurfers can perform jumps, inverted loops, spinning maneuvers, and other "freestyle" moves that cannot be matched by any sailboat. Windsurfers were the first to ride the world's largest waves, such asJaws on the island of Maui, and, with very few exceptions, it was not until the advent of tow-in surfing that waves of that size became accessible to surfers on more traditional surfboards. Extreme waves aside, many expert windsurfers will ride the same waves as wavesurfers do (wind permitting) and are themselves usually very accomplished without a rig on a conventional surfboard.

At one time referred to as "surfing's ginger haired cousin" by the sport's legendary champion, Robby Naish, windsurfing has long struggled to present a coherent image of the sport to outsiders. Indeed, participants will regularly use different names to describe the sport, including sailboarding and boardsailing. Despite the term,"Windsurfing" became the accepted name for the sport, participants are still called "sailors" or "board heads" and not "surfers"

Dynamo Stadium (Minsk)

Dynamo Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Minsk, Belarus. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Dynamo Minsk. The stadium has a seating capacity for 40,000 people. Dynamo Stadium was constructed in 1934, but was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt in 1954. The stadium was one of the venues of the football tournament at the 1980 Summer Olympics and was used as the home venue of BATE Borisov for the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League group stage and 2011–12 UEFA Champions League play-off round. Kseniya sent this card to me.

Mountain Bike Racing

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the sport of mountain bike racing relatively late in 1990, when it sanctioned the world championships in Purgatory, Colorado. The first mountain biking world cup series took place in 1991. Its nine-race circuit covered two continents—Europe and North America—and was sponsored by Grundig. In 1992, the Grundig-UCI world cup circuit expanded to ten races, and remained a trans-Atlantic series. Cross-country racing was the only world cup sport at this time, then in 1993 a six-event downhill world cup was introduced. In 1996, cross-country mountain biking events were added to the Olympic Games. NORBA refers to the Board of Trustees that represent the sport of mountain bike racing for USA Cycling. There are three USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Calendars: Endurance, Gravity and Ultra-Endurance. USA Cycling runs the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships. In 2006, cross-country mountain biking events became part of the World Deaf Cycling Championships for the first time in San Francisco, USA.^[1] There are mountain bike racing types that are not recognized by the UCI, such as mountain bike orienteering, that are governed by the IOF.

Short track Cross-country – This card features these guys involved in Short Track Cross Country (XCC). A very short XC style event of about 800m in length but generally about 1 minute 30 seconds in winning time. A short, sharp exciting event to watch and participate in. Than you Alex for this nice card.

Cyprus – Michael Jordan

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a former American professional basketball player, active businessman, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
After a standout career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' National Championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards. This cool maxicard from Cyprus was given to me by Merja.