Tweet

PERFECT PAROS: IFCA WORLDS

It was a perfect one-two for UK sailors Jenna Gibson and Sarah Jackson as they bagged first and second respectively in the 2022 IFCA Slalom World Championships at Pounda beach on the west coast of Paros. And not to be outdone, fellow Fanatic Duotone teammate, Jordy Vonk, took first pace in the mens! The format of the International Funboard Class Association (IFCA) regatta was fin only, no foils allowed! Jenna, Sarah and Jordy tell us more about the event and their winning ways!

WORDS – Jenna Gibson, Sarah Jackson, Jordy Vonk. // PHOTOS – Alessandro Giovanelli.

---

Jenna Gibson – “Going into an event defending a title is always going to add a little pressure. The way I usually tackle my pre-start nerves is by telling myself I’ve put in the time on the water and done as much as I could beforehand to put in my best performance, which is ultimately what matters more to me than winning. But this time I couldn’t lie to myself. I’ve had a string of bad luck with injuries recently, having been off the water for 9 months in the past year and a half. Which is the worst sort of pain for any windsurf addict. The injuries haven’t been all detrimental. They forced me to spend time in the gym, which has always been a weakness of mine. 2 years ago I would have done anything to avoid the gym, in fact I would rather pick a cold, rainy, gusty session on the water every time.

Apart from a session or two on the fin as my first steps back onto the water, I haven’t sailed on the fin at all. With foiling still progressing so fast, every month off the water felt like progress others were gaining that I would never be able to catch up on. So I have dedicated all my time on the water to foiling, trying to fit in both iQFOiL and slalom foil. That meant painfully leaving my slalom boards behind and only taking a foil board with me for the most part of my winter training.

Practice

Even with the lack of time on the fin, there was no way Simon Pettifer and I could turn down the chance to road trip to the incredible waters of Paros for what would be my third time. The people have always been so kind and welcoming and the conditions have always delivered, which has made this place one of my favourite locations to come to. Anyway, we had planned 10 days of fin practice beforehand, to get to know my mostly unused sails, with plenty of iconic windsurf spots en route. Unfortunately the wind didn’t play ball. Greece had unusual weather throughout most of August, leaving them without the wind that would normally be guaranteed. So the 10 days of fin training before the event turned into one very light session on a 8.4, without a single planing gybe, and a few foil sessions just to confuse my brain a little more.

Racing

The string of no wind continued into the first 3 days of the event, but everything changed just in time to finish with 2 great days of racing. The penultimate day with 10-18 knots and the last day making up for it all with an epic 30 knot + day.

This made for some pretty long days on the water with back-to-back racing, but boy if felt incredible to be back on the fin again.

I didn’t get a new 8.4 this year, but thanks to Boardwise, I was able to borrow back my old 8.4 for this event. It definitely helped calm my nerves knowing that at least for the first few races I was on kit that I knew. All that was left for me to do was to focus on a good start and then let the muscle memory kick in. After winning the first race with a good lead it was such a massive relief knowing that I could pick up where I left off last year.

I knew the other girls had been training super hard, with many spending the winter slalom training in Tenerife or being dedicated to fin only and it definitely showed, it’s so great to see the racing getting tighter year on year. Special shout out to Sarah Jackson who has been pushing super hard and managed to wrap up the win on the 3 races that I couldn’t!

Nervous

On the final day’s racing, I was woken up by the wind whistling through the van. It made me nervous knowing that the last time I sailed in those conditions was at the same event the year before, and was made worse by my main sail for the day, the 5.8 Warp, being a completely new size for me, as this year it replaced the old 6.2 and 5.5 sizes. Thankfully Duotone teammate Jordy Vonk, kindly came and checked that I had it rigged right, which certainly put my mind at ease. The Duotone team certainly did a good job with this sail as it lead me to back to back victories on its first outing, and it certainly reminded me why those are my favourite conditions. It also makes me proud to be a part of such an awesome team.

Maths

I hadn’t really done the maths, as I was just taking each race one at a time, but when I crossed the line and the jury/camera boat had come down to the finish and Michail on the finish boat was going extra crazy on the horn, I knew it meant I had the event sealed. It felt incredible to have retained my title once again and meant I could relax and purely enjoy the epic windy conditions we had for the last 3 races without any of the worries of racing such as dropping a gybe or picking the wrong sail size.

I’m proud I managed to hold off any big mistakes until the final race, where I managed to fall in 3 times, so I’m just relieved it wasn’t a winner takes all medal race format like in iQFOiL.

Fin time

It was amazing to be racing on the fin again. I thought that being back on an 8.4 and big slalom board was going to feel heavy and sluggish compared to foiling, but it is completely the opposite, feeling the board skip over the chop and accelerating down the little waves makes it feel so much faster than the GPS shows. It was such a nice change compared to the never ending glide of foiling, although pushing on the fin definitely feels a lot harder on the body!”

(Editor’s note – This is Jenna’s third IFCA slalom world title, having won in 2018, 2021 and now 2022. Meaning she is technically undefeated since 2018, because of a no wind event in 2019 and no event in 2020 due to Covid.)

