ANDY LAUFER
Finn Mullen interviews top German sailor and ex-PWA competitor, Andy Laufer, the new vice world speed champion!
FM: Give us the lowdown Andy, who are you?
AL: I am 48 years old (young ha-ha), 188 cm and my weight is about 99 kgs. I’m married with 3 young children and my 9-4 job is a key account manager for www.neubaukompass.de. It’s the biggest website for new real estate projects within Germany and Austria. I look after the major customers (key accounts) in the regions of north rhine-westphalia and eastern Germany including Berlin. I do all the contracts and take care of the marketing and website and have been in the position about 5 years. Besides that I also am run my own business called www.suredate.de. Founded back in 2012, it’s an online dating service agency in Germany, helping people to find the right platform, create their profile and I also do photoshoots if needed. My ghostwriters even write for my clients and arrange a date with their desired partner. It’s great fun to bring people together!
FM: What training did you do for the event?
AL: Our third child was born earlier this year and basically I spent my 2 months parental leave from work on Maui with my family. I did some slalom and wavesailing with PWA sailors like Antoine, Arnon and Ross.
FM: What prompted you to enter this event?
AL: It was my first speed world championship. I knew that I could go pretty fast, especially top speeds, even if I am not as tall and heavy as Twan. I had a personal best of 53.28 knots top speed in Lüderitz with a normal production board, so I was hoping for lots of wind and gnarly conditions.
FM: What equipment did you use?
AL: I just took my production stuff – 114 litre Fanatic Falcon slalom board with warp 7.7 and a 37 cm C-Fins on the first day, 7.0 and a Fanatic Falcon 89 with a 30 cm C-Fins on the 2nd day. I should have taken a 55 cm speed board with a smaller fin on the 2nd day with more weight on my back. I only realized that afterwards – next time!
FM: Did you wear a weight jacket for the event?
AL: Not on the first day in Fuerte’ as the wind was light. On the second day I had about 2 kg on my back. It was too little as I realized that Twan had about 6 kg in his jacket. I don’t wear weight jackets when I go sailing at home, only in La Franqui or Lüderitz. We are still waiting for a record day in Lüderitz. I would go with about 8-10 kg to break the record. Last year I only used 2 kg due to lack of wind.
FM: How does the nature of this style of speed competition differ to previous PWA or national racing you have done in the past?
AL: It’s pretty cool as you have a huge area in which you can choose your own 250 metres to get the best speed. You can wait for the gust and do your own slingshot. It’s super relaxed, as you just need two good runs. On the first day I managed to do 34 runs within one hour. I love that concept of racing. Totally free, flexible and very accurate.
FM: What did you think of the location of the event?
AL: I really love that spot in the very southwest of Fuerteventura in the middle of nowhere. It’s really good for speed sailing and they say it’s incredible for wavesailing in the winter. Racing starts already on the gravel road as it is very winding and cool to drive!