Supreme Surf Big Days Competition – What are the news?

Straight after Sylt the waiting period for the this years “Supreme Surf Big Days” competition started. But the organizers and riders were not lucky with the wind so far. We hooked up with Florian Gebbert, one of the organizers of the “Big Days” windsurfing event, and asked him about the status quo.

C7: The standby period of the Big Days was finished on the 30th of November. There was no competition until now. Is the competition now finished or do you extend the period? And until when?

Florian G.: We made a poll with the riders if they still want to start. 65 said yeah, go for it! Two said no! So it was an easy decision to extend the waiting period during the whole December. Maybe be can start on Xmas eve! This would be legendary. But we don`t want to put too much pressure on it. The Big Days is a contest from riders for riders, if you want it like that. We only want to start, when our spots are really on! We don`t want to make a compromise about the conditions,because the waiting period gets tight. If we have no luck in December, too, we will start again in spring time 2010. Thats the main essence about the Big Days: Only start when its fireing! This year the weather is really strange. There was no proper westerly or north westerly storm since the Worldcup on Sylt in the beginning of October. Only southerly winds, which is not good for the Baltic Sea, showed up. And this is our spot.

C7: Did you actually make an attempt during November?

Florian G.: Not really. We put the guys on alert two times. But it was not a high alert stadium. We work with different states of alerts on the Big Days. So we want to secure to have everybody there in time, when it´s getting hot. We had easterly wind for many weeks and no strong deep depressions from the Atlantic. But we know that game. We did the Red Bull Storm Chase and two times the Big Days. It`s always about waiting and being patient. But thats also a little bit of the thrill.

C7: Isn´t December too cold already?

Florian G.: We just came back from some surfing days in Klitmöller/Danmark. We`ve been on the water for four days in a row for hours. Guys who surf and windsurf here in the North of Germany and Danmark are used to cold conditions. They have the proper wetsuit equipment like really warm neos, gloves, hoodies etc.. If you go on a windy winter day to the beach, you can be sure to meet a lot of guys, when the conditions are good also when there is snow on the beach. So I think that´s not too much of a problem. We also provide a warm heatet room and a jetski for rescue. Pure luxury! Another thing is that there is not only wind missing this year. It is also unusual warm. Around 10 degrees and so the water is not too cold yet.

C7: Did the entry list now change, because maybe some riders  will have left to warmer regions already?

Florian G.: The entry list of the Big Days is always a really flexible construction. For sure nobody can be sure to be there during a 3 months waiting period. But we have around 85 entries and a lot of good sailors under them, most of them are not well known. So we can always provide a wave contest on a good to high level. And around Xmas some guys are already coming back for break from their winter destinations, names like Klaas Voget.

C7: Who is your favourite for the Big Days title this year?

Florian G.: Not an easy question as we don`t exactly know who will be there. I think Philip Köster is again a hot candidate. But when we start after the 13. December Klaas will be back from Chile. He is really used to the conditions in the cold, stormy Baltic sea. But also some of the local guys like Lars Gobisch, winner of the first Big Days or Matze Bade can be on top. We will see.

List of registered riders

© continentseven.com/ CHP 2009

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