2024 CITRON WINDSURF WORLD CUP SYLT: ARE YOU READY FOR IT?2024 CITRON WINDSURF WORLD CUP SYLT: ARE YOU READY FOR IT?With the ever changing conditions in the churning waters of the North Sea, Sylt provides some of the most challenging conditions in the world. We hear from a selection of sailors to see how they coped both mentally and physically.Words: Marc Par, Marcilio Browne, Robby Swift, Sarah-Quita Offringa, Johan Se, Pierre Mortefon, Matteo Iachino and Justine Lemeteyer // Photos: Carter / pwaworldtour.comMARC PARSylt is such a tough place to compete. The conditions can change from minute to minute. It is one of the only spots on tour where you really need to have the whole quiver of gear ready on the beach. You can sail on a 4.2m and a 5.6m sail within thirty minutes, which makes it very demanding as a wave sailor because right in the middle of a heat the conditions can change completely. Most of the time we expect to get these tricky straight onshore conditions, which are not our favourite conditions, but you have to train in onshore conditions to be ready, which is what I did in Denmark. Even when it was perfectly side-shore at Hanstholm I just stayed at a straight onshore spot, but in the end, I think it paid off.ALL BASES COVEREDFor Sylt I brought all sail sizes from 3m to 6m. It was funny looking at the forecast in the lead up to the event as it looked like it was going to be epic and firing all week, the best Sylt ever, but in the end, we only had conditions on one day.LEARNING TO LOVE BOLT ONSHOREIn a way sailing bolt onshore is fun. When you get the hang of it, you can find the love for it. You start the heat really far out and then you try and link a wave all the way to the shorebreak. It is tricky to find the right angle to take off on the ramps. It is a challenge, but I enjoyed it. I think I had a bit of an advantage in the last couple of heats as I was actually enjoying it, weirdly.SHOREBREAK CONUNDRUMThe shore dump is a really fine line. The wind is a lot lighter on the inside and there is a lot of current and water moving along the beach. You need to hit it because that will score the big points, but if you mess up and you fall, then your heat can fall apart in seconds. You have to plan your heat and decide when to go for it.WAITING GAMEOnce the wave day was over it was tough as they switched to racing. You have to keep your mind busy and keep yourself busy. But at the same time all you can do is wait. I feel you can get more tired from waiting and resting, so you still need to move your body. I went to the gym and went out biking and walking. Just getting out helps my brain as well. We competed the first day and then just waited for the next nine days, which was tough. It is different in other locations, but in Sylt you never know what can happen with the forecast. That is just Sylt and you have to embrace it.CROWDS AND A CADDYWe are not used to the crowds, so it is nice to see all the people watching in Sylt. We dont normally get many people watching on the beach, so Sylt feels special in that sense. I had Josep Pons as my caddy this year. I have been saying for a few years that I should take somebody to help me. There are so many trips up and down from the sailors tent to the beach with all the gear. Then if you need to change rigs during a heat you are running up and down. If you go through a whole single, you also need to bring the gear back up after a long day on the water. I was exhausted for three days after the first day of competition. It was very draining. Having Pons there allowed me to be a bit more relaxed and it relieved the pressure also. In the end I made my own decisions, but Pons also gave me advice on what gear he thought I should use when we were not sure about the wind. You really dont want to mess up on gear choices in Sylt.MARCILIO BROWNEBATTLING CRAMPSYou learn how to enjoy riding in Sylt because over the years of coming here, we know that there is a big chance that we will face bolt onshore conditions. Over the years we have developed gear for that and trained to ride in onshore conditions also. That is now part of the whole game. It is not something you wish to sail in, but you train for it and you have gear ready for it. So you want to see how well you are going to perform when you have to. Personally, I enjoyed it. Every time we come to Sylt and we get a result I am stoked as it can easily happen that we dont, so it validates the trip. There was a bit of an angle in the morning when we sailed, so it wasnt bolt onshore. I woke up early and went for a warmup at 7am. My first-round heat got cancelled twice. My second-round heat was also cancelled three times! I think by the end of the day I had sailed eight or nine heats by the time I reached the final. I started cramping and the cold was aggravating it. It was such a long day and by the time I finished the heat with Antoine Martin I had some cramps starting. At the end my leg was stiff and one of my arms was cramping. I was bummed because I knew that those cramps tend to only get worse. When I came in, they did the winners final first, so we had to sail out six minutes after I came in to be there on time. My body was not there for the final and I was disappointed that I didnt have the chance to fight a little more.FULL QUIVERI brought a lot of gear with me. People always laugh at me, but I always end up using half or more of my gear in Sylt. The day we competed I used a 4.2m and also a 5.7m and some sizes in between. I had eight boards with me, and I changed boards a lot, so I am glad I had them with me. It can be side-shore with a crazy shorebreak where you need a board that fits better in the pocket. Or it can also be straight onshore with very light winds, so you need a board that can just move around. We are jumping too, so you need backups in case you break something. If I am going to put the effort of coming all the way from Hawaii to Germany, I am going to bring everything I need. I have around eight boards every year. I have back ups of the main sizes and a couple of really big boards in case of no wind.DAILY ROUTINEAfter the event I was pretty destroyed so I rested for two days. After