For her first time ever, the queen of freestyle windsurfing took to the air to visit South Africa, just for the pleasure of travelling and windsurfing; no competition, no photo-shoots, just doing what she wanted, when she wanted. Obviously freestyle windsurfing was on the agenda, waves also, but does this mean she will be entering the PWA wave tour this year or is she staying true to freeestyle and slalom. Read on to find out about why Cape Town, what she got up to and if she is considering the wave tour…

At this point I couldn’t even imagine I was going to windsurf there. As I arrived in Cape Town I realized at once that this city was nothing like I imagined

First Impressions

When I decided I was going to take some time off from my studies to escape the winter my first choice was to go to Cape town. Travelling there had been on my to do list for a while. I was really excited to go because I’ve heard so many good stories about this amazing place. The moment I got on the plane though I was slightly nervous because I was travelling to a completely unknown place for me. I flew during the night but as we arrived at Jo’burg and then Cape Town I noticed the scenery and was fully in awe of the fact that I had actually flown to the motherland. It’s just that I’ve read and heard so much about Africa.. the poverty and the bad things but then also how much history comes from there and the beauty of the country. At this point I couldn’t even imagine I was going to windsurf there. As I arrived in Cape Town I realized at once that this city was nothing like I imagined. Of course I didn’t expect people to be living in huts or anything like that. But I was quiet surprised by how modern everything was and it seemed as if I was in the States or Europe in the summer.

I was going to be there for 5 weeks and my goal was to improve in wavesailing. More specifically, my mission was to get over my fear of jumping so I could start practicing backies and pushies. I thought 5 weeks was too long but realised really soon that the next time I would have to go at least double the time I was there. There was so much to do and to see!