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DEFI WIND: THE CHALLENGE

For a lot of windsurfers, the legendary pro-am long distance race, the Défi Wind in Gruissan in the south of France, has become a bucket-list challenge. In 2022, the 20th edition of the event took place in classic Défi strong wind conditions and amongst the 1200+ entrants was a plucky group of Brits. We hear from a few of them on the good, bad and ugly side of their Défi experience!

Words – Shaun Cook, Dave White, Simon Chippington, Sarah Jackson. // Photos – Dave White, Défi Wind / Jean-Marc Cornu, Défi Wind / Jean Souville, Julien Prenez.

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Shaun Cook GBR630

A long time ago Whitey said that we should do the Défi Wind, as it would be a great experience, but the thought of travelling all that way in a van was slightly off putting for me if I am honest. Put me in a teleport chamber and I would have been there like a shot years ago! Since Whitey has had his stroke, one of his goals was to go to the Défi Wind, and a good friend of ours, Pete Thompson, was happy to join us on our adventure. So we signed up, but not knowing what to expect with conditions and the amount of windsurfers participating, I was slightly nervous! The weeks soon went past, and before you knew it, Whitey and Pete were at my door at 5 a.m., ready to set off two days before the event was due to start. With the campervan all loaded with all the sail sizes and board options possible, we were on route to catch the Euro tunnel and make the long journey down to Gruissan. We hadn’t even hit the M25 and I was having a bit of shuteye in the back, only to be woken up by a noise and see Whitey pretty much sitting on Pete’s lap, who was also having a bit of shuteye!! To my amazement it was raining and the wiper on Whitey’s drivers side of the van had somehow jumped off the splines of the wiper motor and was hanging out past the side of the van. I said, “How long has it been like that?” at that point Pete woke up to see what was going on. He said, “Only 15 minutes”!!! So onto the hard shoulder and assess the situation. I said to Dave, “Where’s your socket set?” What a silly question, he had only packed vital tools, i.e. his camera equipment!! So armed with only a set of mole grips I proceeded to tighten the loose nut, which seemed to work. We set off again and were soon at the Eurotunnel, awaiting our train.

Problems

Once through passport control and inspection checks we were on the train, and before we knew it (approximately 30 minutes), we were ready to disembark. As we slowed down, Whitey’s camper rolled into a 2019 camper in front, I’m not to sure that it hit it, but the guy who loaded us up said, “have you rolled forward?” Not sure how that happened with his camper in park and the handbrake on, but this might explain events that followed! Exiting the train we followed sat nav and were making good progress. We stopped for a break and Pete jumped behind the wheel to do a bit of driving. I was very fortunate, being so young, I could not drive his camper, so I was planning on making up for lost sleep and relaxing the whole way there. Pete was about 2 hours into the drive and went to overtake a lorry when the camper lost all power, and the automatic gearbox went from 6^th to 5^th gear. Whitey tried manually putting it into 6^th, but it kept jumping out and going back to 5^th gear. We carried on, but in my mind, I was already thinking this isn’t good, but I kept my thoughts to myself.

More problems

We came up to our first toll and as we slowed down, the camper juddered to a halt, now finding no gears at all and we were stuck in neutral about 3 metres from the barrier, with cars piling up behind us! I went into the back to find the triangle and high-vis jackets amongst all our windsurfing kit! Pete found out that by law we needed to phone the police who then get a recovery truck to tow us safely off the motorway. Blocking up one of the tolls for about an hour, the recovery truck finally turned up and took us to the recovery truck forecourt. This garage never gets dirty hands repairing or diagnosing breakdowns, they just pick up vehicles and take them to a garage to be repaired. We sat here for about 6 hours not knowing what was going on, being pushed from pillar to post with Whitey’s breakdown insurance cover company, and no one around us understanding a word we were saying. To be honest at this point I was looking for flights back to the UK from Charles de Gaulle airport, as it was only 25 minutes up the road! We were going through the options, but the only option as far as Whitey was concerned was getting to Défi Wind! Still sitting waiting at the recovery yard, we were getting nowhere. Pete pulled a few strings and was soon on the phone to one of his old mates. ‘G’, who speaks great French. He was on speed dial and at hand for quite a few calls and conversations to French people over the coming hours. He spoke to the recovery garage manger and soon we were loaded up on the recovery truck and taken to another garage 5 minutes round the corner; I am not sure why we were not dropped there straight away! After being unloaded there were soon a couple of young French guys plugging in their machines to diagnose the problem, which we knew was the gearbox. It was about 18:30 and we were not making any progress, and decided to stay in the camper overnight and make a plan of action in the morning. We had googled a few places for van hire and ‘G’ had done some research along with Whitey’s son Aaron. We woke early to find not much action going on in the garage, but managed to tell a guy we wanted to go to Creil the place where Europcar was. He said he wanted 30 euros, so me and Pete jumped in his car and were soon off to rent the van. It cost 750 euros and was a lovely Mercedes Vito, we then headed back to Whitey’s campervan where we loaded all the kit and him into the Vito.

