Médano ripper and rising PWA talent Dany Bruch is the first big name to sign for Karin Jaggi / Patrik Diethelm’s new board brand, PD Boards. Look out for the April issue of BOARDS mag for a full interview with Karin, and be ready to see this exclusive new brand appearing in PWA competition this season. Long-time sponsor Tris Best of the OTC spoke to Dany over Skype late last month, whilst Bruch was on his travels in WA.

OTC: Hi Dany, you’ve been in WA for over a month now training for the forthcoming season. How’s it been so far?
Dany: Hi Tris, yeah, I can’t complain really; got to say … I reckon I scored it! I haven’t stopped sailing since I’ve been here. In forty days I’ve been off the water for no more than eight, and on a few of those I have been surfing … can you imagine! I’ve done more than 7,000km and checked out all the best known spots of the Western Australian coast. Using Scotty’s house in Margaret River as our base-camp (where I’ve had some really good days), I have been down south in Esperance on a few sick days; checked out Scarbourough near Perth; Lancelin and Green Head further north to finally score some good days at Gnaraloo just a week ago. What a wave – ten top turns on each wave! Sick!

OTC: Seems like your training’s going well! Not a bad time to leave Tenerife either – waves have been great, but the wind pattern has been very odd the last two months. So anyway, what’s happening with your board sponsor for this season?
Dany: Exocet were really happy with my work and exposure and they guaranteed me a good deal for this year, but they came back to me pretty late. Also, I’m not involved in the R&D as much as I would like to be, so I started to look into other directions. I need to have the best boards to reach the top this year, even if it means starting from the beginning in regards to a lower deal.

OTC: So what has been your choice?
Dany: Patrik Diethelm boards! When I was on F2, I got along really well with Patrik, who was their shaper at the time. His boards worked incredibly well for me and on them I achieved my podium finish in Pozo, so when I found out that he was doing his own brand, I needed to get in touch with him. The best thing was that he was here in WA too, which made it pretty easy to get together and for me to try some of his new ‘babies’. I tried lots of different models in different conditions and they’re absolutely sick! I figured out that they are what I need for this season to get a good overall result. It will be hard, as he can’t give me any financial support yet, but I guess sometimes you have to step back and invest in the future to reach the goal you want to reach. And I know that Patrik will do well in the industry; his commitment is just so big that he will push it to the top! Him being a good sailor too makes the testing of his gear much easier and faster, bringing out a product that will be competing with the best from the off. I totally believe in him and in my decision. Straightaway, he introduced me to his new concept – the ‘Trailer Fin’. It’s basically a twin-fin, with the two fins positioned further forward and wider apart, so that you can turn super-vertical, rotating directly with your back foot over the fin. As the fins are so forward, to avoid spin-out and keep the board tracking he’s using an extra little single fin (hence the ‘Trailer Fin’ name) behind the twinser. I tried it at Margies and it’s amazing! It’s the most versatile board I’ve ever used and with the fins I can trim the board for all conditions. I use the straight twinser set-up on smaller days in short pocket waves. When it gets bigger I put the trailer fin in and adjust the position to have the perfect grip for fast carving bottom turns. In onshore conditions and for pure jumping I can use the board as a normal single-fin. It could even be used as a ‘thruster’ board with two little fins in the front, but I haven’t tested that yet…

OTC: And how has it been with Severne over there?
Dany: Amazing! They’ve totally taken care of me since I’ve been here and I’ve tried so many different sails and accessories. I’ve also left behind some damage (laughs) … but I guess that’s part of testing, no? So yeah, I’ve got some amazingly good sails for this season and really good boards. Best of all is that I can work with both of the brands together and try lots of different stuff to improve my sailing more and more.

OTC: When are you coming back then? What are your plans for the following month?
Dany: Well, time has come to return home. The Severne photoshoot will be on next week and after that I’m pretty much leaving for home. There will be some amazingly good news released soon too (watch this space!) which should result in me having quite a lot of work on! Apart from that, the main thing will be for me to ensure I’m in my best shape. I’m now being coached by my new high performance sponsor, CINDE, to make sure that all my training is developing in the right direction.

OTC: And what about some coaching clinics of your own at our centre?
Dany: Yeah, we’ll be having a few of those for sure! After the one I did a year ago, together with Nayra Alonso and John Skye, where I loved the experiece of teaching, I’ll definitely be doing some more this year. I think we may be having some other great sailors joining me for a few too … will let you in on it when I can! (laughs)

Photos: CMD

For more check out tenerife.otc-windsurf.com