The 2012 trip on the Canary Islands was a great one. A lot of island hopping and changing places, what guranteed a lot of different surroundings. It started with some nice days on Fuerteventura´s east coast. Later I got the chance to watch the most radical onshore wave events ever. Gran Canaria saw windgusts up to 60+ knots and Tenerife as well had very windy conditions. In between a short trip to Sotavento and in the final a two weeks long stay on Fuertventura.

Slalom sailing at Puerto Lajas.

“I travelled more than 20 times to the Canary islands and started back in 2005 with Slalom racing at Sotavento. Most of the trips were to the island of Fuerteventura. And never I returned disappointed. There are so many spots and you will always find the spot, which works with the actual wind- and waveconditions. And the life is pure: simple food, a lot of fish, no traffic jams and a lot of nice people!”

A scan from the July issue of the Binter Canarias flightmag. That´s a shot from a longdistance fullfleet race we had in 2008 at Sotavento.

I competed in the PWA Slalom at Sotavento in the end of July this year as well. It was my 8th participation. We sailed 50 knots conditions the days before the event started. That was extremely exciting, fully powered on the Reflex III 5,6 m, my smallest Slalom sail and on the iSonic 87 with a 32 cm long fin. It definitely paid off to bring this small sail size.

Later, when the competition was on, I did not think once to use the smallest kit. We had light to medium wind conditions and sailed for the very first time in my career in a wrong heat. But shared this experience with Taty, who did the same fault. Since that day I will have a look on the heatboard twice, before I will start my run towards the starting line.

The time on Fuerte was great one. Met many friends, had some wavesailing sessions, too, sailed at Puerto Lajas – that´s a pure wavesailing and surfing spot, with my Slalom kit. I spent a lot of great hours with Kerstin. The Canaries are a great place to be during the summer months if you are in favour of high wind sailing.

Here is a gallery with some nice shots from this time. Thanks to Kerstin Reiger, Susanne Timm and John Carter for the fantastic shots. Also added some shots, which I took.

Next stop will be Alacati, Turkey. Will get on the plane tomorrow. There are several interesting things happening. It will start with the 5th PWA Slalom of the season, followed by a local Red Bull event. Will as well participate in the Starboard iSonic testing and drive around in the area to sail some new spots. The windforecast looks excellent. Have a look on the starting list at Alacati and follow the livestream from Monday on!