On route

Once on route we were in contact with Simon and Gina Chippington who had arrived for Défi the day before, and told them about the situation we were in. Obviously we were due to sleep in the camper, but that wasn’t going any further than the compound of the garage at Senlis. They were amazing and said we could stay with them in their chalet they had rented at Gruissan. We eventually arrived at the chalet about midnight, after a few stops and change of driver. I wasn’t so happy as I was one of the drivers, so my plan of relaxing and sleeping most of the way went out the window! Although actually the best place to be was driving, as these vans aren’t meant for 3 people in them, let alone big people like Whitey and Pete, so I was actually happy to drive! We were greeted by Simon and Gina with a lovely cup of tea and a beer, but I was already thinking about the racing the next day.

Race time

Our plan was to arrive a day early and have a sail and run the course, but that didn’t happen. A few hours sleep and it was up and off to the briefing, ready for the 1^st race. With the one hour countdown set, it was time to rig. It was absolutely blowing boots with the Tramontana in full swing, so I opted for a 5.2 GA Vapor slalom sail and 61 cm wide 98-litre Tabou Manta, and 30 cm F-hot fin. With 1400 other people on the water, the wind was so shifty and patchy and the water state was horrific. As it was my first ever Défi Wind I didn’t know where to start, pin or boat end. I opted for pin, but was so late to the start as what I thought was the start boat, was actually the finishing boat.

The experience of sailing with 1400 other competitors is amazing. I spoke with John Skye after the event once we got home, and he hit the nail on the head saying, “It’s on the borderline of fun and torture!!” Hitting the start line some 30 seconds late is a massive schoolboy error, but I had to get on and just sail. I did the first reach and got blown away as I hit the furthest end at the gybe mark. This is known to be 10 to 15 knots stronger than the start line end, and at the gybe mark I fell in along with what seemed like 300 other people!! I waterstarted and sailed back up the second reach, and as it was shallow I jumped off and said to myself, “Why am I doing this?” I had a quick word with myself and let about 100 people go past me whilst doing so. I then jumped back on my kit and carried on with the 40 km race. I had pretty good speed, but don’t think I made 1 dry gybe in the first race which I finished in 303^rd place. When I got back to the beach Pete was already back, he had a blinder and finished 108^th using his old Sputnik 270 and F-hot fin from 1991. That was it for day 1, so I knew what to expect on the following two days. Day 2 we completed 2 races where I finished a more reasonable 192^nd and a 294^th. I had opted for a 4.8m wave sail on my manta 61 and this worked ok, not as fast I don’t think, but I felt I had more control. Day 3 saw a bit more gusty conditions and the wind veering, making it super hard to complete the course. I had to put in 2 tacks to make the second mark and found it really hard to keep going through the lulls. A lot of the time I didn’t and spent a long time waiting for the next gust to get me back on the plane again. There were lots of people that hit the lulls at the wrong time and were getting blown offshore. And a lot of people didn’t even finish the 2 races on the 3^rd day, but I managed a 296^th and a 239^th. Overall I finished 256^th place for my first ever Défi Wind. I am happy with my results, but I am sure if I go again, I can better this. I say if I go again!

