You might be used to see Sylt with grey sea, big foamy waves, white sand and a lot of pleople on the beach. That is where we have the PWA world cup event at the brandenburger strand on the west coast.
Driving up North from Westerland, passing the ‘Vip’ town of Kampen, where a Bentley is the smallest car on the road, you end up in the northen part of the island. List, is the closest town to a different spot for windsurfing: The Ellenbogen….the elbow!
Ellenbogen is a natural park, and you need to pay 5euro to get in. You can only windsurf in high tide as the water gets to shallow in low tide. So you really need to take care that you plan your day the day before!
At the threequaters of the bay, you will see some white marks. They are perfect to slalom sail around them, but you should not go over that imaginary line that the marks do make. If you go over you find yourself sorrounded by seals. It’s like being in a mine sweaper game, with hundreds of heads with big eyes that watch you pass.
There is a great green area to rig the sails, and you just need to forget to take care about walking over rabbit sh..t… it’s everywhere and not so bad in the end.
The parking is 5m from rigging area, and 20m from the beach. It’s super practical for testing gear aswell. Great spot for slalom, speed and freestyle.
If you climb over the dunes, on the other side you see Denmark. I guess you can sail accross in less then 10 minutes, but I would not mind doing it with some friends…just in case something breaks!
TodayI had a great session. I was the only one on slalom gear on the AC-1 7.2 with the 107, and it was full power and incredibly 20°C… . There were maybe another 40 windsurfers, and many locals from the island.
Ellenbogen is a nice relaxing spot for windsurfing. Feels like a holiday. A session of a couple of hours, and then you can stop by at Gosh in List, for a nice fish sandwich to re-fill, before heading home to have a shower and enjoy the evening.
So if you plan to come to see the PWA, take the gear with you, it’s nice and different experience to sail in the national park with seals around…specially if you come from South of Europe!
Andrea Cucchi
ITA-1
