Bright Futures

Sam Esteve one of France's brightest young talents

Sam Esteve (JP / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) made his debut on the PWA Freestyle World Tour last year -- completing 2015 in 30th place overall. The 18 year old is one of France's brightest young talents, so we recently caught up with Sam to find out more about him:

PWA: Hey Sam, firstly can you tell us a little bit about yourself… where you're from, how old you are, what you enjoy?

SE: "I am 18 years old, I live at the beach of saint-Marie la mer small village close to Perpignan and to Leucate in the South of France. I am lucky to live close to the sea and to be able to sail from outside the front of my home. I like windsurfing, surfing, kitesurfing and snowboarding."

PWA: What first made you want to get into windsurfing?

SE: "My father has a sailing school and I spent time there every summer. I began windsurfing at 5 years old and have never looked back, so I've now been sailing for 13 years."

PWA: Who has been you biggest influence on your sailing?

SE: "All the freestylers influenced me because I was watching the videos all the time, so I could understand to make the move."

PWA: What would you be doing if you weren’t windsurfing?

SE: "If I didn't windsurf, I would still be in the water surfing, kiting and then during the winter time I would go to the mountains to snowboard."

PWA: Where is your favourite place to windsurf and why? 

SE: ,I came back from a trip to the South of Morocco with great spots, but I really like sailing near to Leucate because we have such a range of different spots and conditions; the sea, the lakes, flat water or waves when we have southeast wind."

PWA: What is your favourite move and why? 

SE: "I love flying through an air skopu when the wind is very strong. I have extraordinary sensations because the move is extremely fast."

PWA: What move did you find the hardest to learn and why? 

SE: "The burner because I began to learn it when I was about 15, I was small in size and I had less strength. As soon as I began to grow it became much easier. Now everything seems easier since I'm much bigger than I was at that age. I'm now 1m 84cm tall!"

PWA: What new moves are you currently learning? 

SE: "For a long time I trained double burners, funnel into burner, double culo and I can now make those moves. I've also been training to make sure I can land all my moves on both sides."

PWA: How do you learn your moves? Videos? Watching others? 

SE: I learn by looking at the videos of the guys then I repeat the move several times on the water."

PWA: What are your goals for 2016?

SE: "My goals for 2016; continue to progress and to make more trips."

PWA: Where are you at the moment?

SE: "I am at my home, completing my high school diploma this year."

PWA: If you were on a desert island what 3 items would you choose to take with you?

SE: "My surf board, my windsurfing gear and my kitesurfing gear."

PWA: If you could pick a super power what would it be?

SE: "Being able to arrive somewhere and then having the power to choose the conditions that I want for the particular spot."

PWA: Thanks Sam. Good luck with the rest of school and see you on the water.

You can see Sam in action by visiting @ youtu.be/ivqlB1kNtUQ and also vimeo.com/159825146