Patrik, it sounds like a staircase joke: you, as a long-time F2 shaper and one of the best-known designers in the scene, almost sank on your first board... Yes, the first board was a disaster. Back then, nobody had any information for a newbie like me, the boards were still made of polyester. Sandwich construction was just emerging and that was what interested me. After laminating, we tore off the peel ply and took the board straight onto the water. It seemed to be ready. Half an hour later, the board was heavy as lead and I almost soaked. I looked for the hole on the beach and when I put it in the sun, I saw how the water bubbled out of all the tiny pores left by the tear-off fabric. Since then I know why you do a finish (laughs).
At that time, there was a gold-rush atmosphere in the industry. There was also a lot of competition among shapers. How did you manage to make a name for yourself as a nobody? At the World Cup on Paros, one of the top riders, Finian Maynard, didn't get his boards in time. I lent him a board, he sensationally came second with it and wanted to buy it from me straight away. I refused and a short time later I won the Engadin Surf Marathon with the board with a four-minute lead. There were various F2 importers on site, they got curious, grabbed the board and wanted to put it into production afterwards. Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy because the shaper at the time, Peter Thommen, had an exclusive contract with F2 and so the board was measured, he shaped two new versions and I tested it again before it went into production. In return, F2 and Arrows Sails offered me a job as a tester. Expenses, salary, material without end - who would say "no" to that as a young lad?
And a few years later you were a shaper at F2? Yes, the end of the 90s was an exciting time. Freestyle and supercross established themselves in the World Cup and required new shapes and ideas. Slalom also experienced a renaissance. The windsurfing business didn't get any easier in those years, and Peter Thommen was no longer in the mood to have his budgets cut. At a dinner on Lake Garda, he told me that I should be prepared for something and that if he left, I would be in discussion as a shaper at F2. My jaw dropped, the guy was a luminary back then. And now I, little Patrik, who nobody knew, was supposed to build the boards for F2. I had never built a wave or freeride board before and I started sweating at the thought of it.
How did you fill the big shoes? My luck was that everything changed back then. The boards, whether freeride or formula, were getting shorter and wider and ultimately none of the well-known shapers had any experience with the boards of this new era. We were all breaking new ground. I did all the disciplines myself back then, which helped me a lot with the development. Nevertheless, I was naturally scared. Freeride was and is the most important market, I had no idea about it and just thought: 'If you mess this up, you'll have a problem'. In the beginning, I was in the shape room day and night, building prototype after prototype. Karin Jaggi from the background: "You were already working too much back then. I remember how you once put on some pasta water and then fell asleep while brooding over some ideas. The next day, the salt had burnt in and the flat could have burnt down." Patrik (laughs): Yes, that's true. I lost ten kilos in a short space of time.
Despite all your successes, the end of F2 was also a big disappointment for you! That's true. It's amazing how quickly situations can change. One new owner and you're gone. During this time, we got to know some business people who only looked out for their own pockets regardless of the consequences. We were also shocked to realise that friendships are not always what they seem and that when you hope for solidarity and help, you are stabbed in the back. The whole thing wasn't just a drama for us, but also for all the team drivers and many other people involved in the business. The only good thing for us was the lesson it taught us about how not to run a long-lasting business.
What happened back then? The new managing director wanted to completely revamp the shop. I'll never forget how the new graphics for the boards were presented to us. A total disaster, the boards were suddenly adorned with comic figures. The image that had been built up over 25 years was thrown overboard overnight. It was as if Mercedes would only build off-road vehicles or cheap cars tomorrow. Nine months later, F2 was insolvent and Karin and I were together six figures poorer. After the managing director left, new doors opened for us and we were motivated to step on the gas again. I drew up a presentation in which I wanted to explain to the owner how the brand could be brought back to the top. Marketing, product positioning, business plan - I had everything in my pocket, but he laughed at me.
In a figurative sense? He not only laughed, but also said that I had no idea about the business. Well, I remember well when he said in his first presentation as the new F2 owner in front of all the business partners, importers and team riders present that he didn't know much about windsurfing and wasn't much of a sportsman in general, but knew how to save taxes. That didn't go down well. And who knows, maybe he really is that good at his "sport" and was actually able to save on his taxes in the months that followed, with the final stroke of the insolvency, much to the chagrin of others!
Every end is also a beginning. For you, it was the start of your own business and your life in Australia.As professionals, we have of course travelled a lot and got to know most of the good windsurfing spots in the world. Australia was always our favourite - for many different reasons: Little crime, great windsurfing conditions and many spots are almost "empty". Plus extremely tolerant and open people, our culture but on the other side of the world, high prices - that's bad as a tourist, but good if you want to live there and have to work at some point. And of course it's "close" to Thailand, so to speak, where I work regularly. The big disadvantage is the distance to Europe and our families.
What problems do you face if you want to set up your own windsurfing brand from Australia? It was easy for us. We had good products and the network of disappointed F2 importers already existed. So we were well equipped. The first enquiries came in quickly and the trust in us was always there and became even stronger when the first deliveries were sent on time. The only problem was the big brands, who wanted to keep the competition to a minimum.
