Click... click... click... The young man at the car hire company's service desk tapped away on his keyboard in slow motion. We had been busy for half an hour with the process for our pre-booked and pre-paid 4X4 pick-up. Another quarter of an hour later, we finally had the keys. The man said goodbye to us in an incredibly friendly manner and wished us all the best for our trip. I already felt a little guilty for being so impatient inside. With my European rushed nature, I was simply used to a different pace. I was to realise this several times over the next two weeks.
Dieter Van der Eyken, Tim Van Dam and I loaded the pickup with our six boardbags and travelling bags in the sweltering afternoon heat of Santiago. After just under three hours, we rolled into Matanzas. The climate here was completely different and we unpacked the jackets and hats we had just put away. The view over the mist-covered cliffs and endless waves was breathtaking and almost made us forget the creeping cold.
Large crowds on the beach, the world's best professionals on the water
The next morning, we met many familiar faces as we strolled through the small fishing village. Most of the World Cup riders had already arrived for the contest, which was due to start in three days' time. The Surazo Infernal World Cup Chile was to have 5-star status for the first time this year - this meant that a full 10,000 points were to be awarded for the World Ranking and almost the entire starting field of the world's best wave surfers had travelled to compete against each other.
After two warm-up days with sessions in Topocalma and Matanzas, we were ready to go. Due to the long Easter weekend, the small village was packed with tourists from Santiago and the surrounding area. There was a correspondingly large audience at the colourful opening ceremony. Local authorities, including the president of the Fundación Olas Chilenas, welcomed the riders and the audience and emphasised several times how proud they were to be represented on the World Tour for the first time as a World Cup. The ceremony ended with a performance by a Chilean dance couple who showed a cultural couple dance and a photo of all the riders with their sail.
The race was due to start that same afternoon: In the foothills of the final swell, the boys and girls in the U18 category showed what they were made of. The two Severne riders Sol Degrieck and Ryu Noguchi showed with dominating performances that there was no doubt about the winners. With radical turns and aerials, they secured first place in their respective categories.
Start with little wind
The next day, things got serious for the qualifiers, 24 men and 3 women. They were to compete against each other in a separate elimination and only the top 2 would qualify for the main field of the Pro Rounds. In closely contested heats, it soon became apparent that tactics would play a major role. The 17-minute heats combined with light winds left little room for error. The riders had to choose their waves carefully and give their all to stay on their feet.
In very marginal conditions, it was mainly the locals who came out on top at the end of the day and qualified for the semi-finals. The extremely weak wind made it almost impossible for most riders to position themselves twice in the break and ride a wave within the heat time. The local knowledge seemed to pay off here and Matias Vargas, Vincente Gonzalez, Cristobal Zegers and the Israeli Tomer Shamgar managed to fight their way through the round.
Locals prevail in the Challenger Round
On day 3, the Pro Fleets were to be in action for the first time. But before that, there were still the two Challengers to decide who would face the Main Fleet. Local Vincente Gonzalez and Tomer Shamgar qualified once again in the closely contested men's final. Argentinian Dominica Osman and local Camila Curinao prevailed in the women's final.
Head judge Boujmaa Guilloul explained in the skippers meeting what the judges wanted to see: Critical hits and surf style turns, instead of freestyle manoeuvres on flat parts of the wave. So the task was clear. In 17-minute heats with four riders, the two best waves were to be categorised. The elimination system of the International Windsurfing Tour, which organised the event, was a dingle elimination. This meant that the first round was not an elimination round, but re-sorted the riders for the following rounds. The top 2 of each heat skipped a round and qualified directly for the quarter-finals, while 3rd and 4th place would have another chance in the elimination round.
Magical Chile
In a spectacular first heat, reigning world champion Marcilio Browne and Camille Juban came out on top. They were closely followed by the young Pole Adam Warchol, who impressed with powerful turns and was only narrowly beaten in the end. As the wind was now strong enough to glide behind the break, the riders were able to position themselves faster for the next wave and now took up to seven waves within the heat time instead of three. This allowed us in the audience to watch the best windsurfing action in premium conditions. In action-packed heats, Julian Salmonn in particular made a statement at the end of the round: with turns that stood out from all the other riders, he distributed almost twice as much spray and secured himself a clear place in the quarter-finals with the highest heat score of the round, 15.36 points.
A totally different way of windsurfing than we know from the Baltic Sea."
