It was a great week in Egypt again. Unfortunately the wind was only strong enough for small sails on two days. But even light wind was good fun with this group! Hope to see you all next year again!

Just spend my first few weeks of "winter time" in Margaret River - Australia. Loads of rain, pretty cold, loads of wind - and huge waves! The "purpose" of my trip was to check on the building progress of our new house - naturally it ended up being a great windsurfing adventure! Sailed so many different spots and the only sail size I used was 3.7! The only problem: nobody there to take any picture...

Honestly? Simply a very disappointing result for me. I have not finished worse than 3rd over a decade in slalom. What happened? Hard to explain - I did have some reasonable good starts, definitely lucked some speed on the straight line and got the full impact of the "no rules" policy we race with nowadays. It sure was the windiest event we had so far in this perfectly flat-water slalom spot. 6.2 was the sail size I used for most heats. But as I said I lucked some speed and often arrived 3rd, 4th or even 5th at the first mark. No big deal as I am a really good "jiber" and always can catch up. Not so this time. Three times I simply was "taken out" by a sailor from behind on the first mark. Since the introduction of the "no rules principle" on the world tour I never had a problem with it. In fact it simply didn't affect me as I was usually leading the fleet to the first jibe and rounding it in clear water. Now - just one or two places further back - I learned to see the full consequences of it. As interesting it is from a spectators view to see all the full on crashes as frustrating it is when you are involved in them. Bottom line: no world title for me this year. But I really have to say Valerie deserves to win. She was truly dominating this season. Don’t worry: I will be back – and will give everything to get the title back next year!

It's amazing how you manage to forget year after year how windy Gran Canaria can be. When I ordered my new wave sails I thought 3.2 was tiny. On the last day of the 2009 Pozo Event it was simply massive! Even the boys unrolled their smallest weapons and by about midday there wasn't a sail bigger than 3.5 seen on the beach again. Personally I started very bad into this event. I lost already in the second heat against Junko and was dammed to the beach for the whole week. Not sure what happened - I'm not too used to those rough, windy, pretty small wave conditions any more... The last day was my big chance to catch up. In the double elimination I sailed first an easy heat. Then I already took a very good up-and-coming Greek girl, followed by high-wind-proven Sylvia from Tarifa. Then I got my second chance against Junko and took revenge for the first round. By then I had sailed 4 heats of 15 minutes with only short breaks already. Now there were only locals to beat ahead of me. The first heat against Nayra worked perfect. I finally got the hang of my high push loops again. 15 minutes later I had to face Iballa. My heat went reasonably well - caught a good wave and had some decent jumps - but I did luck the last bit of power and lost my 7th heat of the day just marginally. After all I am very happy with my 3rd place – sailed out in very tough conditions.

The next slalom competition took place at Costa Brava in northern Spain. Once more the local organiser did a great job for the riders - probably the most convenient competition for all of us. Unfortunately the normally so consistent thermic wind failed to show on most days. It often picked up in the afternoon but by the time the fleet was sent out to the start it had dropped already to unsuitable light wind conditions. The race director did his best to at least secure a valid result by keeping everybody on really short stand-by calls. By the end of the week I had only sailed one single slalom final. After loads of light wind training at Lake Garda I felt very confident for this race. But then I had to learn the rules of racing again: a little hesitant start let me arrive in the second position at the first mark and there is no overtaking in those light winds conditions unless your opponent makes a mistake. Valerie didn't do me this favour and I "only" finished second. She is now way ahead of me in the yearly ranking - but the season is not yet over. The most important rule in racing is: you don't give up till you crossed the finish line!

