Harry, 10 years of JAKLAR! Congratulations on your anniversary! Please tell us again, how did JAKLAR come about? And why is it called JAKLAR?
I sat with Max Matissek (former freestyle worldcupper and Chiemsee team rider, editor's note) in the car on the way from Lake Neusiedl to Lake Constance. Max asked me in his Austrian dialect: "Harry, shall we get a coffee?" And I just said: "Yes, sure". And he was like: "Yeah, sure". It went back and forth like that (laughs). Max realised back then that I was a "JAKLAR-sayer".
So how did more come of it?
That was exactly the time when I realised that I wanted to create something of my own from my passion, which I had also put into my work for Chiemsee over the years - outside of the Chiemsee umbrella. That was the birth of JAKLAR Positive Vibes. In the first creative phase, I designed our pink, asymmetrical logo together with Max and Sebastian Schöffel. From there, it quickly developed in many different directions: JAKLAR parties and content creation at events, interviews, Facebook and Instagram... the JAKLAR caps and the wild stickers, physio offers with the JAKLAR doctors (the "JAKLÄRZTEN") and products from Blackroll, and so on... but really it was always just about pushing the sport and lifestyle, especially via the riders and emotions. I was finally able to let off steam and try to do something good for the sport - without the guidelines of a brand.
Did you ever think about making your own label out of JAKLAR? For example, when suddenly all the riders were wearing your JAKLAR caps?
In the beginning, some people insinuated that I had this ulterior motive all along, especially because I have a professional background in sales. They thought I was using the athletes as pawns to make my own brand big. I was asked that question a lot at the beginning. Of course I had that in mind, but I've been in the industry for so long, have the highest standards of quality and everything that goes with it and know the shark tank and the competition, so it was never really an issue to do anything like that.
JAKLAR is simply the Harry who wanted to develop in all directions."
The question of what JAKLAR was then came up again and again. Let me put it this way: it was then (and still is today) simply the Harry who wanted to develop in all directions. This has resulted in a great community and at the same time a platform for creatives who were and still are given the opportunity through JAKLAR to present themselves in the scene and thus get sponsors or other jobs, and who are also simply keen to have a good time together at events.
Who is JAKLAR today, ten years after it was founded?
Marco Wedele believed in JAKLAR right from the start and helped me wherever he could. Even today, ten years on, I would say that Marco Wedele and I, Harry Goeft, are JAKLAR. We have great videographers like Chris Czadilek or now Foivos Tsoupras or Fabian Hain with us. In 2018 and 2019, Marco Lufen joined us as a presenter, who set new accents with his unpolished style and was very well received by the community. I helped Sascha Lange get more attention for his topic of personal training and took him to Pozo and Sylt in 2022 to give him the biggest stage in our sport. They are all amazing people to work with over the years and I am very grateful to all of them for their support.
At some point you had big clients and serious jobs as content producers at events such as the Engadin Wind & Snow or the Windsurf World Cup on Sylt. How did you manage to juggle it all? As far as I know, you never ran JAKLAR full-time.
That's a good question. I was particularly busy in 2019. I spent 27 of my 29 holiday days at events with JAKLAR. This year, our commissions from agencies as a content production company became bigger and bigger and our collaboration with Mercedes-Benz also became more and more intensive. I also had a vision at that time and was considering quitting my permanent job and starting my own business with JAKLAR - then came Corona.
That means you let it go?
Yes, fortunately. Because it would have been very, very difficult. And maybe, apart from Corona, it's better that I didn't do it. Because the positive vibes that JAKLAR stands for might have been lost. If you suddenly have to pay the bills and then can't do what you want, that's a completely different issue. The actual passion and the fun that created the whole thing back then quickly falls by the wayside, and your environment and the community realise that too. I don't want that. There were events in 2019 where people on site only saw me on my mobile phone, when I looked up, it was barely enough for a hello, and then back into the tunnel. I overdid it and that eventually took its toll on my health. So I'm glad that things turned out the way they did and that I can now continue to run JAKLAR for fun and pure passion. In the meantime, there are always good interfaces with my sales job at Helly Hansen.
What was the most significant moment in ten years of JAKLAR?
I have to go back a little: When I first started working at Chiemsee, I wondered what had happened to this legendary windsurfing brand. Why had it withdrawn from the scene? I wanted to get to the bottom of it and try to fill the brand with windsurfing life and emotion again. So I booked a cheap flat outside Westerland on the island of Sylt on the fringes of my job and decided to visit the Windsurf World Cup. I really wanted to go. But nobody knew me. How could they? Riders, organisers and sponsors wouldn't look at my arse. When I walk along there now, many years (and ten years JAKLAR) later, they come up to me, know me, say hello, and respect and appreciate what I have done and achieved for the sport with JAKLAR. That gives me a lot of pleasure, it feels good and means a lot to me.
Are there any other highlights or specific, magical moments from the last ten years of JAKLAR?
