About one week ago the German windsurfer Adrian Beholz released a nice video about his recent trip to Namibia and Botswana. What some of you might not know is that, after this trip to Namibia, Adi tore pretty all of his ligaments in his ankle on his first day in Big Bay and he had to fly back to Germany.  We caught up with Adi for an update on the situation and we also spoke about his upcoming movie project “All In”. Read more in our interview.

Adrian Beholz showing his horny skin to the kids - Pic:  Alice Pokrzywinski

Adrian Beholz showing his horny skin to the kids – Pic: Alice Pokrzywinski

 

 

Adrian Beholz – Interview

Continentseven: Hi Adi, how are you doing? You had to fly back from South Africa due to an injury? What happened?
Adi Beholz: I’m alright, thanks! It is the first time since years I haven’t been on the water for more than a month and it sucks a lot. Check out how I could impress the Namibian kids with my hands. Now my hands look like a soft baby butt. Furthermore it really makes me somewhere in between sad, angry and helpless to read the daily news these days instead of having fun on the water. But let’s not start talking about politics, already. I got washed and stuck with the front foot in the strap in Cape Town. It happened on the first day after a great travel through Namibia and visiting an old friend in Botswana. The syndesmosis ligament and most other ligaments of the ankle got torn. But thanks to modern medicine it’s gonna be alright.

Continentseven: How many weeks will you be off the water?
Adi Beholz: I should be able to start windsurfing 8 weeks after the surgery again. It will be at the end of March. If all goes well I will spend some time in South of France then.

Continentseven: How do you deal with that situation?
Adi Beholz: Thanks to Rossi (e.n. Michael Rossmeier) I’m not bored too much. I’m supporting him through the final stage of Tricktionary 3. Additionally I have some physiotherapy, have two walks with my dog on crutches a day and soon the physiotherapy will get more intense. Plus my thoughts are a lot with my own future projects.

Continentseven: Yes, tell us more about your future projects. You and your partner just started to work on a new film project, right?
Adi Beholz: Yeah, it’s super cool. I got the opportunity to buy some good camera and sound equipment at the end of last year and will keep upgrading the equipment. I always wanted to get myself deeper into video production and now it started. We will stay pretty underground, but the plan is to come up with a super cool windsurfing movie.

Continentseven: Who are the people behind the production?
Adi Beholz: Mainly Manol Chalakov, a young and talented filmmaker and friend from Sofia and myself but through the process there might be more people involved.

Continentseven: Who will be featured in the movie?    
Adi Beholz: I hope to film a lot of great windsurfers. I already spoke to quite some guys, who like the idea. It will be more the way Manol and me travel the windsurfing world than inviting pros to join us on our tour. So we will meet great windsurfers all around the planet and hopefully they are up to get filmed.

Adrian Beholz at Lüderitz - Pic: Alice Pokrzywinski

Adrian Beholz at Lüderitz – Pic: Alice Pokrzywinski

Continentseven: What’s the title and what stands the title for?
Adi Beholz: It’s going to be called “ALL IN”. It stands for the limitless self-sacrifice of real windsurfers for their passion. Also I feel like my life doesn’t only cover windsurfing. It feels like I got it ALL IN there I could ever wish for. Traveling the world, looking left and right. I know happiness isn’t depending on having things, but on doing things. Many Europeans can’t understand my lifestyle, probably most reading this can’t. Many will ask: “What will happen, if there comes the day you have nothing?”

Happiness is ALL IN yourself. In my opinion the modern society is losing loads of deep knowledge, whilst unimportant even destroying knowledge is rising. Real windsurfing and traveling opens deep knowledge about happiness. I hope many will understand this message after watching my film, maybe even some non windsurfers.

During the next years globalization will come back on us. It has been playing an important role since the colonization. But just recently there happened a big change during the Arabic Spring. Nowadays there is information for everybody available through the modern ways of communication and it’s now during the refugee “crises” that most Europeans see it for the first time. Actually many say they feel it, but if they are honest most of them have to admit they don’t even see it, besides in the daily news. I met a refugee from Somalia. 10 years ago he couldn’t get information how to get to Europe. Nowadays there is internet in reach of pretty everyone. Imagine information for the world could be followed by energy and peace. Let’s face it! If we find out what makes us happy – and it’s just caused by what we are doing, not by materialistic things like our cars, houses and incomes – we are going to find happiness.

