ROBBY SWIFT
MOMENTS YOU DON'T FORGET
I have quite a few 'Simply the Best's'. Windsurfing just gives you so many moments and they are all got planing at the tender age of eight. I remember sitting down in the car daydreaming about the feeling of the board coming up out of the water and getting on the fin. Since the early days it has progressed a bit and the limits of "Simply the Best!" keep getting stretched.
WINNING AN EVENT
Another amazing moment was the moment when I won the PWA Freestyle in Fuerteventura. Back then it was such a hard event, where we used to do four eliminations. I won the first two and got into the final of the third one and when I won that, I already knew I had won the event without even having to do the contest the next day. The feeling of joy, relief, incredulity, was just incredible. At that point I was only 19 and I thought I was going to win a bunch more events, but sadly, it still hasn't repeated itself with a couple of third places being the best individual event results I have achieved. Strangely enough, after all these years, even just hearing that I have passed a heat still brings goosebumps to my skin and makes me feel ecstatic.
PE'AHI
Jaws is special because there is just so much water moving around and it goes so fast. It's hard to even catch the wave, then you have to hope that you are in the right position on the wave, not too deep, or you risk getting completely mowed down when you drop in. Once you are on the wave though, it's so smooth, it is kind of surreal. I love the feeling of the endless drop and then laying into a bottom turn simply as hard as you possibly can, being inside the wave so deep that you think you will never make it out again onto the shoulder, and then just squeaking past the giant whitewater to do a turn before repeating it all over again. It's a crazy experience.
This story is from the Issue 438 - October 2024 edition of Windsurf.
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This story is from the Issue 438 - October 2024 edition of Windsurf.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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