Leon Jamaer wins the Red Bull Soulwave 2012 in Klitmøller. More than 50 competitors from Germany, Denmark, France and Poland gathered at Cold Hawaii, Klitmøller to compete at the Red Bull Soulwave event from 22nd-24th of June. The Red Bull Soulwave event originally comes from Germany and in the period of 1995-2005 it was held every year in the Danish coastal town of Klitmøller – the ultimate place for surfers and windsurfers. The competition involved two categories – windsurfing and Stand Up Paddling (SUP). To win the event, the competitor had to participate in both disciplines.
We caught up with the event winner for a small interview. Read the interview below.
Leon Jamaer – Pic: Henning Nockel
DAY 1
Almost logo high waves and over 30 knots of wind were the perfect playground for the windsurfing wave contest on June 21st. The longest day of the year (on the northern hemisphere), saw long wave rides, Aerials off the lips, big jumps and Goiters. Local Kenneth Danielsen and 22 year old Leon Jamaer made it into the final. Kenneth took advantage of his perfect local knowledge, managed to catch the best waves and won the windsurfing category followed by Leon Jamaer and the German sailor Klaas Voget. Kenneth´s quote on his win: “This was a really tight final heat.”
DAY 2
The following day saw a glassy surf, which was perfect for the second discipline, SUP. The 15 year old windsurfer from France, Arthur Arutkin and the local SUP-Pro Casper Steinfath made it into the final. In the end it was the local who claimed victory again, but a lot of respect goes out to 15 year old Arthur, who impressed the judges. Casper: “I will train a bit harder in the windsurfing discipline in the near future. So I can compete for a better overall result or even the title.”
Leon Jamaer – Pic: Henning Nockel
INTERVIEW WITH LEON JAMAER
C7: You are known for your great videos and free sailing attitude. How does it feel to actually win a competition?
Leon: It is a cool feeling. I knew the prestigious event mostly from old VHS cassettes that showed guys like Josh Stone, Francisco Goya or Peter Volwater going nuts in brutal conditions around Klitmoeller. They went on becoming my heros and I went on sailing that place as often as possible. Winning the Soulwave now years later brings back a lot of nice memories.
C7: You had hard opponents but you could manage to win. What was the key to win?
Leon: I guess the key is a good knowledge of riding waves in general. Then it doesn´t matter so much if you ride them with a windsurf or SUP board. Klaas and I both advanced to the semi final in the SUP competition so in the end it was a close call for the overall ranking.
C7: You got second in the windsurfing competition behind Kenneth Danielsen. Was it a close decision?
Leon: I am not sure if it was that close. I didn´t really pick the best waves in the final but still got two decent scores. Kenneth got the proper waves and teared them apart in his usual powerful style. For my semifinal heat I got the highest score of the competition, I wish I could have done the same in the final.
C7: What was your biggest move you did during the competition?
Leon: It wasn’t really about doing the biggest jump or the sickest wave move. Just reading and surfing the waves well including all the repertoire you got.
C7: How do you like the contest format, to combine two disciplines?
Leon: I like the format as it attracts a lot of different people. We had Stand Up Paddlers coming up all the way from France or windsurfers from Poland for example and had lots of fun all together. It was a great atmosphere.
C7: How were the conditions?
Leon: The conditions were very good. Nothing epic but still one of the better days in Denmark this year. For the windsurfing comp we had sideshore wind with two meter waves and in the SUP contest we got super clean head high waves. I used the Hot Sails Maui Fire Light in 4,3 later 4,7 and was on a Fanatic Quad 87.
C7: Will we see you at some other events this year?
Leon: This year will be busy for me with lots of different stuff to do, though I hope I can participate in many events.
C7: Thanks for the interview!
RESULT OVERALL
1. Leon Jamaer
2. Klaas Voget
3. Arthur Arutkin
4. Robert Sand, Lars Petersen
6. Sebastian Kornum
7. Karten Krongaard, Mikkel Asmussen
9. Jens Pedersen
10. Casper Steinfath
RESULT WINDSURFING
1. Kenneth Danielsen
2. Leon Jamaer
3. Klaas Voget
4. Mads Bjorna
5. Lars Petersen, Lars Gobisch
7. Jens Pedersen, Oskar Hollmann
9. Mikkel Asmussen, Jonas Knudsen, Markus Rydberg, Robert Sand
13. Arthur Arutkin, Sebastian Kornum, Karsten Krongaard, Mathias Lyngs
17. Thomas Michel, Alice Arutkin, Mick Kleingarn, Jobst v. Paepcke
21. Martin Damgaard, Lukas Trzaskowski, Fiete Bendt, Davide
25. Christian Brand, Wolfgang Grübl, Casper Steinfath, Christian Kuleszka, Simon Ridl, Dirk Herpel, Ingo Meyer, Jürgen Bonne, Rafal Oscik, Dominik Asbeck, Thilo Gebhard
RESULT SUP
1. Casper Steinfath
2. Arthur Arutkin
3. Peter Steinfath
4. Andy Wirtz
5. Sebastian Kornum, Robert Sand
7. Klaas Voget, Leon Jamaer
9. Lars Petersen, Christan Brand, Jonas Johansen, Karten Krongaard
13. Mor Meluka, Mick Kleingarn, Alice Arutkin, Mikkel Asmussen
17. Jens Pedersen, Markus Rydberg, Erik Jensen, Dominik Asbeck
21. Lars Gobisch, Christoffer Holler, Philip Eisberg, Dirk Herpel
25. Martin Damgaard, Jonas Knudsen, Christian Andersen, Davide, Robert Storm, Joachim Bech
©Continentseven 2012 , Pics: Henning Nockel