Pressure on the producer to keep the competition down? Two months after Cobra agreed to produce our boards, they wanted to back out. Apparently the bosses of the big brands had put pressure on us and were afraid that we would sell everything cheaply online. Well, you can see who is selling off the boards in certain sports shop chains and we think it was probably more the fear that we could take some of the quantities from them. After we gave Cobra the contacts of our importers, everything was ok. Unfortunately, three years later there was another such action: the five biggest board brands were probably bothered by the many small brands. But this time with consequences, because certain production rules changed, making it much more difficult for small brands to survive.
Question for the marketing expert: Karin, how did the idea of using Patrik as a brand name come about? Did you have no time or no ideas? We actually wanted a different name and the first boards were already in production. But then it turned out that our desired name was possibly already registered. These legal matters are always a matter of interpretation, it would have been a different industry and therefore probably not a problem, but we didn't want to start with difficulties and therefore simply changed the name at short notice. Patrik' had the advantage that the "break" with F2 was recognisable to everyone without any further explanation. And it's not that unusual - many brands use names: Goya, NeilPryde, Severne, Angulo, Naish, Thommen...
You get the feeling that you as a brand are still keeping your cool. Our products are not available in discount stores, we want to be sure that we sell everything we produce. We didn't want to expand at the drop of a hat, but to grow slowly and steadily. The problem is that you can only earn money as a brand if you are small or really big. Medium-sized hardly works, because you sell more, but you also make a real leap in all costs such as team riders and marketing.
Now you have a prominent team rider in Ricardo Campello. Exactly, the fact that we were able to sign Ricardo was simply a unique opportunity and he should also push our wave boards. We have a high profile in slalom, speed and in the women's sector, so we don't need any further promotion.
Keyword waveboards: Patrik, you're going your own way here with your trailer concept (small centre fin at the back, two larger fins at the front). Conviction or a unique selling point in the marketing world? Clearly conviction! This concept is all about the idea that you can set up five different fin combinations with just three US boxes and the ability to slide the fins back and forth. Single fin has always been important, and the thruster set-up is also well known. A few years ago, twinsers also came back into fashion, offering a lot of manoeuvrability. If you look under the board of the surfers, you will mostly see three fins of the same size and this idea can also be adjusted on our board. The idea of the trailer fin also came from the surfers and it is amazing how easily and quickly you can move the rear fin back and forth and adjust the handle for different conditions.
Only Quad is not possible... When Kauli Seadi started with quads back then and everyone was chasing after him, I naturally started with them too. I wasn't really happy with it. With all the talk about one, two, three or four fins, people often forget that, apart from the shape, it's only the position of the fins that determines the turning characteristics, not the number.
In what way? People always say "quads turn better than single fins", but it's about the shape and not the number of fins. With fins, it's exactly the opposite: fins positioned one behind the other make the board more directionally stable, it turns less well. That's why you have to adjust the shape to counteract this. Unfortunately, the planing usually suffers and the four fins don't help at all. With a single fin board, the fin is always a little behind the rear strap, with twins it is just underneath. But if you put a single fin right under the strap, the thing turns just as well. The problem: If you edge the board heavily in the turn, the centre fin loses its grip.
So more fins also provide more grip, which is an advantage... That's right. That's the main difference! The further out the fins are, the more grip you have on the edge. Now it's a question of whether you want more grip at the front or the back? Riding styles are individual and the only solution is fin boxes with a sliding area or a custom. That's why I see our trailer wave with five fin options as the best compromise between these worlds, I have all the options: In the morning on Lake Garda I certainly don't want a multi-fin board, but a single fin for jumping and accelerating, in small waves I ride it as a twinser or trailer concept and in big waves as a thruster with fins pushed far apart...
To what extent is Ricardo Campello involved in your board development? In photos he only rides quads. Sure, he surfs extremely. He insists on quads and wants a lot more bottom curve, so I build them for him. However, these things don't glide at all, I'm certainly not going to do that to the end user and our normal trailer wave line will remain. Maybe we'll make a pro model for the cracks who have the time to travel after the perfect waves.
At the moment, you get the feeling that there are no major innovations in wave boards. What's on your mind for the future? I have lots of ideas, but I don't have the time to realise them all. My problem is also that I'm not good at distributing and handing over work. In the end, I do everything myself so that it turns out the way I want it to. One exciting project is certainly the collaboration with Stefan Wälchli from Airinside (supplier of hollow boards, editor's note). The advantage is not only the ultra-light weight, but also the fact that you can change the inner structure very easily without changing the outer shape by even a tenth of a millimetre. So no matter whether you add stringers, struts, battens, restoring springs, thick reinforcements or something upright, crosswise, lengthwise, etc. to the board, it always comes out of the mould the same on the outside. So, as with a snowboard, you can control not only the shape, but also the stiffness and torsion. Racers certainly insist on very stiff boards, whereas freeriders and waveriders are more happy about comfort, flex and twist. We'll see what happens in the future.