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ADRIEN BOSSON: NEVER GIVE UP 

French freestyle sensation, Adrien Bosson, came close in 2018 and 2021 with PWA vice-world champion freestyle titles, but in 2022 he finally sealed the deal in Sylt with his maiden PWA world champion win. He gives us an insight into his success.  

WORDS: ADRIEN BOSSON // PHOTOS: JOHN CARTER/ PWAWORLDTOUR.COM, FISH BOWL DIARIES 

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SYLT 

After the super final in Sylt it was a pretty insane situation on the beach because I felt I did not sail that great. They did not announce the scores straight away as it was so close and they were checking everything over and over again.

The conditions were so tricky with bolt onshore winds and not super strong wind either. I was not happy with my performance. Jacopo Testa was sailing brilliantly and he came back all the way through the double elimination and beat me in the first final. With a world title on the line it was all getting pretty tense. He won the first final with a clear margin. The second final started badly for me but I nailed a few moves before the end of the heat. When we came out of the water, some media went to Jacopo and some came to me. Nobody knew who had won. There was no result, so I was at least thinking I had a chance.

I had crashed my first three moves but then I was just trying to focus and keep going and fill out my score sheet. Even if they were not my best moves I knew I had to complete something to stand a chance. I just said to myself don’t give up! I was struggling the whole heat trying to catch up and land a few decent tricks. So on the beach it was super tense.   

FINE MARGINS 

I saw one guy with his smart phone, saying Jacopo was in green on the live score but then I went to green. So nobody was sure. It was at least twenty or thirty minutes until we found out on the stage. That time felt endless. In the end I won by a .1 point difference. I was really surprised. I have been really unlucky in the past so it was amazing to finally win a world title. On the first day of competition when it was windy and side-shore I had a lot of fun sailing. On the finals day it was a lot tougher sailing, but I guess it was like that for everyone.  

It felt so good to win finally. I have been second twice so if I would have lost the other way round by .1 of a point that would have been hard to take. This time the luck went my way. It will always be tough to repeat that again. That victory was the achievement of a lot of time training and trying to be my best on a windsurf board! You have to be able to perform in any conditions, such as bolt onshore Sylt for instance. You also need a bit of luck and for everything to all come together. It just feels like the pinnacle of all that hard work.  

LOCKDOWN 

I took my training a little easier the last two or three years. I had a lot of work at my watersports centre back home in Marseille, France. In 2020 the Covid rules were pretty strict so I hardly sailed. After that, there were no contests so I was just going sailing for myself. I was just doing the tricks I wanted to do; it wasn’t really like full training when we had some busy years on the calendar. Maybe that time away helped as well as I was less stressed coming into Sylt. I had been taking my training a little bit easier compared to the past.  

AMBITION 

My ambition was always to become world champion one day. When I started ten years ago, I wanted to just make the top fifteen. I gradually worked my way up to the top ten and then the top five. Suddenly in 2016, everything clicked into place. I had a lot of podium results and after that year I realised that I could perhaps go for the title. There were a lot of guys that were inspirational to me. All the PWA champions in all disciplines at the top of their game, have inspired me. They are dedicated to windsurfing and their sports careers. In freestyle, Gollito Estredo was obviously the man to beat for many years. He was the king of freestyle and has won so many times; his career was insane because he won so much. I also admire Jacopo Testa and I sail a lot with him. I really like watching him, he is super competitive as well. All the Belgian guys are also amazing – Steven Van Broeckhoven, Yentel Caers and Dieter Van Der Eyken. All of these guys have inspired me along the way. It has not just been one guy. When I was younger, Robby Naish and Jason Polakow were also my idols. On the competitive side, the guys I am facing all the time are my inspiration. 

TRAINING 

The first day in Sylt was pretty decent conditions. We can get similar in Carro in France when the wind blows from the east so I had trained for that type of day. But on the finals day, you can only find that type of conditions in Sylt. It was pretty nasty and I am not sure if anybody trains in that! You still have to perform though and we made it happen! If it was for fun, I don’t know if I would have been sailing in those conditions; I would probably have gone looking for another spot. But that is Sylt! It is hard to even get off the beach and pass the shorebreak sometimes!  

