Germany's best female windsurfer: An interview with Lina Erpenstein - between the World Cup, girls' camps and the DJ booth
It feels like you've known her forever - even though Lina Erpenstein is only 26 years old. But the Aschaffenburg native has been active in the Wave World Cup since 2015. All this alongside school, which she left with a first-class A-level, and studying medicine in Kiel, where she has already passed her second state examination. She also tries to get even more girls and women on the board with her riding technique camps and to make them even better with her knowledge. As a "side effect", she has always been in the top four of the women's world rankings in the wave discipline since 2017. But Lina is certain that she can't stop there. Her declared goal: world champion!
There is obviously virtually no standstill in your life. Why don't you tell us what's been going on in your life over the last twelve months?
Last autumn, I was able to carve out a bit of time for myself as I had already brought some things forward in my studies. I was in Brazil in November and December to train freestyle and gain more experience in the wind from the right. After that, I stayed at my desk until April because I had to sit my second state examination in medicine. There are 100-day study plans for university. In between, I was lucky enough to be invited to the Master of the Ocean in Cabarete. It took place in February and I had already done some work beforehand. From day 70 onwards, I took the plan with me and studied in the Caribbean. That wasn't too bad. I then took my second state exam in April and after that I travelled a lot, including to Morocco.
Before heading to the Canary Islands for the World Cups, we organised a few more girls' camps. These included a surf festival as part of the Racer of the Sea and a wave beginners' camp for everyone in Denmark. That was really good. I travelled from there to the World Cups in the Canary Islands in my new camper van. There was no wind in Pozo for most of June and then the competition started. I then travelled on to Fuerteventura. I took part in the Freestyle World Cup there because there was an eighth lady missing from the field. That went surprisingly well (laughs) and was really fun. It was great to simply take part in a competition without too much pressure. I then travelled on to Tenerife, where we had great conditions and I also did a women's camp. Finally, I travelled back via Portugal and Galicia in the van with my boyfriend. In Guincho I was able to train in the wind from the right again. Yes, and now we're already here on Sylt and the year is almost over.
You mentioned your camper van, which is sponsored. How did you manage that?
I work for a sports marketing company, Acorado Sports, which represents a lot of women. These include female footballers, but also athletes from other disciplines. Acorado arranged the sponsorship with the company Elbtor in Hamburg, which provided me with the van.
Very few female windsurfers have a company that takes care of their marketing. How did you get together with the agency?
That was quite interesting. Last year, Sky filmed a programme with me here and the question came up about how things work with sponsors. I told them that I write about 500 emails, get maybe ten rejections when in doubt, and one of them says that we might be able to do something. The Sky reporter then actually made contact with the agency and they found it very interesting when I told them that I am Germany's best windsurfer and want to become world champion and am organising everything on my own. I've already got a few sponsors through them, including the Elbtor van. It's amazing, it's such a great freedom for me to simply be travelling around the Canary Islands with my own "house". I used to have to drag my six or more boardbags onto and off the ferries by myself when island hopping in the Canary Islands. Now I just travel on them with my "house" - and that's it.
You mentioned your riding technique camps for women. As far as I know, you're not a surf instructor. How did you go about it?
Over the years, I've realised what helps me progress, I've received lots of tips and watched videos. Dieter van der Eyken, for example, is my coach and has taught me a lot. I've learnt what works and what doesn't when it comes to learning. I've built up a certain amount of knowledge about certain manoeuvres. And with the whole coaching thing, it was important to me to do something specifically for women. Of course, there are many camps that are open to everyone, but I have noticed that many women are put off because they realise that they are often the only women at these camps. When they are among themselves, they feel more comfortable, they are not in competition with men. It may sound a bit generalised now, but men can achieve a lot with strength and a go-getter mentality. Women often can't do that, so they have to take a different approach. It's more about technique, and that works very well. For example, we had a woman at one of the camps who learnt how to turn quickly in three days and she wanted to show her husband now because he's been working on it for ages.
We, my friend Yannik and I, co-operate with the Racer of the Sea. They get more participants for the regattas through our camps and we also get participants for the camps through the regattas. But we have also organised wave beginner camps in Denmark. That's just really cool and a lot of fun when you see how the women learn.
Every now and then we get the suggestion that we should test special equipment for women. Do you think women need special equipment, or do they need the same as smaller and lighter men?
Surf equipment is generally developed by men for men. And the average man is usually taller, heavier and stronger than the average woman. In this respect, the material may not be ideal for women, but also not for lighter, smaller men. A good example is the distance between the foot straps. Sometimes women almost have to do the splits on the board. Or the cut-outs for the booms on the sail, which often start too high up. Or if the boom is low enough to fit a woman, the clew is far too high. This is not only a problem in hobby surfing, but also in professional sport, for example in slalom. There, the only female surfer with a fin instead of a foil was able to win compared to the men. In the men's event, the Finns didn't stand a chance. However, this wasn't because the women couldn't foil, but because foiling equipment is simply developed for men, especially in the high wind sector. Similarly with wave sails - a 3.3 sail is developed for an 85-kilo man and 45 knots of wind. But a woman or a man weighing 50kg sails this size at 25 knots. That can't fit. My sponsor Severne has now specially developed the Redback sail, which is designed for lightweight men and women, but also children.
Topic World Cup. How do you see the merger of the PWA and IWT wave tour?
