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Lena Erdil is three-times PWA slalom vice world champion and recently moved to Germany from her Turkish homeland. We catch up with her as she reflects on the German windsurfing scene, starting an Olympic campaign and working for Starboard.

Photos: Sven Jürgensen // 7PIXELS // @hanok_upnorth

This feature was originally published in our November / December 2020 issue.

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FOILING

Since all the PWA slalom events were cancelled, I used the time to get more into foiling and started training on the new iQFoil equipment in June. Who would have thought that Covid-19 could give birth to an Olympic dream!

I have not been motivated to train on my slalom equipment without knowing when the next event will be. For me slalom sailing is all about racing, competition and working towards a top-level performance for the upcoming world cup events.

What I love the most about foil racing is the new challenge it holds. It’s like starting over again, there are so many things I need to learn and train for, and also of course new goals to set and achieve. I’m stoked that at least we have had a couple of foiling events so that I could compete and test my level. For slalom I’ve been racing with a lot of the same girls for many years, of course new faces are always joining, but I know the level. For foiling the two worlds of Olympic windsurfing and professional windsurfing are meeting, and it’s really cool to see so many talented girls on the racecourse.

Course racing was completely new to me, so I made a lot of tactical mistakes, but when things went my way I managed to score some really good results as well. So it showed me that I have some potential in this new class and really motivated me to keep learning. The level in the ladies fleet is already really high and it’s really fun too to race in an even bigger fleet than I am used to; I hope I will be able to keep pushing my foiling game.

I also love the fact that you can have fun with only 1 set of equipment in such a big range of conditions. In slalom you always need to choose the perfect board and sail combo, this is definitely a nice change. Of course the light wind range of foil gear is so nice too, now I’m loving sailing in super light and gusty winds, whereas before those days would have been just write-offs.

WORKING IT

At the same time as starting foil racing I have taken on a couple of part-time jobs to help me get over these difficult times financially, so I have actually been extremely busy the last few months.
One of the jobs I’m working on is for Starboard’s new apparel brand – SOMWR – you can check it out at www.somwr.com . The fashion industry is the second worst industry for the planet (after oil), SOMWR wants to change the way products are brought to the market, lead by example and actually have a positive impact on the planet rather then just offsetting the pollution we cause. I’m super excited to be a part of this new brand behind the scenes.

I work part-time in Starboard’s windsurfing marketing team too, so I mainly write e-mails, ha ha, but all jokes aside you better make sure you subscribe to our Tiki newsletter on the Starboard website! Together with Oda Johanne we put together a lot of Starboard’s digital content. It’s really fun to work behind the scenes at Starboard, I love the company’s philosophy and really admire Svein’s drive at growing and pushing forwards the environmental agenda of Starboard each year, while also staying loyal to their windsurfing roots of being innovators and pushing the sport with always new and better designs.

At the beginning of the year, myself and a good friend of mine launched a new online platform for windsurf girls called “MyWindstories”, www.mywindstories.com, we offer windsurf coaching for girls and had 3 camps planned, but due to Covid-19 only 1 could take place at Leipzig In Germany. It was really awesome; we had great conditions, wind and sun, and a nice safe lake with flat water. I love teaching windsurfing in girl only groups, as the spirit is always so supportive amongst each other. Furthermore, on our website we share inspirational stories on our blog and have a forum where women windsurfers can exchange experiences.

TURKEY

I haven’t been back to Turkey for nearly a year and have missed it a lot. Even when the borders reopened after being closed due to Covid-19, I didn’t want to go through quarantine with the iQFoil events coming up in Switzerland and Italy. I miss my windsurfing centre in Bodrum and the beautiful conditions we have there, 15-20 knots almost every day and deep blue warm waters, and not forgetting the amazing food and of course my friends and family there. I actually can’t wait to go back and am also really looking forward to foiling in Bodrum; the peninsula has so much to offer and sailing from one bay to the other is going to be so much fun.

POINT-7

I am a team rider for Point-7 and normally my job is to kick ass on the PWA slalom course! I was training from January to March full-time in Tenerife to be able to finally win myself that elusive slalom world title, having come close on several occasions. Having dealt with injuries over the past year, I was so motivated to give it everything, but except for a race in Germany, it has been almost impossible to do my job for Point-7 this year. The sails look and feel amazing and I am so gutted that I haven’t been able to show them off more often this year.

