FREESTYLE
I was a freestyler of course. There are no waves in Austria and right when I learned the whole flat water freestyle thing kicked off. That was very attractive to me, learning all the moves on the lake. I eventually became an instructor and worked in Greece and Lake Garda at various centres. I was able to train a lot in my free time and also started doing a few competitions. What really brought a big change in my life was when I was able to choose a place to study abroad for one year and I chose Mauritius. So off I went in 2003 to study tourism management to a place I had never been before. I knew there was wind and waves there but had no idea how good it actually was. Back in those days there were a lot of rumours about the ‘white shorts’ – some overly protective local surfers. I didn’t really have any trouble with them and windsurfed a lot as I only had to do three mornings at university. After that year I had a decent level of freestyle and started doing the whole European tour. At the end of that year I ended up on the international Naish team after finishing 7th in the rankings. That’s how my career kicked off. It took me ten years to finish my university course as all the windsurfing gradually started taking over.