Born in Hamburg, she was very lucky that her parents owned a small holiday home on Fehmarn, right by the water, which brought her into contact with windsurfing at an early age.
In a few words, how did your windsurfing career go?
I stood on a board for the first time at the age of eleven and I quickly realised that this was my thing. I then started racing very quickly. Initially I was still sailing standing up on a displacement board. Then in 1985 I switched to a funboard and in 1986 I immediately became world champion in the series board world championship in France in the course racing discipline and in the overall classification. At that time, the long raceboards were still being used. In 1990, I became world champion again in Norway in course racing and overall. I was already surfing the course races on the short Fanatic Ultra Rat in strong winds. In 1995, I did exactly the same thing again at the World Championships in South Africa - but I was already riding for HiFly then.
You've also raced in the World Cup since 1987 and were part of "Team Germany" in the mid-90s.
That's true. But in 1998 I realised that it was boring when there were only eight other women in the World Cup and nobody really paid you for it. I stopped regatta surfing completely after I failed to qualify for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
That's why you switched back to the Mistral One Design.
The topic of the Olympics simply appealed to me again and I don't think I did too badly, at least when there were more than three wind forces. But unfortunately there weren't more than three wind forces in the qualifiers (laughs). Amelie Lux then travelled to Sydney for Germany and won silver - in very little wind. I was really glad that I didn't have to compete there, that would have been really embarrassing (laughs).
What happened after your sporting career ended?
I was lucky enough to be able to do an internship at a large PR agency during my time at "Team Germany". I was able to start there directly as a junior consultant in 2000. In 2005, I set up my own agency "Hoeppner Sport- und Markenkommunikation".
That went very well straight away.
We had clients such as Axe and Lucky Strike, for whom we looked after their appearance in Formula 1 while tobacco advertising was still permitted. We were a team of ten.
Has your sporting past helped you in your job?
It certainly opened doors for me in my first job and I believe later on with my way of approaching problems.
In what way?
Run into the wall, fall down, get up and carry on (laughs). I'm still very persistent today.
Have you stayed true to windsurfing over the years?
In principle, yes, but sometimes I was so busy that instead of jetting off to Fehmarn in the evening, I just went for a bike ride - and even that wasn't always possible.
Did you also look after customers from the windsurfing industry?
No, I didn't want that either. I wanted to prove that I can do my job even without this world champion bonus.
But for a few years now, I've been professionally involved in windsurfing again.
In 2009, we were commissioned to support boot Düsseldorf in its brand relaunch from a pure trade fair to a participatory event. The client is still loyal to us today and that is a great pleasure. We provide the project manager with strategic advice for the entire trade fair throughout the year. And from autumn onwards, we are always responsible for Hall 8a, the trend sports area. We create the concept, plan the programme and try to bring manufacturers to the trade fair, so we work more as an event agency, which we are not really. As a result, I naturally have a lot more contact with the surf industry.
How big is your agency today?
We are between four and six employees. We were much bigger before our daughter was born in 2008, but my priorities have changed since then. Today, I prefer to work with nice customers rather than ones I can get rich with.
How do you view the surf scene today, especially for women?
The guys in the World Cup used to begrudge us the prize money. We used to get about 25 per cent. That's why I think it's great that Iballa and Daida Moreno have managed to implement "equal payment" at some events and that boys and girls get the same prize money. In general, I have the utmost respect for the young generation of female windsurfers. It's impressive to see what they achieve with so little support. And that almost all of them are studying or training alongside their windsurfing careers. Girls like Sarah-Quita Offringa, Steffi Wahl and Lina Erpenstein have my utmost respect.
INFO-BOX
- Age: 51 years
- Place of residence: Hamburg
- Profession: Entrepreneur
- Surfing since: 1980
- Regatta debut: 1984
- Greatest successesFunboard World Champion 1986, 1990, 1995, World Cup victories on Sylt 1996 and 1997
- Favourite spots: Everything around Cape Town and right on my doorstep on Fehmarn
- WebpageWatersports Podcast "Saltwater". 50 episodes published so far.
Andreas Erbe
Chief editor surf
