SEA CHANGE
Recent years have witnessed a big shift in professionalism in windsurfing, as a pro and therefore insider, I can see this amongst all disciplines but most evidently within the way a lot of the slalom sailors prepare for the season. Personally I always try to pick out the best possible training opportunities, and of course I am not the only one. In fact, I believe we have hit a new era where there is a global quest among professional windsurfers to train harder, better and more professionally each year while at the same time more kids are trying to start training more seriously at a younger age. In an industry where money, especially for the riders, is scarce, it has become obvious that keeping up with the competition is demanding ever greater professionalism and sailors are looking at all the smallest details that could give them even the slightest advantage over their fellow competitors. The days of cigarette sponsorships and riders that cared mainly about who can party the hardest (even during events!) are long gone and in its place is a new generation of hardworking athletes who want to reach the top or their potential by any means. Of course by now everyone knows that what you put in, is what you get out and similar to surfing, windsurfing has therefore undergone a big shift in the attitude of riders. It is perhaps a shift that can also be seen as a reflection of a more global trend to more individualised, technically specialised and complete training programs. After the initiation of the Tenerife and Tarifa training camps, (you might have read my article on the Tenerife training last year) there is now one more new training ground for pros and those who would like to be – Lanzarote. I’m actually in Lanzarote at the time of writing this and I’m quite excited to be here as I feel that the training here has stepped it up a notch. If you want to know just how this has been done, get to know the new training grounds in Lanzarote as well as the people behind the scenes a bit better, then read on.