Injury Update
Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) saw her 2017 season end in disappointing circumstances after injuring her foot on day 3 of the Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup, which ended the hopes of securing her place on the prestigious overall podium for the 4th consecutive year.
Erdil’s competitive instincts and determination saw the 28-year-old try and sail through the pain barrier, but despite her best efforts she missed out on 3rd place to Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) by just 10 points.
Injury update from Lena Erdil: “The swelling has gone down especially after becoming extremely swollen during the 20 hour flight back home…
I have had a MRI on Friday and the doctor said it’s a ‘stress fracture’. So I have indeed managed to crack my bone while jibing, which I find pretty impressive!!! We sometimes forget how powerful the forces are we transfer during sailing specially with the slalom equipment! I don’t know exactly how long this will take to heal but I am booking my Cape Town flights for Christmas, so fingers crossed I can start wave sailing straight away !
Other than that of course I am still bummed with the timing of this injury during the most fun event of the year!! It was especially sad to have missed out on the opportunity to give it my all in the battles with Delphine Cousin Questel, Sarah-Quita Offringa and Marion Mortefon and the other girls on the last days of the event!
Moving forwards I am thinking of reasons for why it happened and how to prevent this from happening in the future…. The probable cause is that I trained a little too much during the 2 weeks prior to the event (and not so much sailing in the 3 weeks prior to that because of my eye operation). From the day I arrived in New Cal it was windy everyday and with the perfect conditions here and my motivation levels running super high it was kind of hard not to…. Another cause can be calcium deficiency, so I shall be eating more yoghurt… It all goes to show that rest is as important as training... So take it easy everyone, we all want to give 20o% especially when we are chasing our dreams and goals with as much passion as most of us windsurfers have, but resting is an important part of the game we shouldn’t forget!
Looking at the bigger picture I feel very lucky that this is the first injury I have during my career, and blessed to be able to call windsurfing my job now already for the last 6 years! Thanks everyone for the nice messages, encouragement and support I am sure it all helps speed up the healing process I feel already a lot better!”