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BJORN DUNKERBECK: NOT SLOWING DOWN!

Pete Davis caught up with Bjorn Dunkerbeck on his final day in Lüderitz, before heading back to Europe for a busy schedule of appearances. Bjorn reflects on his speed sailing experience this season, talks through his upcoming commitments, shares insights into the evolution of GPS-based speed sailing, his work with the Waterspeed app and his life as a father to a multi-talented, sport-driven family.

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PETER DAVIS: OK, Bjorn, how has the 2025 Lüderitz this year been for you?

BJORN DUNKERBECK: “I must say this year has been very slow. We had a few sessions on the channel that were pretty fun, not super fast speeds, with 90km an hour top speeds. But I must say the channel looks really good, the line is very straight and there’s lots of water in the channel. But unfortunately, it’s been a very rainy season and that doesn’t accelerate the winds down here in Lüderitz. The wind hasn’t been as strong as we all wished for.

So, I go home with a little bit of disappointment because I was expecting a bit stronger winds. I actually only managed to windsurf on my 45-centimeter speed board, which is normally my warm-up board. I have four different 40-centimeter-wide or narrow boards with me, that I couldn’t actually take down the channel. Not one single time! I did a couple of starts with my new 40; it was a little bit thicker, but it was just not enough for my 57 to be able to carry that board all the way down the channel.

So, I stuck on my training board, my warm-up board, and even though I managed to do 90km an hour top speed on the 45 production Starboard Isonic Speed, that’s actually very positive. But I would have liked to have some more wind.”

PETER DAVIS: “You look really strong on the canal; I assume now from the operations you’ve had, you’re fully recovered, you’re fully back to fitness?

BJORN DUNKERBECK: “Yes, I would say so. Last year it was pretty fresh after my recovery and I could feel that my right hip was heating up after sailing. And this year I must say I’ve had no problems at all, not in the preparation in the Canary Islands in Gran Canaria or here after the sessions. Of course, you feel a little stiff after a couple of hours on the speed board, but that’s normal healthy sport-after-windsurfing stiffness. But really happy. My left hip is still holding up very well after six years, and the right one since two years is tip-top, and I was looking forward to having some really strong fun days on the channel, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.

PETER DAVIS: Yeah, we’re really disappointed for you and we know it’s going to be difficult for you going home, but we know you’re very, very busy. You’re going back to Gran Canaria for an event that you’re organizing. What’s happening with all those events, because I know you’ve got your 100-kilometers-an-hour challenge that you unfortunately haven’t managed to do here, but you’ve got so many other things…you’re so busy all the time. What else have you got going on?

BJORN DUNKERBECK: “Well, actually, first of all, I’ll be home for a week, then I’ll be going to the ISPO next week. It’s the last ISPO in Munich, the sports fair. After 44 years, it’s moving to Amsterdam. So, I’m going be there for a few days…Sunday the 30th, Monday and Tuesday. After that I’ll be going to Austria to see the Red Bull HQ people and talk a bit about the season and what’s going to happen next year.

Then from the 16th to the 21st of December we have the stand-up paddle wave event in Gran Canaria for the 5th time in a row. So that will be quite interesting with Tristan Boxford…he’s still the boss of the APP…and all the top riders will be there. Then Christmas will be slightly after that, so everything’s going to happen pretty quickly.

And then I will be at the Boat Show in Düsseldorf, the first weekend of the boat show…the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20^th, where we’re going to do a kids camp on the pool. It’s a 100-meter pool with the fans in there. And Saturday 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th we’re going to have between 10 and 15 kids with the Saltwater Shop project, Kids Motivation, Saltwater Shop, and Dunkerbeck together. We’re going to be doing that.

And then, of course, preparing the event in Pozo in July from the 4th to the 12th of July. Wave sailing with juniors in all categories…under-13, under-15, under-18 and under-21 pros and men…with definitely one or two categories of masters. We’ve been trying to get the over 45 and the over 55 categories going and I think it’s going to happen this year finally. It is cool because a lot of the masters have kids that compete so they can both compete together.”

PETER DAVIS: You need some coffee and cake!

BJORN DUNKERBECK: “Thank you very much. Yeah, yeah, we’ll have coffee and cake!”

PETER DAVIS: So, tell us about Waterspeed. You’ve been promoting that quite heavily; you’re quite enthusiastic about it?

BJORN DUNKERBECK: “I think that the GPS, first of all, is a very important device for speed windsurfing and speed sailing in general. And as you well know, I was involved with Garmin with the Gecko and the Forerunner 20 years ago already at least and they have improved tremendously since then. We have devices that can go up to 20 points per second. Manfred Fuchs has a live device that we’re using here in Lüderitz, and that’s always helping us to promote windsurfing and speed sailing in a more direct and more precise way.

