Unchartered Territory
Last week saw the opening PWA Slalom event of the year in Ulsan, South Korea, which eventually saw Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) come out of top in the men’s and women’s slalom after some furious racing. However, there were intriguing battles throughout the field with big names missing out and new names entering the fray. One of those men was Marco Lang (Fanatic / North), who achieved his best result to date, proving his winter training has been a major success. The Austrian’s previous best had been joint 29th, but he absolutely smashed that record in Korea as he not only broke into the top sixteen, but also the top ten as he finished in ninth place. After making an amazing start to the season we caught up with the Austrian:
PWA: Marco, firstly congratulations on your best ever result in South Korea - great start to the season! How are you feeling now?
ML: “Thank you! Yeah perfect start to the season! Back home I finally realised what happened exactly! Its like a dream came true!”
PWA: What was your previous best result for this event? 29th?
ML: “Yeah that’s true last year on Sylt I had my second best result 29th! So, a little step forward.
PWA: Breaking into the top ten is a massive result and a huge personal best… what do you think helped you the most to make such a big step up?
ML: “I never thought that i’d reach the top 10 so early. I worked the last few months quite a lot to improve my ranking, so to achieve that already was a great feeling in Korea! I hope I can hold my ranking but there are so many good guys which are coming back in the top 10, but I’ll try to give my best!”
PWA: You qualified for your first winners’ final in Korea and also made the losers’ final, what was going through your head when that happened? And were you nervous in your semifinals?
ML: “I was already really nervous after the first elimination! And I hoped a little bit that no more eliminations were gonna happen to keep my 13th place!”
“So when we started the second Elimination I was quite nervous, but I was still focused so I managed to sail even better than in the first round and I made my first final! Its hard to describe my feeling but it was a pleasure to sail with the top guys from the world. I enjoyed the moment!!!”
PWA: What equipment were you on during the event?
ML :Most of the time I used my 111 Falcon and 7.7 WARP.”
PWA: How important do you think tuning is in slalom? And what do you think is the most important? Correct sail setting? Fins?
ML: “Tuning gets more and more important! Without doing anything, it's not possible anymore to be competitive. Every single part of your windsurfing gear is important. Fin, sail, board, yourself, has to be tuned up to feel comfortable on your own equipment!”
PWA: A few years ago you were concentrating more on freestyle - how did you become a slalom sailor and was it difficult to adapt?
ML: “5 years ago I was still a passionate freestyler, but then the PWA Slalom came to Austria, and 1 was there the week before the competition and received a wildcard qualification to take part in the main event!”
“This was my first contact with slalom equipment and as well the first time I used a sail bigger than 5.3m!! In the end I qualified for the main event and from the first time on I was stoked about slalom!”
“The first years were quiet difficult for me, I had no idea about the equipment. So I was really lucky that Gonzalo [Costa Hoevel] helped me a lot to get used to it! He taught me lot about the tuning and racing and that was for sure for me the biggest step forward. And until now I trained as much as I could to reach my goal to sail in the Top 10!”
PWA: 9th place is obviously a great building block to shape the rest of your season… what is your aim now for the rest of the year?
ML: “I will give my best to somehow keep that position, but it's gonna be hard because so many big sailors like Ben Van der Steen, Cyril Moussilmani and many more are coming back in the top ranking.”
PWA: What will you be doing between now and Costa Brava?
ML: “I train as much as I can and prepare my stuff perfectly to be ready for the next event!”
PWA: And perhaps most importantly how will you be celebrating or how did you celebrate?
ML: “I didn't celebrate so much, because it was just one moment or one event. In the end of the season if I can hold my position then I will celebrate for sure.”
PWA: Finally, as someone who has shown massive improvement in a fiercely competitive slalom fleet, what would be your top tip for a recreational slalom sailor looking to improve?
ML: “Train as much as you can and then even more to reach your own goals.”
PWA: Perfect, thanks Marco and a huge congratulations again for your performance in Korea.
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