De zin "Separates the men from the boys" kennen we natuurlijk uit de film; 'Red Bull Storm Chase' die in 2006 voor het eerst op het doek verscheen. Een film vol actie met bekende windsurfers, die hun uiterste best deden om de elementen van de natuur om te zetten in de meest bizarre sprongen en loops.
Op dinsdag 29 januari werden de eerste mannen opnieuw van de jongens onderscheiden. Of kunnen we het beter DE mannen van de mannen noemen?
Dinsdag ging 'Mission 1 Roundcup' van start tijdens een heftige storm in Ierland. Met windvlagen van 70 knots (130 km/h) en golven van zo`n 6 meter hoog surften de deelnemers 3 competitie-rondes op 2 verschillende spots in Brandon Bay, Ierland.
Slechts 6 riders van de gekozen deelnemers mochten door naar de volgende ronde. We gaan alle deelnemers even langs.
Naam: THOMAS TRAVERSA
Zeilnummer: F-3
Materiaal: Een Tabou board van 65 liter en de Gaastra IQ range van 3.6 tot 4.2
De slechts 60 kilo wegende Thomas Traversa scoorde tijdens de 'Mission 1 Roundcup' met de lange tijd dat hij tijdens zijn sprongen in de lucht bleef hangen. Dat viel goed in de smaak, dus we zien Thomas terug in 'Mission 2'!
Naam: DANY BRUCH
Zeilnummer: G-1181
Materiaal: Een 87 liter boardje met een 3.7 als zijn kleinste maat
Ook wave-expert Dany Bruch scoorde goed, en is zeker van een plaats in ronde 2!
Naam: JULIEN TABOULET
Zeilnummer: F-100
Materiaal: 2 Naish boards van 80 en 85 liter. En 6 Naish zeilen van 3.6 tot 5.4
Julien Taboulet liet 'low-hanging boardies' zien, die hem zeker naar een tweede ronde hebben geholpen!
Naam: MARCILIO BROWNE
Zeilnummer: BRA-105
Materiaal: Een 3.0 customzeil met verder de Goya Banzais van 3.4 tot 4.2. Als boards de Quatro van 72 en 78 liter.
De set waarmee Marcilio surfte zou voor vlekkeloze tricks moeten zorgen, zoals de 'goiter'. Het heeft hem in ieder geval, samen met de andere 5, een plek in de tweede ronde gebracht.
Naam: VICTOR FERNANDEZ
Zeilnummer: E-42
Materiaal: North Sails Hero 3.4 tot 4.7 en de Fanatic quad fin boards van 75 en 86 liter.
Victor surfte ondanks alle weersomstandigheden 'bare-foots'. Het heeft hem niet kunnen weerhouden om toch een plek te bemachtigen in de top 6. Ook hem zien we weer in de tweede ronde!
Naam: ROBBY SWIFT
Zeilnummer: K-89
Materiaal: Neilpryde Fly en Combat zeilen met de maten 3.4 tot 4.7. Verder gebruikt hij de JP Australia Single Thruster van 72 en 82 liter. Rob Jones leende Robby een 2.5(!) custom zeil.
Ondanks dat Robby bij zijn hoogst -op de hele contest- scorende Pushloop Forward zijn 72 liter boardje door midden brak, is hij toch door naar de volgende ronde!
Naam: BOUJMAA GUILLOUL
Zeilnummer: M-4
Materiaal: Starboard Kode 71 en een Serverne Blade 3.0
Ondanks dat Boujmaa Guiloul veel stemmen had gekregen, en hij beschikt over zenuwen van staal heeft hij helaas de 2e ronde niet gehaald.
Naam: JOSH ANGULO
Zeilnummer: CV-1
Materiaal: 2 Angulo Chango boards van 75 en 88 liter en Neilpryde zeilen variërend van 3.2 tot 5.6.
Josh Angulo had het geluk om op de heenreis zijn benen te kunnen strekken in de first class om zo heerlijk uitgerust aan te komen in Ierland. Hij liet veel moois zien op de 2e spot, maar helaas niet genoeg om door te kunnen naar de volgende ronde.
Naam: LEON JAMAER
Zeilnummer: G-208
Materiaal: Een Fanatic Quad van 75 liter en de Hot Sails Maui 3.3
Leon Jamaer begon goed toen hij als eerst een move landde. Helaas heeft dit, en zijn netjes gelande backloop, hem niet naar de tweede ronde kunnen brengen.
Naam: KENNETH DANIELSEN
Zeilnummer: D-38
Materiaal: -
De favoriete F2 Barracuda boards van Kenneth Danielsen waren helaas niet optijd gearriveerd op de spot in Ierland. Hij heeft, tot aan zijn wetsuit toe, alles moeten lenen. Dit heeft hem geen voordeel gebracht. Ook Danielsen zien we niet terug in de tweede ronde.
'World Wide Windsurfing' intervieuwde Leon en Robby na hun goede prestatie.
Intervieuw Leon en Robby
Congrats on coming out alive from the competition! Happy to survive?
Leon: I am happy that we all survived this storm safely but still competed in the most gnarly conditions I ever sailed in. I would have loved to go on another mission but when I see the Top 6 who advanced I am happy for them and think they deserve it for 100%!
