After a short winter break preseason training is now in full swing in El Médano, Tenerife, with many of the world’s best racers currently preparing for the new season - including vice-world champion Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne / Starboard Foil). We recently caught up with Matteo for a brief chat about how his preseason training is going and also to find out his new venture ‘Surf Hub Tenerife’, which is a brand new windsurfing centre:

Hey Matteo, after your short winter break you are back in training mode in El Médano… how’s the training being going so far?

Hi guys! Yes I’m back in El Médano for my usual training! It’s going well so far. Plenty of time spent on the water racing in the Pro Training, testing and enjoying the conditions!

It seems as though you guys have been testing Fins and Foils at the same time to try and prepare for the new rule implementations this season… how are things looking or is that top secret for now?

Hahaha well it’s not that top secret I guess… We are trying to see how far we can go on foil and when being on the fin is mandatory. It’s super interesting and really fun to push our limits everyday.

As well as being back in Tenerife for your preseason training you also recently opened a windsurfing centre - Surf Hub. Have you always wanted to open a windsurfing school and/or what made you want to open one now?

I actually came here a bit earlier than usual this year exactly for that. I always thought it would have been nice one day having a windsurfing centre but I didn’t think I would have had the opportunity to do it so early. I think it’s a good promotion for our sport and it’s the best way to do something cool about windsurfing apart from racing.

Can you tell us a bit more about it - location, the equipment you offer, the level of windsurfer you cater for?

The location is 2-300 meters upwind of Cabezo. You can launch from a sandy bay with no waves at all and have perfect slalom, freeride bump and jump conditions in front of it. In two minutes downwind you are in the wave spot. You can choose where to ride depending on your skills and the spot is perfect for free riders who just want to cruise in relax or for advanced wave riders who want to wave sail. The good thing is that being in the most northern part of El Medano,  it’s not busy at all in front of the windsurf centre, not too many windsurfer nor kiters. We offer full Severne kit with freerace gear, freewave, wave and freestyle with sails from 7.5 down to 3.4 and boards from 140 litres to 72. We have all the range of boards and sails you need. Soon we will have some foil boards too.  

Is this purely a windsurfing centre? Or will people be able to receive coaching also?

We will do clinics through the year. Some racing clinics with me and some freestyle and wave ones with other team riders from Severne. We will start the windsurf school soon for the light wind days. And last but not the least we offer Mick Fanning soft top surf boards for whoever wants to try surfing on no wind days if there are some waves. We have surf teachers too for those who want to start or improve their level.

Thanks, Matteo. Good luck with the rest of your preseason training and with your new centre!

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