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MIND GAMES: HOW MARC PARÉ MADE IT THREE IN A ROW IN TENERIFE!

Marc Paré arrived in Tenerife as the man to beat, having already won the event twice and with the forecast promising the kind of wild conditions where anything could happen. But beneath the confident exterior, the pressure was real. In this revealing interview, Marc talks about overthinking, finding the elusive flow state, dealing with expectations and why sometimes winning is as much about controlling your mind as it is about landing the biggest moves.

Photos: WWT / PWA CARTER

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WINDSURF: You’ve won this event twice before, so coming into Tenerife you were obviously one of the hot favourites. Were you feeling the pressure as the event approached, especially with the forecast calling for full-on conditions? What was your mental state beforehand?

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah, it was a little harder for me to get into my focused mode for this event. I’d been sailing a lot, so I was tired and then I had a bunch of other things going on before the event. I was a little bit irritated.

But, as you said, probably part of it was also because I was feeling the pressure.

It’s different when you win once. You’re like, “Okay, I did it.” Then you win twice and you’re like, “Okay, I did it again.” It’s like, “Okay, it wasn’t lucky, maybe!”

But this time, especially with the conditions being on fire, there were a lot of other guys who sail their best in those conditions. You also kind of have to count on some wild cards doing really well.

I feel like I sometimes have a little more of an edge when the conditions are below average because I train a lot in those conditions and I have everything fine-tuned to perfection. So, yeah, I was definitely feeling the pressure this time!”

WINDSURF: Those really wild conditions aren’t exactly the sort of thing you can train for every day, though, are they?

MARC PARÉ: “No, there aren’t that many days like that where you can really get dialled in.

But it comes down to something Victor always tells me: when it’s firing, everyone sails good. When it’s crappy, you’ve got to put in the work.

So I feel like I’ve put a lot of work in on the crappy stuff too and that can give me a little bit of an edge sometimes.

My whole focus for the event was just to perform and do the things I’d been practising before the event. I really wanted to do some power turns, some good doubles and just ride some good waves in general.”

WINDSURF: You didn’t look like you were exactly flowing in the morning. I was watching you warm up and you were crashing quite a lot…

MARC PARÉ: Yeah! I was riding a board that I hadn’t been using and I put some new fins on it that I wanted to try. They were asymmetric and I had been trying that setup on some of my other boards.

Something just didn’t feel right. I’d go for a jump and feel like I was stuck. I couldn’t accelerate… I was constantly mistiming things. I was thinking, “That’s freaking weird.”

So, I sat for about an hour trying to fight through it. I was like, “Come on!”

Then Pons was saying, “You’re doing this wrong, you’re doing that wrong.”

And I was like, “No, it’s not me…there’s something wrong with the board!”

And it turned out it was the fins.

So, I swapped to the other board and suddenly I was clicking everything again. I did two push forwards in about a minute or two, which was really weird because it was just the fins.

So I put the normal fins back on the other board and ended up competing on the board I felt comfortable on…my “Pozo Board.”

WINDSURF: Your “Pozo Board”?

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah, exactly! Just my free-wave board. It felt really solid. I could go really fast and accelerate, but it was still sharp in the wave. So I just stuck with that. It was windy, so…that board worked and suddenly everything clicked!”

WINDSURF: You did look a bit edgy in the morning, but when you came out of the water after winning, that’s when you finally got the smile!

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah, exactly. I kind of got comfortable.

At the beginning I was completely out of it, so that’s why I sat for an hour and a half thinking, “F**k, I’m so dumb!”

But in the end, it paid off because I figured out where the problem was. It hadn’t been like that before the event, so it was more noticeable in the big stuff.

WINDSURF: You landed some crazy doubles and perfect push forwards…how many attempts have gone into getting there?

MARC PARÉ: “Countless, I think. Especially with the doubles. I’ve been through years of pain with them…getting frustrated, getting into bad habits, relearning them again and then learning them on the big stuff, which is a lot harder.

