Preseason Buildup

Last year’s Vice-World Champion, Sarah Hauser (Quatro / Goya Windsurfing) will be the highest ranked sailor on paper coming into the SPICARE Omaezaki Japan World Cup, which starts on the 19th February, but as she admits in this interview, a jumping event like Omaezaki is far out of her comfort zone! Read on to find out why… 

PWA: We’re heading to Japan for the opening event of the season - how did you spend your offseason? 

SH: Well, I'm glad you ask, because next month I will be releasing the 3rd episode of Life of Adventure, my new vlog on YouTube, and I will share about my offseason/winter period for January and February. But bascailly what I can tell you is that I was very busy! There was some personal stuff keeping me busy, but there were also some events, some sponsors events with GoPro and with Medallia. So I was busy traveling for that and that's super cool because I'm grateful to have those those relationships and those sponsors backing me for 2024.

I haven't been on the water as much as I would have wanted to because of all these things keeping me busy. But I have spent a fair amount of time in the gym just trying to get strong again, because last year was a bit of a complicated year with Casey's leukaemia and the back and forth between Maui and L.A. So just trying to lay some strong physical base was kind of my goal, at least.

PWA: Have you been to Japan before and what are you most excited about for this trip? 

SH: I have been in Japan for layovers, but never for an actual trip, so it will be more like a first time. And what I'm most excited about is, is so many things. Actually, just to discover what I don't know. And it seems like there is a very tight community of windsurfers there so I'm really excited to meet them and sail with them and see how they windsurf, how they live there with their lifestyle around the ocean. I'm also very excited about the food, obviously! Always when traveling for competition, there is a part of me that wishes that we can complete the event and have some time to experience the culture and it's not in just a few days that we can grasp an entire culture, but it's still great to get glimpses of that. So I would hope that there is going to be some time to do that! 

PWA: What are your expectations for the week?

SH: As for the expectations, for me, this really is out of my comfort zone! I’m not able to go to Europe this year, but I still wanted to challenge myself and compete in conditions that I know are not my cup of tea. Omaezaki is normally a jump-orientated spot and I know that's going to be tough for me. This is really not the type of waves in which I excel. I’m more into the the surfing kind of waves, and the big waves as well, but I think there can be big conditions. It can definitely be more like a storm chase type of forecast if we have big days out there. So, yeah, I'm not having huge expectations for the result - I really am trying to challenge myself, get out of my comfort zone and compete again. I believe that as riders on the tour, we should get challenged in both surfing and jumping, so I'm trying to do my part and go, and at the same time discover a really cool place and a nice culture.

PWA: Thanks, Sarah, good luck for the event.