Bjorn on Camera

"I don’t know if there is an advantage. My equipment has proved, by GPS training, that it can go well over 46 knots. I believe it can do 47 to 48knots. * Breaking the speed record will come down to my next attempt at Port St Louis in France and I am there till the 20th of December. It comes down to the right wind speed, wind direction and water temperature. The problems with my attempts at Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, was when the wind got to 40knots, the water texture became to rough and you could not go full speed anymore.

*Finian Maynard has just broken the world speed record with a 46.82 knots run."

"Yes. I have been close to it over a 100metres and I have monitored myself at 45 and 46 knots several times, but never on an official 500 metre course."

"It was near Christmas time, so I was at home. I had mixed emotions really. I was not pleased that Finian had got the record, but at the same time it was a shame that he did not beat the overall record as that would have been really good for windsurfing. However, of course I wanted to have broken the record myself."

"I have been going very quick on very big equipment. Now on a big sail and board it is possible to go over 42 knots very easily. A 5.8m could break the record where as years ago you had to be on very small kit. I am convinced that windsurfers can get the record, either Finian at The Canal or myself. I hope to get it in the first two weeks of November. If a boat like the Yellow Pages follows us down there and they get the day, then they will get the record. It really is a race against time. Then it will be a race to get to 48, 49 and so on, till 50knots."

"I have been working on the chop reduction system for quite a while. I have been working with Red Bull to produce a 750 metre long system that I will be using at Port St Louis this autumn. I can transport it to any where else in the world as well. One of the aims is to be able to maximise the number of places in the world for speed sailing. Once it works the way I want it to work, I am convinced it is best because it can be changed to the wind direction. The angle can easily be changed to from 125 to 135 degress off the wind which is the ultimate broadreach angle."

"My aim for this year, first of all, is to get the world sailing record and also to have my wife and kids with me most of the time as well. The longest planned time I spent away from them was Sylt because they wouldn’t like the cold weather."

"Usually I partied at the end of the competition as I had a lot to celebrate. When you are as big as me you can stand up for a long time!"

"I have done so many events it is really difficult to say. I guess back in the day when I used to win all disciplines at the same competition, that was really memorable. Also wining a world title in the waves after the racing, that was pretty special. Hopefully they will keep coming!"

"I don’t know that myself. (!) I used to do a lot more competition and there was a lot more prize money. If one event was a 50,000 dollar event, then the first guy would get 12,500 dollars. So if you won 10 events a year you would make a very nice living. Now it is harder because there are not so many competitions. As far as industry sponsors go, they have more people in the teams, but don’t pay them as much as they did 10 years ago."

"Well I had those colours for a very long time and then they did not produce those colours so I had to take new ones. It just happened to be pink although it was red in the beginning. I thought they stood out well though!"

"Long interviews! (Clyde: Lots of laughter here although I got the point!) Also lies, cheating and cold weather."

"I have achieved more than I ever expected. I am pretty happy about what I have done. I love windsurfing and I hope that I can keep at a World Cup standard for a lot more years to come. I believe I can do it for as long as I want to."

"Probably not with the Moreno sisters as they started just as my sister was finishing. Also they have mainly been focusing on wave sailing and freestyle sailing. My sister used to compete in all disciplines. She might even do a bit of speed competition again next year."

"If I have the capability then yes. If there is enough competition with enough variation then I do want to compete for a few more years."

"Any moves that I can twist my knee or my ankle I avoid. It’s not because I am scared of them, but because I appreciate time on the water, so I don’t want to have any time off the water."

"Last time I did a double I crashed so hard I had to stay off the water for a week and I haven’t had much time to practice them lately. Personally I think that double forwards are pretty much always over rated. Mostly the guys who have done them over the last couple of years have not landed them but water started away. There have been more people doing them this year than ever before. My tactic is to do what I know I do well, and then I will try something else."

"Because the event was a small competition and I have only being doing big contests for the past twenty years and I was very busy doing other stuff. Personally I believe it is very sad that we don’t have one big contest in Hawaii. There should be one in Hawaii, one in Australia and one in the Canaries. Also maybe one or two in Europe and Japan. It has been a very long time since we have had 5 or 6 wave events."

"Jaws, definitely. You could die there."

"I know that the Tiree boys are great fun, but it is too cold. It would have to be a pretty big wave competition for me to come that far north! My advice to England is too get 50,000 euro prize money for a Grand Prix event next year, it can’t be that hard. If we can get 500,000 euro prize money for five weeks in the Canary Islands, it should be possible to get that in the UK. Gran Canaria has guaranteed 180,000 euros per competition for the next four years. That is almost a million euro’s from a small island like Gran Canaria. It’s a lot bigger than Tiree I know, but a lot smaller than Britain."

"I never gave up racing. I competed full on for 15 years and wanted to do something else. I decided wave sailing was a very important element, and I wanted to win at least one more wave title. That year I was second, the year after I was first. Also I wanted to spend time speed sailing."

"The light wind focus of sailing wasn’t exactly for me. I don’t think it is that much fun on a one metre wide board with a 12 metre sail in 15 to 20 knots. I have tried it and I have to say to those guys, you should change your course for more gybing and get your boards smaller to get more people participating. Otherwise you will be very alone doing it, very soon. There will be no Thommen formula board. For us it is orientated towards reaching, beaming, going fast and having fun. Of course they can go upwind, but they are NOT made to go upwind. Windsurfing is not going straight upwind."

"We were really good friends a long time ago but there were a couple of years when we had neck on neck racing, where things went down and we didn’t talk very much. But that is a long time ago, we are good friends now."

"Well, you can’t really compare it to the pressure that you had in racing and waves. Freestyle is more of a young thing where you go out and play. One day you win, one day I win! But once you get to the next age group, then they may play around on the beach but once they get on the water they want to win. They are professionals and it is a professional sport."

"Well freestyle you can do pretty much anywhere and wave sailing is more difficult to get a good spot. If you live in a place that has got good waves then you don’t tend to do freestyle. They have got separated quite a bit. There are some guys that do both very well. There are a lot of guys who sail amazingly but you have to sail well and better in competitions. Kauli Seadi is one of the exceptions. He has the potential to be world champion but so far he hasn’t pulled it off. It is tough to do everything especially when you do ten freestyle competitions and only a two wave sailing events a year."

"I must say that, at the moment, there is not one guy that really stands out. It depends on how strong the wind is and how big the waves are. It’s a growing sport and there are more people competing and it is harder to stand out. I would say there is more of a group, a group of the elite, which is nice to see as well."

"The hardest move, I haven’t learnt yet!! I guess you can do anything if you just spend the time learning it. For me windsurfing is the combination of all disciplines in all conditions, not just one move. Big waves, small waves, onshore to cross-offshore, Jaws, speed, slalom…everything. There are so many aspects that it never gets boring and I enjoy them all." (Clyde: Did he just avoid the question or did I ask the wrong one?)

"It’s pretty hard to say but they will grow up on the water. One of them already comes with me on the board, holding on to the uphaul as I sail along. I try to coordinate my life so they are around me as much as possible. Especially as they are still little; 23 months and seven and a half months."

"As well as the sail bags and board bags we now have two more trolleys with all the stuff for the kids! We have sponsorship from Hobie Caravans (European Motor Home company) which has made it much easier to travel with them. I try to have them with me as much as possible. If I go on a promotion trip then I will not take them, but if it is for longer I do. I like to spend as much time with them as possible."