Wingfoil focus
Since the start of the event, the warm trade wind has been blowing at a moderate ten to fifteen knots on the Encuentro reef near Cabarete, where the competition takes place. Round, long white water rollers run slowly along the reef here and offer the wingfoilers a veritable playground that freestyle pioneer Balz Müller from Switzerland only knew from his dreams until recently: "I learn something new on every wave here - one wave after another comes along, all of which offer endless glide on the foil. For a Swiss inland surfer, it's just a dream."
In addition, the constant breeze from the north-east allows wingsurfers with wing sizes of around five square metres to shoot high on their way out.
So while the conditions are absolutely fun for the athletes with wings, the wind strength is unfortunately not quite strong enough for the other wind sports represented, such as windsurfing, to get the competition going at all. The focus is therefore currently on wingfoiling.
"Everyone can show what they can do here in this competition, in every respect. Free style! It's really fun." (Yannick Mittas, Team Condor)
Ratings at the Master of the Ocean
Wingfoiling, surfing, SUP, windsurfing and kitesurfing are all represented at the Master of the Ocean 2023. There are three classifications in total: Team, Overall and Expression. In the team classification, one specialist in each sport will compete for their team, while in the overall classificationthe Master of the Ocean: in other words, the water sports athlete who competes in all disciplines and collects the most points overall wins the overall title. In the expression session, only the specialists in the respective sports take to the water at the same time during one session and show what they can do in one run.
Yannick Mittas from Kiel is competing for the German team named after the main sponsor. Team Condor in wingfoiling and also in the overall standings, and is visibly enthusiastic about this format: "You can simply show what you can do here in this competition, in every respect. Three manoeuvres count - no matter what. You can combine waves and jumps. It's free style and really fun. It's gone really well so far and I'm still in the race - hopefully the wind will play ball tomorrow."
Outlook
There are still two more days to go here at the Master of the Ocean. Team Condor and Yannick Mittas are still in the running and will face the favourite in wingfoiling Balz Müller and his team Edelweiss in the next round. We are excited and will report on the final results. With a very moderate wind forecast, the wind sportsmen hope to get another chance to finish the contest.
We're keeping our fingers crossed!
Julian Wiemar
Editor surf
Born in Cologne in 1996, Julian grew up on the western banks of the Father Rhine, where he still pushes himself to new tricks almost every day as one of Germany's best freestyle windsurfers. He discovered his passion for water sports at the young age of five. 15 years and countless hours on the surfboard later, Julian traveled the world from Cologne after graduating from high school. With a German championship title in his pocket, he spent several years traveling to the best windsurfing spots on the planet in order to gain a foothold in the World Cup. With the aim of making windsurfing the focus of his life in the long term, the then 24-year-old globetrotter found his way to the surf magazine through his love of writing travel and spot reports.
There, as a trainee, he immersed himself in all the other areas of responsibility of a surf editor and was able to expand his expertise on a daily basis. With dedication and extraordinary enthusiasm for the sport, he is motivated to share his experiences, adventures and knowledge with readers in the world of windsurfing.
