From Kiel to Ærø: Nico Prien on his Baltic Sea crossing on a windsurfing board
Manuel Vogel
· 02.01.2023
The facet of touring surfing seemed to have been somewhat forgotten for a while. Only through people like Jono Dunnett who has surfed around Europe without an accompanying boat, the whole thing has been revitalised a little. Nico Prien is also fascinated by long-distance surfing, and he tried his hand at it on a first one-day tour across the Baltic Sea. He set off with German speed champion Gunnar Asmussen on the foil and a photo and film crew in the accompanying boat at his side.
What were your motives for taking on the tour and surfing from Kiel to Denmark? Was it a spontaneous action or was there a lot of planning and preparation behind it?
Well, I've actually wanted to do this for years. You stand on the beach in Schönberg, look over to Denmark and think to yourself, it's not that far, at least with the right wind direction, just straight ahead. But that's just it, everything has to be right: Wind direction, wind strength, the weather, and it can't be too late in the summer, otherwise you can have a massive seaweed problem out there. I also wanted to have a support boat with me, for safety reasons and of course for the photo and film crew. You can't keep a team like that on standby for weeks, so in the end, when the conditions were right, it was a pretty spontaneous action - even though I'd had the idea of surfing over there in my head for several years. When the forecast was right, I phoned around for two days until everything was ready. The idea in my head was finally going to become reality. We were ready to go!
You have opted for the foil option. What are the advantages on long-haul flights?
The foils are a big advantage these days, I think. As I said, I'd had the idea of surfing to Denmark in my head for a while - even long before the big foil revolution. It never materialised back then because you are much more dependent on the wind direction and strength on the fin. In addition, you can't sail other angles to the wind in such a relaxed manner and you simply need stronger wind overall. At over fifteen knots, it gets pretty rough out on the Baltic Sea - the support boat would have had to fight quite a bit - and so would our bones. You can push with the fin, but not for several hours. Your back hurts quickly because, unlike with the foil, you take every chop with you. So the foil made everything more relaxed, more efficient and also less risky, as you're not quite so dependent on the wind direction to get to your destination.
What set-up did you use? Your normal racing equipment that you also ride in competition?
Yes, exactly, we used our normal racing set-up: 85 cm wide boards, with a small foil, with a front wing area of around 500 cm2. Plus sails of around seven square metres.
How did you cope with the choice of material out there? Was it a very difficult decision?
Quite difficult, yes! That was one of the biggest challenges at the start. In Schilksee near Kiel, at our starting point, the wind was offshore. So it was very difficult to assess what to expect out there towards Denmark and how the wind would develop over the course of the day. What's more, you'll be surfing in two different places, so to speak. The wind and wave conditions over in Denmark won't be the same as in Kiel. You have to rely more on the forecast than on what you see. Even though the forecasts are usually pretty accurate these days, I had a bad feeling. In the end, we decided to build everything one size too small rather than too big.
When choosing materials, you have to rely more on the forecast than on what you see - a queasy feeling." (Nico Prien)
We thought the bigger problem would be having to control the big equipment over a long distance in too much wind and then somehow get home with it. According to the forecast, the wind was supposed to increase overall that day and become stronger and stronger towards Denmark. So we had to fight our way out of Schilksee onto the open Baltic Sea with the small equipment in fairly light winds. But even out there it didn't get much better for the first twenty kilometres - we battled with very light and gusty winds for the first half of the route.
You just mentioned the kilometres. How long was the total distance?
On the ideal route, it would have been 40 kilometres each way. In the end, however, we had a total of 110 kilometres on the clock there and back.
At some point the wind stabilised a bit, didn't it? When did it become more relaxed for you to ride?
The wind stabilised around the halfway point and, especially when Danish land was already in sight, it really stepped up a gear. So it's not just rumours, it's proven: There is more wind in Denmark (laughs). However, this also changed the wind direction a little and we ended up between the two islands of Ærø and Langeland. We actually wanted to head for one of the two, but ended up right in between due to the wind shift. We had to make a decision: do we drop down to Langeland and cross up on the way back, or do we go hard upwind to Ærø and have some room on the way back? As the wind was quite strong at that moment, we decided to cross up and ended up on Ærø. We found a perfect spot to land there - which is by no means a given on the Danish steep coast. Standing over there with the crew on this beautiful beach and finally looking in exactly the other direction, towards Germany, was simply a wonderful moment.
How did you keep your bearings out there? Did you just go for it or did you constantly check the GPS?
