Postcard From Defi #1

So its that time where the world convenes on Gruissan, France for what is considered the most extreme coastal race in the world today. To race for 26 miles along 100yrds or so off the beach in winds that often reach 45knots! – that my friends is Defi Wind 2018

For me its my 7th Defi  Wind and I’m now familiar enough with the pre race rhetoric to the hype around Phillipe Bru darting along the start line in his RIB on steroids as he starts over 1400 windsurfers on the Grand Endurance race of your life!

This year is no different – the pre event e-shots are full of stories of immense personal acheivements together with stories of tragic injuries to some sailors and ££££’s of kit being lost to the offshore wind. I arrived the Saturday before whilst the much smaller kiting event was taking place(if you want to park a 28ft Severneshop Team Bus in a car park designed for 120 cars and with over 250 camper vans arriving then you need to arrive early). All set up the first 2 days there were easy going with no wind and uncut sunshine – ideal for taking my Royal Enfield for a cruise around Narbonne and surrounding villages.

The Severne Team arrived Tuesday with Ben Severne himself together with Thewes De Bor, Deiter Van De Eyken, Boujmaa Guilloul, and the French Distributors. They almost arrive under the radar smuggling in several NEW products still on test for us all to test and report back our comments, complaints, and of course exuberant compliments.

This year the NEW products are a b%$£d ext&&2@€ and the awesome £4%%%…..s – sorry, Im under a death wish embargo but beleive me the Severne Resourse Team are all over it at the moment.

So I’ve now been out on the water for 2 days in between 25-32knots using the NEW Dyno 95 and my NCX 5.5 and S-1 4.8 and everythings looking good. Dont get me wrong, I’ll never win the race nor even come in the top 500 as my kit is wave and not Slalom which is the order of the day here. But I’ve done all that and nowadays with my dodgy knees and ageing looks I’m just happy blasting the course on whatever kit I choose………..and at the moment I feel my current Severne kit is pretty damned good for the job!

Keep watching for more insider info on Defi Wind and maybe the odd little teazer on what’s up the sleeves of the worlds best windsurfing brand……….

Categorised in: News

This post was written by James Connor