Season start in Korea is always a very special event. Luckily for us competitors the worldcup is really well organised. Without the help of a translator it would be extremely hard to make your way around Korea... It's been my third time on Jinha Beach and I knew already that this competition site has very challenging conditions. There is quite a bit of current that creates choppy water already when the wind is still light. Then the wind can pick up in seconds up to 20 knots but might just as fast drop down again. The only way to compete is to rig up absolutely everything and then make a last minute decision just before your heat. On day number one I was quite lucky with my choice. I won two of four races and was leading the competition by the evening. Then on the next day I made some fatal mistakes in equipment combinations. Too big sails, too big boards, too small fins and immediately I was struggling on the back of the fleet. And then the wind stopped and I never got a second chance to make up for my mistakes. A final second place in the first slalom world cup for the season is sure not a drama but I am ready for revenge in two weeks time at the next worldcup in Spain!

Live updates during contests can be found on the official website: www.pwaworldtour.com

The windsurfing season 2009 has started for quite a while already - time to finally update my webstie! The last six months have been very challenging for me. Usually European winter time is my "off season" - time to relax, rebuild and recharge. But this time it more felt like a never ending battle - from my work for F2, over a sail sponsor change to starting to build a house in Western Australia. What I will remember is a lot of drama, many experiences, and that everything always happens for a reason. And most importantly that true friends are the only real value in life. So I am more than ready for a great 2009 Windsurfing Season! Hope to see you all soon on the water somewhere!

Karin

After many years of marginal wind it was finally a "windy-Sylt" again. When we started it was still light wind. 3-times my first heat got started - just to get abandoned a few minutes later due to lack of wind. I felt quite good and was really prepared with my equipment - especially as my new Rave 78 was crossing the shorebreak so easily. Suddenly the wind picked up fast - I moved from 5.0 down to 4.5 and then even had to change further down to 4.0 during the heat. The next heat I started straight away on 3.4 - and even that was too big! I simply wasn't prepared for those windy conditions and lost... Only a fith place at the event and even worse: this result made me drop down to 5th in the yearly ranking as well.

What stays is a great competiton season in Slalom and Speed - two world titles - and a very disapointing result in Waves. Well, at least I get a real goal for next year: finally win in waves again!

Like every year I did a windsurfing camp for my sponsor SpinOut (TUI) in Dahab, Egypt. The wind wasn't as regular and as strong as in the past years but we still spent many hours on the water. Thanks to all my faithful cutomers. I had a great week and I hope to see many of you next year again!

It was the lastevent of the year for the women. Due to Valerie's mistake (two PMS) in Costa Brava I was well ahead in the yearly ranking. So my number one goal was to avoid doing something stupid. Therefore I started really carefully – never risking a PMS, avoiding crashes, etc – simply defensive. Valerie took full advantage of that and was leading the event after two days. Once we had enough races and enough discards I started attacking. By the end I missed two points to win the event – a little disappointing – especially because I had great board speed – but after all the successful defence of my Slalom World Title was my first goal and I am super happy to have succeeded! The event in Alacati was a great final: windy every single day! This place is a true windsurfing paradise for me. Nowhere else in the world I see so many beginners on the water – and this from sunrise to sunset”

It's been a very long and intense Canaries Tour 2008. The event in GC started windy as always. A 3rd place in waves is not a great result but considering that I wasn't training for months in waves due to my knee injury I am still satisfied with it. After a short break the action continued on Fuerte with the next slalom competition. My favourite event of the year! But somehow I had a terrible start to it. A last and a 5th place on the first day already destroyed my hopes of an event win. With nothing to loose anymore I continued a lot better throughout the week - and by the end I nearly managed to catch up. 2nd place - a little disappointing but sure far enough from a disaster. The Canaries tour finished with the traditional Speed World Championships. Valerie won two rounds straight in the beginning - but then I managed to win the next four and secured another World Champion Title - the 26th in my career. Super stoked about that!!!

What a first race! Only one day of wind - but great conditions that allowed 3 full slalom rounds on the smallest equipment I had registered for the event. Personally I was very lucky to win this event even with a "premature start" in the last final. With my strongest competitor only finishing in 7th place I already have a big lead in the world ranking. Defiitely a great start to the season for me!