Right now human happiness depends on visions, optimism and solution oriented thinking. Also my journeys do, my whole life does, my personal happiness does, this video project does as well. Fear and problem oriented thinking will only create bad things. The history showed us many times. Fear of refugees and terrorists, fear of losing incomes, the house and the car will cause the same results. It just needs enough of fear to eventually turn everybody into monsters. It is happiness, even ecstasy or melancholy, what creates beauty, wisdom and peace. My movie is supposed to carry a deep message.

Continentseven: Where do you plan to film, which countries and spots are on your list?
Adi Beholz: We will film pretty much all around the world.  Many places I can’t foresee yet. It will not just be the action on the water evaluating limits. It will also be our journey itself.

Continentseven: What’s the key message of the movie?
Adi Beholz: True windsurfing is the best lifestyle you can have.

Continentseven: When will you release the movie?
Adi Beholz: Within the next 2-3 years, but it can take more years.

Continentseven: Looks like you are planning a long period for production. So we can expect something big!
Adi Beholz: Hmm it’s just I don’t wanna publish shit to be in time. We will take the time we need to be 100% happy. Manol is a perfectionist also I’m hiding a freak of perfectionism.

Adrian Beholz in Brazil - Pic: Lena Kyte

Adrian Beholz in Brazil – Pic: Lena Kyte

Continentseven: What’s your main motivation behind the project?    
Adi Beholz: Share the passion, maybe a small spark can light something somewhere? I feel I live in a fucked up world sometimes, so much anger around. The vibrations in the media make me sad. I want to create some media the way I like it.

Continentseven: How do you finance the project?
Adi Beholz: From my pocket.

Continentseven: Will you still do the freestyle events?
Adi Beholz: Yes, of course. This year I won’t go to Podersdorf unfortunately I think I will not be ready the way I’d like to by then. But yeah Fuerteventura and Sylt for sure. Some Slalom events, maybe some national wave events, let’s see.

The Freestyle tour doesn’t see its best time. The freestylers are not able to represent themselves strong enough inside the PWA but also to the outside. We have been talking and talking for more then three years now about live scoring, but everyone makes it just more and more complicated. We don’t see the beauty of simplicity. We are too unprofessional and yet too passionate about unimportant details. If the system we are talking about now ever gets live, we actually have to hide it from any spectator. They will ask themselves:” What is that?” I mean you can hardly make it more complicated. The wave guys talked about it and had it. In the German Freestyle Battles we talked about it and had it. 

In the wave discipline you see a move, you give points, you see another move and you give more or less points for it. I hope also to change the system of the Freestyle Battles this year to make it even more simple. I dream of seeing a move and scoring it, seeing a next one and giving a score according to the other scores I already gave. Like in the regular wave surfing. All scores have to be saved in a data base. If there is an underscoring or overscoring one time it can be a mistake. If it starts to happen more often the judge gets into trouble.

We are the youngest and most unexperienced riders in the PWA circuit. Some judges still say they don’t like freestyle and many inside the PWA ridicule us. I mean they have a reason, we are a bunch of kids. We didn’t understand yet how the business goes but at the same time we own the future. Freestyle is getting on the next level. Check Amado, this guy can win anything I mean not just freestyle events. Gollito the same. Steven is also a freaking fast machine. Basically every freestyler on tour is an awesome windsurfer, I could name you so many examples. Everyone, who doesn’t see it yet, we will teach better.

You know myself. I had years where I was going on the water to train for events, but this definitely changed. I love the faith of my physical limits and I love my lifestyle. I also love the competition. But it’s not in focus of my life anymore.

Continentseven: Thanks for the interview and good luck with all your projects!

 

And if you haven’t watched Adrian Beholz’s video about Namibia & Botswana you should watch it now. Link to the video: Nawana – Adrian Beholz in Namibia and Botswana

 

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