You had already published a Interview with Philip (Köster) and me . I was very positive about that and still am. It's just good to have more tour stops, and that has a lot of potential for media formats too. But it has also become clear that there are still a lot of construction sites. But it was also clear that combining two tours would not go smoothly. For me personally, it wasn't so positive this year, as I wasn't in Japan, Chile, Peru or Fiji. When the decision to go to these events was made, my year was already completely planned with my studies and the camps. I couldn't and didn't want to change everything. But of course I'm missing out on results because of this, I don't have any scratch results - every cup I race counts in full.
In addition to the time factor, the financial outlay is also a limiting factor. Would the full tour even be feasible for you?
Then I would be bankrupt at the end of the year (laughs). I do have good sponsors, but I simply can't afford a cup like the one in Fiji. It's a bit of a shame that you can currently buy World Cup points. The pure travelling costs for the entire tour would amount to around 50,000 euros. I'm now travelling to the Aloha Classic in Maui. I'll have to pay the same for the board transport alone as for the plane ticket.
When you come back from the final on Maui, the last part of your degree programme, the practical year (PJ), begins. What are your plans?
I'm doing the first part, surgery, in Cadiz in Spain, and the other two parts, internal medicine and my elective in general medicine, in Kiel. That will make it much harder to travel everywhere, as I only have 30 days' holiday - that's real life (laughs). So I won't be able to go to the Canary Islands, for example, that long beforehand.
Are you already working on your doctoral thesis?
Yes, but it's lying a bit dormant, so I have to work on that too. It comes from neurology. Broadly speaking, we are investigating how brain performance improves in obese patients after they have completed a weight loss programme. There is evidence that this improves neurocognitive performance.
Is that it with the Windsurf World Cup? Are you going straight into working life after the PJ?
No, on the contrary. After the PJ, I want to give myself the opportunity to train professionally once again. My goal is to become world champion. I'm closer than ever before. But I often race against women who have been able to train professionally for many years. That's why I want to windsurf in different places throughout the winter, maybe even try double loops - you can't do that in a normal year between competitions. I want to push my limits and then see what comes out of it. If I don't manage to become world champion, then at least I've tried everything I can do. But maybe I'll make it - I firmly believe that. I'm 26 years old now - so if not now, then when?
You grew up in an era of women's windsurfing in which the Moreno Twins and Sarah-Quita Offringa absolutely dominated. Wasn't it sometimes frustrating to have the feeling that they were unbeatable?
Of course, when you had just lost another heat against them, you wondered whether you could ever win against them. But at the same time, they were very motivating because you could see what was possible, even for women. But unfortunately there is hardly any support for women's windsurfing, it has been completely neglected because people perhaps thought that we have top riders at the top who represent women's windsurfing. Sarah-Quita has been professionally supported since she was 13 years old. As a result, she has become the most successful female windsurfer of all time. She is world champion in three disciplines. Unfortunately, this is a very complex issue. Where is the double loop supposed to come from for women if they have to work 40 hours a week in a normal job so that they can afford competitive windsurfing? Daida fought for 25 years for equal prize money for men and women and implemented it herself as an event organiser. She was and still is criticised for this. Because there are no separate women's events, we are of course always compared directly with men, which is unfair. Salaries in companies for women are also only a fraction of those for men.
Unfortunately, women continue to be marketed more as models than as athletes. It's also really bad in surfing. But I want to be promoted because I'm perceived as an athlete. Of course, every woman can decide that for herself, some would certainly like to be seen as a model, that's okay too.
We have already achieved a lot in windsurfing, but I would really like companies, like my sponsor Severne, to support more women as athletes and also produce material that makes it easier for young girls to become good.
Your second great passion besides windsurfing is DJing. For example, you DJ very successfully at surf festivals. How did you get into it?
DJing is a super cool hobby for me. I've always had a fascination for electronic music and we used to dance to techno a lot when I was at school. Even back then, I thought to myself that I would actually like to be able to do this "DJing".
When I started my studies, I bought my first controller and practised for myself at home. At some point, a mate I'd told about it asked if I'd like to play at a house party. I was totally nervous, but I said yes. In the end, the party was a complete success and the start of many more house parties and gigs. It's crazy when I think back on it. In the end, the Surf Festival, where I've been playing for a few years now, also asked. It's my favourite act every year, as it combines my two passions of windsurfing and music.
I find it extremely fascinating how much music lets you enjoy the moment and forget everything around you, a bit like windsurfing. When DJing, seeing how the spark from the music spreads to the crowd is a pretty unique feeling.
But I also have to say that I have become more and more enthusiastic about music production in recent years. I had piano lessons for a long time and play the guitar. So I suppose the connection to music has always been there to some extent. In the meantime, I've imported these skills a little into electronic music making. Writing beats and songs on the computer is a totally cool hobby because the possibilities are endless. The software is a bit like a photo
shop, only for music. Ultimately, you can create anything you have in your head somehow, you just have to figure out how.
I've written a few songs for my windsurfing videos myself and also the intro for one or two DJ sets, for example. My skills are still very limited, but I really enjoy being creative and I hope to learn even more in the future.
Back to windsurfing again. What talents do you see for the future among the women?
Someone who really impressed me this year was Alexia Kiefer. She's always been a great talent, but last year she was a bit under the radar. This year she has learnt an incredible amount. I had to race against her twice on Gran Canaria and was really scared. And then of course there's Sol Degrieck, the young Belgian who is currently the talk of the town. She is incredibly good for her age and also gets a lot of support from home, so that she was able to ride the entire tour this year. But Sarah-Quita will also be riding for a few more years. I have to beat her, unfortunately she always rides incredibly well against me. But we're on the right track in women's windsurfing, as Daida Moreno said in the interview I did with her for you. And I'm proud to be a part of that.
