Sarah-Quita reports from Hvide Sande in Denmark. After winning her ninth freestyle world title earlier this year in Fuerteventura, SQ snatched another world title, in slalom this time, bringing the total to 12th PWA World Tour titles. Read more from her below.

Hvide Sande World Cup

Finally a new adventure! It’s been a while since I traveled to an entirely new destination. The last stop of the women’s tour was going to be held at Hvide Sande in Denmark. The women’s PWA Slalom World Champion would be crowned at this event. Going into the event sitting in second place after Lena Erdil surprisingly calmed down my nerves and instead had me fired up to do the best I could. Because of course, like the other ladies I had my sights set on the title.

The one thing I was actually nervous about was traveling to Denmark. I had the grand idea of driving from Holland to Hvide Sande. Not a big deal for you people from big countries. But as an islander I don’t drive more than 30 km a day. And from my experience in Australia I usually doze off after 45 minutes... How did I decide to attempt a 850 km drive by myself?! All of this only dawned on me the night before I had to leave. Too late... I gathered all of my courage and with some expert advice from friends, an early start and singing till I lost my voice I safely made it to Denmark before sundown. After that adventure I was happy that all I had to do that week was windsurf.

I arrived a couple of days before the PWA event and every single day there was a different wind direction. Which also caused the water to be flatter or choppier. This kept things interesting! I sailed 8.6m² down to 7.0m². Before the PWA there was the WATERZ event where they held a long distance contest. At the moment long distance doesn’t seem to be my thing though! Halfway through, my feet and sides started cramping so much, I cut that race short. I decided I should focus on the upcoming PWA contest hahaha. Big respect to everyone else that not only finished the race but also did the three additional long distance races.

For the contest the wind forecast wasn’t on our side. We got on the water three days out of six in quite light conditions. It was great to get on the water straight after registration though, instead of waiting around.

In the qualifying rounds I sailed my iSonic 114 and 7.8m² with a 40 cm fin, but as the wind was slightly dropping I changed to a 42 cm fin for the final race. In retrospect, I should have grabbed my 8.6m² too. For the final I learned from my starting mistakes in Korea and was more precise. I started at the boat and had clean wind. I made it to the mark in first, but it was crucial to time the jibe with the swell and come out as fast as possible. I kept it together and from there led the race until the finish. BOOM! First race in the pocket and all of a sudden I was leading the title race.

The next round was two days later in stronger conditions. I was powered up on my 7.8m² but I thought the course was too long. I think it’s more exciting to add more jibes instead of stretching out the course. Luckily I “half-participated” in the long distance race so this course was easy! I won all of my qualifying rounds and for the final the wind picked up a notch. This time I started at the pin end as the course was set very down wind and again I made it to the buoy in first, however I didn’t anticipate the wind gap that arrived there and didn’t execute my jibe well enough to come out planing. Lena [Erdil] however pulled of a great inside jibe and left us in her bubbles. I ended up fighting with Fulya [Unlu], but could not pass her and finished 3rd. I wasn’t happy about my mistake but quite excited about the battle with Fulya [Unlu]. I wanted more!

But that was it! The wind started dropping and we couldn’t race anymore. The next days it was summer like weather and too light to race. With a 1st and a 3rd place finish I was still leading the rankings. However, Lena [Erdil] was in third place, 0.7 points behind Delphine [Cousin]. And it isn’t over until it’s over.

If we’d race again, then whoever finished ahead of each other would win the title. Waiting around that last day was grueling. Finally the event was over and I won my 3rd PWA Slalom title. What a thing. I don’t know exactly how to put it in words, but I am very happy about this! Congrats to Lena [Erdil] and Delphine [Cousin] for taking the 2nd and 3rd spot. Starboard on top!

So now my freestyle and slalom seasons are over and I can focus on wave sailing in Germany, France and Maui. I can’t wait!

- Sarah-Quita Offringa

- Pictures by John Carter / PWA World Tour -