ABDERAZAQ LABDI
“In 1998, aged 11 years old, I made a small model windsurfer at primary school, it was about 30 cms long and my teacher was very impressed at how good it was. It inspired me to try and make a bigger one. I had to use scrap materials; any wood I could find for the boom and mast, a bodyboard to stand on and an old bag for a sail. I hadn’t thought about sailing it at first but after I made it I couldn’t wait to get on the water with it. After a few days of practicing with my prototype ‘plastic bag and bodyboard’ windsurfer, Pavel from Prague gave me my first real sail, a new 3.5 North. Sebastian Deflandre, a French guy and owner of the Ocean Vagabond Essaouira, gave me a Mistral 2.56 m board and Heidi Wunram, a German girl, gave me a small wetsuit. During the next summer other windsurfers gave and sent me boards, sails, masts and accessories. Thanks to them I learned all the basics of windsurfing.