Ten of the world's best windsurfers, including Starboard and Severne team riders Boujmaa Guilloul and Daniel Bruch competed in the most challenging windsurfing contest there ever was: the Red Bull Storm Chase Mission to Ireland. Philip Köster was unable to compete due to a twisted ankle and will therefore miss the rest of the chase.

The first mission took place in Brandon Bay, Ireland with winds gusting up to 75 knots and 20 feet waves. The first two rounds were completed at the local spot called Dumps before the judges decided to relocate to Hell's Gate for the third and final round. Because of the extreme conditions, heats were limited to 10 minutes and both jumping and wave riding counted. In the end, 6 sailors made the cut: Thomas Traversa (FRA), Daniel Bruch (GER), Julien Taboulet (FRA), Marcilio Browne (BRA), Victor Fernandez (ESP) and Robby Swift (UK). Unfortunately, Boujmaa Guilloul ended up short with the 7th highest score and was not retained for the next mission.

Daniel Bruch was nailing table-top into forwards, extremely stalled forwards and backside 360s along with backloops and other classic moves. The Tenerife local also recorded the most hang-time with a 7 second jump!! That's one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi, five Mississippi, six Mississippi, seven Mississippi...! He also picked out a few bombs well over 20 feet and showed no fear in those extremely challenging conditions.

Here is what he had to say about it:
"It was definitely windier than we could’ve been imagined and the windiest conditions I’ve ever experienced – it was stormy for sure! The contest itself was a cool format with all of us being good friends and able to push and motivate each other. It was super-hard to score well; if you could land one good jump and compete a wave ride you had done well. We all had fun and appreciate having been a part of it."

Sadly, and despite landing a couple of combination moves such as a pushloop-into-forward, stalled forwards and one-handed backloops, Boujmaa Guilloul didn't make the cut and will not compete in Mission 2... Stay tuned for the next Storm alert!

Photo credit: Red Bull Storm Chase

Make sure you join us on Facebook for daily Starboard updates!