Gallery: Winter storm on the Baltic Sea - the best pictures

"Snow chaos", "winter bomb", "Baltic blizzard" - the headlines in the run-up to the event were not exactly sparkling with restraint. However, for the north of Schleswig-Holstein at least, the weather models gave hope that the snowfall would be limited.

The morning brought certainty - there was no sign of snow. Instead, the wind readings at the Kiel lighthouse were pointing steeply upwards, with winds of over 40 knots from the east-south-east by mid-morning. So we packed the smallest of cloths, scraped the windows clear and set off for Brazil. On the way there, a message from Friedel Blaasch, alias Bulgenslag, popped up on my smartphone: "Down the line in Stein!" In my mind's eye, the following immediately appeared the images of a legendary day during the October storm surge of 2023. At that time, the place at the exit of the Kiel Fjord, which is actually a shallow water spot with a waist-deep lagoon, came to life and delivered smooth waves with side-offshore winds.

When we arrived at the spot, promising sets were actually running into the bay and the wind was blowing the crests of the waves backwards. Friedel and Christian Kohl were the first out with sails between 4.0 and 4.2 square metres. It quickly became clear that the conditions were indeed special - there were rides with several turns and even aerials. "The only problem is that the sail is always completely iced up and you can't see the waves at all," Friedel said, before he had to hide behind his bus after an hour to breathe away the pain in his fingers for a few minutes.

I was also quickly drawn to the water by the good action and with Leon Jamaer and Henri Kolberg, even concentrated World Cup expertise could be found on the water a short time later. You can find the pictures of this session in the picture gallery at the beginning of the article - more pics will follow shortly.