that I have been running in the morning and then coming back home for breakfast. Then I do some stretching and computer work. I have also been going to the gym in the afternoons. It wasnt bad and was nice to have a little rest. I dont like being away from the family, but Sylt is a nice place, we have good food, a good gym, decent coffee and a lot of friends there, so I am not bummed out to be in Sylt.ROBBY SWIFTNOT SO SIMPLESylt is a complicated place. I have had a lot of fun days in the past, but this year, it was really difficult with the wind being straight onshore. It made it really hard to do anything. It just needs a bit of an angle one way or the other and then it is easier. It is never easy because the shorebreak is super heavy. You really need to calculate your heats well and try and execute your jumps early on. Then you can come in and risk wave riding in the impact zone. It is a really different experience competing in Sylt compared to other places because everything is more calculated and the scores are a lot lower. It is still competition and just requires a different way of doing things. When it was bolt onshore, I didnt really enjoy it that much, but normally Sylt is a fun place to sail. The waves are normally pretty decent here when it is windy. You dont get that many opportunities here too, so you have to make them count when they come.NO REST FOR THE WICKEDI spent the remaining nine days working on the new NeilPryde website, so I was ten hours a day on my computer sat in my room. I have been running and going to the gym. It has been a little holiday with a lot of work and no children to get in the way of working. I tried not to eat too much also. You never know what Sylt will throw at you. There are normally a few nice sunny calm days too. It is a pretty nice island to go cruising around.SARAH-QUITA OFFRINGAPREPARED FOR ANYTHINGWhen you come to compete in Sylt you need to be prepared for anything. Expect the unexpected, basically. We did actually go out in the toughest conditions that you can compete in. It was bolt onshore, not too windy because I was on my 5.3m. I started my first heat on my 5m. My mindset was not to have too many high expectations, so I actually had a lot of fun for the first heat. I just went with the flow. So I had fun in the first heat, but in the second heat I thought I would be fine on the 5m again, but a squall came through and the wind dropped. Because I saw the guys changing to their 5.3s, I thought I would be fine on my 5m still. I ended up getting stuck in the shorebreak, while sailing against Sol Degrieck. Both of us ended up downwind. I eventually switched to my 5.3m and I got one gust on port tack, and I made it through the shorebreak and I did a quick forward. I thought I would be safe with that. Then I saw Sol actually do a better forward. Thank goodness that I saw it because in the end I passed the heat by 0.1 of a point just because I did this last wiggle on a wave at the end. I did a stint earlier in the live streaming booth and I saw many moments where the rider just needed a tiny move on a wave to advance. I kind of had that in my mind during my heat as any tiny move can count and make the difference. For me, thats what saved me in that heat.CALLING UPON EXPERIENCEThen the smartest thing I did for this event was to use my experience and then stay out on the water after that heat for the final. I was on my 5.3m and I just stayed out. I found out the result from the last heat from the jet ski driver. I didnt want to come back to the beach because it was so light and onshore. I had to wait for one heat and then I was into the final. Unfortunately, Alexia [Kiefer Quintana] didnt make it out through the shorebreak, so it was a bit confusing being out there on my own. I just didnt see my competitor. I saw Alexia walking along the beach towards the end of the heat, so I figured I was against her. It was a weird way to claim the win like that. On the one hand I made a smart decision to stay out, but on the other hand I wanted to battle for the victory fair and square. Alexia had been sailing incredibly for the whole day. I think my experience from sailing in Sylt over the years paid off. A few small things swung my way like the heat against Sol. I could have been last, but in the end, I was first. That is Sylt! The same rules apply for everyone. At this event anyone can win!JOHAN SEREADY FOR ANYTHINGYou really need to be ready for everything. This year we had a lot of offshore winds. It was flat water but then we had the weed to deal with. Sylt can also have waves and a really big shorebreak. We can race in high winds, but its most likely that well race in light winds and choppy conditions, so you just never know. You just dont know what to plan for. You have to be as ready as you can for anything and everything to have the best chance of doing well. I used 5.8m, 6.8m and 7.8m also. I started one heat with an 8.8m, but that one got cancelled. So basically, we can race on anything. I had Finn Noer to help out on the beach this year to have everything was ready. When you change gear on the beach you have to be really fast so having somebody to help you really helps out. I had to change wings and get a new sail ready in just a few minutes in between heat, so having Finn there saved me a few times as I needed smaller equipment, and he already had it ready when I came in. It would have been be much more difficult on my own, I might not have even bothered coming in to change. Sylt is cool with all the crowds. The cold is not a problem for me as I am from Denmark, so I am used to it. The racing was intense with the strong winds. There were a lot of tempers flying on the water. I just tried to stay focused and kept calm. I dont like to shout at the boat or anything, I am just ready for anything.PIERRE MORTEFONUNUSUAL CONDITIONSSylt is special because we have all the other disciplines. In the other events we sail when the conditions are good, but here we sail when the conditions are not right for the waves and freestyle fleets. It can be a little frustrating like that. On the other side it is an event where we always race. There are plenty