We occasionally checked the GPS on our mobile phones with the skipper. However, the connection wasn't always perfect, so we couldn't always determine our exact position. What's more, the wind was so light at the beginning that we were just flying on the foils - so we could hardly adjust our course and simply sailed as straight as we could on the foils. In the middle of the route, there are about ten kilometres where you can't see any land. This is also where the internet connection is at its worst and it was particularly difficult to keep our bearings.
You had Gunnar Asmussen, the German speed champion, at your side. How did that come about? Was it difficult to get Gunnar interested in the adventure?
Gunnar always really enjoys windsurfing! I knew that he would be there if he had time. And as everything worked out this time, he had time and came to the start with me. We also have a very similar speed, which is an advantage so that it doesn't spread out so far over several kilometres, or that one person doesn't always have to wait - and you certainly don't have to wait for Gunnar (laughs).
You had a support boat with you - for the photo and film crew and also for safety. Would that be an option for you: to do something like this without a boat, alone, just for yourself?
Yes, mainly for environmental reasons - I would have liked to make the crossing without using so much petrol. Two or three years ago, I had already tested with a friend how far the internet connection would go on the route: after two thirds of the journey, the connection on my smartphone cut out abruptly. To be honest, it was just too unsafe for me to be out there alone without a connection. Imagine if the mast breaks or you injure yourself and can't reach anyone quickly in the middle. At some point, I just decided to do it with a dinghy.
Who were the poor bastards who travelled behind on the boat?
(Laughs). I'd definitely like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to the crew on the boat. It was the photographer Nici Riederer, my videographer Lars Wichmann and the skipper Niklas Engelmann. It must have been a real ordeal. Gunnar and I flew relaxed with the foils over the steep Baltic Sea chops and only saw the crew flying back and forth in the boat in the corner of our eyes.
If I had known how painful the outward journey would be in the light wind, I would have turned back after fifteen minutes." (Gunnar Asmussen)
I can imagine that. The course, at an angle to the wave, is also pretty ungrateful on the boat. Was the boat able to keep up in terms of speed?
At the beginning, yes - just under full throttle. When the wind got stronger and the waves higher, especially on the way back, they couldn't keep up and we had to wait for them from time to time.
Wow - and the boat wasn't a rubber duck, was it?
No no, that was a real motorboat. Seven metres long, with plenty of steam. In flat water, it could travel at up to 38 knots. The fact that they couldn't keep up on the way back was due to the waves.
How long were you on the road in total? And how fast were you travelling on average?
We were on the road for a total of six hours. Of course, we also took a few breaks at the beautiful beach on the other side, and on the way there we also had to stop a few times due to a lack of wind. The average speed was therefore limited. When we were underway, we were travelling at around 25 knots, which was our average cruising speed.
Was there a plan B in case the boat broke down out there?
We double and triple-checked everything - the boat was in very good condition. The skipper had radios on board in case of a real emergency.
There is no drone footage of your trip. How did that come about?
We sank them (laughs). As we made our way back, we had a super beautiful scene with the Danish cliffs in the background. The sun came out and Lars flew up the race drone with the FPV goggles on (first person view) to accompany us for a bit as we set off on the other side. He sat in the boat at full throttle, was quite far away from it with the drone at some point and lost sight of the boat on the monitor in the goggles. The battery died and he didn't make it back in time - and bang, the thing was sunk.
Is touring surfing in general something that fascinates you?
Yes, it's fascinating. And now that I've done a short tour myself, even more so. I don't want to compare myself to people like Jono Dunnet. But this feeling of going on tour and exploring something, and not just doing your laps in a radius of a few kilometres at one spot, is unique. And it's an incredible reward to arrive at your destination after such hard physical labour. You have a lot of time on the way. Time to think without distraction. Jono Dunnet certainly had a lot of time. You're out there, there's nothing around you and everything is quiet - the foils hardly make any noise. You can simply block out everything unimportant.
How was it overall in terms of physical exertion for you, six hours on the foils?
I think that in perfect conditions, where you can cruise nicely, we would have coped well. But the light wind phase on the way out really got to us, because you constantly have to keep your back under tension to keep the foil up. We were both extremely exhausted by the time we got back to Kiel.
I believe that. Do you have any other tours planned for the future?
Yes, I would definitely like to start another, somewhat longer tour next year. Maybe even for several days, with camping equipment and provisions, but that hasn't been decided yet.
