From Worlds to Worlds

The ultimate contrasts;

Kona Worlds 2011, Nivaa Denmark vs Kona Worlds 2010, Miami Florida

Arriving in Nivaa, a mall town just 17 km North of Copenhagen was like coming to a place “full of empty people”. It was 10 in the morning and I found myself at the absolutely deserted local train station. Not a single soul, no taxies, no dogs, no nothing –apart from birds singing, and my Chinese travel companion busy studying the big map displayed at the platform. Daniel was heading for his first Kona Worlds. Coming out of Bangkok, my first thought was that a Tsunami warning must be in effect, but where to find higher ground in Denmark.?

Ah, only a 40 minutes walk with 50 kilo luggage each to the designated camping site. Piece of cake compared to the gruesome session behind us –including running through the endless “streets” of Bangkok airport, 12 hours in the air followed by “the how to find the right train stunt”. Be aware, they do not take Chinese credit cards. In fact they do not take cash either. The trick is to speak an impossible language and look completely lost, which was not that difficult in our case.

Anyway, while walking the deserted streets – my thoughts drifted back to last years insanity. Again, from “the center of the planet” I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to fly eastwards or westwards to reach the destination of the 5^th. Kona Worlds;- Miami Beach Florida. I went for the Trans Pacific route to save a few bucks.. What a treat it was; Bangkok, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Miami, including three hours of immigration harassment in Los Angeles, just after passing a huge sign welcoming us to the United States of America. A complete 31 hours horror ride – which finally accumulated in a taxi experience not to be recommended. Spanish is a prevailing language in Miami. I could live with that part, but to end up with a huge African Cuban that didn’t seem to know the directions to Miami Beach, was a bit rough to handle at the time.

So here we are at Nivaa camping, and we saw a car and some living creatures for the first time. “Do you have sleeping bags or blankets with you.?”

Eeh, we just arrived from Asia. Our 2 x 3 meter cabin was not “furnished”.

Fortunately all those painful obstacles and obstructions completely vanish when you meet and feel the spirit of the Kona people. We walked the 800 meters down to the eminent Nivaa Yachtclub and suddenly realized why the town was deserted; the inhabitants were all there mingling with the competitors, dining and wining at the comfy club, open to the public. We were “home” and the 6^th. Kona World Championships were on.

I had the exact same sensation in Miami, although after a radically different introduction. After walking 10 blocks from my hotel to the racing area the next morning - this time among 1000’s of busy people with no relations to me or our championship. Then suddenly the intense and positive Kona spirit I met on the beach instantly kicked in, although I had been feeling like a walking sand bag. I quickly found myself in the Kona world, - filled with constructive and happy people like from a different planet. ONE for all.

Kona One, the only fair windsurfing class.

Who said we could not get rid of pumping.?

Once upon a time a group of serious “men in black” decided that rig movements could not be controlled in windsurfing. As a consequence pumping must be allowed, and rule 42 dismissed.

*USYRU Boardsailing Committee Minutes, 3/24/84

Pumping is an integral part of the freesail system, Technically, you can't sail a sailboard without kinetics of this kind. We, therefore, propose to the USYRU and IYRU (ISAF) that pumping should be completely ignored when the freesail system is in use. In the words of "Sail-to-Win" correspondent Guy LeRoux:" Any boardsailor who says he doesn't pump is lying."

Quite a novel decision considering it was made sometimes in the mid 80’s – after we had been happily competing according to the rules for almost 15 years. We hear arguments like; 1) if we cannot control a variable we try to remove its effect by randomizing the sample so that its effect is "averaged" out, or 2) Most racing requires a high level of fitness, even car racing, so why shouldn’t that apply to windsurfing.

In effect it means that we simply took the easy way out, and allowed cheating that pumping or “air rowing” clearly is - according to the basics of sailing; a boat shall compete by using only the wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease her speed. To justify it as being something good because it is physical, is an even bigger illusion. The most effective pumping does require movements that unarguably are dangerous to your back.

If we agree to the fact that the harness made the sport more brainy and elegant, I hope we also can agree that this brainless pumping pest has the exact opposite effect. It is brutal.

Pumping was not allowed in the 84 Olympics, but the event was perfectly hosted and I assume we can agree that the best man won. Robby Naish won the Windsurfer Worlds in 1976 simply because he out- sailed us all and deserved the victory. If pumping would have been allowed at the time, I seriously doubt he would have finished in the top 10, - at the age of 13 and weighing in at approx. 41 kilo.

Decision made; we wanted to get back to sailing – and re-installed rule 42 despite being warned by all the “scholars” out there.

Based on my own experience – racing in the Windsurfer class for 9 years, I kept telling myself it could be done, but could it be implemented instantly in today’s pumping world and to a majority of competitors that perhaps don’t even know how to race without automatically moving the rig.

It is with profound pride that we can declare the Kona Class absolutely “pest free” today. We have proved that it is possible, and we are largely enjoying the obvious advantages. Welcome back girls. For the first time in the history of windsurfing we have a female (European) champion in a mixed fleet, as well as a bronze medalist in the worlds – in a fleet consisting of 30% girls.

The oldest competitor at 75, and the youngest at 8 years of age.

Enough said.

Welcome back to fair, tactical sailing.