Wave Vice Worldchampion at Sylt 2018

Nordic adventures
November 30, 2018
Bring it on: 2019 Adventures
March 8, 2019
Nordic adventures
November 30, 2018
Bring it on: 2019 Adventures
March 8, 2019

Up until Sylt, I’ve had a really good year recording only 2nd place finishes at all wave events.
In Sylt I could either finish 2nd or 3rd place overall, and the forecast looked quite promising.

When I arrived in Sylt, I was literally exploding with energy.
Because it was nice to see everybody and I was quite excited to kick off the week.
But then the rest of the week I had to really do my best to keep my motivation up. I think I was on the road for at least 4 months and the exhaustion was catching up to me. Also, on the first day we learned that Daida wouldn’t be able to compete. This automatically meant that I would finish 2nd overall no matter my results, 1st or last. For someone that loves a challenge, I was a bit bummed out about that because I was looking forward to a fight on the water. So what do I do now? Dieter said: Win the contest

Okay, yes sure. Let’s give it a try.

We completed one single elimination in a variety of conditions. Which is something great to look back on. We sailed onshore starboard tack, onshore port tack and believe it or not we also had some perfect side shore port tack conditions for the final heats! I think that semifinal was one of the best heats I’ve sailed together with Lina, Steffi and Iballa.

All I can remember about this heat, is how much adrenaline I had pumping and that I was absolutely loving it. right before the green flag we were all frothing about how fun it was on the water, I was on my 4,7 Combat and 86L Ultrakode. and then the next moment I’m completely in the zone smacking the lip just right on a couple of waves. It feels amazing to get into a flow like that in a heat. I was up against Lina who is one of my favourite sailors to ride with, just because…uhm.. she’s nuts. No wait. Let me put it differently. She’s more like fearless actually!

Sometimes I can’t believe the jumps she launches into! Check out her stalled forward below. Anyway, that only makes me want to go bigger too, so at some point during that day I launched into one of my biggest push loops ever, I couldn’t stick it at the end, but it felt good to push my boundaries!

Lina, Steffi and Iballa all had a great heat as well, but I advanced through to face Iballa in the final. At this point I want to win you know. But it didn’t come together like I wanted it to. I wasn’t cold, but I couldn’t really feel my hands anymore. I just missed that big pushloop on the landing, so I was determined to do another one, but then couldn’t find a ramp and when I settled for forwards I was struggling to hold on to the boom on the landings so it took me 3 or 4 tries to get one in. I wasted quite some time on the jumps, and had some mediocre wave rides. Halfway through the heat I was already sure it was over, but then right before the buzzer apparently my last 2 turns were decent and when I got back to the beach, Justyna gave me a thumbs up. I managed to get the win!! It wasn’t the performance I wanted to put down in that heat, but I am taking it! My first wave event win in port tack conditions, and just the Cherry on top to finish off the season.

We didn’t get around to finishing the double elimination because of all the other disciplines and the slightly mental stormy conditions afterwards. It was really quite the show watching the guys finish the double elimination. Thomas Traversa rocked it, and one standout sailor for me was Leon Jamaer, He tries to hit every lip, sometimes at the expense of two rigs in one heat, but I guess you have to go big, or go home.

The freestyle was also a treat to watch, Adrien was sailing amazing, but Gollito… is just on another level when it comes to competing. Congrats to Victor, Gollo and Antoine for winning their worldtitles that week!Congrats to Iballa for winning her 5th consecutive title in the waves this year.

Competing in Sylt was definitely one of my highlights of the year, since we sailed in so many different conditions. I’m thrilled to be able to call myself Wave Vice World champion. There is still a LOT of room for improvement, which I’m excited about.
Thanks to everyone on the beach for the support during the event and during heats. I get more and more excited about the women’s level each year and am inspired by all the ladies on tour. It has really been great to compete against you all this year. Let’s keep getting it!

Lina reaching new heights

Off the lip

Starboard tack during the most beautiful time of the day

Pushing the Pushloop boundaries

My first Port tack final win

2018 wave vice Worldchampion