Bjorn Dunkerbeck
I have always liked speed windsurfing. My first contest was in 1987 here in Fuerteventura; my father and my sister competed in their first one also in 1986. I had many records both on the 500 metre course and the nautical mile. Always I have believed that speed windsurfing is something anyone can do at any age. What we have done with this event is really prove that the young ones have fun and the older guys can stay involved forever. My son is ten, my father is seventy, that is sixty years of age span and there are lots of guys in-between. I think everyone has had a great time here. We have this awesome R2 Hotel where most of us are staying, so it is a great social scene in the evenings. Coming with the family is no problem at all as the speed beach is also very close and within walking distance.
Speed is also a discipline where you can mix professionals with amateurs on the same course; it is basically only speed and long distance where you can do that. Wave sailing, freestyle and slalom are all too complicated to mix too many different levels together. That is the main reason why I am pushing so much to establish this event and more events like this going forward, because I think it is good for windsurfing and it is a lot of fun. We are working on getting more GPS sailing out there. There is a motivation to see how fast you are going in different conditions, different sail sizes and different water textures. With GPS you can tune yourself and you are motivated for good days so you can improve your speed from previous sessions. The devices are so good that they are very close to video timing, so we don’t need that in Fuerteventura, it takes a lot of budget and a lot more manpower. I see a lot of potential to get lots of windsurfers interested in this and on the GPS page they have over 2500 people posting their times on it. Interest is growing tremendously and I am pretty sure it will get a lot bigger!