REFLECTIONS
Jules Denel – “What is a ‘pro windsurfer’? I started from the premise that to be pro is to know how to tear it up in a free sailing session, to be solid in competition and be able to create opportunities to travel to anywhere in the world that has good conditions. A pro should be able to ride to the best of his ability unique waves, as a painter would take his palette and his brush to paint the emotions expressed to him by the place where he is! During the first few weeks of September, we lived the two extremes of the professional pro windsurf life. For many years I have been used to last minute trips with Thomas. This time we decided to go explore Iceland for the second time, but to bring Sylvain, an amateur windsurfer, for whom Iceland was still a new place to explore. We decided to travel from Sunday to Wednesday with the final PWA Wave event in Sylt starting a mere two days later! We would sleep in a tent, sail all day in the cross off conditions without spectators or the pressure of heats and knew when we arrived in Sylt, we would go from one extreme to the other!
Often confronted with these two extremes, I always ask myself this question, what is better for you, for your sponsors and for the people who follow you? The competition side and results is surely by far the most representative. But what is the best in the world on a tour like this year? Three stops in conditions where no one would normally go in the water for free sailing, except maybe in Tenerife at the right time of the tide! So basically to be the best possible on the PWA, you have to become the machine in 360’s, takas and shakas in cross-on conditions? Is that the sort of windsurfing that makes us dream? Not me! For me trips are as important as competitions because it helps to remove all the frustrations of competing. Together with friends, we had a real adventure in Iceland. There were still so many ‘World Class’ spots to discover as we searched on Google maps for the best possible points for swell and wind and if it was possible to access them. We had to find places to sleep at the last minute and in the evenings we enjoyed a beer to discuss the best moves of the session, and ponder on which spots we will discover the next day. It was a unique experience that makes me just as excited to become the best I can in competition!
That’s why I try to keep the balance with what I love; between my sessions with friends at home in Wissant, to go to the competitions to try to climb as high as possible in the PWA ranking and still enjoy the pure emotions that make you feel alive when you go on a trip. We all still have so much to learn and discover through windsurfing!”