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crossapol windsurfing 22 mar 19 - ruaraidh-28

YOUTHSPIRATION | OTHER VOICES

17/07/2019
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2016 and 2017 UK Youth Wavesailing Champion, Ruaraidh Somerville, is an up-and-coming young gun with ambitions to be a pro windsurfer. Based in Glasgow, his water time is limited but he has an interesting take on how to stay motivated. Read on as Ruaraidh gives us an insight into the world of an aspiring fifteen year old wavesailor.


Words 
Ruaraidh Somerville  //  Photos  Dutch Engels Photography & Fiona Somerville.


If last year’s PWA Wave World Tour proved anything, it’s that the future of wavesailing is bright! At Pozo, in one of the windiest years ever in the history of the competition, the level of junior wavesailing shot through the roof. To me, a 15 year old kid trying to wangle as much time on the water as possible, seeing such talent is heartening. I’m not at the same level as the top kids on tour, but I’m inspired to push myself so I can be. With the rise of social media, finding inspiration and kindred spirits in any medium has become massively easier. I open up Instagram or Facebook and I’m bombarded with videos of Philip Köster’s latest insane double, the super late hit that Brawzinho somehow survived, or of the ballsiest crash of the day from Balz Müller.

In the past, if you did something in windsurfing, you were lucky if somebody got a picture and mailed it to a magazine. I was struck by a story from Kai Lenny, surfer / windsurfer / paddleboarder wunderkind, who said that somebody asked him if he ever surfs alone, because he always has a new mind blowing picture or video. Kai had said that it’s almost like in this day and age, if it’s not on camera, it didn’t happen. And to an extent that’s true. And while it may seem a little sad, for the youth of windsurfing, it’s the opposite. When I’m sitting in Tiree, willing the wind to appear, I can open my iPhone and immediately see the latest thing in windsurfing. I may only get to windsurf every few weeks, but thanks to social media I never lose my inspiration. The mojo never disappears.

crossapol windsurfing 22 mar 19 - ruaraidh-36

INSPIRED
So for an aspiring youth windsurfer, realising their ambition of being a professional is so much easier. When you sail with people of a similar level to you, who are trying the same moves, you push each other, and you improve faster. But windsurfing is such a small sport, and the world is such a big place that we’re scattered across. My local spot of Troon, in Scotland, is primarily frequented by (with a few notable exceptions, I’m looking at you, Scotty McDowell and Davey Edmiston) bump and jump enthusiasts who love to blast back and forth and do a few carve gybes. While that is great and they’re having fun, it’s hard to push your own level when it’s just you pushing. So when I open up Instagram and see 11 year old Carlos Kiefer in Pozo landing an absolute beauty of a forward, that pushes me. That inspires me, so that the next time I go out onto the water, I’m desperate to land forwards. There is no greater motivator than the fear of being left behind. So to me, the future of wavesailing lies not only in the incredible talent of these young sailors, but in their usage of social media.

SKILLED
So, what makes a good junior windsurfer? Windsurfing, wavesailing in particular, is not an easy sport. As well as finding the right conditions and carrying a fair amount of expensive (and bulky!) equipment around the country with you, you need to spend hours on the water. Like in all sports, there’s no shortcut to greatness. The only way to improve is to try and try again. As golfer Gary Player famously said, “The more I practice, the luckier I get.”

When I was younger, during my summer holidays in Tiree, whenever the wind wouldn’t blow, a lot of other people would go off and cycle, or surf or swim or kayak. But I always had this determination  – encouraged by my Dad, who is a very determined sort of person, and has always had a very strong work ethic – to just go and sail. Even if there was barely a gnat’s fart of wind, I would take out a small sail and a floaty board and just tack, or twiddle about going clew first, or sailing back to wind. I liked doing it because it was fun, and I just loved the feeling of windsurfing, even off the plane. In doing this I inadvertently learned so much about windsurfing that would help me in later life. When there’s barely any wind and mast high rollers are coming in, I can bog out up to my ankles in water and will myself onto a wave. The core skills that I learned from those days of mad practice, of trying and trying again until I could fast tack in my sleep, of learning exactly what the board would feel like in X, Y or Z position, help me so much every time I go sailing. I feel in tune with my equipment because I know it so well, because I’ve spent so much time doing the little things that you don’t really think much of.

What makes a junior windsurfer into a pro windsurfer is as much practice as it is talent. No matter what the wind is doing, I have a reputation for always being out on the water. I’m often first into the water and almost always last out. It’s because I love every moment of windsurfing, good or bad, and because I know that every extra second you spend sailing is another step towards being a professional. When I don’t practice moves, I’m unlucky and I fall. But the more I practice… the luckier I get. 


“There is no greater motivator than the fear of being left behind.”


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DETERMINED
It’s the determination. That’s what I see when I look at a video of Köster trying to land that perfect stalled double. It’s the desire to be the best windsurfer you can possibly be, to prove to yourself that you can do whatever you set your mind to. When I see a little kid nail his first ever tack, his teeth gritted, brow furrowed in concentration, I see that exact same expression on Carlos Kiefer’s face when he goes for that forward, when Balz Müller goes for his latest foiling craziness, and when Philip Köster pulls the trigger on his best stalled double yet. No matter what level you are at, it’s the determination to succeed that makes a youth windsurfer.

INFLUENCED
But… nobody becomes a pro without inspiration. For me, I have a variety of inspiring influences. For starters, the jumpers, guys like Campello and Antoine Martin, have brought a whole new level of fearlessness and flair to the sport. Watching Antoine’s triple push loop crash was one of the scariest things I’ve ever witnessed. Sports like windsurfing which are judged objectively, depend on a certain amount of spontaneity and creativity from the sailors. Ticking the boxes required to do well in a heat is one thing, but to be pushing your own limits, and by extension, the limits of the sport, in a heat, is another! These guys are so inspiring to me, the way that they think outside of the box and just send it! On the waves there’s nobody who inspires me more than Levi Siver. His seamless blend of power and grace, how quickly he goes from powering through a bottom turn with all of his strength to launching himself high above a pitching lip, seeming to defy gravity, is just so impressive to watch. In objectively judged extreme sports like windsurfing, surfing, BMX’ing and snowboarding, it’s the competitors who bring something new to the table each time they hit the waves/bowl/slopes that go down in the history of their respective sports. Til the day I die, I’ll never forget the heart stopping moment I saw Philip Köster almost land a triple in the final of the 2018 Pozo event. I’ll never forget the time I saw Kai Lenny throw a massive air off a deadly lip at Jaws with as much style and confidence as if he were riding a 10 foot wave.

crossapol windsurfing 22 mar 19 - ruaraidh-28

THRILLED
The thrill of the ocean for me is the constant flow of new sensations, no matter what I’m doing. No wave ride is the same, no jump is the same. And the future of wavesailing is in the newest, craziest sensations.

For me, the future lies in kids like Marino Gil, Alexia and Carlos Kiefer Quintana, Lennart Neubauer and Jahdan Tyger. Kids who push their own limits as well as those of youth windsurfing, bringing new styles and new sensations to windsurfing. But above all I feel like what is even more important than their determination, than their skill, is how much fun they have. They come off the water with a big smile on their face, having had the time of their lives. I know windsurfers well into their seventies who still haven’t lost that passion, that sense of fun, that makes windsurfing such a unique sport. Because, in the end, if you’re not having fun, why windsurf?

“If you’re not having fun, why windsurf?.”

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