Maxi is one of those lucky kids who´s father has introduced in his DNA the passion for windsurfing. It didn’t take long before he became more addicted than his father, but let’s find out more about his story!
Ciao Maxi, how old are you, and when did you start windsurfing?
Ciao Andrea, I am 15 years old and started windsurfing in 2015 during my easter holidays on Sardinia
You have chosen to become more a slalom rider, rather than a freestyler. Why this choice?
In 2016 I took part at the young guns freestyle Camp at Conca D’oro Lake Garda. I was completely on the freestyle trip. A few days after the camp my Dad persuaded me to try his slalom stuff. I was out in late afternoon when the the wind dropped with an 6,0 slalom sail…….after half an hour I was on fire with slalom;
We met you last year in Lanzarote for the Kids training camp and you were just getting confident with going upwind and planning on for the first time on the slalom board, and this week you have won the junior ranking at the German cup! Tell us all the steps on how you made such a quick step up?
The training helped me a lot focussing for my goals in windsurfing. After the training I tried to go windsurfing in every free minute.. With the guys at Circolo, the training with Bruno and the experience I made in the races I learned a lot. And the most important thing: It makes so much fun and I am so hot for getting better and better.
You took part at many events organize by the Circolo Surf Torbole, like the NO RULES SLALOM stage, the training in the club, how important were those?
There I learned all the slalom basics. For me it was so helpful because I had no racing experience. Everybody was so gentle and gave me a lot of tricks and very good advices for getting better.
You don’t live on a windsurfing spot, so you are windsurfing mainly during the weekend and holidays. How do you keep fit when you are not able to go windsurfing?
Luckily I can go nearly every weekend to my home spot Lake Garda. During the week I have to learn a lot for the school but I try to go regulary to Krav Maga training and to the gym and making sport with friends.
What other sports do you like?
Skiing, biking, fitness. Before I was focussing on windsurfing I did a lot ski races.
Girls or sports?
Sports J
What were till now the difficulties to improve your windsurfing, and the best parts of it?
I never surfed on a freerace or freeride board. I changed directly from a freestyle board to a slalom board. This was in the beginning very hard. The slalom boards are not so easy to use and I had the biggest problems with jibing. I watched a lot of videos, spoke with many people and watched PWA. I always tried to learn from the professionals. After a lot of frustrating months finally it worked.
You could call home Lake Garda for windsurfing. Which other spots do you go to? Which do you enjoy the most?
Yes, Lake Garda is my home spot and also my absolute favourite spot. At Lake Garda I have the best conditions for my trainings. In the morning at Malcesine and in the afternoon at Torbole. I was also on Sardinia, Lanzarote and now at the Baltic Sea. In July I will go for the first time to Sylt for the German championships.
As you are still going to school, do you have classmates which also windsurf? Are they interested in windsurfing? What do they think about you?
Unfortunately I am really the only one at my school who is windsurfing. So for my classmates I do a very exotic sport but they are all very interested in my sport. At first they thought windsurfing is chilling on the water and at the beach. Now they know it is a very high technical and a competitive sport where you not only have to be very fit with your body you also need a lot strategic thinking. It is the formula one from windsurfing. Now some of them will do in the summer holidays windsurf lessons.
You don’t have the size of an adult yet, but you are using a full racing sail, only after 1 year of slalom. Lots of older windsurfers, are still worried in having a cam sail. You went from the AC-X, to the AC-K and now to the AC-One. Tell us what you liked from each one of them, and which one you prefer now. IF you had to compare the fun of a no cam against the fun or a full racing sail.
For the beginning and for the jibe training was the AC-X very good. For me it is one of the fastest no cam sails. In 2017 I wanted to to surf cam sails because it has more power. The AC-K was the next logic step. It is very very fast and the perfect sail for the ambitious hobby windsurfer. But during the slalom trainings I felt and saw that when you want to win slalom races you have to use the AC-One. The AC-One is the perfect sail for slalom races. I love the never ending acceleration and it has always such a power. Each sail was a step for me and I had with every sail a lot of fun.
How do you feel after having won your first important event?
Absolute great. It gives a lot of power and I am so hungry standing again on the stage.
What are your next events, and your next goals?
My next events in June are the Multivan Windsurf Cup in Usedom and the One hour at Lake Garda. In July the IFCA Youth World Championship at Lake Garda and the German Championships on Sylt. In August the IFCA European Youth Championship in Croatia.
My goals for this year is finishing the Multivan Windsurfcup as best Rookie and coming under the Top 3 overall in the category U17 and finishing IFCA Championships under the Top 10 U17.