Sarah Jackson – Leading up to this event, I was facing a bit of a dilemma as I live a double life these days. Pro Windsurfer is my priority, but to fund this lifestyle, I’m also working, and my job is International Marketing Manager for Duotone Windsurfing. Balancing work and training can be really difficult, so finding places where I can work easily and productively, but still be on the water as soon as it gets windy is a priority. I was looking for places to stay near the event site and a Selina hotel came up – Selina is a hotel chain designed for ‘digital nomads’ (people who work remotely) and it was the perfect fit for me. Their hotel at Paros overlooked the event site but also had a little bit of luxury to help me relax and prepare before the event and also be as productive as possible at work. For me it was the perfect setup!

Unfortunately perfect Paros, as we had named it last year, didn’t quite deliver in the training week, so I enjoyed a nice (working) vacation in the hotel making the use of the gym and pool to physically prepare myself and keep my body moving in the down days. It was a slow and hot start to the event as well, so to have the serenity of the hotel to retreat back to was a real luxury!

When the event finally kicked off on Day 3, it was light winds and conditions we would normally be foiling in, so I definitely felt a bit rusty, especially in the gybes. Fortunately it was too light to get through enough heats to get to the girls rounds, which gave us a little more time to tune up the big sails and get some all important training runs in.

Race on

As racers, we love racing in pretty much any format and thus F1 is a big favourite amongst a lot of the riders, and so whilst waiting for our own racing to be called off as the wind was dropping, we were huddled around a phone watching the F1 Qualifying from the Dutch Grand Prix! It definitely got us excited to be racing ourselves the next day.

Day 4 was when the magic started – finally we had proper north winds and this meant it was going to be windier than forecast as the thermal can then fully kick in! The forecast was for 12 knots, but in this direction, you have to be prepared for anything. For me it was 8.4 and 7.8 WARP_FIN with the Falcon 130.  As this year the events have been so spread out, it definitely took me a couple of rounds to settle those pre-event nerves, but the girls were racing in single heats so there was plenty of racing to be had, but also little room for mistakes. I finally got it together in the 3^rd round, flying off the pin end with a good start and racing neck and neck with Jenna all the way to the end. My 3^rd gybe let her get away slightly, but it was probably one of the best gybes of my life at the 4^th gybe that brought me to within half a board length by the finish line. Unfortunately, it was in Jenna’s favour, but this really sparked me on to go and push as hard as possible. I won the next round and felt some momentum starting to build – maybe this was the year I would finally beat Jenna! I also finally overcame my ritual of going over early in the race after winning one – I think I’ve done this 3 times now!!

Speed

The day finished with me taking another win and I felt like I was definitely starting to get closer to Jenna, but she is just so consistent with getting up to speed and that’s definitely something I’m lacking. Once I’m up to speed, our watches said I was actually faster on average and peaks, but nailing the starts and accelerating she is still beating me.

The final day it was definitely all still to play for, but when Jenna came out and smashed 2 bullets in style, it was pretty much game over for me to take the title off her, short of her coming last in the rest of the races. I still wanted to push and take it to her, and in the final race my tenacity to not give up paid off as she dropped a gybe and I was there to sneak through and take the win. For sure I came to the event to try to win the World Title, but this time I had to settle for 2^nd. We had some amazing fights and it really reminded me what I love about windsurfing. For me, slalom fin racing is the pinnacle of windsurfing and hopefully we can have more events like this in the future.

Jordy Vonk – “Last year I had such a great time in Paros, that I couldn’t resist to go again this year. It’s a flat/choppy spot in blue waters, windsurfing in boardshorts….. a racing paradise! Although the wind wasn’t with us the first 3 days of the event, day 4 and 5 absolutely made up for it. All the gear that I registered for the event got used! On day 3 they pushed a couple of heats in very light winds, so I was out with the 9.0 and an 85 cm board. But when the wind really came through on day 4, I was on 8.4 and my big board all day long. While on the last day the wind steadily built up during the day, making it possible to use my smallest gear, a 5.8 and 62 cm board.

Motivation

My motivation to win this event was high. I was 2nd the year before and I felt mega confident this year, being super comfortable with all sail/board combinations. Starting the event off on day 3 with 2 first places boosted my confidence and made me feel that my first world title would be realistic. I closed day 4 with another 2nd and 3rd place. This meant I was still leading the event, but Basile Jacquin was sailing very consistently also with 2-2-1-2 finishes, so he seemed to be the closest rival after the first days of racing. Little note: you can’t believe how tired we were from racing on the big slalom board again, it’s just sooooo much tougher than foiling!

Final day

Day 5 was the day we basically were waiting for all event: a forecast up to 34 knots! The day absolutely delivered. During the first elimination I had a good start in the final, but I struggled to make it to the first mark, making me drop back to 7th place. As we had enough discards, it was no problem with my results from the day before, but I needed to stay sharp as the fight was definitely still fully on. When the wind picked up to 26-34 knots there was a little inner smile for me, knowing that this was going to be nice racing! I absolutely love my 5.8 Warp and Falcon 97. I nailed the starts in the last two finals and won them both, meaning I was the clear winner of the event!

Fin focus

From my perspective it was so nice again to just race on the fin. I’m sure on the day that we raced with 8.4, the foil would have been faster, but it was not about who’s faster – the guy on the fin or the guy on the foil? No, it was about who was sailing better, which I believe is what it’s all about. In my personal opinion it’s two different disciplines and to have the focus on the fin here was a big reason for me to come to the event!

It feels amazing to be the 2022 IFCA Slalom World Champion, but now it’s time to focus on the PWA again, because in the end that’s the ultimate world title in windsurfing!