of people watching and it is one of the biggest, if not the biggest event on tour, which is cool. The fact it isnt is what makes it special. It can be offshore, side-shore or onshore for racing. You try to prepare for it, but you are never really ready. This year we had the weed which threw a spanner in the works. I was using settings that I never used before.ON HOLDThe other disciplines can be released for the day, but we are never released. The wind can arrive at 4.40pm and you can go for one race late in the day. You really have to be ready at any time. I enjoy some aspects of it, but others not so much. On one side it is our job, so it is good that we are there to race. On the other side, sometimes you feel like you are here as the side show to the other disciplines.CONSISTENCY IS KEYThe racing is so intense. My goal is just to stay consistent as you never know how many rounds of racing we will do. You could just do one race in a week, but this year we did seven rounds. You just never really know. When I came to island on the train, the forecast was pink for the whole ten days. In the end, they just wave sailed on one day. You have to be ready for the whole ten days which is a long time for an event. This summer we had five-day events in the Canary Islands. After five days you are exhausted. Here is ten days and we have been on the water almost every day. We didnt have many days off. I tried to sail on registration day in the waves as I like to be active every day. If I do nothing, I find it tricky to sleep.MATTEO IACHINO14 AND COUNTINGSylt is a really special event that has been running for so many years. I have been to the event fourteen times so far. It is tricky for racers mainly because we have many disciplines, so we never know if we are going to be competing. With the racing we kind of cover whenever the other guys are not running. It is more difficult to run the wave and the freestyle because they need stronger wind. We have to wait for them not to be on, and then we go. But then it can be offshore, and we race in strong winds also. The forecast changes day by day so it is tricky. We never know what to get ready for.CAUGHT BY SURPRISEThis year I was more prepared for light winds as that is mainly what we get in Germany for racing, but we ended up competing in strong offshore winds. There was also seaweed in the water. It was conditions where we had to race, but I was not fully ready for it. I expected something different. I only remember one other year when we raced in offshore winds, which was many years ago on fin. You just have to be ready for anything. The luck can be a big factor. I won here a few times and also had many years with bad results. You have to go for it and its tricky and cold. It is a tough event that is for sure to compete at a high level. We know that we can be racing within half an hour. There is no point training earlier in the day as the conditions can and most likely will change before your race. You also dont want to waste your energy and get cold. We are just on standby for many hours some days and you dont want to be in a cold wetsuit. We actually spend 90% of the days on standby, waiting for the conditions from the other fleets to deteriorate and then we might be on. That is the tricky part of it for us. The wave guys know on most days if they are on or off. We barely get time to test the course when it is offshore, and the course is a mile out to sea. There is no point testing two hours before a race as conditions will almost certainly be different. The conditions change completely with the tide and the wind dropping.40TH ANNIVERSARYWe are not used to all the crowds at other events, so it is cool to see windsurfing alive and so many people interested. There are some people I have seen coming here every year to watch the windsurfing. It is one of the only places where you feel like windsurfing is a big sport. This was the 40th year of Sylt, so there is a lot of history that is connected to this event also. Windsurfing needs this type of event and it has been great commitment by the organisers to keep pushing.JUSTINE LEMETEYERMENTAL GAMEThere are a lot of people watching, so that is really cool. For us on the water the conditions were really difficult, not because of the shorebreak this year, but more because of the algae in the water. The wind was pretty strong in the offshore easterlies also which I was not expecting. It was an awesome event. As a racer it is a bit like Pozo, you just never know what is going to happen and if we will be called out to race. When you wake up you have no idea if you will be racing or not. You need to stay relaxed and to know how to disconnect from the race. Otherwise, it would be a crazy ten days for your nerves! The racing for me went amazingly well. I have put a lot of hard work into my training, at the gym, on the water and also mentally. I think the mental side makes a huge difference. I have done a lot of work with a mental coach and I am feeling a lot calmer. I have a better feeling on the water and on the beach, which is my main difference compared to last year. I have had a mental coach for over a year now. We have a few tools in my head that I use when the nerves are getting too high. You have to train these tools so that has taken time. Now it is really paying off. It is a lot more comfortable to race knowing how you can control your mind. I also have a physical coach and have workouts six times a week. I also push a lot in the gym, but it is paying off. There are two or three bike sessions in a week and then three times in the gym. I trained six days a week for the whole winter, which has made a huge difference. I feel so strong, and I can push the gear harder, race for five days in a row and still feel that I am able to push. The combination of everything has paid off. Last year I didnt have my equipment tuned, but now I have the right board and the right sails and my foil is working well. The gear works, physically I am there and mentally I am there, so that combination is all working very well.The post 2024 CITRON WINDSURF WORLD CUP SYLT: ARE YOU READY FOR IT? appeared first on Windsurf Magazine.