SWITZERLAND
Heading towards Portugal our mission was to get some sailing along the way. Sadly the forecast was not playing ball. I knew that the wind in Switzerland was unpredictable, so we texted our Swiss friends Eva Wyss and Balz Muller, two freestylers who knew the local wind game. They both convinced us to drive to Lake Urnesee. The drive there was beautiful and it was worth going just to see the landscape. High mountains and an amazing green lake welcomed us, but zero wind. That was the moment we regretted not bringing our mountain bikes as the town close by was full of people enjoying the trails. Meeting up with Balz and Eva at the parking lot they were convinced we would get wind, so we took our foil and freestyle gear down the 700 metre path to the beach. I was not really sure we would get any wind, but it’s always wise to listen to locals. Within twenty minutes it suddenly started to blow. And it took the locals barely three minutes to get out on the water! From being just four people at the beach waiting for wind, it was suddenly seventy other windsurfers on the lake, incredible! As the wind was pretty up and down we went foiling. As I was practicing my foil gybes, Balz Muller was landing back loops, burners and culos on his foil! Looking at Balz’s burners on the foil was pretty crazy. First the rotation and then the massive foil coming out of the water spinning around, just hoping it will not cut Balz in half if he makes a mistake. That guy really has some Balzzz! That said, I am not inspired to start freestyling on a foil just yet as it looks gnarly! I will keep to just cruising and racing on my foil for now.
