Still no sign of the Wind or Waves …

Day 5 of the Jever World Cup produced another day waiting for the wind and
waves to arrive. The forecast looks like the wind increasing every day reaching
its strongest by Sunday. It looks like a deepening low pressure system over
Ireland will be reaching the Westerland coastline over the next few days.

The sailors mood was more upbeat after hearing that the forecast is for strong
winds, many of the sailors have not been on the water for over two weeks showing
that life on the World Tour is a not all glamour. The rigours of being a professional
windsurfer include lots of travelling between the worlds airports, huge excess
baggage bills, long periods of boredom waiting for wind at events and sometimes
suffering the hangovers of the crazy closing awards ceremonies!. The positives
however more than outweigh the negatives, life as a professional windsurfer
is a dream for many young people. Many of the young sailors on the PWA World
Tour have never known a life outside of windsurfing and the thought of waking
up to board a train to start a 9-5 job is a long way from the reality of windsurfing
every day in Hawaii in just a pair of board shorts, the preferred uniform for
an employee of the PWA World Tour.

We spoke to Tristan Boxford (Fanatic, North) about life on the PWA Wave World
Tour.
"Life on the PWA Tour is like no other, I can not imagine doing any
other job!. Lots of my friends think it is all about going to parties until
seven in the morning, but that is just a myth. All of the sailors take this
life very seriously and we train in the gym and follow strict diet’s of healthy
drinks and food."

Scott Carvill (Naish) who trains in Hawaii also spoke of the strict training
regime most of the sailors now follow. "I cannot remember the last time
I was able to break away from my training and let my hair down for a good night
out with my friends, I am looking forward to the closing ceremony party in Ireland
when I can at last let rip and party. We are professional sportsmen but then
again I’m sure even Carl Lewis partied at the end of the Olympics!"

The contests on the PWA World Tour are without doubt the aspirational pinnacle
of windsurfing today. Competition is the only way to really guage who really
is the best windsurfer in the world. The contests are also where the advances
in equipment design are tuned to perfection, the average board that the windsurfer
on the street can buy is not too far away from the lightweight boards used by
all the top pro sailors. In fact a lot of the professional sailors are now using
stock production boards.

So it sounds like its early to bed for all the sailors tonight and the countdown
to the weekend begins.