It’s a late evening, brooding sky in Gran Canaria as I carry my gear over dulled, slippery rocks in Pozo. Conditions aren’t perfect, far from it, the crowds have gone and there’s just three sailors left on the water, one of whom is coming in with a sullen face. “I wish I hadn’t gone out”, he says, lamenting his last blast in unison with a darkening cloud forming overhead. I’m here to bookend a day of work with a refreshing sail, there’s no debate, I’m going out. I’m holding a boom, that’s good enough for me. Out to sea I sense a kindred desire in a sailor blasting back and forth over the chop beyond the break. Inside the surf line the third remaining windsurfer is moving effortlessly around the confused waves and gusts. There’s a purpose in his sailing beyond the failing light and wind, there’s no apparent glory in what he’s doing now, that will come later. The lone professional’s contorted rotations on the sea’s broken surface are flawless. In a relatively flat ocean for Pozo, he’s planing between the bumps and ramps with an almost sixth sense, the mark of a champion. In case you’re wondering who the sailor is, he’s deservedly on our cover and his name is Victor Fernández Lopez, sail number E42. Victor has reached the PWA final in Pozo ten times over the last ten years, it’s a remarkable achievement but in the context of his sailing this evening, his remarkable record has context. Dedication breeds success.
The proving grounds of our sport lie in every wind speed and water state. Every windsurfer, be it in the wet of seas or lakes, meets a challenge every time they sail. How we manage these challenges can be inspired by sailors like Victor or the Moreno twins, who have an even more incredible record of success than their compatriot. Achieving such a level of consistency in a sport where the only constant is variation of the ‘playing field’ is almost impossible to fathom when you consider the performance standards required to master the complex dynamics at work. “Show me another sport where a person has the opportunity to learn so many different skills… There’s no shortcut. Only learning by doing,” muses a reflective former youth world slalom champion, Maciek Rutkowski. In ‘Road to the top’ this issue, Maciek gives us a candid insight to the realities of chasing his dream of breaking into the upper echelons of the PWA. Most sports have champions that reign at best for years; windsurfing seems to specialise in uber talents that dominate for decades. Dunkerbeck, Naish and Albeau sit alongside the Moreno twins as examples of the prolific yet it seems their accomplishments aren’t always recognised as relevant to the grass roots of our sport. They should be. “It’s the stars which create the magic,” says Dave White as he contributes to the debate within our pages.
The lines of our proving grounds are common, we all interact with wind and water and if it weren’t for those at the extreme boundaries of those lines, windsurfing would still be a sport in a shed. Instead we have a sport that thrives on innovation, athletic endeavour and can be savoured in the myriad of ways on display this month. Flat water in Vassiliki, tubes in Tahiti, storms in St Ives; as windsurfers we revel in proving to ourselves that the only limits we have are how much we wish to grow within our sport, that’s a healthy pursuit, that’s windsurfing. The stimulation, excitement and adrenaline, it’s common to us all. At this time of year the brands release fresh goods to furnish our addiction further. Just like our prolific champions, it’s too easy to dismiss the relevance.
We test this month the cutting edge of current wave board design, the ‘compact concept’ but learn in this issue how Fanatic have took the ‘Stubby’ idea from their wave board line into their freewave and freeride range and how Neil Pryde have rebooted their iconic V8 sail by transposing technology from their high end racing line. What happens on PWA and elite proving grounds is being brought back to the basics of planing in ponds, I like that. It’s a cycle that I hope never ends because it tells me our sport is alive, evolving and vibrant but of course that’s not everyone’s view. Cynics have their own ideas on kit development and that’s ok too but before we close our case, we have some evidence from the honourable Peter Hart I’d like to present. In his ‘affairs’ piece this month, ‘The past imperfect’, Harty examines in his own inimitable gifted style our somewhat misguided nostalgic notions about ‘old kit’ and brand loyalty as well as a humorous look at the marketing hype of windsurfing’s glory years.
Thankfully the hyperbole of those days has gone and our sport has matured into a period of genuinely worthwhile development. “People complain that the tests never say anything bad about anything – but that’s because nothing is bad anymore.” Harty sagely notes. But of course the real test lies on the water not in words and whether you’re a cynic or kit junkie, vintage or proud 2017 board and sail owner, all are welcome at the court of windsurfing, just make sure you are sailing with criminal amounts of fun, that’s all we ask you to prove. Next special sitting at the court of wind junkies takes place at the National Watersports Festival, 2-4 September 2016, Hayling Island, be there and see for yourself kit and sailors of every age, all embracing the greatest sport on earth – windsurfing, the ultimate proving ground.
Words Finn Mullen // Photo John Carter / pwaworldtour.com
(Originally seen in Windsurf Magazine / September Issue 2016 )
PHOTO Pozo is a tough proving ground but Daida Moreno has the talent to match. Tweaked to the max table top forward from the 2016 PWA Gran Canaria champion.