Freestyle Life

Where is the crazy world of freestyle heading? Phil Soltysiak shares his views

Philip Soltysiak (Starboard / Sailworks) has finished in the world’s top ten for freestyle in five out of the last six years. The Canadian has continually impressed the judges with his flowing style and diversity on both tacks, making him one of the best competitors on the tour. The 27 year old suffered a shoulder injury, requiring surgery, last year, but is now back to full fitness. Soltysiak is now in Venezuela continuing his winter training, having been in Brazil for the first half of winter. We caught up with him to find out more about the vibe in Venezuela, as well as finding out where he sees the crazy world of freestyle heading.

PWA: You’ve chosen to return to Venezuela, how is the situation out there and general vibe? 

PS: “Venezuela is great!  I’m in el Yaque, on Isla Margarita, and the wind has been really good since I arrived.  I sailed on 4.7, 5.0 and 5.3, and the forecast looks like the wind will only be getting stronger, so it should be a great season.  I’m traveling with a couple friends, including a Polish guy named Kuba Kawalkowski who plans to compete in a couple PWA events this year.  It’s nice and quiet vibe on the water here, so there is tonnes of space to work on moves and nobody gets in your way.  There are a few other freestylers that have been on the water with us, like Cheo Diaz and Deivis Paternina. Antoine Albeau was around for a few days.cGollito, Ricardo and Diony have all been sailing in Los Roques the last week, so we haven’t seen them on the water here much.  Let’s hope the wind stays like this and it should be a great season here.  Perhaps I’ll even come back in the spring.”

PWA: Where do you see freestyle heading from where it is now? Do you personally prefer to see several rotations or one massive move?

PS: “I think freestyle is heading in the direction of more radical air moves.  Air skopus, air kabikuchis, and all the other power moves are becoming more common, and people are doing them higher, faster, and with more style.  On the same note, freestyle moves that have been around for a long time like double forwards, pushloops, air chachoos, etc are still part of the game, and it’s great to see them mixed in with a more modern repertoire.  There is also a trend towards very technical double power move combinations, like double culos, double burners, air bob into culo, air funnel into burner.”

  

“It’s difficult for me to choose what I prefer to see, whether it be a massive move or several rotations, because freestyle is not about just one move, but about a session on the water, and the style and energy the sailor gives off when sailing is what either catches my attention or not.”    

PWA: Outside of training windsurfing what do you like to get up to?

PS: “Besides windsurfing here in Venezuela I try to work on my Spanish a bit, I go mountain biking a few times, thanks to the Bed & Breakfast Casa Nora that sponsor me with a mountain bike for the season here.  I’m working on planning out my travels to contests and for training this year, and also working on a few projects for windsurfing magazines, a few sequences for the Tricktionary, a clip for the new 2015 Sailworks Revolution, and getting some video footage to put together a cool movie from El Yaque.  I will also have a new website online, hopefully within a few weeks.”  

PWA: So, do you still get nervous before your heats? And why do you like competing?

PS: “Sometimes I do get nervous before a heat, sometimes not so much.  It’s important to be a little bit nervous, so that your level of performance increases.  Being a little bit nervous tells your body and mind that this moment is important, and it’s time to perform.  The important thing is to not get nervous in a negative way, or in such a way to hinder your performance.  So I try to be at the right level of nervousness and focused to perform as best I can when we compete.” 


“I like competing because it’s something to work towards throughout the year.  You can learn new moves, improve your sailing, and then in a contest you have a chance to test yourself.  It’s a good opportunity to realistically compare your level of sailing to what it was the year before, and to compare your level of sailing to other freestylers, who could have been training on the opposite side of the world all winter.  It’s a great feeling to land a new move in windsurfing, but to be able to land that move consistently in your heats to me is yet another level of accomplishment.”

    

PWA: Do you have any tips for someone who is thinking about starting to compete?

PS: “If you’ve never competed before, get yourself a watch, and a buddy with a camera, and try to sail a few heats and judge them yourself.  Get use to the timing of a heat, the structure (we often do 4 moves out of 7 on each tack counting), and try to limit yourself to a course area.  I think this will help you a lot in your first competition.”

PWA: Great, thanks a lot for your time Phil. Good luck with the rest of you winter training.

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