LIFESTYLE
For me competing was not just about trying to be the champion. Of course you want to sail as well as you can, but my idea of windsurfing was to always have fun and also get involved in interesting projects. After three years full time on the pro tour I started to branch out. I felt like a change so I did some nice trips and started wave sailing more. I built a jump ramp with a friend, as part of a project to have a competition on the lake where we could have some air time. It was like a skate park in the water. The ramp could float and we could move it around. Once we built it Red Bull started to hire it from us and we were booked for five or six events straight after we first showed it. These projects were all about seeing what we could do in the sport of windsurfing. It was tougher back then without all of today’s social media. The only way we could get coverage was with TV and magazines. I was always fascinated with big waves so most of my travel projects were about being in the right place at the right time to catch some big swells.