Blast From The Past

Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne) is close to being the most complete allround sailor on the PWA World Tour. While most athletes these days tend to focus on one discipline the Bonairean competes in Freestyle, Wave, Slalom and Foiling. Freestyle remains his bread and butter and the 24-year-old won two out of the three events last year, but a maiden world title still evades him for now. Meanwhile, Vrieswijk also won the 2018 Costa Brava Catalunya PWA World cup to record his first victory on the Foil. Amado is next up in 'Blast From The Past'.

Hi Amado, take us back to the memory of your very first windsurf experience - where were you?

I was 7 years old swimming in the beautiful water of Sorobon when I saw a friend getting his first windsurf lesson on the huge board and a 2.3 size sail. When he was finished I asked him If I could try once and guess what… I was gone… the only thing my dad told me is , if you put the mast backwards the nose of the board will go against the wind and when you push the mast forwards the nose will go downwind… and since then I was hooked.

When was it? 

This was in 2003 when I was 7 years old.

Who were you with?

I was swimming with some friends playing around on the boards on the beach until I saw this other friend getting his first windsurf lesson.

What do you remember from that very first ‘session’? 

The feeling of going forward with the wind and be able to navigate through the other windsurfers, and having a fight with my parents because I did not want to come off the water.

Who was your local hero? And why? 

I did not have 1 specific hero, I always looked up to the Frans brothers and Kiri Thode, because they where the ones that were flying past me and basically jumping over me… so I always wanted to be able to sail like them.

What gear were you using? 

I started on a Hot Sails Maui S0 2.3 and a Mistral Flow board :D.

Describe your feeling when you were planing for the first time…

Amazing! I could never stop looking back at the spray of the board, the further back the wake of the board was the better. I think when people start planing for the first time is where the addiction of windsurfing really kicks in.

How did you realise you were becoming a professional windsurfer?

In the beginning I did not really think about being professional, I just wanted to go as fast as possible and be able to jump as high as possible.

Give a tip for the next generation…

Go to the beach, take a windsurf set and just go out there and enjoy this beautiful sport.

Thanks, Amado!