- Fun out of
- Frustration
- (video inside)
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An incomprehensible decision makes the barrel overflow, the idea of the first
ever "Fuertewind" Girls Training Camp materializes. Starring: 3 organisers
(Karin, Daida, Iballa), 3 major sponsors (Volkswagen, Roxy, Boards and More), 30
(semi)professional windgirls. location: Fuerteventura, summer of 2005. by Karin Jaggi.
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- Where the idea came from?
- To be honest: out of frustration. The women simply don't get
the recognition the men have in our sport. We're not as radical, not as hard pushing, not
as attractive, not as important on events. Wrong! What made the barrel overflow was the
PWA management board decision to pay part of the price money in Guincho but for
"men only". That was a blow to our heads. The PWA is our organisation. They
should represent their female members as much as their male counterparts. We Iballa,
Daida, many others and me sat together on Bonaire and were simply frustrated. And then we
realized that this was exactly the wrong thing to do. What started as a fight against the
guys slowly but steadily turned into a plan to help ourselves. To accept the
responsibility of us top female riders and the impact we are able to have to change and
improve this situation. I'm sure this was one of the most
important moments in my career that probably and hopefully will have a big
impact in the future of windsurfing. Now the idea was: how to make us and every girl
around us more professional.
The next few months Daida, Iballa and me started putting the camp together. Slowly as
everybody was busy with her own training, media and sponsorship duties but steadily. Volkswagen decided to support us with vans for
transport and Roxy jumped in as a last
minute sponsor to pay for the media crew and the accommodation for the girls. Boards and More (F2, Mistral, Fanatic, North Sails)
gave us plenty of equipment to give away as prizes to the girls. Big thanks to all of
them!
- And what it was?
- The goal for this camp was to create a positive and
attractive image as a strong group of sport girls windsurfing and getting this image out
to the public through magazines (windsurfing/ non-windsurfing ones), T.V., and
newspapers. All the girls should get the idea how to become local and national heroes and
how to work hand in hand with magazines and sponsors. In order to reach that goal we
Iballa, Daida and me shared our own personal experiences with the girls to help them to
get more "professional". In daily meetings we discussed subjects like "how to take good footage", "how to get the
coverage into the media", "getting and representing a sponsor", "how
to talk in front of a camera", personal training, events...
We would give them an idea about the subject and then opened the discussion for everybody.
Everything we discussed, we tried to transfer directly during this week. The week passed
by very quickly with plenty of wind, action, activities, photos, videos, daily meetings,
and lots of fun. Fifteen countries were represented through 27 girls together with our
personal four photographers, our video team and us monitors: Iballa, Daida and me. The
camp headquarter was centrally located in the mid east section of the island in order to
have equal access to the North and South shores of Fuerteventura and thereby be able to
choose the daily sites depending on the best wind and wave conditions.
- The conditions on Fuerteventura were ideal as we could sail
every day except for one that we well used for our bikini and lifestyle shots. Every day,
morning and evening, we had a fashion photographer working with every girl to do proper
professional portraits. Every girl walked away from the camp with not only many new ideas
but also a Photo-CD with great action and portrait shots free to use for their own
activities. Wherever we turned up on the beach we made a huge impression. 6 Volkswagen
vans, 30 female windsurfers and our media crew were the attraction at any beach we went
to. For me personally I was so stoked to see the girls rip so hard. Not
one that wouldn't have gone for the forward loop or spock attempt. They were all so eager
to learn on and off the water. It's been a very emotional time. We
shared things and thoughts we never would have anytime or anywhere else. The moment was
just right. The power, joy and energy I felt during this camp will help me keep going for
a long time!
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