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ANTOINE MARTIN: RESET IN RÉUNION

After the intensity of Pozo and with Tenerife looming, most riders would stay dialled in among the trade winds and volcanic rocks of the Canary Islands. But for Antoine Martin, a change of scenery felt essential. After months out with injury and barely back on the board before competition, he needed more than training. He needed space. He needed power. He needed waves.

And so, instead of settling into another stretch of high-wind sessions, Antoine booked a spontaneous flight for a strike mission to Réunion, one of his favourite wave playgrounds. From arriving straight into mast-high sets and pushing his Goya and Quatro gear into the red zone, the trip delivered exactly what he was searching for.

We caught up with Antoine to hear how this two week escape came out trumps when returned to the Canary Islands and scored 5^th place in Tenerife.

Photos: Cédric Bornadel, Charly Bell, François Kling, Charly Chapelet and PWA!

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WINDSURF: After competing in Pozo, with the next event due in Tenerife the normal plan would be to stay and train in the Canary Islands in preparation for the next event?

ANTOINE MARTIN: “Yeah, usually you stay in the Canaries for a couple of months, you know, because there’s Pozo and Tenerife. So, normally I try to stay in the same place, but as you know, I like the Canary Islands but I also love big waves…I think it was important for me to get a break, especially after my injury where I was off the water for a long time. I went straight from my injury to competing in Pozo, which is a tough event for me.

I felt I needed a break to reset and go to one of my favourite places on earth to windsurf, which actually works in summertime….I mean, winter in Reunion is summertime in the Canaries.”

WINDSURF: What was the plan?

ANTOINE MARTIN: “Yeah, I booked it last minute. I always my eye on some forecasts, and I went on a strike mission. I booked the ticket a couple of days before, and I went for two weeks. It’s kind of cool to go on a last-minute flight because at least you’re almost sure to score something! I knew when I booked there was some solid wind and waves on the forecast!!!

I went for a pretty decent swell and I scored as soon as I arrived! It is often like that….at least for the first swell! It is tough to dive straight into sailing huge waves. Hopefully you can score another few swells where you can be more confident for the next one, once you are dialled in. It’s kind of hard though because sometimes you have to be at your best right after you arrive off the plane. Literally, at the beginning of the swell, I arrived at 6am with big jet lag and by 11am, I was sailing already!”

WINDSURF: How was the equipment working?

ANTOINE MARTIN: “I’m super happy with my new equipment. That was really a choice of mine, going there with Goya and Quatro. I had a couple of proposals and that was my choice. So, when it’s your choice, and you already have a great feeling with the team, it always makes it worth it.

I knew the guys at Goya from a while ago! I’ve had boards from Keith back in the day, so I knew what I was getting into. They’re super cool because they really listen to my needs, and we’re trying to make the best out of it.

So now I’m in the learning process, because it’s totally different from what I used to have with North and Starboard. It takes some time, but I’m slowly getting there, and I’m super happy with the outcome of this collaboration.”

Quatro

Goya windsurfing

WINDSURF: When you came back to Tenerife, you actually made the semi-finals!

ANTOINE MARTIN: “That was such a surprise for me because I arrived the day before the contest, literally with some production gear that I had never sailed with. So, I had to learn how to sail my new gear during the event itself. It was a really big surprise for me to make it to fifth place.

And that’s always kind of cool, you know, when you don’t have expectations and you make such a great result. It came after a difficult season, because I started the in Japan with a second-place final behind Marcilio Browne. And then I went to places that I love, my kind of my style of conditions, like Puerto Rico and Chile and I blew it off and did not do well. It is always annoying to lose at your favourite places.

Then I hurt myself right before the event in Maui, another good place that I love. So, it was really frustrating. I was three and a half months out of the water! And then the next event was Pozo, which is a really intense place to start off with after an injury!

I was frustrated. So, to end up scoring a solid result in Tenerife was a great feeling, it put me back on track. Especially after I had just been chasing huge wave in Reunion for the previous two weeks!”

WINDSURF: How was it going from 3.3m onshore Pozo to heavy down-the-line cross-off in Reunion? How do you adapt with the sailing?

ANTOINE MARTIN: “It’s way easier for me to adapt from Pozo to La Réunion than the other way around. To go from light wind conditions to Pozo is way more difficult. But that’s what we train for…that’s why we windsurf so much. It’s to keep our body fit and to make sure that, no matter what the conditions, we are fully ready for any type of setup.”

WINDSURF: Do you sail with caution in Reunion all do you go hard every session?

ANTOINE MARTIN: “So in Réunion you kind of have to go hard. There’s this one place called Pointe au Sel, which is quite gnarly. You have to commit; otherwise you can’t really do much with the wave. I had to go hard! And it was good, because that’s what I needed after my injury! I needed that mentality again and find my normal way of sailing which is normally all-in! So, I was super stoked. I was doing like five to seven-meter-high aerials every day…super big aerials…and I was just landing hard, hard, hard. It was just intense. It is good testing for Quatro also to see how much the boards can handle. They actually encourage me to keep charging which is cool!”

WINDSURF: So did you feel like it was a successful reset in Réunion.

ANTOINE MARTIN: “It is always good to go to La Réunion because there’s still a fabulous community. I have some good friends out there now, so it’s kind of easy-going for me every time I go…I have my routine there.

But hopefully next year, I will try to discover some new places around the world and keep doing what I’m doing!”