You can get very nice precise top speeds and live tracking and Waterspeed is really the very best app for any water sports. They really want to be number one in water sports, and I’ve been working together with them for the past three years already. And managed to motivate them to do not only iPhone but also Android. And now we can do challenges on the Waterspeed app, so any local event can use the Waterspeed app and put in a little program…the challenges, teams or groups…and you can do your own personal events and you can put a time frame on! Let’s say I’m doing my event six months out of the year. I’m doing my event in the summer months of July and we call it Surf and Fun July. So we can do one for our local spots, wherever we are. You can do one for local spots anywhere in the world with the Waterspeed app.

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And what’s very nice as well is it’s not only working on your phone as it was in the beginning, they have improved the app and now you can combine it with any smartwatch: Apple Watch, Ultra, Garmin, Coros, Suunto. And it makes it very easy and consumer-friendly to be able to do challenges with a group of people or even global, as my challenge is going on right now. It’s a global challenge with Waterspeed and we put it in the same period as the Speed Challenge, but once this is finished, I’m sure we’re going to do the next onean…and the next one could be a little longer. Give more people a chance to join my group, first of all on Waterspeed app, and also the challenges that we come up with in the future.

And don’t forget we’re doing the Dunkerbeck Speed Challenge, as always! This is the 10th year in a row, and we are running up to close to 3000 riders on the ranking. And right now, there’s still another week to post your speeds. The 30th of November is the last day, so don’t forget to post your speed on gps-speedsurfing.com and of course sign up correctly on the Speed Challenge to enter the raffles that we have every year from our different sponsors like 4Action, Forward WIP protection gear (Forward WIP – Innovative Protective Gear for Water Sports), Severne Sails, we also have the big shop in the Netherlands, Windsurfing.nl, and a few other partners.

Just check on the website on Dunkerbeck Speed Challenge. You see all our partners, and if you wish to become a partner for next year, contact me on event@dunkerbeck.com. New partners are always welcome and very important for our sport… to have new partners, and that includes obviously Dunkerbeck Speed Challenge, the stand-up paddle event in December and also the Pozo Windsurf World Cup; we need partners to grow and keep promoting our sport in the best way.

PETER DAVIS: So, you’re going back to see the family…how are all they doing? And now I understand that Liam is now on a different brand to you. Does that make your competition with Liam a little bit more competitive?

BJORN DUNKERBECK: “Well, he’s on Duotone right now since a year and he has another year of contract with them. He feels really happy because he’s getting a lot of attention and I think that’s very important. He’s just turned 21, he will be 22 next year. And I think that it’s important that he’s involved in the development and gets equipment that fits his style and his weight! It has shown that his sailing is improving, but not only because of that. Also, he’s growing into a man’s body now. He’s a lot stronger and his mind is even more focussed than before and he’s also a multi-talent. He’s doing surfing contests, doing a stand-up paddle event on Gran Canaria as well. And hopefully in the future joining me for another speed event again.

PETER DAVIS: “And then you have Daniel chasing him as well?

BJORN DUNKERBECK: “Daniel is definitely very talented and he is very sporty. He’s doing lots of different sports as well!”

PETER DAVIS: How old is he now?

BJORN DUNKERBECK: “He’s just turned 13 last week. I missed his birthday. Which was on the 14th of November. And my daughter Alba, who lives in Madrid right now, turned 23 yesterday. So, I’ve been missing those birthdays a few times in the last 20 years. That’s the way it goes. We do another celebration when I get back!

Danny was doing the juniors for the first time in Pozo this last summer when he was 12 years old and also did Tenerife. He’s very organized, he’s always the first guy on the beach. He has all his sails rigged up with his correct sail number E1111. And now that he’s 13, he actually got his own Instagram account as well: Daniel Dunkerbeck 1111. So, if you are a junior and have an Instagram, you can ask him to get acceptation…because it’s not a public account obviously, but he would like to motivate other kids and show other kids that windsurfing is a lot of fun. And also, mountain biking, stand-up paddling and surfing… obviously it’s all part of their daily routines.

PETER DAVIS: All seem to be a chip off the old block?

BJORN DUNKERBECK: “Yes. Well, I’m pretty happy. I mean, they both played soccer when they were young. Daniel is still playing soccer…he actually had a game today…but it combines very well because they have group training three times a week after school! The other days we go windsurfing. So, as long as they’re interested in sports and are dedicated, I think it’s a very good thing.

Both of my girls, Alba and Martina, were both Canarian champions and Spanish champion in gymnastics. Martina is actually right now in the highest category…Primera categoría is the highest level. Only 16 out of 250 clubs go in this first category, and the top 10 stay there and the last 6 from 11 to 16 drop down. So, it’s like a ranking. There’s 16 clubs and she has been in the top ranking for the last couple of years and hopefully will stay there for the next season as well.

And of course they can both windsurf and they can stand-up paddle! They also do a bit of surfing, both of the girls, but they’re all very sporty!”

PETER DAVIS: Bjorn, thank you very much for your interview. Much appreciated!

BJORN DUNKERBECK:

“You are welcome!”