MACIEK RUTKOWSKI
It was not the windiest but probably the roughest racing I have ever done. Fuerteventura can be very windy but it is still side-offshore. It does not get messy let’s say. It is choppy but organized. Here we were all surprised. We went out to the racecourse and had to perform straight away in hellish conditions. There was swell from every angle and chop from all sides. There were ramps everywhere. The state of the seas was the issue not the wind. For me it was awesome. Once I jumped on my small board, which felt suited to the sea state, as opposed to my medium board that I use in smoother conditions, then I was loving it. I was jumping and really enjoying windsurfing. I jumped over the start boat for fun before one of the races, I was having a blast. It helps your performance when you are having fun and you are relaxed. All I wanted was to make my gear comfortable; if you were relaxed on your gear then you definitely could go fast. I was using my 89 litre slalom board (61cm wide) with a 32cm fin and I was perfect on my 6.2m. It was not crazy Pozo windy, just a very rough sea. You just had to concentrate on staying on top of your board and really finding your line. You had to think about the race in the longer perspective. It was a different type of racing where you did not have to be at the first mark first. In terms of gear setup, long harness lines definitely help in rough seas for control. You can separate yourself from your gear a little bit and if you hit chop it does not throw you off balance.