On the podium at the European Championship again after 12 years

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But let´s start from the beginning. It was on Wednesday, August 13th, and not in a kingdom far far away. After successful packing of all the unuseful and a few useful things I set off on a quest. But not to save the princess from the tallest tower. I went to Denmark, but stopped in Ostrava, Bratislava, Wien, Prague and Hamburg. I was testing the new kitewing models there and working on a new super secret project, which of course stays secret.

This chapter may seem unnecessary, but I had a crash on a beach on a mountainboard a day before the end of the testing week. I spent the next 2 days in pain and thinking what was better: alloy or compo prosthesis.

“A friend in need is a friend indeed”. One of mine, Pawel Kowalski arranged a check-up for me in a hospital; which was in Poznan, about 1000 km from Denmark. So I packed and drove myself to Poznan for the ultrasound, where they found out that there was nothing broken in my ankle and the amount of water was bearable. The rehabilitation was supposed to take quite a long time, but as they say: what doesn´t kill you makes you stronger.

Feeling better and with lots of ice I drove another 1300 km to a special rehabilitation center in Helsinki (by the way, the best one in Europe and if you don´t believe, go and check it out). The team led by Mrs. Barbora Kubín, still my sister (who got married to maintain the balance of Slovak windsurfing) and Mr. Radovan Kubín, my old friend and a new brother-in-law, did their best and even more. I was being frosted and defrosted, overeated and overslept, and continuously encouraged by hearing that I was not 20 something, not even 25 something. And my schedule was even tighter: different concerts, festivals, shops and cinemas, dinners with friends and new friends. It was “dishy”. At the end of the week I even tried the new Slim 9,5 m2 sail on the sea. Some corrections and ideas were worth it and also special thanks to the sail for such a smooth progress of the championship.

It was difficult to leave Helsinki, but there was Sopot waiting for me: the biggest windsurfing club in Europe, the beer with a sirup and last but not least, the Copacabana beach club. It was nice to see all those faces again after a year, have a chat and of course compete together proving each other who is the fastest this time. Few days before the competition passed quickly and the club was finally filled up with 250 competitors from 19 countries in Junior, Senior and Masters categories. The opening ceremony with a parade on a main street brought back the May parades´ memories. But this time not only the crowd in the parade, but also Sopot was having fun.

And here comes the turning point of the competition: 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2-my races. No comment. Gooood! In one of the races when I was passing downwind the Italian windsurfer, Paco Wirz, he just called me different names and told me I was impossible to race with. The latest winner of the Masters class presented the common opinion, because nobody seemed to care about me after 2 racing days and 5 winning races and they concentrated on the competition among themselves. New hybrid boards were also defeated due to the light wind. The new Olympic class seems to be the worst of them. Some French guys and Max Wojcik from Poland also decided to try the new boards out. They did their best, but the old school raceboards were simply better. Sorry Max!

Eventually, we are reaching the end. Everybody got “copacabaned” and the best of the best survived the Saturday closing ceremony and prolonged it till the late Sunday morning. Nobody was in doubt that we know not only how to work hard, but also how to party harder. So see you soon again in SKZ Sopot.

Pato
P.S. Kocham Sopot! (I love Sopot!)

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