SURVIVORS OF THE STORM: A TRUE BATTLE AGAINST THE ELEMENTS
Faced with 50 knot winds at the IFCA Slalom Worlds in Hvide Sande, Denmark, the race crew were forced to abandon the racing due to an extreme squall, which reduced visibility to almost zero. We spoke to a selection of sailors who survived the extreme conditions.
Words: Johan Søe, Jordy Vonk, Bruno Martini, Taty Frans, Jenna Gibson & Andrea Cucchi // Photos: John Carter
JOHAN SØE – THE BEAST TRIES TO TAME THE STORM
I was on my smallest gear that I registered, which was my 6.8m and medium board which is 118 litres. And it’s safe to say that was way too much wind for those conditions. The wind really picked up during the semifinal. In fact, it picked up that much that it became more of a battle of sailing against yourself and the conditions, rather than the other riders. At its peak it was well over 40 knots and I could barely make the finish line, yet alone try and focus on racing. The course was normal, but I simply couldn’t push the fin downwind – there was just too much lift.
LIVING ON THE EDGE
I almost crashed several times and I saw Bruno [Martini] crash, but luckily he was leading at the time, so he still had just about enough time to recover and make it through. If you went down, it was the worst because it was so windy that it was almost impossible to waterstart. To try and put it into context, after the finish I was just laying in the water for about five minutes because it was too windy for me to even be able to waterstart. The visibility was almost down to zero and you couldn’t even see the beach. For ten minutes we couldn’t see anything. It was carnage out there, but we knew the wind would calm down eventually after the squall had passed by. On the plus side, at least it wasn’t open ocean. Overall, it was a great experience and I love those days when we are all overpowered. It was certainly a day to remember, that’s for sure.
JORDY VONK – THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
I was on a 6.8m and a 116L medium board. It was insane. The first two eliminations were fine and I was under control, but the last one became extremely hectic. During the semifinal I finished second and I saw Andrea Cucchi just going in a straight line as he simply couldn’t turn. I remember Taty Frans was in front of me and out of nowhere he was lifted up into the sky into a huge catapult.
ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER
After that, I just said to myself, I just need to make it round the course and finish as it was just a qualifier for the final. Taty was really fighting because he had his medium board with a small sail. Thankfully, I didn’t have that problem because I was on a 6.8m. It was just a battle of me versus the sail, and even then, it was absolute carnage. When we were going upwind, the rain started to kick in and I couldn’t see anything anymore. I saw some young kids from the youth’s just sitting on their boards looking completely lost. They didn’t know what to do because it was picking up to 45 knots with zero visibility. It was truly unsailable. Even if we’d have had small gear, we wouldn’t have been able to race as the boats couldn’t see anything either. I remember in the quarterfinal, it was also pouring it down, and due to the lack of visibility, it took me the first one hundred metres of the first reach just to figure out where the first mark was. It was just super hectic conditions.
SURVIVAL MODE
Even on a 5.8m and a small board it would have been really tough to sail in a straight line. The wind did stabilise a little bit but there were still some huge squalls and it was still nuking. Every time the rain came, the kids just didn’t know what to do. They were just sitting on their boards waving for help. Even though the wind was offshore, it was still really wavy out there just because of how strong the wind was. It was actually quite dangerous as the kids were getting blown out into the lake.
ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS
In a way I enjoyed it, but for the racing itself, it was a bit annoying as normally you want to sail as fast you can and really compete flat out with the other guys, but when it’s like that you are really only fighting your equipment and trying to survive. These are the days you talk about and look back on forever. You don’t remember 12 knots and pumping on an 8.4m! It was cool, especially when everybody made it back it one piece. Nobody got lost, so we can look back at it as a memorable day for all the right reasons.
BRUNO MARTINI – BELIEF IS KEY
When it was really nuclear, I was on my smallest gear which was a 6.5m and 115L board. At one point I thought to myself that I can’t hold it anymore. As you are only allowed to register two boards I decided to bring my medium and big board, which wasn’t ideal for the conditions we were faced with. However, everyone was in the same boat with medium boards, so it was a fair fight with everyone equally out of control.