Journey home

The journey home is still very raw and one which I don’t want to repeat anytime soon! With the competition finished, we had planned on going to La Franqui the day after with our speed kit. But with no wind on the horizon and plans we had to make in getting not just us to the UK, but all our kit back, there were more important things to sort out. There were 60 other UK entrants that entered the Défi Wind and I placed 8^th out of the UK contingent. Luckily a good bloke from the UK group, Marti, said he would take my boards, sails and booms back, while Simon took my fins and extensions and a couple of wetsuits. The rest was loaded into the rental van, which we had planned to give back on the Monday. Pete and I had decided to drive through the night, and eventually we got back to the campervan exactly where we left it at 04:30 a.m., where I then jumped in the back and had a couple of hours sleep. As the campervan was still broken down, we had to get a train home. So we loaded up the campervan with the gear we couldn’t take on the train and left to take back the rental van. The lady there was so good, she drove us in her own car to Creil train station, came in and purchased our tickets for us and took us to the platform we needed to be at, which helped no end, as everybody else was not very helpful! Our plans for our onward journey were Creil train station to Paris Gare du Nord, then to St Pancreas, to Kings Cross, to Liverpool Street, then finally back to Great Bentley in Essex. The train tickets costed 850 euros and it took 9 hours to get home between train journeys and waiting around. Now if you would ask me would I do the Défi Wind again next year, I’m not too sure I would. If things would have gone smoothly and we had not broken down I would definitely consider it. Even with all the unexpected events, we all still had a great time experiencing the biggest windsurf event on the planet, and if we had a normal trip then there wouldn’t be much I could talk about I suppose!! I’ll leave the last word to Whitey, who in typical Whitey style, when I asked him about the whole warts and all experience, he said, “WHATEVER”!

Dave White K63

I was going to start with the fun and games of our trip down, but I think Shaun has covered that! Due to arriving at the very last minute, there was absolutely no parking left anywhere for our hire van. Now I knew why it was so important for me to pack my disabled badge! We got front and centre for the whole event, and finally after providing the boys with an eventful drive down to Défi, they managed to have something to thank me for. I looked around and saw everybody seemed to be already rigging up except Shaun & Pete. They didn’t even start to prepare their kit until the briefing had been called, so I left them and went off to discover more about the event.

No sooner had I walked into the main area with all the stands, I realised how many competitors there really was. For the next hour, I was bumping into so many old faces from back in my racing years; it was like a who’s who of the windsurfing world. I was here taking photos and everywhere I went I had my camera in my hand. At the start of the briefing I was down the front taking some photos of the competitors, waiting to find out the course and then the presenter gave me a shout out and asked me how I was doing. Which was kind of embarrassing because I never like being the centre of attention!

Big

It was the biggest event I’ve ever been involved in taking photos of and was given access to take photos from anywhere. Although for some reason I wasn’t allowed in the helicopter. Maybe somebody had told them about my luck with the campervan! It wasn’t until I was in the boat taking pictures that I saw the real size of the event. There is such a variety of people from all over the world competing, it was great to see. It was a very long walk to the start of the race, which made it hard work to walk with all my camera gear, but thankfully an old friend of mine, Alberto Possati, was there to give me a hand. I spent the next two days taking so many pictures from all corners of the event. It wasn’t until the end of the first race on the 3rd day that the tiredness from my stroke started to kick in. I don’t think I’ve ever done so much walking, which is also why I didn’t manage to get a picture of the whole British crew, which totalled an amazing 60 people. From what I heard though, I don’t think they had the legs at the end of the day to get a picture together either!

Reminiscing

It was great catching up in the evening with a few people over one too many drinks. There were so many people there from the old racing days, which resulted in reminiscing about old stories of speed sailing. One night, the boys couldn’t get me away from all the stories, so I stayed out. It was then when I was walking home Pete had to come and rescue me in the van because I was sure every chalet looked the same!

Would I go again? Yes, I would. I don’t know when it will be, whether it is next year or the year after, but even if I came last, it is certainly a goal of mine to also compete.

