Your best watersports stories

I used to drive to the most beautiful beaches in Europe in a purple coloured self-built camper van to go surfing. I bought my first board second-hand at boot Düsseldorf and it was so big that I couldn't carry it to the water by myself. You could even dance on my board! But it was an incredibly beautiful time! And back then you could still camp in the wild. And the best thing of all was that I met my love on such a trip. He immediately fell in love with the surfer girl with the giant board!

Jens's story:

The most beautiful watersports story? Yes, that's easy I thought! With 40 years on the water, there are certainly many and special stories to tell. Where shall I start? At wind force 10, in high surf, with a new manoeuvre, the most beautiful surroundings, with great fellowship? Actually, it's quite simple with the stories, life writes them. Every day spent by the sea or lake, with family or friends, is so unique and cries out to be repeated. Whether with a SUP, surfboard, catamaran, boat or simply in this company, the experience of water and nature is always the most beautiful story. My conclusion to the question: the most beautiful story? Life! Not less and all the more. ;-)

Maria's story:

I used to be an absolute sports grouch, but then during my studies I discovered my love for rowing. My best watersports story was the rowing trip on the Main and Rhine. We rowed from Würzburg to Bonn and it was just beautiful! We had great weather and could sleep under the open sky, the days were exhausting and we were happy about every bridge. By the end, we were all knocked out, had calluses on our hands and cheeks, but this holiday surpassed all the long-distance trips I've taken so far.

Christoph's story:

On a sailing trip from Föhr to Helgoland at the end of October, we experienced a classic back weather, in which we sometimes had to drop the mainsail, as the gusts hit so hard that from one moment to the next we almost brushed against the water with the boom. Some gusts came unexpectedly, others came visibly and in the form of grey "water showers" sideways towards us. In between, there was always sunshine and great sailing wind. Over time, the wind calmed down and remained stable. After dark we experienced an approach to Helgoland under a starry sky. So many stars - it was overwhelming.

Bettina's story:

My ultimate diving experience was on Rangiroa in 2017. I was splashing around Tiputa Pass after the dive group due to a previous sporting accident, when a very large shark made its way along the bottom. I only wished that it would not - like all sharks - disappear again quickly, and indeed: at that moment it turned and rose to come directly towards me. At a distance of about five metres I waved my diving fin briefly, of course just to keep my motionless balance. He then turned a little and passed me with his three and a half metres. It was only then that I saw the stripes and knew it was a tiger shark. Awesome! After the dive, I was the absolutely envied person of the dive shop.

Emma's story:

In Vanuatu, many sailors snorkelled in a special area and waited for the local dugong to come. After an hour, everyone swam back to their boats, disappointed that the dugong had not come. I stayed behind snorkelling on my own, exploring the long seaweed, which was full of interesting shells. Suddenly a large dark shadow appeared behind me! A very large and curious dugong was swimming towards me! It was incredible and a bit scary as I was completely alone. We both swam around each other and checked each other out! The experience still gives me goosebumps when I think about it.

My best and at the same time greatest experience in my entire watersports career was placing fourth at the West German Championships, which I was able to accomplish twice in a row. Shortly after that, I got the news that my youngest and at the same time best junior athlete at the time had been accepted into the talent squad. Then followed the talent promotion group and now he is right at the top. But tears of joy flooded my eyes.

It happened last October that my new vintage Daysailer, the forty-year-old Annemie, had to be taken out of the beautiful Lake Möhne, as the water level had dropped alarmingly and the 1.60 m keel was in danger of running aground while being craned out. After we had lowered the mast and using the electric motor to drive the crane truck, we finally managed to secure it in the two carrying loops. We thought everything was in the bag.
It wasn’t.
When we started up, the crane truck promptly slid off the ramp to the port side and tilted, and at the same moment the truck's transmission chain jumped off and it stopped dead in its tracks.
Well as they say, necessity is the mother of all invention.
So we crossed to the shore in a small auxiliary boat and fetched the pulleys and steel ropes from the boat shed that were normally used for moving the mobile jetties on the shore. Thus equipped we managed, with great athletic effort, to pull the truck out of the lake metre by metre.
We were totally exhausted, but the crane truck was finally on land and we could put the broken gear chain back on; the truck was finally up and running again and we were all extremely happy.