Windsurfing in the Land of the Mountains and its official national Team

„Land of the mountains, land of the rivers, land of the fields, land of the cathedrals, land of the hammers, prosperous land!“, will be heard resounding from within the Austrian football stadiums during the European Championship. The first few lines of the national anthem allude to the fields where the beloved national sport is practiced in its purest form. And in winter we change the ball for the boards and race downhill on white frozen ground or celebrate our ski stars when they dash across the finishing line with best times.

After all, Austria is not a waterfront country; it could be said to be located at a river at best. However, the map of the central-European landlocked country shows some famous expanses of water. And they seem to be sufficient to bring about an Olympic Champion in windsurfing. The national team for the European Soccer Championship has already been determined. An equivalent “windsurfing national team” has not been established yet. It is a good moment now to think up the formation of such a team and its staff and coaches.

The Coaches

First and foremost the golden Sydney Windsurfer Christoph Sieber, who was the first and only Austrian participant to win Olympic gold. Windsurfing had been taken up as a new Olympic discipline in 1984. 16 years later, Sieber caused a sensation and won Olympic gold in the Mistral One Design class. In 2004, he changed to the 49 sailing class and just missed Olympic qualification. Maybe the sportsman from Wels, Upper Austria, aged 37, should change again to the windsurfing class and build up a windsurfing national team as a coach. Sieber has been working for years as a motivational and mental coach.

Other famous names and near legends in the Austrian windsurfing sport are Mike Pucher, Bernie Brandstätter, Thomas Miklautsch and Mike Eskimo. The Viennese Mike Pucher holds the Austrian 500m record in Speed surfing since 1993 with 42,78 knots and rightly carries the name „Power Mike“. Meanwhile, he has changed the windsurf board for the kite board. Bernie Brandstätter fought for leading positions in the professional World Cup Series.

The Carinthian Thomas Miklautsch has won several state championships and uncountable awards at film festivals with his windsurfing documentaries. He surfed in the Antarctic and in front of crashing ice masses in Alaska, and established a record in altitudinal windsurfing at the highland lakes in Bolivia. Red Bull always supported him as a sponsor. A new project is intended.

At the head of all Austrian windsurfers is the Viennese Michael Ribolitz, who wrote history under his artist pseudonym “Mike Eskimo” on Maui, Hawaii. His grandma bought him a ticket to paradise and Ribolitz became famous as a radical action windsurfer and fashion designer for the upcoming fashion label Windsurfing Chiemsee in the 80s. Eskimo travelled the whole world, surfed with swimming elephants or while burning lava gushed into the Pacific.

Only a few years ago, another Viennese made it into the Mecca of windsurfing. Michi „Mickey“ Schweiger, former Freestyle World Cup windsurfer and windsurf trainer, joined the brand Naish as head of product development. Being the right hand of Robby Naish, today the 38 years-old decides about the „to be or not to be“ of all products of the Naish line.

Thus, the coaches and staff for the Austrian national team have been determined. Let’s move on to the actors, who currently take part in national or international competitions or excel at other activities and therefore are good candidates for a nomination of an nonofficial windsurfing national team.

The Freestylers

Since 1998, a trend towards Freestyle windsurfing has constantly been developing in Austria, and this year the first Freestyle World Cup at the Neusiedler Lake took place. Ahead of all were Frank Lewisch from Ilmitz (Burgenland), aged 35, Chris Sammer, 28, and Tanja Emig, 30, from Southern Styria. The trio travelled around the world together on the PWA World Tour. Emig gained uncountable top rankings and challenge the world’s best competitors. Lewisch developed the Spock 540°, which became the ultimate Freestyle trick, and he reached the final at the World Cup at Fuerteventura.

Chris Sammer not only won the Event at Poderdorf at the Neusiedler Lake in 2003, he also always knew the latest moves first among the Austrian windsurfers and became kind of a national windsurf hero. In 2008, Sammer proved with position 17 at the Freestyle World Cup in Podersdorf that he could still compete with the actives, although he regularly works as a distributor of the windsurf brands Ion, Mistral, Northsails and Fanatic.

