The return to Challengersails in 2017
Claudio Badiali and I signed papers on February 10th, 2017
We drove 950 kilometers down to the Adriatic coast, where Claudio Badiali and his team have been work for almost 40 years in sail development. It was a tiring long ride till late in the night through the darkness of a cold winter day in February. But when walking into the loft on the next morning and meeting Claudio Badiali again -after 10 years – I immediately felt the passion and dedication for windsurfing and sailmaking. We embraced us like in the good old days. With the great and positive memories from the past, and there are existing so many, I am sure that the future will bring a lot of new sensations. I felt really happy to return to the Italian sail brand Challenger in 2017 and immediately felt more than welcome again. The life is a big challenge and Challenger Sails will be a big part of it from now on again.
Entering the water at Chia, Sardinia on a windy day in April 2004, with a Challenger Bash proto 5,0m (Pic: Kerstin Reiger)
Wave action in Fuerte on a Challenger prototype sail in 5.0m  a few years ago (Pic: Roger Protzen)
Claudio Badiali, one of the driving forces behind Challenger Sails: „Chris was already with us from 2001 till 2007, then he was having the possibility being with a big sail brand, and in the end he discovered, that Challenger has something special inside.
I am a sail maker and I am a really sensitive person. When a person is my friend, even if we don’t meet for a few years, this person is still with a part in my heart. So the story is never finished for me, if the person is real, is correct and honest with me. I have met a lot of not honest people in my life, but they are in another part of my heart or they aren’t in my heart anymore. All people who are crossing my working life and my sentimental life have a part in my heart, like a piece of a mosaic and sooner or later they come back again, like Chris did. And now we are here for the new adventure. Chris and Kerstin are part of it!”
Tutto bene Claudio, the Three-G in 3.2m will resist the biggest storms
The new start with Challenger in 2017 makes me happy. The headquarter of the brand is in a neighbouring country from Austria, where the food is fantastic and the windsurfing scene is more than alive. Just a few hundred meters from the loft you can hit the water. The sails look great and it seems they made a big step in the last 10 years.
Picking the right sizes from the 2017 sail storage in the Challenger loft.
Italian Pizza in Senigallia
I can’t wait to hit the water with the new sails and let all my friends try them out.
And if want to try a sail or need a mast or a sail, just drop me a line.Check out the 2017 range in the meantime
Light, white and elegant, the signature style of a Challenger Sail in 2017