I have had the pleasure of working with Bernd Roediger -quite a while ago shooting SUP and windsurfing in Hawaii. Even as a young grom he had an amazing attitude that was refreshing compared to a few of the "hero " windsurfers i have worked with.
He recently took out the double elimination at the Hookipa AWT event. In the wash up interview he was asked what his next goal was
now usually this is where you hear "i am SUPER STOKED to win this blah blah - one day i want to be world champ blah blah"
This is what Bernd said
"The next good day after the event I sailed Hookipa and so did everyone else. My goal is to keep doing that. Regardless of contests, rankings, and all the other stuff that comes with it we have an amazing gift. Not just sun and surf but the ability to be doing something that we love. That love teaches us so much about ourselves and I couldn't imagine a more valuable prize than that. "
I have seen so many so called "pros" over the years that just quit windsurfing once they come off the tour - often they made their way by profile over skills -
retrospectively its always made me a bit suss about their motivations.
Bernd's view on windsurfing and wave sailing in particular very much mirrors my own outlook - and its so refreshing to hear someone verbalise it so well.
And from someone so young ...
highly impressive.
i also loved that Andre Agassi book - one of the best biographies ever
but at its base level tennis became an arm wrestle to see who could make their opponent cramp first.
tennis has got nothing on windsurfing as far as ranking near the top of the
"cool and fun things you can do in life" list (and i like playing tennis)
wave sailing.... i cant EVER see myself getting bored of carving boards off vertical sheets of water - big or small.
slalom / racing / GPS/ back and forth freeride - all really good fun too
but could get boring over time...
Reflex Films said...
slalom / racing / GPS/ back and forth freeride - all really good fun too
but could get boring over time...
Flat water and/or GPS sailing is boring after one or two runs,and is killing slalom racing.
Even though it does irritate me a little I have to defend those atheletes who walk away from their sport after they lose their position in the top echelon. To paraphrase Charlie Sheen "it's all about winning". The big money goes to the winners along with the media coverage and the hero worship. Unlike most careers there is a huge chasm that sits at the end of a sportsman's career maybe there is a little money to be made but nothing compared to the earnings that are there for the number one guy.
I am sure all sportsmen start off with the purest of motives if you can characterise the sort of selfish devotion required to succeed as an admirable thing. I guess the reason we idolise sportsmen and read their autobiographies is a fascination with our heros and their motivations. We want them to be some better version of ourselves free from the complexities that we face as we work at our average jobs and lives. Some of us fill that hole with determinist beliefs (ironically many top sportsmen attribute their success to a higher power) but the rest of us it's the existentialist view and the abyss.
Hmmmmmm, this is an interesting one.
My take is that for me, the sport is all about sailing with your friends. When you get on the tour, and you live over in Europe and only sail with your buddies who are also on the tour, you end up being so busy training/working/travelling you don't get to go to the local events and you end up spending each day with your 'tour' friends and get a little bit disconnected from the 'regular' world of windsurfing.
When you quit, you lose all those friends. So I could see how you then might lose your motivation to go windsurfing because you've disconnected with all the local guys you grew up sailing with.
I'm lucky in the sense that when winter-time comes in Europe, I get to come home to AUS for 4-5 months and hang out with my windsurfing friends here; back in the "real world", and doing all the local events keeps me motivated and I enjoy just as much as the big tour events.
All my friends on the tour spend their winters on Maui or South Africa, with the rest of the guys on the tour; that's their entire world. I coudn't think of anything worse! hahaha.
I'm pretty sure I'll be in windsurfing for life; but I can also totally relate to people who quit the sport after a long stint at the top of the professional level.
I have done a lot of competition sailing over the years - both in racing and wave sailing.
Racing was top fun and intense - but got a bit sick of all the whinging on the beach after the race.- 1 happy winner and nearly everyone else got weed / boom slipped /chose wrong sail etc etc
Still love the ledge to lancelin to bits though.
The wave competition side was in many ways more intense with some real moments of courage (or pushing yourself into scary situations that you normally just wouldnt due to heat pressure) .
have pretty much given the competition side away now - and not for lack of results -but for maximising good sailing time. I have a hard time sacrificing a weekend of good waves and wind to go and wait for my heat to come up. Would love to get to a dream contest - held in good conditions in the NW desert for example - that would be awesome.
Despite all that- loving wave sailing more than ever. And cant see how i could ever just walk away from it. Feel the same way about surfing - despite the crowd issues.
And for sure - a good crew of like minded fellow riders just turbo charges the fun.
( And Bernd's words summed it up far more eloquently than i just have)
I've always thought that to get to the top at anything, considering how much effort goes into it, you have to be driven primarily by low self-esteem, as in I don't like myself but look at me I won, tell me I'm wonderful. Same thing with people who strive to make lots of money then waste it on stupid look at me items (cars etc.). I know there's a lot of truth in that but I wonder just how much because it's rarely talked about. When top sportspeople open up more than the usual amount they often say how much they hate to lose but don't go further than that. No-one likes to lose, but why would you hate it so much? Does Robby Naish read this forum - he seems like a nice guy, I wonder if he has inner demons? I haven't read the Aggasi book, what his his main motivation?
His father.....read it and you'll understand. One of the best books I have read and I can almost guarantee you won't be disappointed.
