Silvaplana, Engadin wind 2020

Finally things came together for me to go to the engadin wind at Silvaplana.
This was my first event of the year and I was invited to joint the EFPT tow-in event as only women joining the men. And oh my! It was SO amazing to see all of my windsurfing friends and family. It made me realise how much I do love travelling and competing. It’s just about all the people I meet and all the stories I get to listen to.

I took a quick one hour flight from Amsterdam to Zurich, where I met Lennart and Ben Proffitt. Together we took a breathtaking 4 hour transfer through the mountains to get to Silvaplana.The view was postcard perfect everywhere we looked.
I was only invited to take part in the tow in show, but this event had a whole lot of other things going on. It was a big get together of wind-fanatics.
Most interestingly they were also hosting the first IQ foil world championships.
This would be the first glimpse of what olympic windsurfing will look like in the coming years. I’m bummed that I didn’t do a bit more homework to be able to compete there and gain experience as well.

Wow, the event site was beautiful!
Lake Silvaplana is pretty small and has a unique icy blue colour when the sun shines on it.
And the lake being surrounded by mountains is pretty exotic for someone from the Caribbean.

I had a lot of time for myself as I only did tow in for about 2 hours a day.
And since I wasn’t racing, I had some time to practice my latest hobby which is strapless kiting. I’m loving it at the moment, because when it’s too light for freestyle, you will still get the same adrenaline rush with kiting getting pulled in the air and having sweet hang time.
And it’s just cool to be a total beginner at something. I crash a lot but am also landing some moves now, so that’s super satisfying!

A highlight was having my friends Thalisa and Nicolle come to visit for the weekend.
I’m so grateful for having friends that take time to come to my contests or see where I windsurf. Thanks for bringing the Caribbean vibe and for the support during the tow in.

Out of 12 riders I managed to qualify to the finals.
There were two qualification days. On the first day I was already in the top three but didn’t do anything special I feel like, but the second day was a total highlight!
I had two okay runs, and then on the final one, Yentel told me to go big because  I qualified anyway. The wind picked up just a little bit, so right before I launched off the wave it felt like normal windsurfing so I just let go of the back hand and flew in to a one handed burner.
The floaty feeling was so cool and right before I landed I made eye contact with my awesome support crew from Switzerland and Aruba so I started laughing and smiling mid air, landed on my feet and then had to laugh even more as somehow it was a magical moment having everyone cheering at the shore line. I think that was  my favourite moment that week.
How cool I made it through to the finals with the boys. In the end I finished 6th!

Thanks to the boys for such a cool vibe in the water and pushing me to do better.
Congrats to Antoine Albert for winning with an awesome skopu.
Keep an eye out for Lennart who finished 2nd.
The progress this kid is making is out of this world. Can’t wait to see how far he’s going to push his own boundaries and ultimately the boundaries of the sport.

Anyway I loved the event for bringing together so many windsurfers from different areas of the sport. All people that I’ve followed online and now see in real life. That was really cool.
Thank you for having me! It was awesome to be at an event again and really can’t wait for the events to start again next year.

Massive thank you to Balz, Eva and the sweetest Swiss crew for all the campsite dinners and integrating the Arubans in the fam 🙂 We had the greatest time hanging out under the stars!