Further reviews:
1993: Workers on short-time working on Sylt
In the year following the move to List, prompted by easterly winds, the wind was blowing out to sea again at the 1993 World Cup. Most sailors anchored near the shore, whilst out on the course – a kilometre off the coast – the wind was gusting at force 7 and above, and it was bitterly cold. Robby Seeger was sailing wearing a hat and had to pay a penalty: “The mark was in such a stupid position and I had to tack. So I complained to the race committee. And because it was so cold, my middle finger on my right fist was sticking straight up!”
Meanwhile, Bernd Flessner is nominated for the Fair Play Award for lending Robby Naish his kit after Robby’s mast broke. Robby is therefore forced to race the course on a much-maligned ‘No Nose’ board and, surprisingly, finishes second. “That thing was so twitchy and was dancing around like mad,” he reported afterwards, shaking his head. At the front of the field, Björn Dunkerbeck wins, of course, whilst on shore over 100,000 spectators enjoy the mega setup.
1994: Robby Two chases Robby One
A sensation in wave riding: Robby Seeger, Germany’s top rider, fights his way through the Losers’ Round to reach the grand final, where he faces another rider named Robby. What sounds like a cheesy script is actually the result of a great deal of talent and training, as Seeger pulls off one trendy one-handed manoeuvre after another, as well as combinations featuring table tops. Fortunately, the competition is being held in double-elimination format for the first time, allowing the Preetz native to battle his way through Matt Pritchard, Josh Angulo, Nik Baker and Björn Dunkerbeck to reach the final. There, he once again showcases his spectacular moves, whilst Robby I. has to sheepishly admit that he has no one-handed jumps on his scorecard.
But “after all, it’s called wave riding, not wave jumping”: because wave rides count for more, Naish ends up in the lead after all, preventing a truly happy ending to the Sylt fairy tale. In the women’s event, Natalie Siebel wins and remains on course for the title, whilst Jutta Müller and Robert Teriitehau take the slalom honours. Meanwhile, there’s a stir behind the scenes: PBA President Christian Herles wants to merge slalom and course racing into a single ‘Racing’ category and lower the wind limit.
1995: 10 on the Beaufort scale
With wind speeds of force 10 and above, a storm sweeps across Sylt in the middle of the World Cup week. The surf reaches right up to the seawall; Friedrichstraße is impassable; and equipment worth 50,000 is destroyed. As the storm strikes suddenly, the organisers have their hands full directing spectators away from the beach (“Please leave the beach. We can no longer guarantee your safety.”) and bringing the women who were still out on the water for the course races safely back ashore.
The wave riding final takes place the day after the storm. Whilst many German competitors are knocked out early, Niash and Dunkerbeck find themselves in the final once again. Because the waves are utter chaos, four jumps and just one ride count. “It was clear beforehand that I’d win,” comments Dunki nonchalantly. Naish, on the other hand, is only moderately motivated; the World Championship title had already been decided beforehand, and the jump-heavy PBA calendar wasn’t to Robby’s liking. In the women’s events, ‘a mere’ 21 competitors are entered for wave riding, and just 19 for slalom – what would provoke cheers today was, back in 1995, still a cause for serious concern about the validity of the results. On land, meanwhile, the World Cup is more colourful than ever: the artist Jim Avignon has decorated boards, flags and other elements – much to the delight of the 150,000 spectators!
1996: Cool Running
“If it were a dog being bathed, animal welfare would have stepped in; if it were amateur surfers, it would have been the sea rescue service” – a storm brings a day of waves, with plenty of blood and drama, at the 1996 World Cup. Dunkerbeck suffers a laceration in the first heat, but still manages to fight his way up to fourth place. In the third-place play-off, with the wind dying in, he has to settle for second behind Bernd Flessner, who is effectively riding alone. In the end, Jason Polakow, who had previously knocked Robby Naish out, came out on top. In the racing, however, Dunkerbeck was virtually unbeatable; he was able to sit out the final race because the world championship title was already secured.
In 1996, there were plenty of other celebrations taking place at the legendary Hangar 401; Anders Bringdal had one of the first sails with a whip-top, and the course-racing boards were becoming shorter and wider. ‘surf’ produces a World Cup newspaper every day, and AOL invites visitors to surf the internet on 18 PC terminals.
1997: Showdown
Winds of force nine and waves as high as the mast made for some spectacular wave riding in 1997. “The most brutal I’ve ever surfed,” groans Josh Stone. Last year’s winner Polakow is riding a 3.3; he’s in the running for the World Championship title alongside Stone, Dunkerbeck and Naish. Robby has Formula 1 driver David Coulthard with him as a guest on Sylt, and Coulthard is visibly impressed: “Today I’ve seen real men. We, on the other hand, are just little boys.” The top four in the rankings are also the top four on Sylt, with Polakow narrowly beating Josh Stone in the final.
The racing is rather uneventful: Dunkerbeck wins at will and secures his tenth overall title. In the women’s event, Andrea Hoeppner also dominates the racing and claims victory at her home World Cup. An interesting side note: despite good conditions, PWA rules mean that no more racing is allowed on the final day. There is too much wind for the course race (more than 20 knots is not permitted under the rules), but as there have already been three races, a switch to slalom is also not permitted.
