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MARK OF A CHAMPION: ANTOINE MARTIN

Hailing from Guadeloupe, Antoine ‘Titoun’ Martin is a two-time IWT wave world champion, known for his fearless style. He tells us how he has turned his talents into competition success.

WORDS – ANTOINE MARTIN // PHOTOS – JOHN CARTER

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THE BEST

For me to be a champion is proving to myself that I have done something well and that I have made it to the elite part of my sport. That means a lot to me. I always wanted to be in the magazines and I feel I am really competitive. So, if I win it means all my hard work and dreams have come together.

COMPROMISE

Being a radical sailor and winning do not really belong together. If you are too crazy in competitions that can be difficult. To win competitions you need to pull all the moves. At the same time if you do small moves then you won’t pass through heats. You need big moves to beat guys like Philip Köster, but if you go too extreme then you are going to fall too much. You need a balance and usually the extreme does not go well in competition. If you can mix both then that is the real key of success. That is what I have been trying to achieve for my entire career.

CRAZY MOVE

It was really difficult for me at the beginning because it was hard for me to land the crazy moves. When I started feeling more comfortable and was landing the moves more often, I felt it was important for me to be extreme. I did not want to be a steady sailor and compete that way. For a while all my friends told me to stop doing those crazy moves and become more of a standard rider. Actually, that was even worse for me. This is not the way I ride. I realized that two years later. As soon as I started sailing the way I wanted again, then I started winning again. When you see a wave and you feel it’s the right moment for a manoeuvre, just go for it. If you have practised it one hundred times before, then why not go for it during an event. It is the same thing as your normal sailing.

In the 2018 IWT Aloha Classic, I went for it like this and ended up 2^nd. In that contest I did so many different moves. I did some no-handed aerials, one-footed aerials and no-handed goiters. I just went for it. I had this momentum and it felt like the best moment in my life!

MOTIVATION

I like to go on the water every day to experience excitement and adrenaline. I feel I need a slice of that every day. I think that is the main reason I want to go in the water. I like to push myself as much as possible. Also, I enjoy making videos and creating content. Being on the water is where I feel the most creative. For me that is very interesting. I like to invent moves, find new spots and travel to new places. I think that is what motivates me to keep going on the water.

INSPIRATIONS

For sure there are a couple of legends that I really look up to. I think I have developed my style from many people. When I was younger, I used to copy the styles of my favourite moves from different sailors. I wanted to do a 360 like Levi, but then I wanted to do a tweaked air like Jason Polakow, or a nice turn like Kauli Seadi. So I was just picking up the best turns of each guy. That is how I learned to build my own style.

PRESSURE

I had a lot of issues when I was younger. When I started, we did not have many competitions or a qualifying tour to go to the world cup. Basically, you were just training to be as good as you could be to get into an event, but of course when you start you are drawn against the top seeds…the best in the world. It is not easy to break through when you are bottom seed. So the new guys were always against the top guys. I was always losing in the first round so you never learnt how to go all the way to the final. Before the world cup, I had no experience of competition in that high level. So, it was a big issue for me because I was training a lot, but just could not learn properly how to do a contest. I have realized that I really learned how to win when I started doing the IWT tour and was passing through the rounds all the way to the final. I think it is like a pyramid, you need each step to make it to the next one.

RIVALS

I ride the way I want to at events and I don’t need to hide from people what I am doing. It can be stressful sometimes in Pozo when you see all the guys ripping. It is kind of difficult to digest before the event. When everyone is sailing you are seeing the very best moves possible out there. It is way different in a contest when you have separated those two things. I don’t really mind mixing with the other guys.

LIFE BALANCE

I have a nice balance because the more I sail then the more I am cool in my mind and on the land. I feel like sailing gives me the balance I need in my life. If I don’t go in the water, I feel frustrated. I can be annoying if I have not sailed for a long while. I need this extra adrenaline and excitement. Windsurfing balances my heart.

HIGH AND LOW POINTS

Being a pro windsurfer definitely has its high and low points. One of the worst moments of my career was in 2017. When I started the world tour, I felt I was doing pretty good and in the first year I was 25^th then 12^th and then 9^th. I was on an upward curve and going the right way. But that year I went backwards, or at least not forwards. I could not reach the top 5. I really felt that I could keep up with the top guys, but I was not getting there for some reason. That period was very frustrating for me. Then in 2017 I lost my biggest sponsor. I was with JP from the beginning. I had the news during the Aloha classic. I was still competing and this did not put me in a good headspace. That was the most important event of the year. That was very difficult to digest. I also had an issue with my girlfriend at that time. With all these issues I wanted to quit, but knew in my heart I would never do that. Sometimes it gets to that point when you feel enough is enough. I had to put a break on it and that was the only year I did not go to Sylt. I had to regroup and that is when I started the IWT. I started winning and felt that the momentum had changed for me. I ended up doing really well in the PWA that year also. I was back on track.

I have had a lot of high moments. My first push forward, my first double loop, the triple push loop, winning my first heat in a world cup, winning my first event on the IWT, winning the Aloha Classic and my first time sailing Jaws. I think that is why I am so motivated because there are so many great points that windsurfing brings you. All the travel and people that you meet, there are just so many high points.

ALL CHANGE

I was with Neil Pryde and JP for over ten years professionally. Even before I was sponsored, I was using their equipment. I was with them for most of my professional windsurfing life, so it was quite a difficult decision to make the move to Starboard and North. The last few years have been a very strange tine with the pandemic and it was a tough time for the brands also. North came to me in 2021 and proposed a deal with their new the 3Di technology project. I just felt it was the moment for me to do something new. I knew it would also bring me an extra motivation going to a new sponsor. I was confident in them because it was North Sails who are a big brand and have the right budget to really push me forward, so I decided to move. Firstly I was on North Sails and then I had contact from Starboard who were really excited to get me on the team, so I decided to make the change.

WINNING OR MONEY

You need money to live your life, but I have always done things my style, risking all for not so much money. The money will come if you are doing well, but we are not chasing the money first in windsurfing.

TALENT

I stared windsurfing when I was 4 or 5 years old. So for me it is all natural and built into my lifestyle. I don’t know if it is natural talent plus the training, or if it is just a mixture. I love sports in general. I don’t like to go to the gym so much, but I like to do different kinds of sports to keep me fit and sharp. I like surfing, trail running and anything that is fun. I try to be consistent. I think if you have a healthy lifestyle you feel really sharp the whole year. I don’t need extra training because I already do many sports. I don’t smoke or drink or anything like that.

DREAM EVENT

I would love to compete in a tropical location with big waves and nice weather, that would be the place for me. I would like cross-off wave riding. I like jumping also, but I don’t like to jump in crappy conditions. I like a proper jumping day. That is what windsurfing is about, not just surfing the waves. But if I had to choose, my preference would be big wave riding.

ESCAPE

When I am at home in Guadeloupe, I sometimes escape a bit from windsurfing. It depends on the time of year. I might stay home and watch a movie or just do something completely different than windsurfing. Most of the time I don’t shut off as my life pretty much revolves around windsurfing.