Robby: I'm happy and looking forward to the next one. I felt like I should have done better here. My jumping was great but I broke my board at the start of one heat and so missed most of that heat. I needed to do a few wave rides and I would have been much higher in the mission rankings.
An obvious question...how do you feel today (day after) after having been to battle with mother nature?
Leon: Yesterday we spent more than 7 hours in the wetsuit, you can feel that, your whole body is tired now. Also we are all a little bit relieved today and use the day to recover.
Robby: Dead. Completely drained! I only sailed for about 45 minutes total but I couldn't have done any more.
Was it the windiest you have ever sailed?
Leon: Yes!!
Robby: By far!! They measured 74 knots. That's 10 knots over official hurricane wind speed.
Were you scared? Or did you get used to it after a while?
Leon: The first spot wasn't that scary. Even though I broke my boom in my first heat far outside after five minutes, the waves pushed me into the beach after 15 minutes. The second spot was a different story. We had to be helped by the jet skis to get out and in again. There were massive rocks and some freaky sets too!
Robby: I was scared the whole time. It was impossible not to be. Gusts would come out of nowhere and try to flatten you!
It was difficult for us to get an understanding of how big the waves were...what would you reckon was the biggest size wave you saw out there?
Leon: I think the set waves were about 4 meters though it was a real challenge to ride them...out on the islands you could see waves breaking much bigger also.
Robby: Out the back they were mast and a half high. It was so windy though that it was almost impossible to ride a clean wave. It was very very hard just to sail in a straight line and not crash.
Leon, what was your biggest move of the day? Any equipment broken? Robby, tell us about your Push-Forward that head judge Duncan Coombs claimed was the highest and cleanest Push-Forward he had ever seen!
Leon: I think high back loops. I broke a boom and my harness when a gust just ripped the rig out of my hands.
Robby: It was amazing. I wanted to do one before the heat. I told my friend Rob Jones that I would do it! All the other competitors laughed at me when I said I wanted to try one as it was so out of control. I did the push loop super high and almost got too scared to do the forward but then I just said to myself that I have to go for it. I pulled in and in the end it was lucky that I had that tiny wait at the top as I almost over-rotated anyway. I landed so hard that I snapped the board right under my feet. It was one of the cleanest jumps I ever landed. I didn't even get my ankles wet.
Speaking of equipment...what did you use in the end? Does it not feel strange and twitchy with such small sails?
Leon: I used a 3.3m Hot Sails Maui Smack and a 81L Fanatic Quad. I was fully overpowered the whole day!Robby: I borrowed Rob Jones' 2.5m actually. He made it himself from a combat 3.3m. It was actually surprisingly ok but yes, a little twitchy. I have asked Robert Stroj, the NeilPryde designer to make me a 3.0 for the next one. He says it will be ready next week!
In terms of safety we saw that you were all wearing impact vests supplied to you by ION...but were you wearing any other safety equipment?
Leon: We had a tracking system, so in case of an emergency we could push an alert button and surrounding boats would automatically start searching for us.
Robby: No, just that!
Round 3 was moved to Hell's Gate...was this a better spot to sail?
Leon: I liked it better. The atmosphere was unreal. Hell's Gate is built like a big colosseum. Above us was a helicopter flying and we were surrounded by gnarly rocks which definitely could have been a gate to hell
Robby: It should have been better for wave riding but it was just so windy it was hard to do anything. I was a bit embarrassed by my sailing there. I couldn't do anything!
Did you pay much attention to what the other guy was doing in your heat or just fully focused on your own sailing?
Leon: Sure I was looking for the others. I saw Robby's incredible PushForward and Thomas' 360 right from the water and was stoked!
Robby: I just tried to survive. It was ridiculously crazy out there.
Red Bull Storm Chase is all about sailing in the most extreme conditions...but would you say this was a bit over the top? Or would you be happy for the next mission to be just as extreme?
Leon: In those kind of conditions you probably can't show your best moves and the most clean riding. It is a different kind of windsurfing which I like. It is not so much about high performance technical moves but rather the raw experience challenging the nature at it's most intense! Sailing a storm with hurricane winds in Janurary in Ireland, something I won't forget!
Robby: I would rather about 10 knots less wind. It would be nice to be able to do some moves rather than just trying to survive. I think we proved we can sail in that stuff. They were actually only looking for about 45-55 knots and we got 55-75 so it was more than we had expected.
What did you think about the scoring system...are you OK with the "penalty" system for doing the same move more than once...or should they allow the same move more than once, allowing some room for errors and improvement?
Leon: It is a good system. It did motivate us to do different stuff than we normally do in competition.
Robby: I love the scoring system. It was great!
What are you up to next?
Leon: Go back to freezing Germany and study for exams which are coming up soon and hopefully start soon to sail in the North and Baltic Sea.
Robby: Off to Maui for a month then down to Chile to carry on with the event organisation for 3 weeks then back to Maui for the Photo shoots. For sure there will be some more storm chase missions in there somewhere too!!
De video is nu ook te zien op de website van Red Bull Storm Chase.
Ondanks dat wij er met z`n allen niet bij waren, kunnen we wel zien aan de beelden, en horen aan de verhalen, dat het ontzettend extreem geweest is! Op naar 'Mission 2'!
Bronnen:
- World Wide Windsurfing
- Red Bull Storm Chase
