BJÖRN DUNKERBECK: SAILING INTO THE FUTURE

We sit down with windsurfing icon, Björn Dunkerbeck to discuss the Dunkerbeck Speed Challenge, his movie ‘Born to Windsurf’, a close shave with a staph infection and how to make windsurfing great again.

Words: Björn Dunkerbeck

Photos: John Carter

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DUNKERBECK SPEED CHALLENGE

We finished the 2023 season on the 30th of November, which was our fifth year of running the Dunkerbeck Speed Challenge. In total we had close to 1,000 people across all categories. We have the classic category, which we hold every year in April/May, July/August and October/November. So, there are six months of Dunkerbeck Speed Challenges. I believe with the new app that I am working on since Pozo already, the Waterspeed app, it will be suitable to be able to upload your data from a smart phone directly to gps-speedsurfing.com already from the first period of 2024. I had confirmation from Jan Hendrik de Bruin from GPS-speedsurfing and also from Dylan de Jong that this should be ready. So, with a smart phone on your wrist, you can have all your speed data, your best hundred metres, max top speed, best 500 metres and data from the entire route you have been sailing. You also have safety incorporated as well if something happens to you as you have your phone on your wrist and can call for help. The GPS data in the watch will tell you exactly where you are, which can be extremely useful in the cold weather in northern Europe. I think it is a very important feature to have with you to make sure you get home safely again – especially if you windsurf in strong offshore winds.

BORN TO WINDSURF

The Dunkerbeck windsurf documentary ‘Born to Windsurf’ has been a great success so far in all the cinemas in the countries we have shown it. It started off in Austria, then we had a premiere in Germany, another one in Copenhagen with a full house and then in Holland at the Surf Centre Surf shop, which was also sold out. There were a lot of windsurfing families attending and many speed windsurfers also. The cinemas have all been completely full. The movie can be booked directly with the film maker, Gerald Salmina, and it can be played in any cinema in the entire world. Eventually, next year it will go on to some other platforms to watch it. I hope the film provides the motivation to go out on the water and windsurf and introduce the kids to windsurfing as well. It has been very satisfying to see people of all ages enjoying it. There is a bit about my success story, me as a kid as well, obviously how I am interacting with Liam now [Björn’s son], a bit about Fiji, Pozo, Cabo Verde and of course Lüderitz. There is plenty of variation and I think it turned out great in the end! If you have a chance, take your family and go check it out.

I believe every windsurf parent should bring their kids to a windsurf centre so we have the next generation of youths guaranteed for the future.

STAPH INFECTION

After Sylt I had a fever when I arrived in Austria for the first premiere of the movie. The next day I went to the hospital because I had an inflamed leg! It turned out to be a staph infection. Unfortunately, there are more and more new bacteria around and that is what I learnt during the three weeks I was stuck in hospital on antibiotics. We all have to be very careful with our small wounds. Even if they don’t show immediately, they can be the entry point for the bacteria. It can lay almost dormant in your system for a while and then whenever you are feeling a bit run down it can explode into life, which is probably what happened to me. It was in my system already and all of a sudden things went bad very quickly. I was pretty lucky in the end that it flared up in Europe and right there in Austria they had a special clinic for burns and bacteria. The top doctor was also a windsurfer and because of that I received a lot of information. He told me to tell every windsurfer to be really careful with the small wounds on their feet. To clean them, make sure there is no sand in any small cuts and to keep them clean. If you don’t catch these infections in the early stages, some can become life threatening as they can get into your blood stream and cause septicaemia AKA bloody poisoning. I was lucky they caught mine early, but even so, my whole shin went black because the skin was so badly damaged by the bacteria. The skin eventually regenerates from the inside out. The main thing to take away from this is that if you have a cut and your skin is changing colour around it, get it checked out – don’t mess around! I am still out of the water, so it is taking a while to be back to 100 percent. I will be back on the water full power soon.

POZO 2024

The plan for Pozo 2024 is to have all the junior categories, pro men and women in the waves, both foil and fin slalom – as long as we have the budget. I have been talking to the PWA about extending the event a few more days if we can work out with the costs. Then we will have more chance to have stronger wind, both for the waves and the slalom, which is what we all want ultimately. In 2023, the wind was only medium strength, so a lot of guys competed on foils rather than the fin. It seemed like whenever they were full power with 6.2m, the fins were able to win heats, but as soon as the wind dropped and it wasn’t nuking the fins had no chance at all against the foils. It would be nice to have a few more days to give the weather a chance. The week after, it was blowing 40 knots every single day, so we need a longer waiting period for the benefit of better results for all the windsurfers in the comp. It seems there will be two categories next year, one for fin in stronger winds and one for foil. I don’t think there are any foilers who would want to race in 50 knots, so this should work well. The foil for the lighter wind days, the fin for stronger winds, and of course, the wave sailing. There will also be the masters in Pozo next year with 45+ and 50+ year old categories. The idea behind that is to give all the parents, who are good wave sailors, to let their juniors compete in juniors and then they can compete in the masters at the same time.

THE FUTURE

I believe we need to awaken all windsurfers in big companies to help our sport! Windsurfing needs more and bigger events! To make great events we need large budgets like any other major sport.

We are lucky as we have one of, if not the best-looking sports to show on TV and the internet. We just need more sponsorship to be able to showcase more events, which will in turn attract more viewers.

We use clean energy already since day one with the wind and waves! I think it is important to always hold beach clean ups, so we leave places cleaner than we found them.

I really encourage windsurfing parents to help grow our wonderful sport, by bringing your kids to a nearby windsurfing centre, so that the next generation is on board and then you will be able to enjoy a great activity with your kids for the entirety of your life! Windsurfing unites families!

I hope that all windsurfing companies, if not already doing so, promote kids’ equipment and maybe even make a family pack for next spring.

I would like to see magazines also push local windsurf centres and schools so that everyone knows where to go and waste no time.

If you are in Gran Canaria or Bonaire then stop by Dunkerbeck Windsurfing, which is now also in Pozo Izquierdo with a shop, school centre, kids’ combo and a mobile truck to go and freeride, or teach beginners, at Bahia de Formas beach, which is situated just ten minutes down the road. Over at the Caribbean Dunkerbeck Pro Centre Bonaire, which is located at the beautiful Sorobon Beach Resort aside from windsurfing, we also offer SUP, surfing and wing-foiling as well windsurf foil! So, if you want to escape the cold weather in the winter, why not treat your family to a holiday of a lifetime at one of the world’s windsurfing paradises, which is blessed with beautiful turquoise water, warm sunny weather and most importantly… lots of wind!

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