1998: Caught out in the freezing cold – the frustration that came from the East
Windsurfing kit on the cusp of the modern era: in 1998, the question was “short, wide course racers” or “long, sleek raceboards”? Those short, stubby boards would hardly be noticed today, but back then riders and fans had to get used to the unusual sight – often featuring a ‘flapper’ at the stern: a small rubber flap designed to prevent the rear fin from sucking in air. Dunkerbeck, turning up his nose, opts for the new shape, which goes on to win five out of seven course races.
However, these course races turned into a struggle for survival: an easterly wind meant the course had to be set far out to sea, where the gentle breeze turned out to be a proper storm. The 8.3s or 7.8s – which most riders had rigged up – were clearly too big, and the race organisers had to pick up several stranded riders from the water. The switch to the figure-of-eight slalom made the racing safer, although the riders had to bob about in the lee on small strong-wind boards and then tack back towards the shore.
The unemployed Waveriders plunged into Sylt’s nightlife, prompting Ralf Bachschuster to call for them to be signed up to Rasing to stave off boredom. Meanwhile, winner Dunkerbeck was trudging along the beach in a bright yellow wetsuit; the main sponsor had given him a made-to-measure suit instead of Lycra. Wearing it, he urged his caddies on as they had to rig 20 sails and screw 56 foot straps onto 16 boards.
1999: A serious case
A storm named “Ernest” (hence the pun in the headline) brought some serious wind to Sylt, which only got stronger as the week went on. It all kicked off with the course racing, which was a clear-cut victory for Dunkerbeck. In the wave riding, the Terminator was then knocked out by his Gran Canaria mate Vidar Jensen. But in the double elimination, Dunki fought his way back to the top and won the Super Final against Jensen.
To round off the event, there was one final highlight: a slalom in the surf zone with a Le Mans start! Plenty of action for the spectators, though many riders were hesitant and opted to skip the race. In the women’s event, the Moreno sisters challenged Karin Jaggi’s reign, but were not yet able to beat the Swiss rider. Two German legends, Jutta Müller and Andrea Hoeppner, made their World Cup comeback to bolster the small field of female competitors.
2000: Not much cash, not much going on
No racing at the 2000 World Cup! There wasn’t enough prize money because the Olympic Games had attracted most of the attention that same summer. So it was just wave riding at Brandenburger Strand – which, unfortunately, was firmly in the grip of a steady easterly wind. For just one afternoon, the wind took a bit of a break; a fun session was quickly organised in winds of force three to four and waves of about two metres, which Josh Angulo won. As there was no official ranking, the prize money was then divided equally amongst all the competitors, so that everyone went home with 700 dollars.
No one probably wants to know how much of it had already ended up in the Hangar, the American or elsewhere beforehand. With nothing much going on out on the water, most of the riders let their hair down on Sylt’s nightlife scene. Meanwhile, spectators were treated to a wave simulator, beach football, a large NeilPryde stand and all sorts of other activities.
2001: Poli stays on the ball
In 2001, it was waveriding again; this year, it’s been nothing but easterly winds – and, as a result, plenty of supporting events and parties instead of windsurfing. However, the weather forecasts are hinting at a storm front, though this isn’t due to arrive until after the event has actually finished. The riders vote in favour of a spontaneous extension to secure one more round of competition. So, on the Monday after the closing ceremony, the wave riding takes place whilst the tents are already being taken down on the promenade.
But the conditions are more than just borderline; a flat onshore wind is driving monstrous shorebreak onto the beach. Some of the women can’t even get out at all; for the rest, tactics are key: secure a jump out on the outside, then ride what looks like the best wave all the way to the beach – there’s a high risk of not being able to get back out afterwards and getting thoroughly washed up. In the end, Jason Polakow wins ahead of Scott McKercher and Kevin Pritchard; in the women’s event, Karin Jaggi continues to hold the upper hand over Iballa Moreno.
2002: Final push
A complete contrast in 2002: the World Cup Sylt also served as the World Championships in Formula Windsurfing, with eleven races completed by the end of the week. As a reminder: Formula involved those mega-wide boards with centreboard-style fins and sails of up to 12.5 square metres. Not exactly the ideal kit for Sylt’s shorebreak, but despite wind forces of six to seven, there weren’t enough waves for wave riding. In accordance with the rules, the racers had registered three sails, which were often simply too big for the wind – only a fraction made it to the finish line. What’s more, the shorebreak was littered with debris that destroyed the ‘small’ rigs – around ten square metres – in droves. *surf* estimated the damage at up to 25,000 euros at the time.
Helpers often had to carry the bulky equipment over the shorebreak, as was the case with the youngest participant, Oliver-Tom Schliemann, who was eleven at the time – and who, following an active racing career, is now one of the organisers of the Racer of the Sea. In the end, the winner and Formula World Champion was Kevin Pritchard, who had actually only come to Sylt to secure his wave title. He and Antoine Albeau were the stars of the 2002 World Cup, as Dunkerbeck, Naish, Stone, Polakow and the rest did not make it to the island.
You can browse through all the Sylt stories from 1993 to 2002 in the gallery above!
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Tobias Frauen
Editor