Chile World Cup
With the dust slowly settling after an epic finals day at the Chile World Cup here are some reactions from some of the top sailors at this years event:
Lina Erpenstein (Severne / Severne Sails) reacts after claiming her maiden victory on the World Tour: “I’ve come close to winning before, but this is the first time it worked out. I’m over the moon happy. I’ve dreamt about this for so long, but the level was so high and the bombs were rolling in and I was just in survival mode. I’m very happy with my tactics in the heat, I positioned well and read the waves well. It feels unreal to win.
Just this whole trip has been a trip of a lifetime. Competing in a new place is so different to competing in places that you regularly go to. Today Matanzas showed us it’s best day ever. So many people were watching. The women were out there, in the moment, conditions picked up. We got to enjoy the conditions and we deserve good conditions. I’m super stoked about that. It’s a windsurfing fest.”
Erpenstein on her world title aspirations: “The world title has been my goal forever. Last year I was very concentrated on it and I put too much pressure on myself. But this year, because I’m doing my medical practical for my study, every event I do is a bonus. This is actually my official holiday and I’m carrying that feeling. I have this holiday feel much more than last year and it’s working well for me.”
What did you think of Matanzas?
"It was excellent, we’ve been here for 1.5 weeks and the day of the finals was the best and most impressive that I’ve seen it. To score that in a heat is winning the lottery. It’s so cool there is this variety of conditions. It makes it more exciting to watch and more exciting to sail.
The most crucial moment was the start of the semi finals, I was thinking am I going to position well, but in the last minute of the transition period, the horizon started to move and this huge set came in… it just never stopped, there were 8 waves. I managed to position myself well and got the wave of the set. It felt quite big. That’s one of the biggest waves I’ve ridden on port tack for sure.”
Next up is Alexia Kiefer Quintana (Duotone / Duotone Sails), who claimed an excellent second place:
“It felt amazing. I want to sail like Julian Salmonn. He’s on another level but I love his style. I’m always looking for the sets. It’s very difficult to see which wave is good.
I really loved this competition because I was absolutely not nervous. I had a lot of fun on the water, but in the final, I wasn’t happy at all with how I windsurfed. However, at the end I had a nice result.
I want to keep improving my wave riding and I want to start competing in more surf competitions. I really want to go to Fiji. The waves are crazy powerful and I was very scared today, I fell one time in front of the rock and I thought that was it. I was very scared.
I was shouting to myself, come on Alexia, you have to do it. I love wave riding. The waves were really big but you just need self confidence. I’m already looking forward to come here next year.
I have never been out in waves like today. I was like wow. The wind was pretty good. The other girls were ripping, that was nice and I had a lot of fun watching them. It’s nice to see how everybody is improving a lot.”
14-year-old Sol Degrieck (Severne / Severne Sails) sailed with experience beyond her young years to claim the last place on the prestigious podium:
“I’m happy, there were some big bombs out there. It was nice, I had some decent waves, so I was happy. It was really nice.
It was really fun riding the big waves, there were some bigger than mast high – it was a great experience to sail those big waves at such a tough spot. I was happy there was enough wind to get out.
In the beginning it was hard, so I was just hard trying to get out. Overall, I’m happy to be in the top three, I like it.”
Morgan Noireaux (JP / NeilPryde / Black Project Fins) continues his fine start to the season to keep his name in the early running for the world title:
“I went surfing on morning of finals day and I got one decent wave and then there was nothing for 45 minutes. I thought it wasn’t going to be a good day at all. Then it just started pumping, and the waves just got bigger and more consistent. We can’t get Matanzas much better than what we got today. We finished at the best time on the best day too.”
Morgan on that frontside 360:
“On my best wave, I got a wave 360, it felt good, I’ve only ever done one other like that and it was a week ago. With the bowl I felt like I could do it and I went a lot higher and further than I thought. That was one of the best ones I’ve ever done. I was so surprised when I landed it that I sort of claimed it and then thought I could have done another turn.
There were some over mast high waves. Some were giant, but when you found the right one that connected into the bowl, it was really good, Camille [Juban] is extremely good at picking waves. How many events has he had where he only makes the final?”
Noireaux on reaching his goal:
“I’m feeling really good, I’m super happy. It was good to set a goal and reach that goal. I would love to win, but I set a reasonable goal of making a podium which is hard. It’s port tack so it’s not necessarily the easiest, but I’ve spent a lot of time and I am a goofy footer and that helps a lot. It’s cool to feel like I’m good in a lot of different conditions.
My main focus is the Fiji and Maui events, but I’m still going to do the competitions at Pozo and Sylt. Pozo will be difficult for me to get a good result, but it’s nice to try to improve there.
That was some of the best conditions we’ve had for an event. We’ve had some incredible events with Fiji and Peru, but this is right up there with some of the best waves I’ve ever had in a competition.”