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2003: Thank God!
Björn Dunkerbeck against Josh Angulo was the heat that everyone was watching in 2003. The Terminator and the former bad boy met in the semi-final of the double elimination, with Angulo winning and claiming his first world title: "Thank God, my wife and Björn!" In terms of racing, Formula was the order of the day back then, meaning sails with double-digit square metres and wide giant boards. But the North Sea doesn't take that into account, "with a full six wind forces, you can hardly see the pros in the straps at half wind". Bernd Flessner, who competes in both disciplines, is fed up with the torture at some point "and throws the equipment at the feet of one of the organisers: 'Why don't you ride it? He just says: 'I'm crazy'." Dunki doesn't do that anyway, and jokes to Flessner and Andy Laufer: "You surf Formula, I'll have kids, it's more productive." At the time, offspring number two was on the way: Liam Dunkerbeck.
2004: Many winners
So, was the Sylt World Cup once a one-design event? In 2004, the racing sails looked confusingly similar, square metres of transparent mono film and hardly any colour. It was difficult to recognise the individual riders in the 14 course races on the North Sea, as there was only one day of waveriding. In marginal conditions, only two laps could be completed, resulting in a total of 17 winners. In the women's event, the party tent was the only place where the Morenos and co. did not get out on the water. The race organisers speculated on another day with waves, but they never materialised. In the end, Antoine Albeau came out on top in the race, followed by Ross Williams. Due to the weakening wind, the golf course became a sideshow: amateur golfers Flessner and Laufer took to the green with Dunkerbeck.
2005: Slalom is back!
Action in the Shorebreak instead of racing far out: everyone was delighted that the slalom was returning to Sylt after the Formula years. And how! Twelve eliminations through the chaos of the North Sea, finishes directly in front of the beach, starts with half the field and excitement at every jibe. Even though the equipment registration initially caused confusion, everyone was thrilled: "It's pure adrenaline, you race towards the first buoy at 60, 65 km/h in a pack of almost 20 riders, it's great fun!" enthused Bernd Flessner. Dunki then also had fun racing again and took an unchallenged victory. When it came to wave riding, however, the balance sheet for Sylt was "Too little made of it! A lot of time was wasted waiting for better waves, so in the end it wasn't enough for the quarter-finals. The new world champions Kauli Seadi and Daida Moreno had to share the first places with seven others each. And while Andy Laufer was accompanied around the clock by an RTL team ("I play the chaotic one and Steffi Wahl the organised one"), Boujmaa Gulloul and Chris Pressler were on Sylt for the first time.
2006: Show must go on, surfing when it's windy
The 2006 World Cup was an event of superlatives - but only on land. With a pit lane for the professionals, the famous parties and lots of celebrities, the set-up in the autumn after the "summer fairytale" was impressive. According to the local press, the local table dance bar even hired twelve new dancers especially for the World Cup. They probably got more exercise than the riders, because apart from a few Slalom 42 races, there wasn't much going on. A fun race, a super freestyle session won by Ricardo Campello on slalom equipment - that was it. It wasn't until the Monday after the event that an official storm front blew through and many riders stayed an extra day. Even star guest Robby Naish took to the water - albeit out of competition.
2007: Election campaign
Windsurfing is a "fascinating sport that combines skill, elegance and the mastery of natural forces in a unique way" - said none other than the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who sent a message of greeting to Sylt in 2007. Had she travelled to the island in person, she would have been able to celebrate the best result by a German lady for many years. "It's a dream come true to have the competition of a lifetime in front of these fantastic spectators," commented Steffi Wahl on her third place at the World Cup Sylt 2007. With little wind but "solid breaks", only the wave rides counted, Steffi came third behind Daida Moreno and surprisingly left her sister Iballa behind. An overwhelmed Nayra Alonso finished in front. The men only took to the water for a few preliminary heats, wave action was only shown on the big screen: Levi Siver and Jane Pacebianco presented "The Windsurfing Movie" in the cinema. Slalom could also only be ridden at the end, Antoine Albeau showed why he had already secured the World Championship title before the event and won with aplomb. It was a completely different story in freestyle, where five riders still had a chance of winning the World Championships, with one favourite after another only bowing out towards the end of the double elimination. With his victory over Kiri Thode, 18-year-old Marcilio Browne won his first World Championship title, while last year's World Champion Gollito Estredo won the event.
