2001 PWA Jever World Cup Sylt Wave Performance Day 5

Day 5 of the Jever World Cup produced another day waiting for the wind and
waves to arrive. The forecast looks like the wind increasing every day
reaching its strongest by Sunday. It looks like a deepening low pressure
system over Ireland will be reaching the Westerland coastline over the next
few days.

The sailors mood was more upbeat after hearing that the forecast is for
strong winds, many of the sailors have not been on the water for over two
weeks showing that life on the World Tour is a not all glamour. The rigours
of being a professional windsurfer include lots of travelling between the
worlds airports, huge excess baggage bills, long periods of boredom waiting
for wind at events and sometimes suffering the hangovers of the crazy
closing awards ceremonies!. The positives however more than outweigh the
negatives, life as a professional windsurfer is a dream for many young
people. Many of the young sailors on the PWA World Tour have never known a
life outside of windsurfing and the thought of waking up to board a train to
start a 9-5 job is a long way from the reality of windsurfing every day in
Hawaii in just a pair of board shorts, the preferred uniform for an employee
of the PWA World Tour.
We spoke to Tristan Boxford (Fanatic, North) about life on the PWA Wave
World Tour.
"Life on the PWA Tour is like no other, I can not imagine doing any other
job!. Lots of my friends think it is all about going to parties until seven
in the morning, but that is just a myth. All of the sailors take this life
very seriously and we train in the gym and follow strict diet's of healthy
drinks and food."
Scott Carvill (Naish) who trains in Hawaii also spoke of the strict training
regime most of the sailors now follow.
"I cannot remember the last time I was able to break away from my training
and let my hair down for a good night out with my friends, I am looking
forward to the closing ceremony party in Ireland when I can at last let rip
and party. We are professional sportsmen but then again I'm sure even Carl
Lewis partied at the end of the Olympics!"

The contests on the PWA World Tour are without doubt the aspirational
pinnacle of windsurfing today. Competition is the only way to really guage
who really is the best windsurfer in the world. The contests are also where
the advances in equipment design are tuned to perfection, the average board
that the windsurfer on the street can buy is not too far away from the
lightweight boards used by all the top pro sailors. In fact a lot of the
professional sailors are now using stock production boards.

So it sounds like its early to bed for all the sailors tonight and the
countdown to the weekend begins.