ROBBY SWIFT
It was the first time I’ve ever tried tow-in (or is it tow-out? Ed.) windsurfing in the pool. In the beginning it was a lot harder than it looked. The first two attempts that I had in the practice session I wasn’t even able to make it into the middle of the pool. The third attempt I made it into the middle, but when the ski accelerated it ripped the rope out of my hand so I didn’t make it to the wave. On my fourth and final practice jump, I made it to the wave and did a little goiter and that was all the practice I had. On the night of the actual competition I almost didn’t want to do the jump at all with all those people there. I thought it was going to be a complete embarrassment. I had two more practices though and managed to do a pushloop and a small goiter so I had a little more confidence for the main event. The first jump I had in the main event, the ski driver pulled me really fast and in the perfect position and I tried to do a goiter but it turned into more of a pushloop and when I finished the first rotation I was still about 10 feet in the air so I just held on to see where it would take me and spun all the way around a kind of goiter crossed between a shaka and landed pretty much perfectly! I came up from under the water almost not believing what I had done and had to claim it with all those people cheering.It was a real one-off night. It was so exhilarating to be in that closed arena showing people how spectacular windsurfing jumps look close up and it was great to see Ricardo flying through the air like a madman – and all the other boys too. There were plenty of hard crashes and insane jumps pulled off and I think all the riders were buzzing at the end of the night.
Thanks to Bjorn and Christophe, the owner of Siam Park, for putting on the event and of course Danny Bruch and his partner in the Tenerife event, Jose, for inviting us back there for the fourth and by far the best edition so far of the El Medano PWA.