Simon Chippington GBR984

The biggest and best pro-am event ever, with over 1400 people all sharing the same passion and a rabbit style start with a helicopter overhead, still has me buzzing even a few weeks after doing it.
For myself and my wife Gina, taking this road trip together, things must work for both of us. And even though Gina doesn’t do watersports, this area of France has a massive tick from her. Gruissan old town is full of history and has lots of beautiful restaurants with good local wine and seafood, perfect for catching up with old UKWA slalom friends Gerry and Laura Northwood over dinner with a bottle or two.
We decided to book a chalet on the seafront at the Défi Wind site which we found on Airbnb, so we could unwind at the end of the day watching the lovely Mediterranean Sea, or so we thought! As on day one we had a call from a friend in need, ‘Whitey’, as his van had given up the ghost with Cookie (Shaun Cook) and sleepy Pete with him! So of course we let them stay at our chalet, as isn’t that what events like this are about. The most impressive part of the week wasn’t hearing that Dave managed to eat 15 oysters, but watching Dave and Shaun washing up and cleaning the place top to bottom!

Fun times

The racing itself was so much fun, even though it was long and gruelling 40 km races. The wind was honking, so I used my RRD 5.2 slalom X-Wing / 90 litre X-Fire board with a slick F-Hot 30 cm fin. Wow did this combo fly, gaining me places after a few dodgy starts (must try harder). We turned up to Défi Wind just as Défi Wing was finishing and I was lucky enough to catch a viewing of the last race. It was so cool to watch and such an inspiration as I am starting my own ‘wing school’ – East Coast Watersports (plug plug!). We’re 100% going back, but for longer next time. It’s such a brilliant event, run and executed to perfection. It’s safe and the ultimate road trip with friends, and we left with even more friends! Book it, do it, next year’s bigger! Thank you to all my sponsors and my wife Gina for the support.

Sarah Jackson GBR71

The literal translation of Le Défi from French is ‘The Challenge’ and my week at the Défi Wind was definitely a challenge! I was there with two hats on – that of a competitor wanting to win one of the most prestigious titles in the windsurfing world and also as the marketing manager for Duotone, making sure we made the most of the opportunity to present our brand and products to 1200+ prospective customers. It was a lot to cope with and I was left absolutely exhausted, but it was an incredible experience to see the Défi from two sides and be involved in it in so many ways!

On the racing side this was my first real Défi Wind after competing in the Superstars event last year. My preparation was going really well until 1 week out from the event I got a concussion from a foiling catapult in Garda, so in the end, going a few days early to train was pointless as I was still getting dizzy on the water and getting lots of headaches. I told myself if I got any symptoms whilst I was actually racing, I would stop immediately, but I at least wanted to give it a go. In the end, whether it was adrenaline pushing me through or whatever, I actually felt good when I was racing and I was glad I competed. My results basically followed the wind strength – the windier it was, the better I did, and as the wind backed off over the course of the event, my results declined! I guess I just love the battle of fighting everything within you telling you it’s too much, it’s too hard, it’s time to stop and pushing all the way to the end. It’s definitely a race where you hate it at the time, but you’re only left with good memories! The first race I definitely didn’t have my gear setup right with my harness lines too far back (perfect for short slalom races) but after that, the second race I really enjoyed and then I was plagued with a series of poor equipment choices, which really hurts in a 30 km race!! I finished the week in 7th – not really where I wanted to be, as the goal was top 5, but it doesn’t always go your way and I know what I need to do for next time.

Perspective

From a working perspective, it was crazy to meet so many passionate windsurfers and talk all things windsurfing. The days were long – getting up at 7 a.m. to do an hour of work before heading to the beach and then meetings between the races and promotional activities in the evening until 11 p.m., but if this is what I have to do to be able to pursue my dreams of being a “professional” windsurfer then I’ll take it! After all, I could be stuck in an office in Munich every day and not getting to windsurf at all, so I’m certainly not complaining. The majority of the hard work was done by our French Boards and More team, so most of my work was actually in supporting them and making sure the event was fully covered on our international channels with rider interviews on social media and incorporating our international riders in their plans. It was great to be able to work so closely with these guys which I normally only communicate with via Microsoft Teams and emails.

Challenge

Overall, the Défi Wind was an incredible experience and one I would recommend to any windsurfer. it’s definitely a challenge whether you come to compete or even to spectate, as being blasted by 35 knots of Tramontana wind all day and partying all night is definitely taxing, even for the most trained in this department! But the experience of being surrounded by 1200+ windsurfers from the top pros through to the Défi Wind stalwarts and the kids is amazing and really makes you feel that windsurfing is truly alive!