FREESTYLE’S FUTURE
Freestyle has gone through quite a bit of an evolution since the beginning when we started landing the first moves in the nineties and it’s truly amazing that the latest generation of freestylers are able to pull off moves we didn’t even think were possible back then. But on the downside, most average windsurfers have a hard time understanding freestyle competitions due to the complexity and also similarity of moves. And this is the point where competitive freestyle windsurfing in my opinion needs to find the right path. I don’t mean we should simplify moves and go back to old school, because the never ending evolution of this discipline is exactly what makes it so exciting, but it’s the competition format and presentation that makes the difference to the audience whether they understand who is the winner of the heat or not. Live scoring and live streaming already provide a big step in transparency for the discipline and makes it easier for riders and spectators to understand the outcome of a heat and adds that element of tension while following live. But on top of that, it is also the presentation of the characters and their backgrounds that attracts the interest of the spectators and creates emotions that make them follow a whole round of competition. In the end competition has to be an attractive show that people are keen to follow from beginning to final, not only a couple of moves that are thrown in a heat or two and then spectators move on or switch to another channel. I guess we can look at some examples from other sports like surfing, skating and snowboarding. Indoor windsurfing is run in a different competition format than in nature because it’s orientated more towards the audience.