Then it was time for the first round of the women. I was in the second heat. As the competition had been going on since 12 noon, there was no room in the area to test the conditions. So I could only guess my sail and board size from the beach. The evening light cast a golden glow over the Matanzas coastline and I savoured the view in the minutes before my heat. Once I got going, I was able to catch my first wave relatively quickly, but I soon realised that although I could glide outside, there was almost no wind in the sail on the wave. This meant that all speed and flow had to come from the wave via the board. A totally different way of windsurfing to what we know from the Baltic Sea.
I managed to catch exactly three waves in the 17 minutes. After I had the first two scores, I knew that I could now risk a little more and found a nice third wave, which ended up being my best score. The views I was able to enjoy along the wave during my wave ride were still buzzing around in my head for days. Chile really is magical!
Waiting for the big day
The next few days were characterised by a lot of waiting on the beach while the competition slowly progressed. Due to the very light wind, the race direction had decided to extend the heats to 27 minutes and so we managed to complete about one lap each day. Unfortunately, my coach and roommate Dieter Van der Eyken had to retire on the second lap. In round 3, the strong locals caused a few surprises. For example, the current world number one Bernd Roediger was beaten by local Diego Fabres and Thomas Traversa.
There were also a few surprises in the women's event: Last year's runner-up Sarah Hauser and fourth-placed Maria Andres were eliminated in the quarter-finals. I managed to win my quarter-final and progressed to the semi-finals. The young German-Spanish player Alexia Kiefer was remarkably confident. She impressed the judges with her powerful turns and secured her place in the semi-finals.
Final Day = Big Day
On the morning of the seventh day, the head judge greeted us with the words "Welcome to Finals Day". Apart from a women's quarter-final, there were only the semi-finals and finals left to race. A line of wind could already be seen on the horizon at 11am. Shortly after the skippers meeting, the wind arrived in the bay and the first riders got ready for their heats. I had already set up my 4.8 before the meeting because I wanted to test the conditions before the area was closed for the heats. In very light winds, I managed to find exactly one wave in 40 minutes of bobbing. That was going to be fun!
Just a few minutes later we were off. As there were still a few heats to go on the day and the increasing swell meant that there were plenty of opportunities for all riders to find their waves, the heats were shortened to 22 minutes. Last year's winner Jane Seman and Maria Behrens from Lübeck came out on top in the women's quarter-finals. In the highly competitive men's quarter-finals, the top-seeded riders largely stood their ground. Marino Gil from Canada, who had attracted attention last year with his excellent performance in Pozo, impressed here too and took victory in his quarter-final with radical turns. Together with Philip Köster, he progressed to the semi-finals to face Victor Fernandez and Thomas Traversa. Unfortunately, the quarter-finals were also the end of the line for Julian Salmonn, who had performed strongly in the preliminary rounds.
And then it was my turn for the semi-final. Although I had watched the wind get stronger and stronger over the last half hour, I decided to go for my biggest sail - 4.8 - as the wind still seemed very light in the impact zone and the strong current barely allowed me to get moving. So I grabbed my equipment and surfed out to the point to position myself for the heat.
When my watch showed another minute of transition time, I saw the entire horizon start to move. I could hardly believe my eyes. A huge set was approaching and exactly one minute too early for the start of the heat. I was already thinking "crap, now it's going to take forever for the next set to come" and I was just about to get out of one of the set waves when I saw that the mountains of waves were still piling up on the horizon. There must have been eight waves in the set.
Matanzas on fire
With a well-placed tack, I was able to position myself better than my opponents and was able to get the biggest wave of the set. I started my wave ride right at the start buzzer of the heat. As I dropped into the first turn, I thought "Wow, the waves didn't look that big from the beach!" The wave piled up in front of me, almost perfect and as high as a mast. After three turns, I looked behind me and realised that more waves were to follow. I decided to get out and position myself at the point for the next wave. A good decision, as the current in the break was now so strong that I lost several hundred metres of height within seconds. I was able to reposition myself relatively quickly and catch the next wave.
Gosh, the waves didn't look that big from the beach!"
I came out of the water in an adrenaline rush and learnt from my coach Dieter Van der Eyken that I had secured first place in the heat and therefore a place in the final. The 14-year-old Sol Degrieck had qualified in second place. I watched the second semi-final in disbelief as one over-masthigh set after another rolled in. Matanzas was simply 'on fire', as were Alexia Kiefer and Pauline Katz, who secured the last places in the final with commanding performances.
