Back In The Game

Evi Tsape on her road to recovery and her recent training camp in Athens…

After sustaining a very serious fracture to her spine, Evi Tsape (F2, North) is back on her windsurf board, and sharing her passion with fellow Greek girls all over the country.

Evi said of her recovery:

“It’s going perfectly, last week I did my first pushloop again after 7 months. I first stepped back on my board at the end of August, and I still tend to be a bit cautious. I’m doing more riding than jumping because the bone is still ‘fresh’ and I don’t want to put too much stress on my neck, by landing badly. All in all, after such a huge amount of damage to my vertebrae I’m doing really well, just like a normal person now! My therapist is convinced that everything’s good again, but I’m going to have an X-ray in November so the specialist can check the density of the bone, and then hopefully I’ll be free to do everything like before…”

Evi explains her Girls training weekend with Tony Frey:

“On the 2nd and 3rd of October 2010, I organized a girls windsurfing weekend in Athens, together with my friend and fellow windsurfer Tony Frey. It took place in Tony’s windsurfing school in “Ricci di Mare” Surf Club, at the beach of Loutsa, on the Northeastern shores of Athens. The weekend was open to girls of all levels, and a lot of girls who also took part in my previous all-girls windsurf camps were there to improve and learn new techniques.

The weather was perfect for both beginners and intermediate sailors. The girls were separated into groups of 4 or 5, according to their level, and each group had a 2-hour class, first off and then on the water. We explained the techniques using a simulator on the beach, to demonstrate how we perform them and simulate the movement of the board and sail through the wind as well as the positioning of the body to perform them successfully, so the girls could understand as much as possible about the techniques. We analyzed every step and using the simulator we could explain the exact angle relative to the wind that each step of the move is performed. After the simulation we would go straight on the water, with each girl having her own instructor to help her achieve the correct positioning and successfully perform the technique we’d taught. Besides myself and Tony, Margarita, and Constantinos were in the water all day to help out with the girls. The more advanced girls attending the training weekend were a bit unlucky because we didn’t have planing conditions on either of the two days, so we discussed some of the more advanced techniques on the beach using the simulator, and then practised with big boards on the water.

Classes started at 10 am on Saturday with a different group every two hours. The teaching went on all day until 18.30 pm and then we went straight into my birthday party! A lot of girls who took part in the training weekend, as well as a lot of windsurfers and friends, were there to party hard until the early hours of Sunday. It was such a lively and happy party, we had a great time! On Sunday we followed the same schedule, and were in the water from 10.30am until 17.00pm.

All in all, it was another great weekend, full of action and fun on the beach. It is amazing to see how happy people become when they are windsurfing, especially how they smile when they do their first successful runs on the water. What a rewarding sport it is! Many thanks to everyone who put his hand in there for this event to happen and everyone who was there with us on the beach and at the party!

See you all next time, which will be soon!”

We look forward to seeing Evi back in action on the PWA World Tour next year…