ZTwo events, one discipline – and yet the images could hardly be more different. If this year’s World Wave Tour has shown us one thing, it is just how broadly the term ‘wave riding’ can be interpreted in windsurfing. The discipline is as multifaceted as the locations where it takes place: tropical, turquoise and idyllic in Fiji – barren, rugged and storm-lashed in Gran Canaria. Cloudbreak showcased the purist side of the discipline, where windsurfing, with a cross-shore wind and powerful swell, comes close to classic surfing: no jump scoring, but long bottom turns, crashing cutbacks, clean aerials – and a score derived from the quality of the wave and the ride. The sail acts less as a propeller and more as a point of balance; the wave itself sets the rhythm, which the board follows rail-to-rail. The down-the-line specialists didn’t look as though they were conquering the conditions, but rather as though they were blending into them. Bernd Roediger and Jane Seman made impressive use of this stage and demonstrated just how much style, experience and finesse can make the difference in a heat.
Rail-to-rail or ramp-to-rotation? Fiji is all about rhythm, Pozo is all about reaction
Pozo is a completely different story. The east coast of Gran Canaria seems like the polar opposite of Fiji: barren, rocky, dry and windswept. Instead of palm trees and lagoons, the landscape is dominated by lava rock, dusty slopes and a coastline battered by the full force of the trade winds. The wind blows diagonally onshore, often brutally strong, whilst the wind swell is significantly smaller and more disorganised. The waves do not roll as long, clean walls over a reef, but break short and choppy into a churning arena. They’re only of limited use for riding – but they make for excellent ramps. Pozo is the place where wave windsurfing becomes an aerial spectacle: metre-high double loops, push-forwards, twisted rotations on the wave – and rock-hard landings. It’s all about maximum control at maximum speed and endless airtime. To win here, you need not only a feel for the waves and the right line, but above all strength, courage and a board that performs even in chaotic conditions. This year’s winners, Philip Köster and Daida Moreno, epitomise this school of wave riding. Both locals know the conditions like no one else; both know how to get the most out of seemingly small waves.
Turquoise waters versus scree, reef waves versus strong-wind ramps: one tour, two extremes.
At Pozo, a wave shoulder that would go largely unnoticed elsewhere becomes a launch pad for jumps that only work in strong winds. In Fiji, it’s all about the art of not squandering a perfect set wave. At Pozo, it’s all about the ability to master wind forces of eight on the Beaufort scale. At Cloudbreak, a single, extraordinary ride – one you can wait for patiently in the lineup – can define the 30-minute heat. In Pozo, in a third of that time, it’s the combination of jumps and short, powerful wave rides, coming thick and fast every minute, that counts.
It is striking that the overlap between the starting line-ups was extremely small – only two athletes (Antoine Martin and Takuma Sugi) competed at both venues, which could scarcely be more different. Is this an indication that not only the disciplines themselves, but also the individual events within them, are becoming increasingly specialised and extreme? Or are high travel costs and a tightly packed tour schedule this summer also a decisive factor?
Julian Wiemar
Editor surf