Events came thick and fast in the men's semi-finals that followed. With a solid Wave 360 Morgan Noireaux made the entire beach cheer and secured his place in the final with the highest heat score to date. Next to him, Camille Juban impressed with fearless aerials and did not let his place in the final be taken away from him by riding the biggest wave of the day. In the second semi-final, Philip Köster and Victor Fernandez prevailed over their two opponents Thomas Traversa and Marino Gil with a wave riding masterclass.
Final in epic conditions
The women's final was to take place immediately afterwards. I waited in the water on the sandbank for five minutes until the first gap in the sets opened up and I was able to surf out through the break to position myself in time. The first set rolled in within the first few minutes and the first exchange of blows ensued. Matanzas provided us with probably the best conditions in recent windsurfing history and therefore an incredible stage for wavesailing. I was able to find a solid first wave at the beginning, but then got a little out of rhythm due to two crashes. Ten minutes before the end of the heat, I found my best wave so far. I combined several turns with two hits and scored 7.00 points. Nevertheless, I realised that I would probably still be behind.
With five minutes left on the clock, I was back at the point. There still had to be a wave! With four minutes left, I found a wave and chased it to the breaking part. But it got fat and broke up on the sandbank. I turned round. Three and a half minutes, there had to be something more! And sure enough, with three minutes to go I had a set wave. Now it counted! I put all my energy into this last wave and found several good sections for my turns. What a finale!
The first World Cup victory
Back on the beach, there was still no official result. The tension was almost unbearable. After nerve-wracking minutes, the score for my last wave finally came in: 7.23 points and victory in the final! My first World Cup win! I had waited so long for this moment!
It was as if we had been beamed into the film "Minds Wide Open"."
Still half in disbelief, I watched the men's final from the beach. In dream conditions and an almost endless flood of set waves, the riders outdid each other every minute. Camille Juban started straight away with an almost perfect ride: 9.03 points! Philip Köster and Victor Fernandez responded with rail-to-rail turns in official sections. Wow, it really was as if we had been beamed into the windsurfing film "Minds Wide Open"! What a spectacle. After a somewhat slow start, Morgan Noireaux started to catch up and stood out with his trademark surf style. He catapulted himself into the lead with several excellent wave rides. Until shortly before the end it looked like he would take the win, but Camille Juban wasn't done with his show yet.
Cheers for Camille Juban's monster aerial
Eight minutes before the end of the final, he found a perfectly forming wave at the point. With several radical turns in his pocket, he found the highline and built up plenty of speed to face the merciless final section. The low tide in combination with the sometimes knee-deep sandbank made this part of the wave downright terrifying. He set off on a monster aerial. The audience on the beach were all out of their seats. A murmur went through the crowd as Juban flew over the mast-high section. The crowd erupted in cheers as he landed the aerial perfectly in front of the wave. Wow! That would be a good score. 9.13 points! Juban took the win with the highest heat score of the event (18.16) ahead of Morgan Noireaux and Victor Fernandez.
Philip Köster scratched the podium when he attempted a goiter in the most critical part of the wave after several fluid turns. Unfortunately without success. In the end, an impressive fourth place in the down-the-line contest for the German-Canadian, who is otherwise better known for his house-high jumps in Pozo. After the presentation of the winners with a champagne shower on the beach, they celebrated in front of a breathtaking sunset in the Surazo Hotel bar. This Finals Day should definitely go down in windsurfing history. Matanzas had shown itself from its best side and provided a unique stage for wave windsurfing.
Juniors: The future at the end
The next day got off to a slow start. The cliffs of Matanzas were at least as shrouded in mist as some of the heads that morning. As the afternoon progressed, it cleared up and the Pro Juniors and Masters, who had waited patiently all week for their moment, finally had their turn. In the Junior Girls Final, Alexia Kiefer came out on top ahead of Maria Morales, Sol Degrieck and Lisa Wermeister. In the Junior Boys, the boys showed windsurfing at its best with top-class performances. Liam Dunkerbeck dominated and took the win ahead of local Inaki Maturana and Japan's Hayata Ishii.
The Masters also finally got their chance. Here, the locals didn't give the rest of the field a chance. The still official swell in combination with the strong current made positioning difficult and left no room for error. Belgian and local of choice Arnaud Frennet won all his heats and took victory in the final ahead of event organiser Felipe Wedels and commentator Kai Katchadourian. With results in all eight divisions and the spectacular Finals Day in the Pro Division, the Windsurf World Cup Chile will go down as one of the most successful World Cups in windsurfing history. The combination of perfect waves and the enthusiastic local crowd was a unique experience for organisers, riders and sponsors and gives us hope that the World Cup will continue for many years to come.