Yes, of course! I don't even know where to start and where to stop. For example, the JAKLAR private party for riders in a legendary table dance club on Sylt (laughs), which you couldn't do like that nowadays. Or our first interview with Robby Naish after a night of drinking. I still remember exactly how I said to Marco Wedele in the morning: I can't wait to see how you do between Sat 1 and ZDF (laughs). I still say that to him today. He still delivered so much back then. Robby Naish took off his Red Bull cap and then walked around the press centre for a few minutes wearing a JAKLAR cap - that was a very special moment.
Robby Naish with a JAKLAR cap - that was a very special moment!"
Naish actually invited us to Maui and honoured his word - a trip with Marco that I will never forget. Then there were the interviews with Kai Lenny, Francisco Goya and Mickey Eskimo....the 2019 interview with Rich Page (PWA) and Simeon Glasson (IWT) and the question of whether working together wouldn't be better for the sport than working against each other....!??? This question was answered for everyone last year. Plus, of course, the first JAKLAR emotion clip from Podersdorf by Chris Czadilek, which still makes my hair stand on end today... or his subsequent wave clip from Sylt, which was set to classical music and went completely through the roof.
The year in which we travelled to Sylt with the "JAKLÄRZTEN" was also legendary. With Dr Marie Prüßmann and physiotherapist Kathi Seelack, the athletes had a high-quality range of medical advice and physiotherapy, and with Blackroll, a partner who put the finishing touches to this package. That was something very special that I still look back on with pride today. I'm sure that we provided a significant impetus to make this the standard at an event like Sylt. Back then, we received incredibly positive feedback from the athletes and a lot of media attention.
But the first invitation from Björn Dunkerbeck to the World Cup in Pozo and Chrigi Müller's X-Project in Switzerland, which I was able to help organise and implement, were certainly also highlights. There really are so many great moments. Listing them all would certainly go beyond the scope of this interview... When I think about it, I really get goosebumps.
I sometimes get the feeling that you're particularly interested in making sure the athletes are doing well, aren't you?
Yes, absolutely. I like to help, it makes me happy. Whether it's the JAKLAR party where the riders can celebrate their victory, or providing a platform where they can present themselves... or getting them into dialogue with companies... these are all things that I've always loved doing. That's where I really thrive. JAKLAR is all about the athletes. I kit out some of the riders at the Sylt World Cup with proper wind and weatherproof clothing from Helly Hansen. I've been advising Lennart Neubauer and his mum since the very beginning.
Some people tell me I should actually be a kind of player consultant for windsurfers."
I have also given Yentel Caers the best possible support over the years; he has now become world champion twice with a JAKLAR sticker in his sail. Some people tell me that I should actually be a kind of player counsellor for windsurfers. JAKLAR is much more than the pink sticker and an Instagram channel. It's a community, and there's a give and take within this community. I want to create synergies with JAKLAR and, above all, offer a platform for people who really want to do what they do and connect them with each other.
Whether they are windsurfing professionals, filmmakers, photographers, sponsors, personal trainers, physiotherapists or presenters... JAKLAR offers them the chance to network, try things out and make a name for themselves. Chris Czadilek is now one of the most sought-after videographers in Austria and produces TV adverts for a major sports retailer, Sascha Lange is gaining a foothold in the scene as a personal trainer...
I see... have you reached your destination, or where else do you want to go with JAKLAR?
There was never a concrete goal, to be honest. But otherwise things wouldn't have turned out the way they did - that's the beauty of just letting it happen. Of course, I sometimes lie in bed and dream of the phone ringing and someone saying to me: "Hey, what you're doing, the total package of creativity, network, marketing skills and over 20 years of sales that you bring to the table, that's exactly what we need." Of course that would be a great thing, but I'm currently very, very happy and the work-life balance is very good. And let's be honest, there are worse things than working full-time for the world market leader in sailing (grins).
What's coming up at JAKLAR this year?
Phew, a year like this is always difficult to plan in the windsurfing business. But the Surf Festival, Engadin Wing or Wind, Gran Canaria and Sylt... those are the events that are relatively certain to be on our programme. We'll probably be at the Kitesurf World Cup on Sylt again. That reminds me, that's something I forgot to mention: With JAKLAR, I'm also trying to link windsurfing with other more commercial fun sports via our channel. I mean JAKLAR has now moved into professional freeskiing, freeriding, snowboarding and kitesurfing. That also makes me proud in a way. Of course I would like to do a lot more in the windsurfing sector, but the number of big international events has been pretty limited in recent years and the travelling expenses have to be paid somehow.
I would like to delve deeper into the German scene in the future."
In future, I would like to delve a little deeper into the German windsurfing scene. Even though JAKLAR is actually from Germany, we've primarily been travelling internationally in recent years. But accompanying the German Freestyle Battles at the surf festival last year was incredibly fun. Foivos (Tsoupras, freestyler and filmmaker from Kiel, note from the E.) built the bridge. You could say that's why Foivos came into my life (laughs). Once again, I can only say that everything had to happen the way it did. And I'm looking forward to everything that's yet to come.
