3 questions to Antoine Albeau

09/05/2023

8th in the Prince of Speed - ISWC foil event, Antoine Albeau won with the best time of the week (45.08 knots) and, at the same time, a 26th world crown. In an interview with Windsurfjournal.com, he looks back on this event and this almost unexpected title!

Windsurfjournal.com: Best performance of the week at the Prince of Speed - ISWC, winning 2 of the 4 races with a fin, speed and Antoine Albeau, it's a great love story...?
Antoine Albeau: Actually it's not only speed, it's windsurfing in general that is a great love story with Antoine Albeau! In the first race on the Prince of Speed, it was a bit difficult to finish in 7.4 with a slalom board in soft and uneven conditions, when I was in 6.6 with a small slalom board. I only managed one run at 37 knots, the 2nd at 33 with a not so good average. Then on the 3 races of the last day, I almost won the 3 races, Pierre Mortefon went over the limit, I think, on his last run. But to do 2 races in 1st and one in 2nd is not bad!

WJ: How would you sum up this long week in La Palme and how did you experience it from the inside?
AA: From the inside it was quite relaxed because we had 3 days of racing out of the 10 possible. On the days when there was not enough wind, we trained in foil with Amado Vrieswijk and Matteo Iachino. As for my foiling performance, I had the feeling that I was stagnating, still at 34 knots... I had the same equipment as last year and even almost 2 years ago. I knew it, I didn't have small foils for speed. We had quite a few things to test for the Zephir project, but it turned out that we couldn't get them in the water for this event. I wasn't sure about the fin. It's the same, I took the same boards that I usually use, identical fins, just the sails were different and it turned out that I was super fast and I was always there. And that makes me very happy!

WJ: This is your 26th world title. Does this title have a special flavour as you announced your retirement from the PWA tour a few months ago?
AA: Yes, I did say I was retiring from the PWA World Tour, but I certainly didn't say I was retiring from windsurfing! The events that are relatively easy for me to do with my schedule, also the Zephir project is going on, are speed events that are very important to me. To be honest, I wasn't really hoping for a 26th title, but I was thinking about it. If you had asked me a few years ago if I would win another world title, I would have said that there was not much chance... But during this event in La Palme it turned out that it was going well! It's great, it shows I'm still in the game and that's really good.