Our French rider Patick Vigoroux is among the multi talents who can do it all. We often see him in the magazines and online ripping in the waves and on the water in general. We caught him for a few questions.
Hi Patrick, tell us about yourself
My name is Patrick Vigouroux I’m turning 40 very soon. Windsurfing since 28 years now and after windsurfing I’m also a community nurse that help me to plan my time very well according to Windguru. As a windsurfer I’m mostly doing wave riding and other than windsurf, I’m addicted to all extreme sports in natural environment. (Paddle, surf, mountain bike, skateboard, climbing…)
We can see you often in the French magazines but rarely in contests?
And yet I have a background as competitor swimmer. At the beginning I was going to all contest in wave and slalom. But quickly I understood that I needed to windsurf differently. To be honest I’m a bad competitor. In contrary as some other contest are giving me too much pressure and this pressure is not helping me. It prevents me to windsurf accordingly to my sensation. I have so much fun and pleasure when I do my Showman for fun rather than competing. Effectively I have the chance and pleasure to have as friend and photographer people like Jean Souville around me to shoot all my nice windsurf sessions. And we often work on some more atypical and artistic projects.
We heard that you are a kind of “Nerd” of setting on your gear. Can you talk a bit about this feature?
Yes, I do have an annoying tendency to be obsessed and extremely meticulous about my settings. It’s totally unbearable for me to windsurf with a bad tune gear. This relentlessness is related I think to my small size … I can not compensate with my weight or my size to make my equipment work properly. I need everything perfectly adjusted so I can easily impose myself on my gear and make it react instantly as my imagination and my little body wishes. But my doctor still gave me blue and green pills to take at night so as not to think too much about it at night.
What do you prefer with Point 7 material? Do you also use the booms and accessories?
In a very global way I will say that’s their level of performance. More precisely it is the work of the flow of air through the sail. With my SALT PRO I really feel like I have the manoeuvrability of an extremely mobile wave sail with the glide, the hold, the airflow work of a slalom sail. With my small size I was used when the wind rises to quickly saturate to hold and work my sail. With my Salt it’s amazing how the sail does not saturate in power and continues the contrary to accelerate more and more and remains very easy to work from the back hand in surfs and jumps. I remember being struck by this feeling from my first test of these sails. I also use the right mast C100 and the Carbon boom which is very comfortable with the octagonal shape and have the right rigidity need in wave riding. And finally, the Point 7 extension which is exactly that everybody need from an extension.
And logically you have an interest for the development of the material?
Yes, I have already often worked on the material development of my previous partners. I try to make the material in my hands work best, but I still have a part of my brain thinking about what could / should be changed to make things better. It takes a lot of time, it is not always the most fun to spend the day playing with the screwdriver … But personally, it fascinates me, and I see how better to understand my material obviously helps me to progress also in action.