Frank Lewisch and Chris Sammer have been emulated by numerous young Freestylers. Among the currently most successful young tricksers are Michael „Sumsi“ Summereder, 22, and Max Matissek, 21, from the Burgenland. Along the young riders, Michael Rossmeier, 28, and Tom Hartmann, 21, have reached a fixed position in the scene and would be worthy candidates for the basic formation of a national team.

The Viennes Tom Hartmann declared Mauritius his adopted country and dedicated himself completely to the radical Wave windsurfing. In order to reach exceptional heights also at the Neusiedler Lake, Tom built a jump with a length of eight meters and a height of two meters. The Tyrolese Rossmeier published a Freestyle windsurf bible with the name „Tricktionary“. Additionally, he counted among the best Freestylers in Austria and ranked 9 ex aequo together with Summereder at this year’s World Cup at Neusiedler Lake.

Austrians in other Disciplines

Alongside Freestyle windsurfing, where trick surfing is judged, several Racing disciplines take place on a competition level: Speedsurfing, Formula, Windsurfing, Slalom 42, RS:X as Olympic unit class and Raceboard classes. The classes are differentiated with regard to the application of the material, nevertheless, they are all subjected to an underlying competition principle: on a prescribed course, positions will be driven out and subsequently the winner will be clearly determined. Visually, the procedure seems to be similar to sailing competitions. Speed and tactics determine the winner and the loser. Direct “infights” and tactical maneuvers at the buoys are a frequent sight.

At the end of 2003, the „Windsurf Team Austria“ was brought into being by Peter Hörler, Michael Deutschmann and Peter Pfaffenbichler. The project had been followed until 2006 and was dedicated to the Racing disciplines. In 2005, the discipline Slalom 42 was taken up into the professional World Tour. Chris Pressler, 34, from Salzburg jumped on the bandwagon and reached position 26 in the overall ranking of the tour in 2007 as the best German speaking Slalom rider.

In 2008, the sportsman from Wahlburgenland again makes the whole tour. Additionally, he managed to win on the Asia Tour at Boracay, Philippines. Markus Pöltenstein, 39, sporadically represents Austria on the PWA Pro Slalom Tour and tried to break the Austrian Speed record of Mike Pucher at the canal in Southern France in 2008. At the end, he missed a new record by two knots. The Viennese had his biggest success in Alacati, Turkey, in 2007, where he secured for himself the IFCA World Championship title in the Masters Class Slalom 42.

Windsurfing is again on the upswing in the year of the European Soccer Championship and the formation of a national team could quicken the sport. The list of further names worthy of a nomination for the team could be continued endlessly: Schanda, Seyss, Forstenlechner, Alvarez, … Because lake surfers can become Olympic-, World-, and European Champions as well. And the national anthem wouldn’t lose its charm because of a small change: „Land of the mountains, land of the rivers, land of the LAKES…“

Major Titles won by Austrian Windsurfers

1993 Mike Pucher Austrian Speed record 500 m with 42.78 knots

2000 Frank Lewisch rank 4 at the Fuerteventura Event and rank 8 at the Freestyle PWA Year’s Ranking (best ranking of a Freestyler)

1992 Christoph Sieber, rank 5 at the Olympic Games in Barcelona in Windsurfing

2000 Christoph Sieber Olympic gold in Sydney in the Mistral class

2002 Tanja Emig rank 3 at the King of the Caribbean

2003 Chris Sammer rank 2 at the PWA Freestyle Qualifier and EFPT winner in Podersdorf/Neusiedlersee

2007 Chris Pressler rank 2, Asia Tour

2007 Markus Pöltenstein IFCA Slalom 42 World Champion in the Masters Class

Links

http://newworldspirits.com/ (Thomas Miklautsch, Adventurer in windsurfing)

http://www.christophsieber.at/ (Olympic Winner)