Philipp Richter started his active career with a now very well-known sail number - G-44. At the end of his successful racing career, he bequeathed the number to Philip Köster when he wanted to switch from a Spanish to a German sail number. Today, the doctor from Kiel occasionally competes with his two sons Anton and Leo - for example at the wave contest on Sylt at the start of the season. There, sail numbers G-440, G-441 and G-442 battled it out in the waves and dad Philipp was able to keep the two youngsters in check with fifth place.
However, Leo and Anton came 17th together in their first adult regatta - out of 48 participants. Until 2018, 13-year-old Anton and 15-year-old Leo raced very successfully in the Bic Techno 293 class. In 2019, the two brothers competed in the Multivan Windsurf Cup for the first time. And they did so in racing, slalom and waves. After the last regatta of the season in Kellenhusen, they finished twelfth and 13th in the overall standings.
It seems pre-programmed that the two will continue on their way to the top. In the Richter family on Lake Wittensee, their father and mother were already surfers, as were their brothers Philipp, Peter and Thies, and Anton and Leo's mother Nadja also surfs.
When parents try to teach their children to windsurf, things can go very wrong. What was it like for you?
Leo: We started when we were about five years old. We always had a big board and small sails with us in Denmark. Our father put us on it. It was only for a short time at first, but then we got more and more into it and sailed longer and longer.
Your father Philipp was successful in waves as well as in slalom and racing. You also compete in waves, slalom and foil. Do you have a favourite discipline?
Anton: Wave is the most fun, but slalom and foil are now almost as much fun because you simply get out on the water more. With the foil, you can go out on the water and train almost every day, but good wave days are rare in Schleswig-Holstein.
Leo: Sure, wave is more fun, but it's also a lot of fun to be on the water and train with others.
This year you took part in the German Windsurf Cup for the first time. Did you compete in all the events?
Leo: Yes, we took part in all the regattas this year.
Anton: In recent years we've also ridden Bic Techno 293.
You were already very successful there. Why are you no longer racing in the junior class?
Anton: We have already sailed a lot of regattas on Bic Techno. But the fields have been getting smaller and smaller recently. Sometimes we were only four starters and then we preferred to switch to the funboard.
How were the first regattas in the big ones for you - were you very excited?
Leo: That actually went well. The fact that we had already sailed Bic Techno before and had also sailed Opti regattas before that meant that it actually went quite well. But at the beginning you had to get used to the fact that everything goes a bit faster, that you have to be careful to be there at the right time and start in the right heat. But you soon get used to it. And once you've taken part in a few races, you quickly get better and maybe you're no longer last. That quickly becomes fun too.
Did something go really wrong for you too?
Leo: Yes, I did. I passed the finish line once in the slalom. There was an "H" flag flying, which means "home", but you had to make a jibe through the finish line and I just drove straight onto the beach - I'm sure that won't happen to me again.
Anton: The beginning of foiling was pretty frustrating for me. I was hopelessly behind and couldn't keep up with the others at all. But that also got better. We just haven't had that much time on the foil yet and we didn't have the right racing equipment.
Foiling is quite material-intensive. How do you do it, does your family support you?
Leo: This year we have already been well supported by GA-Sails with slalom boards and I also already have a foil board. Anton still had to use his slalom board. We already have fast foils, but no real race foils yet. You notice the disadvantage on the cross and in very light winds. Some of our age groups already have proper foil sails, but it works and you can keep up. We may not be able to take top places yet, but it's absolutely fine for the first season.
As an experienced regatta surfer, did your father help you find sponsors or did you do it all yourselves?
Anton: Our father helped us with that. We looked at where we could get really good prices and how we could share the material a bit in the first season, also to see how things went in the first season.
Have you already set yourselves specific goals for next year?
Anton: Definitely achieve better placings and compete with the top people at some point. And get better on the foil!
But you definitely want to continue competing in racing, slalom and waves.
Leo: Definitely in the waves and slalom. We're not sure about foiling yet and are still thinking about it. But we probably will, because it's more fun when you get better.
The only thing missing is freestyle.
Leo: We haven't done that yet. Let's see if we do it more in the next few years. But so far we've left it out.
What are the moves in the wave that you are currently training?
Leo: Loops, of course. Anton also prefers jumping a bit more than I do. Front loops are already going well and now the back loops are the next challenge.
Anton: We've already done some back loops!
Leo: Yes, I mean "stand safely"!
At the Windsurf Cup on Sylt we've already seen that you don't give a f...?
Anton: We're kind of used to it because we're often in Denmark in the summer and the waves are already high there. We started riding the waves a few years ago and then you slowly grow into it.
Leo: Sylt was tough because the shorebreak and the current were quite different. I don't want to say that you're scared, but you do have respect. But I really enjoyed it.
What's it like at school - do you sometimes have to be "sick" for the regattas or how do you manage?
Leo: That actually works quite well. If we are away for a longer period of time, for example for a week on Sylt or for the Youth World Cup in France, then we can take a leave of absence. Our school is quite good about that.
What is it like between brothers, you are two years apart, do you push each other on the water or does it annoy you when one is a bit faster than the other or is further ahead in the regatta?
Anton: We actually push each other, but when one of us is ahead in a regatta, it's annoying for the other.
Leo: Sure, if Anton is ahead of me in the front loop, then of course that annoys me. Or when he's further ahead in a regatta. You can look past that sometimes. Next time it'll be the other way round, because we're generally pretty much on the same level.