In reality, it was a fight just to stay on the board and finish the course. At the last mark I was thinking: “There’s no way I’m going to make it around that buoy”, but I just had to tell myself that I could do it and believe. There were huge gusts, so to say it was hardcore is an understatement. To be honest though I was enjoying the moment. I really like strong and stormy conditions – unfortunately, a lot of the kids were scared though. You couldn’t see anything, so you just had to try and keep calm and sail back to the beach once the wind had died down.
TATY FRANS – THE WRONG COMBINATION
In the first heat I was on a 6.8m and I was way too overpowered, so I came back in and took my 5.9m. I thought it would be perfect for those conditions, but when I got out there, both the wind and the rain picked up in intensity, so it was totally the wrong size sail for that board and it just felt all wrong. We aren’t used to sailing with a small sail on a medium board and I couldn’t even hold the board down. Every time I hit the chop the board just wanted to fly. I was rounding the gybes and suddenly the wind was pushing the board up instead of forwards. I crashed at the third mark, but I didn’t really know why. I felt like I was gybing like a beginner with one hand.
It can be fun racing in high winds when you have the right equipment, but sometimes it just gets too much. My combination just didn’t work when it was blowing 50 knots in the gusts. We also had rain in our face and it was hard to see anything. For a while I enjoyed it, but after a while nothing made sense anymore. We had similar conditions back in 2019 at the PWA racing and there does come a point where it just gets too much. When I was coming back to the shore, I couldn’t see anything anymore and I hit some chop and I actually went up in the air and flew backwards. After that I just stopped in the water and let the wind pass by. It was gnarly. I saw a lot of kids just sitting in the water crying because it was just so incredibly strong. In Denmark you have to expect anything and everything. It can be 45 knots or it can be sunny and light. I personally like European conditions like this because we don’t get big storms like that in Bonaire, so it’s a new challenge.
JENNA GIBSON – WAITING FOR THE WIND TO DROP
So for this event I signed up with my medium and small board, which was a 99L, so I actually had a smaller board than many riders. With the 5.8m I couldn’t sheet in at all. It was just a case of getting round the course. I still fell in at one of the gybes as it was very tricky. When we were waiting for the final out on the water this massive squall came through and it was savage. We all just got flattened and sat on our boards while the worst of it passed. Even on the 99L I was nowhere near being in control.
In our semifinal it was 40 knots, but in that squall, it must have been 50 knots and there was no chance of windsurfing in that. I fell in the water and my kit just got lifted up in the air and flew 30 metres. I enjoyed it though. There was a tiny youth girl, who was out on a 4m wave sail. The boat couldn’t see her and she was waving and crying. The rain was so intense, but as soon as it dropped back to 40 knots she managed to get back up and sail in, which was quite impressive to see.
ANDREA CUCCHI – A DAY TO REMEMBER
I had two heats in the strongest wind and the first one I was on my 7m and 118L. Then in the last race I changed to a 5.9m, but I was still on my 118L medium board. You are only allowed to register two boards and I think two boards can be enough to cover most racing conditions, you just have to change your mentality a bit. It was a bit weird using my small sail with the medium board, but I actually felt OK. I was actually upset that we didn’t continue racing. I was having a lot of fun and could have kept going without any problems. I sail in those conditions for fun sometimes in Lake Garda when there is a storm. As long as it is not thunder and lightning. I had bet a with Taty [Frans] who would fall first in the semifinal and I was laughing when I saw him go down. I loved the drama and when it is windy like that I just love to go and sail for fun.
I love those days when it is 40 knots – I think this is what we are missing in windsurfing. In the 90’s the guys were going out in crazy winds. There were a lot of the youths struggling to get back in, so I guess they had to play it safe. The crew were having some major problems getting all the riders back to the beach. I will remember that day for a long time. This one will go down in the history books. It was fun, there was plenty of drama, but I was still under control. To send out the kids in that wind was maybe too much as they don’t all know their limits. Everybody has to learn their limits and know when not to go out. When they are racing, they all want to go out, so that was the problem. In one of the semifinals, there were only three guys racing out of supposed ten-man heat, the rest stayed on the beach. For me it was fun and I wanted to keep on going.
