Interview With Christian Sammer
Q: What do it feel like to make the podium at a PWA event for the first time?
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CS: WOW. It was always my dream to be in a final in a final in a PWA event. After the heat for 2nd place I was already so stoked. Then the final was just amazing for me. I sailed one of my best heats ever and I knew there was nothing to lose anymore. I really enjoyed every single second of it and I think Remko and I showed a pretty nice final. Now a few days after the contest I still feel unbelievable.
Q: Is that the highlight of your career so far?
CS: Definitely. Finally I showed that I can sail well. I mean I had already some good eliminations last year in Fuerte and Gran Canaria but in the end I always lost some stupid heats. Now I made it.
Q: What were the toughest heats on route to the final?
CS: When I saw my first heat in the single elimination I thought already it’s gonna be really tough. I didn’t have any easy heat at all. The level is really getting higher and higher. The toughest heats were for sure the ones against the young French guy Nico A. Luckily I sailed one of my bests heats against him, but it could have ended also the other way around easily.
Q: How much did you win?
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CS: Apart from the prize money of 4.000 euro, I won some respect from my sponsors, which was very important for me. It’s really hard for an Austrian sailor, because we don’t have any magazines.
Q: What are you going to do with the cash?
CS: for sure I am gonna spend a part for a nice windsurf travel. Maybe I can go to Maui sometime this winter.
Q: Were you on a production board?
CS: I used two prototypes of the next years F2 production boards. A 105-liter and 85 liter board. They are going to be great.
Q: How much gear do you need to compete in a freestyle world cup?
CS: Usually I take 3 boards (105, 85, 78) and about 5-7 sails with me. Depends on the place to go. For Gran Canaria and Fuerte I will only take 4-5 small sails and 2 boards I guess.
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Q: How much do you have to practice to get really good at freestyle?
CS: I think you have to sail as much as possible. I try to sail every windy day at our lake (Lake Neusiedler). We have like 1-3 days of wind per week, which is definitely not enough.
Q: What conditions do you prefer? For freestyle I like Fuerteventura most. Strong winds and some small chop. For the competitions I like it not to wavy because I am not as good as the others in jumping because I can train jumps very seldom. For free sailing I like side offshore from the left and nice waves most. Unfortunately I can get these conditions only a few weeks per year.
Q: Is windsurfing really big in Austria?
CS: Windsurfing and especially freestyle is so popular at our lake at the moment. I got dozens of friends all doing the spock. Everybody is motivated and more and more young guys start sailing. It’s a pity we don’t have wind every day.
Q: What’s your next big contest?
CS: I will go to Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, which I am really looking forward to. Looking forward to see some of my friends again, go sail with them and hang out with them.
Q: Words to live by?
CS: I don’t know, I am just happy to be on the tour and I hope that we will have some more nice events this year.