MG Windsurfing

Known as one of the poshest parts of Germany, Starnberg can also offer some good windsurfing conditions. I sailed a place called St.Heinrich today. It was a very picturesque scenery with a small Bavarian church and the Alps in the background. Also it was really mild today, which made for a great short session. My back is still not back in shape but I'm trying my best to improve my strength. I was told to take it easy windsurfingwise but it was just too tempting. The only bad thing is that I lack power in most of my moves but I think it will come back soon. January is going to be a month of some serious physiotherapy and I hope to back in full shape by the beginning of February. I also hope to be ready for the EFPT event at Lake Garda, which is hopefully going ahead there in May. Tomorrow looks as if some nice Foehn winds will kick in. It's going to be really mild as well - perfect for sneaking a little session in before Christmas dinner. a burner sequence  the same mov...

I don't want to bore you with too much writing this time. All I can say is that the EFPT event in Six-Fours-les-Plages was probably the best windsurf competition I ever attended. Thumbs up to all who made it happen. I also wish that the EFPT-crew around Tom Hartmann and Hanna Poschinger will have the opportunity to do a lot more events like this one. Thank you so much. The atmosphere was friendly, the judging was fair, the food was good and the conditions were just extreme. I am also quite happy with my result. I got 9th in a very strong fleet of 36 riders and I noticed that despite having a full-time job and living 600 kilometres from the nearest coast I could sail some good heats. But on top of it all, it was so great to see some friends like Romain and Xavier, who I met in Marseille already three years ago, and to go sailing with them and also to do some sightseeing and hanging around. Last but not least, I would also like to thank my sponsors Patrik Diethelm Boards, MB-Fins an...

I think most windsurfers in Bavaria spend lots of time in front of their computer screens checking webcams and wind reports in order to get an idea of the latest conditions. It can be very discouraging at times to wait for wind that will never really materialize. But every once in a while you can catch some wind - given that you can make it to the right spot in time, which is, again, not a very easy thing to do when you have a full time job. That cloud reminded me a lot of Table mountain in Cape Town.  Today was a public holiday in Germany so I wanted to take it easy. However, I couldn't help but check the Kochelsee webcam at 7 in the morning. There was still a lot of fog around but I somehow felt that it wouldn't take long for the wind to pick up. In fact, the wind arrived at around ten to eight. It was still really cold when I went into the water about half an hour later. I choose 4.6 and 90 litres, which was alright in the gusts. Conditions were rather marginal to say ...

Last Saturday, roughly about 30 riders gathered at Großenbrode for another freestyle competition. The organizers had decided to give the whole thing a go just the day before. It was quite stressful for me to make it to the event since I had to drive all the way from Munich. I was super tired, it was cold, the wind was really up and down but it was still quite some fun. I made it into the final where I sailed against Tilo Eber. It was a very tight heat and once again I only got second in a much disputed decision. Yet, I was happy with me heat: I could land a burner, a planing kono, a spock culo and a normal culo among other. I would have liked to do some bigger moves but the wind really didn't allow for more this time. The clip which you can find at the bottom of this page shows a couple of moves I did in my first heat. When watching it you may get a feeling of how average the conditions were. Still no complaining here. Here are some photos:  A kono, right in front of the j...

I've been off the radar for a while... but that doesn't mean I haven't been windsurfing. Despite a very calm August I managed to sneak in at least one session a week. We often had to drive quite a bit to get to the windy spots but it was mostly worth it. The Baltic Sea wasn't that windy in August so I often drove west. I got to see the North Sea from a very different angle these last three weeks or so. It seems a lot less crowded than the Baltic. There are not many distractions around. So you have more time to contemplate its beauty. Everything around there seems to be shaped by the forces of the elements. During one session we even had to escape from a small tornado. But what really got me was the sound of the board when sailing in one of the mirror-flat channels.... Today's session in Saal wasn't that bad either though. I even have a photo from today. It's me sliding out of a switch chachoo in what seems like very low winds. Forecasts for Friday and next ...

There's an abundance of windsurfing footage from Fuerteventura everywhere on the web right now. So here's some more of it... The PWA Freestyle World Cup has just finished and the moves that could be seen there were simply amazing. The wind dropped down a bit while the competition took place and we got a week of 4.4 weather in. As I prefer lighter winds a lot, it was really a shame I couldn't compete. But the level is unbelievably high this year, too. So I am still not sure whether I would have been able to make an impact. What I found was that the top 10 or so are again a big step ahead. Anyway, Fuerteventura was a good experience and I got to know some interesting people. I am now more motivated to practise new moves and cannot wait to be back on the water here in Germany. Here are some photos from the last day on Fuerte and also another short clip filmed at Matas Blancas (scroll down to the bottom of the page): In case the video does not appear, here's the ...

Fuerteventura’s south is probably one of the most popular windsurfing spots in the world. The summer months’ wind statistics speak for themselves – if you go to Fuerte in July, there’s going to be a lot of wind. Another interesting fact: Fuerte’s south offers a vast beach that can turn into a nice lagoon at high tide. However, it is not really that freestyle paradise which one might be tempted to call it given these prerequisites. The wind is strong but in fact quite gusty, the spot at centre 2 is packed with windsurfers of all levels. Most of the time I am completely overpowered on 4.0. But after almost a week of sailing I’m getting used to the conditions and the flying sand on the beach. I have got some footage from yesterday which I edited to a very short film, which you can watch here. We just filmed for about half an hour and with the old camera – so don’t expect anything exceptional. By the way, many professional windsurfers have already arrived on the island to prepa...