Extreme Sports 4 All interviews Víctor Fernández, 2010 PWA Wave World Champion. The spanish Pro windsurfer finished 2nd last season and he is training in Chile at the moment, facing a hard 2015 season.
-Extreme Sports 4 All: Hi Victor! I am sure that all Extreme Sports 4 All readers are so glad to get this opportunity to know more about you. Let's go!
First of all, after a hard 2014 PWA season -we are talking about it in a while- how do you feel now? What are your plans for the next months?
-Víctor Fernández: 2014 was an incredible year for me in terms of results and windsurfing in general. I just arrived in Chile where I´ll stay for the next month training my portack sailing. On the 26th of february I will go to Maui for March and April to train my starboard tack sailing and participate on the Fanatic, North Sails and Ion photoshoot with the rest of the team.
-ES4A: Congratulations for your 2nd place in the overall PWA Wave ranking. It is a really difficult result and not every sailor can reach it. However, for a World Champion as Victor Fernández is, how do you evaluate this result? Is this a motivation for the next season?
-VF: Yes, for me 2014 was incredible. I won the Gran Canaria event for the 5th time in my career and I did not make a worst result than a 5th place during the 2014 season. Winning a World Title is very difficult even if you have almost a perfect year, in the end it is decided for 1 or 2 places. I´m just very happy with my windsurfing, the aspects I improved. For me every year is a new motivation so I will give my best on every event.
-ES4A: Gran Canaria event, the first one of the season. You finish 1st. The last year you finished in that position in Gran Canaria (2010), you became World Champion. What are your sensations when you begin 2014 in this amazing way? Is there any flashback in your mind recalling 2010?
-VF: Every year is different even if you start in the same position. My flashback in 2010 was my come back through the double elimination in Klitmoller where I lost on the first round of the single elimination and I had to climb all the way to the final. This was probably what gave me the World Title in 2010 and one contest that i will always remember. 2014 was great too, 1st Pozo Izquierdo, 3rd El Médano, 2nd Klitmoller, 5th La Torche and 4th Maui. The 4th place on Maui was a big achievement for me as I spent a lot of time on Maui in the past few years and I love sailing and competing there.
-ES4A: On the one hand, you got so good results in Tenerife and Denmark -3rd and 2nd respectively-. On the other hand, in La Torche and Hawaii, you finished 5th and 4th. What happened? Can you summarize these four events?
-VF: I competed against the best windsurfers in the world so sometimes you win sometimes you lose. 5th and 4th looks like bad results when you compare with podiums but sometimes you have sailed better than the result reflects and also the other way. We only had a single elimination in La Torche, my first 2 heats where great, my quarter final was very close against Robby Swift and he advanced. On Maui I did 3rd place in the single elimination and on the double I lost against Marcilio Browne also on a very close heat so I can´t complain, I did my best and this is what matters for me and not just the results.
-ES4A: When you won Gran Canaria event, a french guy called Thomas Traversa finished 9th. Now, he is 2015 PWA Wave World Champion -as you were in 2010- ahead of so important windsurfers as you, Ricardo Campello, Marcilio Browne, Philip Köster, Klaas Voget... Is this a hint that everyone working hard and with an important part of luck (getting the good wave at the good time) can become World Champion?
-VF: Thomas is an incredible sailor as the others you mention. I think to become world champion you need the skills to sail well everywhere from onshore portack to side offshore starboard tack, big and small waves but also get some little things on your way to clinch the title.
-ES4A: Víctor, how do you face 2015? Which are you main targets?
-VF: Improve my sailing, compete well always, having fun and hopefully I can fight for the World Title at the end of the season.
-ES4A: How much time do you usually spend in Almeria? What do you try to do there?
-VF: I would like to spend more time in Almerimar (home town) but I need to travel to train and test for my sponsors. I also train a lot at home, specially in winter-spring time as we get some strong winds and nice waves. I also run my windsurf center (Víctor Fernandez Center) with my father so i´m busy at home.
-ES4A: Let's talk about THE PLACE: Víctor Fernández Center (http://victorfernandezcenter.com). If we talk about windsurfing, kitesurfing, surfing or SUP in Spain, there are few places like this one. Customers can buy their equipment, rent it, take some theoretical and practical lessons...
