Over 170 participants from 18 nations ensured that the Circolo Surf Torbole was very busy both on land and on the water. The international water organisers, sent by the World Sailing Federation, had plenty to do, but unfortunately were not always able to keep up with the pace of the races. There were four disciplines on the programme: course racing and slalom in the four weight categories for men plus the women's field, as well as the long distance (all in one) and freestyle.
The buoys for course racing were located on the Ponale on the west side of Lake Garda, where the Ora blows the strongest. On the new Windsurfer LT, however, even 25 knots posed problems for very few participants. The younger participants only know about capsize falls on the cross like in the 70s from hearsay.
While the Dutch, French and Australians competed with teams of over 20 starters and the Italians made up more than half of the field, Germany (5), Switzerland (2) and Austria (2) only came to the lake with mini teams. Nevertheless, Austria still managed to win two medals. Thomas Wallner, who was already very successful in the 80s and was an Olympic surfer in South Korea in 1988, won two runner-up World Championship titles - in the slalom and in the lightweight men's course racing. Dirk Meyer, who still had a new hip in the spring, was also successful for Germany: the WSeV President, Germany's first windsurfing starter as an Olympian in 1984 on the wind glider and in 1988 on the Div. II displacer, used sophisticated tactics to beat his worst opponent, Nick Bez from Australia, by one point in the six course races.
Even Robby Naish, who as a 13-year-old nobody won the first of his 28 world championship titles on the Windsurfer in 1976, sent a message on the video screen: "It's a shame I can't be there, but I wish all participants every success." Naish was not there in person, but he had at least delivered ten LT windsurfers with his logo as rental boards to Lake Garda - along with around 50 boards that the International Windsurfer Class Association (IWCA) had transported to the CST club grounds for hire.
The next highlights for the windsurfer LT are the European Championship in Hoorn, the Netherlands (10 to 13 October) and the World Championship in Freemantle/Perth, Australia (28 December 2019 to 4 January 2020).
All results and many pictures on www.circolosurftorbole.com
Manuel Vogel
Editor surf
