If I’m not having fun, then competitions can turn into a miserable experience. I hate it if you lose, they say the other guy is better than you.
It’s just a 15-minute heat. Sometimes it’s hard to get the right waves. If you’re not really enjoying yourself it can be a real punishing experience.
I’ve totally flipped the coin on this one. I’m just going to go and have fun! Then, win or lose, I’m going to enjoy it. I’m under no pressure to win. The sponsors that I have are very supportive and I don’t have to prove anything.
I’ve thrown myself over 20-foot lips enough times. I’d really love to get into the final and shine. Win or lose, just allow my sailing to click in a Maui final.
I felt like it was all coming together in the AWT, so let’s hope it continues for the Aloha. I’m a bit bigger, so it’ll help me if the waves are a decent size. Some of the guys on tour are so small they can flick around on nothing.
A QUESTION OF STYLE
JC: Who do you like to watch riding at Ho’okipa?
LS: I really like the Quatro guys. This is hard to say because I like the styles of so many guys. Brawzinho, I think he is the best windsurfer in the world right now.
I think he’s taken the whole all-round thing to another level. It took that event win in Denmark for people to suddenly see how good he really is.
His sailing is flowing right now. I was hanging out with ‘Braw’ before the Denmark event. Now he’s got that monkey off his back.
He was losing a sense of enjoyment because he really felt he needed to prove himself. Competition can start to resemble this ‘don’t fail’ mantra.
Rather than thrive and enjoy the sailing, you end up screwing yourself up with the pressure. Brawzinho took a new approach and he just did so good.
That’s what he needed to do, enjoy it and take the pressure off himself. He was super regimented for so long. Now he’s just having fun.
Camille Juban also really impresses me at Hookipa. His gear is so small and he’s so light he can do the tightest turns on any part of the wave.
That’s pretty interesting. I also like Bernd for his flow on the wave and his air takas.
When Keith gets that full, arcy up-and-under bottom turn – he has another degree off the bottom that everybody else is missing – he gets all the way through, comes straight up and then completely hooks it around off-the-top – almost like a figure eight.
I like that because it’s so hard to do.