It’s a lot of work behind that. There’s always something to polish. Then the sails change a little bit and you have to adapt your technique, so there’s always something you can change or adjust.”

WINDSURF: But when you first go out and nail a huge double and practically plane out of the landing, that must feel pretty good?

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah, it feels really good because it’s not always like that.

It’s like I was explaining to someone before: even though it’s in your game plan and this is what you want to do, that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen like that. Most of the time it’s the opposite. It doesn’t go your way, so you need to fight your way through it.

You try once, twice, three times… but for whatever reason, I’ve felt really in sync with this place over the last few years. As soon as the contest starts, it’s like, “Okay, done.” I just click in and seem to be in sync with the spot.

It’s really weird and, in a way, kind of scary!”

WINDSURF: If you land a land a double straight right after the green flag…your mind must immediately be thinking, “Okay, I’m on today.”

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah, exactly. It’s so easy to get into a flow state when everything just keeps happening. You do a jump and nail it, then you go straight into a good wave. Then you take another wave and suddenly you do another good jump. It’s like, “Okay, the heat’s closed.”

WINDSURF: Is that what your mind is saying? “I’ve just to get four ticks…two jumps and two waves”?

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah, pretty much.

When it happens like that, it’s easy. But let’s be honest, it’s normally not like that.

I’m normally a person who needs to fight through the heats. I start wrong and then need to keep fighting my way through it.

At least that’s how it’s felt over the last few years. Not necessarily here, but everywhere else. It was the same in Sylt last year when I won. I was completely out of it. I spent about five minutes out the back doing nothing, and then suddenly I clicked and did a couple of good things and ended up winning.

That’s more like it for me. You have to constantly search for it and fight for it rather than everything just happening.”

WINDSURF: So, in the final, once you’ve nailed that double loop on your first run, are you already thinking, “That’s that box ticked. I don’t need to do that again”?

MARC PARÉ: Yeah, exactly.

I just nailed it and thought, “Good. Got it in the bank. I don’t need to do that again.”

Then I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw the boys tacking back and forth because some of them had missed the first jump.

So, I thought, “Okay, I’m just wave riding now.”

Why should I queue up with them if I’ve got the whole lineup to myself to wave ride? That was kind of a little advantage.”

WINDSURF: And then you got that run where you found the ramp for the push forward?

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah. I remember talking to Philip Koester after the final. I said, “There was that run where we were both searching for the push forward.”

He went kind of straight and then I saw some white water further down the line. I bore away a lot and started accelerating. I was thinking, “Yeah, it’s going to build, it’s going to build.”

Then it just jacked up right in front of me.

I was like, “That’s it!”

WINDSURF: Although it’s not quite that simple. You’ve still got to nail the push forward!

MARC PARÉ: “Exactly!

It’s this combination of being lucky and searching for the opportunities. I find that lining yourself up with the waves is normally how it is. That day, everything just synced. It felt like it was happening and I wasn’t nervous. I don’t know, you get into this state…

It’s normally not like that, as I’m saying. I was just in that mood and I was having a lot of fun.”

WINDSURF: Did you have someone signalling from the beach to tell you how you were doing?

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah, my dad and Ponzo were on the beach. Moritz was there too.

But I don’t think I looked at them much in the final because I knew I was doing well.”

WINDSURF: You didn’t need to look.

MARC PARÉ: “I didn’t want to. What’s the point? I did in the previous heats, but not in the final.”

WINDSURF: So, when you came back to the beach, what was that feeling?

MARC PARÉ: “It was weird because I kind of knew I’d won. I just felt like I’d had a really good heat. I remember when the time finished, I let out a really loud scream while I was out the back coming back in because I just felt good. I was like, “Yeah, I might have done it.”

I didn’t know for sure, but as I got closer, I saw them waving and they were like, “Yeah, you’re first!”

So I was like, “F**k yeah!”

That was really cool.”

WINDSURF: Once you’ve won one time, are you never really fully satisfied unless you win again?

MARC PARÉ: “It varies. For example, when I got second in Pozo, I was really happy because it’s a good result and I’m aware of how hard it is just to be in that top three.

