A windy year on tour

2011 is the season with the most wind I´ve ever had since I started competing on the PWA Slalom circuit in 2005. Wind in Vietnam, wind in South Korea, extremely strong wind at the Costa Brava, wind at Aruba, but I competed in Texel, Holland, in the IFCA Worlds, where we had a lot of wind,too and 40+ knots of wind at Sotavento, Fuerteventura. So far I used my 9,2, the biggest registered size, only in two eliminations, but my 5,6 in 10 eliminations. In 2010 there was the chance just in one elimination at Fueteventura to use the 5,6.

Now I am here at Alacati, Turkey, where the wind blows stronger than in the previous years. It was easy to travel to Turkey with a dircet flight by Pegasus from Vienna to Izmir. Here we stay at the Bakirli Otel. It´s a quite relaxed place next to the center of Alacati. The eventside has moved from the mainspot to the opposite side of the bay, where Cagla Kubat has set up her new Windsurfing Academy. It´s a super relaxed spot. The center is located a bit higher up on a rock and offers a great view on the whole bay.

Loading the truck at the airport together with Arnon, Kurosh, Jesper, Marco and Manuel. Burcu controls the action (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

Getting delivered the gearbags directly to the beach (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

Obviously it was too much wind for me and my body this season and I got problems with pain in my back and my left leg, before the IFCA Worlds started on the 20th of June. Since then I worked hard to recover my body. A lot of stretching, no windsurfing. It was hard to sit on the beach and watch other people having fun out there. But Kerstin always motivated me to think positive. While our stay on Tenerife I tried to sail, but had massive pain and stopped after 45 minutes.

Stretching helped definitely (Pic: PWA/John Carter).

Just one day before the competition got started at Sotavento I decided to visit a doctor, who gave me 3 injections. Thanks Norbert!! The injections made it possible to start at the Slalom on Fuerte, where I could finish in 32nd position with the worst preparation possible. But I felt surprsingly fit on the water and had much fun racing in the 30 to 40 knots strong conditions.

Totally powered on Reflex II 5,6 and iSonic 87 at Sotavento (Pic: PWA/John Carter).

Preparing the jibe at the inside mark (Pic: PWA/John Carter).

Right now I am very positive about the upcoming event here at Alacati. I already had two sessions on the water and felt fine. I really hope, that my 7,0 will arrive on time. The sail is still somewhere at an airport. We could see a full fleet here, what means that 64 men could enter the event.

After the event we will travel a bit through Turkey. Excited already!

Back home from Turkey I will get a MRT done in the hospital to see what happened in my back. There should be enough time to get top fit until Sylt for the final in the end of September.

The Pegasus entrance gate to the dusty road, which leads to the Cagla Kubat Acadamy on the opposite side of Alacati bay. It´s a fresh new venue for the this year´s event (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).

Driving to the beach, on the back of the car of a local farmer (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).