Perfect photo session; Warm temperatures and a bit of shelter from the wind & sand, when you are standing there for some hours; early morning or late evening for the best light; with warm light behind you, that makes the watercolours glow and sparkle. Finding a place with a view from a 90 degree angle into the wave and action, with some nice background instead of the typical front shots. And then sometimes it just clicks, and you get the perfect picture, the right moment. Or something unexpected turns up; on the way to or from the beach, a golden moment, a nice scenery, which will be a long lasting memory of this moment and the mood you were in at this time.

datrip: That sounds a lot like western Australia……

How important is travelling for you? And is the place where you live now – pretty landlocked in Germany – the place where you want to live the rest of your life or are you haven plans, or at least dreams, of moving somewhere closer to an ocean that offers more frequently the conditions you described above?

Chris: Yes, WA is definitely one of the favourite destinations.....and a dream to live there! Travelling is definitely a huge and important part of my life! I feel really fortunate that I had the opportunity to travel to some really nice and distant destinations and meet interesting people; something that gave me a different view on life. And by now, there are still a lot of destinations on my list, so it is a way of life I guess, something I long for as soon as I get back. Living next to the ocean at a warm and sunny location is still a dream, but not really planned at a fixed day yet. But you never know..

datrip: You’re doing formula racing and windsurfing competitions in general since quite some years. Racing is usually connected with a lot of equipment to transport, waiting long times for the wind to pick up, shouting at each other on the race course and heavy partying at night. What fascinates you with that aspect of windsurfing that you’re still ready to invest that much time and struggle with the load of equipment (you called the formula boards little sailing boats…)?

Chris: I guess it is not only the competition against other sailors, but as well the one against yourself that is fascinating. And at racing you get objective results, whereas at other disciplines you are depending on a jury and their view. Racing, especially formula is about a mixture of fitness, equipment, tactics, speed, tuning, etc, what is fascinating, you have to try to get it all right, which is a really complex task. I especially like the tactical aspect of racing, it’s not only speed that matters. Might sound strange, but with the right conditions, racing or sailing formula stuff can also be fun, when you really have to concentrate on keeping the board on the water, you are really going fast and still try to push a bit more.... Different story when sailing in 20+ knots at Sylt in basically wave conditions with 11sqm sail and a 1m wide board... 

datrip: Yeah, I guess racing at the north sea can be quite a task sometimes…..

On the other hand I’m quite happy that they returned to the old fashioned slalom races. Just watched the comps at Gran Canaria and slalom in strong winds and with some waves is really exciting to watch. Did you do that too?

You are member, and as far as I understand, one of the driving forces of The Windsurfteam.de. Tell us a little bit about the team, how it evolved, what you plan to gain and how important it is for competitive windsurfing to have a team.

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