HIGHS AND LOWS

Lows of course are my injuries, I am so sick of talking about how it impacted my career without having been able to truly make the comeback I was hoping for this year. Also losing my shot at the world title while following Sarah-Quita around a wrong course in Denmark a few years ago, that was really pretty low, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. I’ve been 3 times PWA vice world champion in slalom now and while those are of course highs and achievements I am extremely proud of, I of course would have wished them to be firsts instead.

Other highs include actually everything around life as a pro windsurfer, I am aware of the privilege it is, and have been enjoying especially the travelling side of things and of course wave riding. Participating at the Aloha classic event in Maui 4 years ago was also definitely a high!

The world speed record attempts in Namibia are also experiences I would count as the highs of my career. Even though I didn’t get the record over 500m in the end, it looks like to this day my 2 second top speed is still the highest female top speed ever posted on the GPS speed rankings!

WINDSURFING LOVE

Like every windsurfer ever asked the question of what they love about windsurfing, I would have to say it is the feeling of freedom that it offers. But there are actually many other things that I love about windsurfing, for example how versatile it is and all the different kinds of feelings other than freedom and connectedness to nature that it has to offer. I love the feeling of winning a slalom race, making that perfect top turn on a wave or flying full speed in only 9 knots of wind on an almost glassy water surface when foiling. They are all different feelings, but offer so much satisfaction and pleasure while feeling powerful and in control over the elements. I guess that when things go right the good feelings you get from enjoying your sessions is the reward for all the work you have to put in to get there. So I love how rewarding it is, and of course I love the windsurfing community around the globe, who are always so welcoming and happy to connect with other windsurfers and share the stoke on and off the water.

GERMANY

I am actually based in Hamburg at the moment. Hamburg itself is not the best for sailing, but I have quite a few spots within 1 or 2 hours drive. I’ve been sailing a lot in Kiel, as the German sailing federation is based there, and has been offering some coaching for people training to compete in the new iQFoil class. I moved to Germany because of love, my boyfriend was finishing his masters in Hamburg last year, so I wanted to be able to spend more time with him. But at the same time I am actually German (my mum was German and I grew up in Germany), so it was a way for me to reconnect with my other home country. Also last year while coming back from my injury I wanted to get as much racing training in as possible before the next PWA events, so the German racing tour was a good way for me to do that.

I have learned that Germany is quite divided when it comes to windsurfing between those who live in the north and get to sail on the sea, and those that live more centrally and in the south, who are mainly relying on their local lakes for sailing. Lake and river sailing was actually a new world to me, I wasn’t aware how many lakes and rivers there are in Germany that people actually sail on in great numbers on a regular basis.

Maybe because of the world cup and other events in Sylt I had an image of the hardcore North Sea storm riders in my mind when it came to windsurfing in Germany. In reality the vast majority of the windsurfing population is probably sailing on their local lakes and only going to the sea and other spots around the world during their holidays. In fact almost all the small lakes I’ve been to have their own little windsurfing clubs and locals following the forecasts to get out there when conditions allow. Summer season is shorter then you would expect as the northern part of Germany is actually already quite far north! For the northern windsurfers, Denmark is extremely popular for quick windsurf trips, especially due to the better wave conditions that you can find there within only a few hours drive. On the other side of Germany, the many sailors living in and around Munich have resorted to regularly driving to Lake Garda, as the wind consistency here is simply way higher then on the local lakes. Another observation that I found extremely funny is that quite a few Germans use extremely old windsurf equipment, not 10 years old, 30 years old! I wasn’t aware that stuff still existed and here I have seen people using it on multiple occasions. In all seriousness, I haven’t really found an explanation as to why they would do that to themselves, especially since the more modern equipment is so much easier to ride, and lighter!

In terms of competition, the German Windsurfing Cup is very nice, with 4-6 stops a year and a mix of slalom, course racing and wave sailing. Interestingly all stops are in the north, so most riders from the south don’t come to these events and prefer for example to join the Swiss Windsurfing Cup. What else is interesting about a big windsurfing nation like Germany, is that the Olympic side had completely died off by 2020. Now with the introduction of the iQFoil equipment, interest is resparked, but with no national team and structure in place, it’s taking this big nation a lot longer then its neighbours in Europe to get involved.