2018, here we go!

Here we are in 2018 and it’s already going so fast.

I just spent 7 weeks at home and at the time, I thought it would be forever, but really, it went by in a flash. I’m already off on my first adventure of the year, and even though it wasn’t my initial plan, I am once again in Cape town! Yes, yes I know.. Just like everyone else, but can you blame me for wanting to be part of the cool gang ?? hahaha. It was just the safest option for me to get some proper wave training. In Cape Town it’s always windy somewhere. The scenery is breathtaking and don’t even get me started on all the world-class coffee I’ll have there!

2017 was a whirlwind of a year. Besides the contests on tour, I only had one trip planned, which was Cape Town until mid February. But then one trip led to the other and before I knew it the season was over and I had basically lived out of my suitcase for a whole year. In 2017 I lived from one competition to the next and from one trip to the other. I said yes to all the possible opportunities.
The year ended with me winning my 10th freestyle world title, 4^th slalom world title and 3^rd in waves. And some priceless memories, moments and experiences.

I have counted the hours I spent travelling, and all together I have spent 280 hours IN a plane, which amounts to 11 days in total. ELEVEN DAYS in a pressurised cabin with not enough leg space! And that’s not counting the layovers and hours I’ve driven in Europe to amount to the total time I’ve spent transporting myself and my equipment. Thinking about it now,all of this was mostly due to unplanned/ last minute trips besides the contests on tour.

Having said all of that, those were exactly my favorite trips this year.
The unplanned ones that didn’t involve competition.
Australia was a blast doing the Starboard photo shoot.
Going to Greece with a couple of friends on a boat trip was pure bliss, driving all the way up to Norway to visit Oda was a total new adventure, And those three days I flew to Aruba for the tourism campaign, those videos came out amazing. Sneaking in 2 weeks of freestyle in Brazil. In and out in Mexico for the Sailor of the year awards and finally unexpectedly having to go to New Caledonia.

On tour, my favourite events were Gran Canaria, Japan, Sylt and Denmark.
Because of Japan being a new destination, great company in the Canaries and sylt and challenging conditions overall. Uff, halfway through the tour I started feeling the wear and tear of travelling especially combined with the pressure of contests. I think that this amount of travelling would be tough on anyone though.Boy, was I happy to be back home in December and not think about my next trip for a couple of weeks! It’s the first time I’ve taken such a long break from windsurfing. I sailed exactly 3 times in 2 months. Having arrived in Cape town now, I feel a bit out of sync with my gear, but I’m getting back into the swing of things. I already had such an epic wave day that lit the fire.

Sure I’m happy with my results for 2017.
I’ve had these results for three years in a row now. This was the toughest year yet dividing my time and energy across all three disciplines, with the level getting higher in all three. But I guess I’m never satisfied!! All I can think of is that I need to jump higher in waves, go faster in slalom and be more explosive in freestyle. The process of progress is never ending.

For this year I still have my focus firmly set on wave sailing and I will try to travel less to save energy, but then again… If a beautiful opportunity comes a long… It’ll be hard to say no, no ?