Presenter and documentary filmmaker: Dirk Steffens on his enthusiasm for wingfoiling
Tobias Frauen
· 24.01.2025
Dirk, you moderated the official opening of boot 2025 and mentioned that you like to go wingfoiling yourself. How long have you been doing this?
My wife has been kiting for 20 years and forced me to do something too (laughs). Because I realised from the outset that I would never reach the level in kiting to compete with her, I thought I'd start something completely new. That was five years ago, exactly the time when wingfoiling really took off. Back then, the sport had become well known and people were reading the first stories - including yours, by the way! And then I thought it would be less humiliating for me if I started a new sport that could be practised together on the beach with the wind. That's how I got into wingfoiling, I stood on it once and I've been lost ever since.
Where do you go when you're out on the water?
We are actually travelling all over the world. Our home waters are Lake Starnberg, because that's where we live. Unfortunately, you can almost only go there in winter, so we are cold water-tested. And I have a weekend house on the Baltic Sea, so our spot is Grönwohld in Eckernförde Bay. I think it's one of the most beautiful spots I know by German standards! But we also like travelling to Greece - Limnos is a great spot - or to Lake Garda, we've been to Le Morne in Mauritius or South Africa. We made a stopover in Langebaan on our way back from Antarctica. By chance, I met my old friend Andrea Hoeppner in a beach bar there, which is nice to surf with a world champion. I may look like a barge next to my wife and Andrea, but of course I still have fun. I'm a lousy surfer, but an enthusiastic one!
I'm a lousy surfer, but an enthusiastic one!"
When you're travelling for work, do you plan where you can stop off to spend a few days on the water?
Of course, we sometimes try to add private holidays at our own expense to our business trips. Flying twice would be ecological and financial nonsense. And when we are already in great places, we also try to get out on the water. For example in Namibia, where we filmed an environmental project about seal conservation. We had the last afternoon free, there was a surf school and we borrowed equipment. As all surfers know, every hour on the water is a good hour.
Do you sometimes have your own equipment with you?
Yes, but not on business trips, of course, because we already have a quarter of a tonne of camera equipment with us. You don't want to lug all that stuff around with you. But I prefer travelling with my own equipment!
What was your last session? And when do you already know that you'll be on the water next time?
The last session was about three weeks ago on Lake Starnberg. The wind was quite good, I had a new wetsuit and finally stopped freezing. I set off from the Ambach recreation area, which is the only spot for kiters like my wife. The wind at Lake Starnberg is extremely gusty, even on the better days. You never have constant wind, but that's good for someone like me to practise in. You develop the skills in difficult conditions that make it fun afterwards. We're currently planning our summer holiday, we're going to Portugal and at Whitsun we're going to Lake Garda. But I'm hoping that I'll get to fly over Lake Starnberg a few more times before then, and of course also up at my place on the Baltic Sea. So until my summer holiday, I'll have to struggle with cold water and make do.
What is the move or manoeuvre that is keeping you busy at the moment?
My jibe still needs to get a lot better.
And here at boot, what's your impression of the hall? Do you know the surf hall as it was before?
Sure, I've been hosting the boot opening event for a few years now. This was the first time it was held in Hall 17, which I really like. And I also really like this industrial look. But let's be honest, what the hall looks like on the inside is not the point for anyone here. What people are interested in, apart from the exhibitions, is the pool. So to have 84 wind machines running and three Beaufort in the middle of winter on a basin with 1.2 million litres of water. That's the cool shit here. That's why we're all here!
