EARLY DAYS
I am from a small village near Kiel in Germany. It is a two-minute drive from the Baltic Sea. Obviously, I went to school just like any normal kid from my area. I started windsurfing when I was about thirteen, my parents got me into it. My father was a windsurfer, probably one of the first in Germany. He stopped windsurfing for career and job reasons. One day they decided to let me try out windsurfing but I didn't have a great experience and didn't continue for a while. Luckily I was persuaded to give it another try and I managed to get planning within a few days of learning and immediately, I was hooked! From those sessions, I absolutely fell in love with windsurfing. So that was when I was thirteen. After that, I just tried to get on the water anytime I could. My parents supported me and took me to the beach as often as possible. They helped me rig and all that stuff. After I finished school, I decided to focus on windsurfing at least for a year just to try it out. The rest is history as they say.
RACING ROOTS
Most of the guys I sailed with in the early days were wave sailors. That is how I started. I saw them doing jumps and moves and that was where I wanted to be. As I progressed in windsurfing, I was able to use smaller boards. My first board was a wave freestyle board. So, in the beginning I was more of a wave sailor. At that time, I also went to the gym a lot. I started getting a bit taller and heavier. A lot of people told me I was just the right size for slalom racing. I started with BIC Techno which is a One Design class. I hated it, it wasn't for me. The boards were too big, and everything felt big and clumsy. Then I tried slalom sailing. I really enjoyed it, especially when I started racing. In the beginning I never trained, in my free time I would go wave sailing, and in competitions I would just turn up and race in the slalom.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Issue 440 - January/February 2025-Ausgabe von Windsurf.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Issue 440 - January/February 2025-Ausgabe von Windsurf.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
New School
Slingshot’s windsurfing brand manager, Wyatt Miller, has noticed that kids are drawn to playing with wings and puts forward an interesting case as to why he thinks this could help entice them and others into windsurfing.
Changes
Wave sailor Flo Jung reflects on our changed world during his lockdown in Germany.
THE LAST WAVE
Lockdown stirred the creative juices of reader Björn Alfthan, who peers into the future to present a fictional story set in the wild waves of Norway, five years from now.
STILL IN THE GAME
After a horrific fracture in his leg from a crashed aerial in 2018, Alessio Stillrich is back! John Carter talks to the highflyer from Gran Canaria about his move to the Simmer team, recovering from injury and how he learned to windsurf in Gran Canaria!
MOVE ON UP - GET ON THE FRONT FOOT
This month we look at how our front foot weighting can affect and improve different aspects of our main windsurfing moves.
SOUTH' KIPA
Nik tweaking it over home waters.
A NEW NORMAL
On a trip to La Tranche-sur-Mer in France last year, Tris Best estimated over 80% of the windsurfers were foiling. This summer in Portland Harbour, foiling activity has increased dramatically too he reports. With the market offering plenty of choice to recreational windfoilers, our test team check out some of the latest foil offerings.
TACKING – THE SEQUEL
Having given you time to practice, Harty concludes his tacking series by critiquing various tacking options, including the carve tack, as well as offering solutions to common slip-ups.
‘NO VAPOUR TRAILS TO SCAR THE SKY' *
Realising we may be about to enter an extraordinary period in our lives, Harty decided to keep a windsurf-centric lockdown diary. Here are some of his choice excerpts.
REDEMPTION DAY!
Renowned for its windsurfing and variety of spots to sail at, Kimmerdige Bay is a wave sailing jewel on the south coast of England. Timo Mullen gives a guide to its shores while reflecting on why a recent session there was a reminder that there is no place like home!