2008: Jubi-Cup
Finally another spectacular wave riding event off Sylt - and what a show! In 40 to 45 knots of wind and huge white water rollers, the showdown took place on the second weekend. Klaas Voget sensationally finished in third place - if he hadn't lost valuable time in the semi-final after breaking his mast and had scheduled his last move a few seconds earlier, he could even have reached the final. In the evening there was the first night session on the raging North Sea, illuminated only by the headlights of the sponsors' cars. While Klaas was happy in the end, André Paskowski was a little disappointed with his fifth place in freestyle. In the slalom, on the other hand, the German riders had no say at the front, where Björn Dunkerbeck dominated and started his comeback. Of course, Robby Naish was also a guest on Sylt for the 25th anniversary, bringing a very young up-and-coming rider with him: Kai Lenny.
2009: SeeBühne (or: The Hero of Westerland)
Anyone who follows the World Cups off Sylt on a reasonably regular basis will have muttered "Oh yes, 2009..." images will run through your mind's eye that are almost iconic: Klaas Voget running along the beach to the cheers of the spectators, climbing onto the podium... "What the spectators were able to experience on this Saturday afternoon was absolutely script-ready and deserved to be made into a film!" Klaas surfed nine heats, leaving the water as the winner eight times. He only lost to Alex Mussolini in the double elimination final, but by then he was already the hero of the thousands of spectators who didn't want to miss a second of the roaring storm. With second place, he achieved the best German wave result of all time. However, large parts of the tent city and the paddock on the beach had already been dismantled on this second World Cup weekend for fear of a storm surge. Antoine Albeau, who had already been crowned Slalom World Champion, came fourth in the wave riding with style and power. Philip Köster, on the other hand, who had previously won his first World Cup in Pozo, picked the wrong equipment and was knocked out in round one.
2010: Dunki is back
After two years of fantastic conditions, the event flags at Brandenburger Strand 2010 only fluttered in the easterly wind. A freestyle single elimination in marginal conditions far out and otherwise only slalom, that was all that was possible. But much to the delight of the Sylt audience, Björn Dunkerbeck was back in his old "Terminator" mode. Antoine Albeau had already secured the World Championship title, but Dunki was determined to win on Sylt. Only a broken harness line disrupted his winning streak in the end. The best German was Gunnar Asmussen, who has big plans for the coming years. As a highlight, the freestylers were pulled by a jet ski during the night session - one of the first tow-in events!
2011: Cup of Good Hope
Tow-in freestyle was almost the only way to offer something to the spectators on the beach in 2011. The summer heat and calm prevented any official scoring. Even the attempt at a light wind slalom failed. All the more time to focus on the absolute superstar: After his victory in Klitmøller, Philip Köster came to Sylt as the newly crowned world champion and triggered a huge amount of hype: Endless media appointments, celebrations with partners and sponsors, press conferences, TV appearances and, of course, autograph hunters of all ages. The interest on Sylt has rarely been greater; organiser Matthias Neumann spoke of 230,000 spectators, even without wind. The fact that Björn Dunkerbeck won his coveted slalom title was almost a minor matter.
2012: Full house
The Köster hype was also omnipresent in 2012, with Philip once again coming to Sylt with the title in his pocket. And this time the conditions also played in his favour: A week of action and the double elimination final as the highlight right before the award ceremony - it doesn't get much better than that! And just like in the script, Köster won the World Cup Sylt for the first time and stood on the podium in a dripping wetsuit. A night session was also on the programme again, with Ricardo Campello putting on the best show. While Gollito Estredo claimed his fifth world title in the North Sea freestyle, the slalom riders were somewhat overshadowed by the other disciplines. Dunki wanted to become world champion once again, but was plagued by bad luck: First his caddy Chris Pressler gifted his opponent Albeau a victory, then the mast broke with a deafening bang.
Click through all the Sylt stories from 2003 to 2012 in the gallery above!
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