Fanatic Girls Team - Interview

Laure Treboux and Eva Oude Ophuis have already been training on the Canaries for a little while. While Eva chose Pozo to get used to the contest venue straight away, Laure preferred Tenerife, where she was able to prepare for waves and freestyle. With determined attitudes to raise the level of the women fleet, both of them are strong contenders for this year’s event in Pozo Izquierdo. So let´s see what are they up to. Nayra Alonso, who is pregnant at the moment, has interviewed her teamcolleagues.

Nayra Alonso: Laure, you have spent the whole winter in Australia and now you are training in Tenerife, and Eva, you were in South Africa and now you haven been in Pozo for a while, your port tack wave sailing must be even more solid this year, what are your expectation for the this year’s event?

Laure: This last season in WA hasn’t been the best so I didn’t sail as much as I would have wanted to, but we travelled up and down the coast a lot, hunting for wind and waves and scored some really good days. The conditions there are very different from the Canaries, but I guess all the time spent on the water pays off anyway. I’ve been trying to improve my jumping as it’s what I need to do better here in the Canaries. Let’s see what happens in the events, everyone has been training a lot so you never know what to expect until you are actually there.

Eva: Hope so! It helps I have the perfect wave board now (Fanatic quad 69L). Hope to learn a lot this year. Cause Studying and training at the same time is not always the easiest combination. Thanks a few weeks of sailing and than only learning and walking around in the hospital for a few months. But now still two more weeks to improve my sailing before the contest! Wind, you can come back!

Laure prepared herself at El Cabezo, Tenerife for the Pozo event (Pic: James Randall).

Nayra Alonso: They say Pozo is a tricky place to sail well, what was your first impression when you first arrived in Pozo this year Eva?

Eva: Finally really windy again! In February in South Africa I had so much just-planning conditions and light wind. Wasn’t good for jumping (maybe just 2 days). Missed the jumping part. So for sure Pozo will give me some nice jumping conditions. Though I have to say, I already had a few days where even my smallest sail 3.4m was just not handable anymore.

Nayra Alonso:. Laure, why did you choose to go to Tenerife to train instead of Pozo?

Laure: I really like El Medano on Tenerife, the windsurfing, the place, the people… to me it’s the perfect playground for the summer. It’s got a good variation of conditions and waves – Cabezo, the Harbour Wall, the Bay. The level on the water is really high, which is great for inspiration and motivation, and lots of my friends are here. So I decided to be based here for the summer and travel to events from here. And I can also train freestyle here.

Laure takes the big ones (Pic: James Randall).

Nayra Alonso: What moves are you “polishing” at the moment for the events?

Laure: Backies, Takas, going bigger on Forwards
Eva: Stalled Forwards, Backloop, Pushloop

Eva goes for a nice Forward at SA.

Nayra Alonso: While the last weeks the conditions were pretty hectic down there on the Canaries.. How was your first impression sailing this kind of conditions this year?

Laure: I hadn’t sailed for a few weeks before coming out, got off the plane and straight to the water, 3.4 stacked with good waves, the proper “welcome to the Canarias”! And it’s been super windy every day since then. This is what I came here for, so it’s been awesome. My body’s complaining a bit but that’s ok, I’m used to it.

Eva: Impressive!! Everything I tried did get two times as hard/high. Or it was punished twice as hard as I used to be. Hope we will get a little bit less wind and still some waves. Yesterday I sailed with 3.7m full power and it felt like there was almost no wind anymore?! Crazy how fast I get used to the strong wind.