The windsurfing elite had to wait three days because the weak wind did not allow any official races at the California Windsurf Cup Heiligenhafen. But the wind returned just in time for the final day. This meant that two complete foiling eliminations could be held. Fabi Wolf, the 2023 GWA foiling champion, dominated the season finale ahead of Vincent Langer and Lars Poggemann. At the GWA Youth & Junior Championship held as part of the event, Keno Recke won the Youth U21, Erik Wehkamp the Youth U19 and Paul Regber the Junior U17.
Happy ending after a slow start
"We are delighted that the wind played along so well in the end. We had a record number of participants here and, above all, many young riders who travelled to Heiligenhafen for the GWA Youth & Junior Champions. Heiligenhafen is a perfect location for a major windsurfing event. This was an excellent finale for the 2024 season of the California Windsurf Cup. Congratulations to the athletes," says Matthias Regber from Choppy Water GmbH, which organises the California Windsurf Cup.
Wolf captures 500 euros for the opening win
In the very first race, Fabian Wolf made it clear that he had travelled to Heiligenhafen to win here. He laid the ideal foundation for this with a victory in the opening race. He was also delighted to receive 500 euros in prize money. This is because the first race of every California Windsurf Cup is endowed with prize money totalling 1,000 euros in the form of the LVM Versicherung grand prize. Vincent Langer was delighted to come second with 300 euros, while Jonne Heimann won 200 euros in third place. Lars Poggemann and Alexander Neubert completed the top 5 in this heat.
Things got really exciting again in the second elimination. Vincent Langer led the final for a long time and would have taken the lead in the event classification with a win in this heat. On the penultimate leg, however, Wolf was able to overtake Langer and secure his second victory in the second race. Langer again finished in second place. Lars Poggemann secured third place ahead of the Dane Kasper Nielsen. Fifth place again went to Alexander Neubert.
Event victory with 0 points
Fabi Wolf dominated the event classification of the California Windsurf Cup Heiligenhafen after two heat wins with an ideal score of 0.0, giving him a clear victory in the season finale of the top German windsurfing series. GWA Champion 2024, Vincent Langer, followed in second place with 4.0 points. Lars Poggemann secured 7.0 points with a third and a fourth place and thus also third place on the podium. Alexander Neubert has already impressed with consistent performances throughout the season and secured 10.0 points with two fifth places and thus fourth place at the California Windsurf Cup Heiligenhafen 2024. Although Jonne Heimann crashed in the last final, his third place in the first elimination still earned him 13.0 points, completing the top 5.
However, Jonne Heimann remains ahead in the annual ranking and wins the German Windsurf Cup 2024 in the fin and foil disciplines as well as in the overall ranking. "Can't wait for more to come in the future!" wrote Jonne happily on Instagram!
Big performance for the juniors
The GWA Youth & Junior Championship was also held for the first time as part of the California Windsurf Cup Heiligenhafen. This was the first time that the German Windsurfing Association had organised a joint championship for all young windsurfers, regardless of age and equipment. This caused a huge rush among the youngsters. Erik Wehkamp from Kiel is the GWA Youth U19 Champion 2024, ahead of Jesse Richter from Hanover and Kasper Nielsen from Denmark. Keno Recke secured the title of GWA Youth U21 Champion ahead of Brendan Lorho from France and Leo Richter from Kiel.
Paul Regber is the GWA Junior U17 Champion 2024, winning ahead of Philipp Köhlert from Braunschweig and Tom Franke from Kiel. In the Junior U15 category, Gustav Grünbaum from Rostock came out on top ahead of Julian Ahrens and Mika Henning. In the special classification for the Olympic iQFOiL and iQFOiL Youth&Junior equipment, Erik Wehkamp won ahead of Lasse Brudek and Ole Moikow from Kiel. Tom Franke won the Techno Windfoil classification ahead of Fritz Grünbaum and Oke Hochschild.
Complete success despite little wind
The GWA Youth & Junior Championship Heiligenhafen 2024 was a great success. For the first time, there was a joint championship for all junior windsurfers in Germany. It was a shame that the weak wind meant that the Fin Slalom and Techno riders didn't get a chance to compete. Instead, the foiling got down to business. The unique atmosphere of dozens of young people of different ages who came together here showed that the Windsurf Cup is growing dynamically. The excellent location here in Heiligenhafen also contributed to the success. The meadow was ideal as a base for the organisation of a large windsurfing event.
Despite three days of calm, the California Windsurf Cup was a sporting success in the end. The event village on the kite meadow and the supporting and party programme were also a success. Communication and visitor management should be optimised for the future so that even more guests can attend this fantastic event.
The date for next year has already been set: the final of the California Windsurf Cup 2025 will take place again in the Baltic seaside resort of Heiligenhafen from 4 to 7 September 2025.