As the founder of VFCenter, can you introduce your activity, staff, objectives...?
-VF: I started VFCenter with my father 3 years ago. My father used to run a windsurf school 8 years ago and he has been involved in windsurfing since I was born. The idea of my Center is to grow up windsurfing, surfing, sup and kitesurfing the area we are from. Our main focus right now is to form kids, specially in windsurfing. We have a big group of kids, we want them to be complete athletes. Our main sport is windsurfing but we don´t have wind every day so Sup and surf really help us to keep them busy on the water and each sport help them to raise their level. Kids are always the future of the sport and we have a great place in Almerimar to practice all sports. We also rent Fanatic and North Sails equipment, SUP and surf boards, customer can also buy equipment. On the other hand, my mother is running the shop, Victor Fernandez Surf Shop, more orientated for clothing.
-ES4A: Have you ever imagined that you would get a Windsurf World Championship Title, and that you would become entrepreneur as the owner of a business directly related to your lifestyle and favorite sport?
-VF: This was one of my dreams. First dream was to become professional windsurfer. Second one to reach the PWA tope 10. Third one to become Wave World Champion. I´m very grateful to everything that happened to me and I just want to keep improving my windsurf.
-ES4A: Why #42?
-VF: I like even numbers. In that moment I was doing the Spanish National Tour and I had the E-956 on my sail but I wanted to have just 2 numbers. #42 and #32 were available so I got #42 because I preferred it and my father took the 32.
-ES4A: We can see everyday in your Twitter account (@victore42) that you like -or at least try- doing fitness. Is this a key point for a windsurfer, who has to make difficult movements holding the sail at the same time he stands over the board? Which are the most important improvements you feel after this kind of workout?
-VF: Yes, it is very important to me. If I´m fit I´m less scared of trying to push harder on my moves. I have two friends in Almería (Antonio Casimiro and Manuel Rodríguez) they both train me out of the water. They windsurf so they know the aspects I need to improve to be fit and light on my kit. I started to train with them at the beginning of 2010.
-ES4A: For those who don't really understand how the points that every sailor gets in each PWA event are calculated, could you explain it?
-VF: We get evaluated by 5 judges. Difficulty, height and landing of the moves from 0 to 10 points. They score jumping or waveriding depending on conditions.
-ES4A: Do you like testing new material from your sponsors? Why?
-VF: Yes, I like it because if I have good equipment I can sail better. Testing is difficult but when I try a lot of material it helps me to decide easier what to choose for which spot.
10 Fast Questions/Answers
-Favorite food: Fish, salad, pizza
-Favorite drink: Fresh juices
-Favorite music (or artist): Clocks - Coldplay
-Favorite movie: Batman
-Favorite season of the year: Spring
-A word: Freedom
-A place: Home
-Your board Brand/Model: Fanatic Quad 82
-Your sail Brand/Model: North Sails Hero Code
-Sponsors: Fanatic, North Sails, Almerimar-El Ejido, ION, MFC
-ExtremeSports4All: Andre Paskowski. When we interviewed Klaas Voget, we asked him about Andre's health, and Klaas was really optimistic because as he told us, the german was "a strong fighter". Unfortunately, Cancer stole us an incredible windsurfer, but also a fantastic person. How did you face this so bad news? How was Andre for you?
-VF: Andre was a good friend, great windsurfer, film maker and a great person. Bad news came while all the PWA wave sailors were in Tenerife during the PWA World Cup, we were all shocked about the bad news. Andre gave a lot to windsurfing with his creative ideas and taking windsurfing movies to another level.
-ES4A: Tell whatever you want to windsurf lovers who are reading us at Extreme Sports 4 All.
-VF: Have fun on the water, look for new spots to windsurf and enjoy live!
-ES4A: A message to your family, friends, sponsors...
-VF: I would like to thank all of them, without them it won´t be possible to do what I´ve done and what I´m doing, thanks!
-ES4A: Thank you very much Víctor. We are really proud to have this opportunity to talk with you and know a little bit more about the only spanish World Champion windsurfer. Best wishes for you in 2015!
-VF: ¡Gracias a vosotros!
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| Pic: Fish Bowl Diaries |
