If you ask dedicated freestyle windsurfers, they will all agree on one thing: the triple (forward) loop will mark the beginning of a whole new era.

It has not been done yet, but quite a few surfers are working on it. The one to do the first triple loop in the world can be sure to go down in windsurfing history.

For more than two years, it looked like Ricardo Campello, the Brazilian freestyle windsurfer and multiple world champion, was going to nail it. His sponsors, JP Australia and NeilPryde, have offered him an award of 10,000 USD if he completes his first triple. But so far, he hasn’t done it.

Another windsurfer, wave rider Boujmaa Guilloul of Starboard, is confident that he can do the first triple loop. In Hookipa, Gouilloul had a bad crash that left him unconscious in April. He was trying the triple and jumped as high as 15 meters. When he couldn’t complete it, he fell head-first into the water. We was however quickly rescued by his team mate Klaas Voget and taken to hospital.

“The secret to the triple is to jump high”, Boujmaa explained in an interview in January. This obviously makes the jump dangerous. We will see who can bring home the prestige of doing the first triple – the competition is still on!