As we saw with Marino, you can easily fall out of the top three even if you’re one of the favourites to win because the level is so high.

But, yeah, it’s more of a personal thing that you’re not fully satisfied unless you win.

Winning is such a big relief. And on top of that, I won in really good conditions against the likes of Philip Koester in proper windy conditions, where I feel like he really shines.

So, yeah, it was pretty satisfying.”

WINDSURF: Do you ever read the Windsurf predictions?

MARC PARÉ: Yeah, sometimes. But I try not to read them too much when it’s my event.

Because it just stresses me out. I know I’m capable of winning. I know the level of the other guys and I know they can beat my ass badly if I don’t sail well.

So, it’s more about focusing on what I can do.

I’m quite a sensitive person at the end of the day, so I’ve learned over time that I have to be careful about what I feed my brain.

I try to stay focused on things I can control rather than letting outside things affect me, because I know they will affect me in some way.”

WINDSURF: Well, on the Windsurf website we actually picked you to win. I had Koester second and Marino third.

MARC PARÉ: “Oh, there you go! Thank you!”

WINDSURF: We got the full house!

MARC PARÉ: “That’s pretty good! You seem to be good at this because you nailed it at another event too. You’re pretty good at that!”

WINDSURF: You have to start reading it!

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah, I will have to… but then it might affect my mind!”

WINDSURF: That’s the thing. It seems like a lot of this is just dealing with the pressure as well.

MARC PARÉ: “It is. It totally is!”

WINDSURF: It seems like you think a lot.

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah! I used to overthink before contests a lot.

Now I’ve learned to deal with it. I have my own way of handling it.

But I am an overthinker. I think about things a lot and things affect me quite a lot, so I have to be careful about what input I give my brain.

I constantly need to keep my mind under control!”

WINDSURF: But when it comes good and you are in the flow…you seem to relax?

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah, exactly! Exactly.

That’s the thing. Normally you need to fight to get into the right place mentally.”

WINDSURF: So, what size sail were you on in the final?

MARC PARÉ: “I was on the 4.0m for the whole event.”

WINDSURF: So not small, small!

MARC PARÉ: “No. I could have been on a 3.7m, for a couple of heats, but I just prefer the 4.0m because I know how Tenerife is.

You get to the wave and suddenly you’re like, “Oh!” There can be no power. I’d rather be on the edge and controlling the jumps because on this stack I feel like I can control them when I’m really powered up anyway.

I’d rather have that than be underpowered in the wave and start crashing or missing things because I don’t have enough pressure.”

WINDSURF: So that first run out, when all you guys must be doing 30 knots towards the first ramp…is that quite an adrenaline rush? You’re coming off the beach, powered up, and all four of you are heading towards the ramp…

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s pretty fun.

It’s also kind of a mental positioning game with the other riders. Who goes first? You see a ramp building and you’re thinking about when to go.

Normally I feel like I’m the guy who tends to push a little bit. I like to be the leader.

I don’t know why. I just like to get ahead.

But in the final, I wasn’t like that. I let Philip and Marino go first. I was like, “Yeah, you know…” They went first and that actually gave me the right momentum.

I saw Philip going and thought, “He’s too early.”

Then I saw Marino further up and thought, “You know what? I’m just going to go, no matter what.”

So, I let them get a few metres ahead and then I went.

You always need to leave some space because you can’t all go together.

I’ve had that happen in the past. If you let someone go in front and you’re right behind them, you can get too close. Then sometimes you can’t jump because you’re too close and you don’t want to land on or crash into the guy.”

WINDSURF: It’s a fun lineup here, though.

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah, I loved it.”

WINDSURF: So, did you celebrate afterwards or was it just dinner?

MARC PARÉ: “We just had dinner and I had two beers!”

WINDSURF: Two?

MARC PARÉ: “Yeah! I was shit-faced after the first one. It doesn’t take much!”

WINDSURF: Well congratulations and we hope you didn’t get a hangover. Thanks very much, Marc!