FWC p2

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[FWC p3]

I still don’t really know who won but it just doesn’t really interest me, ‘cause in my opinion everyone who sailed out there is a winner.

And even though I wasn’t there myself it looks as if my impressions match with the ones of the witnesses. Here’s a cite from long time Fuerteventura Local and windsurfing legend Jürgen Hönscheid that I sampled from the official FWC reports:

“No horror movie would match that show these guys were pulling off, ….. please, guys, next year at least wear helmets! …..do those guys disconnect the red alert system of their brain?….. Stephane … lifting his arm to the shouting crowd on the cliff, like a torero just having defeated the raging bull…..pure drama and for sure the most radical wave action I ever witnessed……one better doesn't think of any possible consequences of a little mistake…..the rocks in Puertito are the worst nightmare possible, believe me…..even our daughters, usually more interested in surfing, watched in deep awe and frozen in respect, didn't miss one single move on the water.”

For full interview click here

Considering that these statements come from the guy who pioneered big wave windsurfing on Fuerteventura with his legendary Mejillones Sessions, the decission of contest organizers not to run a competition on day 7 was a wise one.

The contest had started at day 5 of the waiting period at the beachbreak of Cotillo with solid waves and a light sideshore wind. Day 6 saw bigger waves at Cotillo that were used for competition in the morning before the contest moved over to Puertito in a still rising swell. The Puertito Slab had mast high waves and a 20 knot sideshore wind and riders used this conditions for an incredible show that allready would have been more than enough to call the event very successfull.

But the before mentioned day 7 topped everything with waves up to 8 meters and light winds.

But windsurfing these conditions would also mean crossing the red line and leaving the safety zone a bit too far.

Size and power of these double mast high waves alone would have been a borderline challenge for sailing out there, but the rocky shores and absolutely no safty zone between the sharp rocks and the peak made it a survival challenge.

Nevertheless, Stephane Etienne, Yannick Anton, Thomas Traversa, Boujmaa Guilloul and Francisco Porcella decided to have a “free session” out there, later follow Robin Goffinet and Klaas Voget.

At the end of that day a session was history that allready is legendary and still talked about in the windsurfing world.

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