LIFE BALANCE 

I am happy. I have a girlfriend and a dog, which is kind of like having a kid (laughs)! I like to work at home at my centre, that gives me a routine. My centre is my back up plan in life! I live in a similar rhythm to the other people where I live. I do my regular job and besides that I just train after work or on my days off. I do personal coaching at the centre and also manage my team. We have seven people working at my centre. I teach groups as well, whatever needs doing, from beginners to experts. The centre is open eight months a year, mostly through the summer. I teach a lot of local people from my town and I enjoy that. This is where I grew up and learned to windsurf. I like to share that with the people living in my area. We teach every kind of level and just share the passion.  

FANATIC / DUOTONE 

I have been with the Fanatic / Duotone team for many years and I am so used to sailing that gear. The Idol is such a sweet sail and I am really in tune with it when I sail. It is so light and I have such good control and power as well. In freestyle it is important to have a sail that you can throw around and that is balanced. What was nice about the Skate was that it worked in the conditions we had at Sylt. That was so important for me to win the title. A lot of brands have moved to shorter boards. Once you get used to them I guess it can be ok. But once a board is too short, it can be really hard to sail in places like Sylt. I use the Skate everywhere, it is definitely on point! 

FITNESS 

I do a lot of sports beside windsurfing. That includes a lot of cross-training. I work with a coach and he used to train me one on one. Now we have some group lessons on the beach, so when I finish work at my surf school, if there is no wind, I go to the session. It is usually around 6 p.m. and we are a group of people on the beach, using ropes and kettlebells etc. There is always a circuit and it is good fun because I am training with some older guys who are in decent shape. We try always to step up the game a little bit and go further with more push ups and squats. I surf as well, do a bit of wing foil and just try to have fun on the water. 

EXPERIENCE  

This winter I will try and do a nice travel trip. I want to go to Cabo Verde for some wave sailing. It will be cool to sail some waves as well as doing a bit more freestyle and capturing it for a video. We don’t see that many freestyle windsurf clips anymore so I would like to do a few projects. For sure I will show up at the events again next year. I will always do my best. I am 31 now, so I am one of the older guys on tour. I think I am the oldest PWA Freestyle Champion. Maybe it is experience that counts? Steven Van Broeckhoven is 36 and he is still at the top. He also had some great results on the EFPT and is sailing as well and as radical as ever. Nico Akgazciyan is still there also. Actually we are all finding out about the longevity of a freestyle sailor as we are all the guys that were young when I started competing in Sardinia in 2009!  

MENTAL GAME 

In Sylt, it was really tough mentally as I was on top and just waiting for somebody to come back through the double and take my place for the title. There was a lot more on the line than normal. To stay competitive mentally was super hard. Some days in your mind everything just clicks and you feel good on the water. The second final of the double was a total disaster at the beginning. I had already lost once and then I crashed my first three moves. I was in a terrible position. Jacopo is so light and planes early. He was like a fly around me. I had started bad but knew that I was going to finish stronger. I felt that I could not keep going so badly and crashing so much. I was just waiting for the momentum to turn. I was just trying to do my tricks. There was no point playing it safe against a guy like Jacopo. I am not going to start doing a spock or just a regular forward loop. If I was sailing that bad, I thought maybe Jacopo would be finding it tough also. I said to myself don’t give up and keep going. There is no other choice. The clock was ticking and I had to go for it. 

MOVES 

It depends on the conditions which moves are the toughest. When you start doing double rotations in the air, these moves are pretty difficult. What is hard is to do any of your moves in light and difficult conditions. Some places are very choppy also and that makes ducking the sail and doing the tricks more difficult. There are some old tricks that are so hard like the Lazy Susan, which is just a 360 with the board. It is almost impossible, as well as a lot of the old clew first moves. The Bonka is tough also, but we train that and I feel there is more chance of landing that than a Lazy Susan. 

ADVICE 

My advice to young freestylers who want to make it to the top is to spend as much time as possible on the water. You cannot rely on just windsurfing though, so you need to have another job as a back up, especially as a freestyler. You need that stability for the future, as well as your mind. It is nice if you can combine your sport with the balance of another goal or a regular job. Having that balance is really good for your mind. You need a good team or a decent group of friends to train and travel with. When I look back over the years, I always had fun travelling with all the guys on tour. I have a lot of good memories of discovering new places, the windsurfing and meeting new people. There are a lot of things to learn on the road but the process is fun. You need to keep your passion fun. That journey has taken me all the way to the top! Every story I have from the past, ends up here as PWA freestyle champion.