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Ques 1: What’s your relationship like with the Moreno Twins? Has it changed now you are more of a threat at competition than in the early days?

I don’t think our relationship has changed since I first started sailing and now I am competing with them. It’s the same. There have been a lot of girls before me who only did one or two events on the Tour then they left. For sure it’s different when a new person comes along and does all the events year after year and for sure the relationship becomes more close, more true friends.

Ques 2: But tell us about the nightmare interview in Lanzarote.

When I’m doing interviews, everybody always asks about the relationships between the girls on the Tour. We all get on really well but the magazines what some inside gossip or some tension between the girls and this year in Lanzarote I had a really bad experience of this.

I did at interview for a local newspaper and they asked me typical questions about what I wanted to do with my windsurfing and how motivated I was. I answered; ‘I had been training a lot and I would really like to do good, I would try to do my best…etc’

But when the newspaper came out, the day after, the answers were completely different that what I had said. It said, ‘What are your expectations of the competition?’ My answer was, ‘I want to be first, I want to beat everybody, I want to be the best, and I’m not scared of anybody….etc’. I was freaking out as it really brought a lot of tension into the competition. Some people got angry and I was saying, ‘But this was not true’. It was awful.

Ques 3: How are you going to beat Daida?

Beating Daida Moreno in a competition is still a long way off for me. I think at the moment Daida is pretty much unbeatable. Of course, you can always have a good heat and Daida can have a bad heat but at the moment she is sailing real solid and to be honest I should be training much harder at my jumping.

Ques 1: Why are women windsurfers not as good as men? Even on the PWA circuit where, in theory, the women sail & train just as much as the men?

It’s a tricky question. But I think it’s got a lot to do with our different nature and constitution. It’s a pretty risky sport and we are fighting with the wind all the time. It can be brutal, especially in Pozo! I think men’s skills lend themselves more to the sport. However, a lot of the times it depends on the attitude of the girl. For example, I know that maybe my wave riding is not as good as the Pro Men but it is better than a lot of men on the water and that’s because of my fearless attitude in the waves. But when I’m jumping, I feel fear so I don’t go for it as much. I think if girls can change their attitude a little bit (including me) then they would get much better.

Ques 2: Is there a way to get more women to compete on the Tour?

Helping more with their sponsorship would be a start. To be a Pro Windsurfer, you need to be 24 hours a day on the water, go to all the competitions and train abroad. If you don’t have help, you can’t afford it. So you start working but then you can’t get the time off to compete or train hard enough. At the beginning I was working but it was impossible to have holidays every two weeks when the Tour was going on.

We also need more coverage. Girls don’t get as much coverage so you can’t get good sponsorship. It’s a vicious circle. But I think this is changing as the girls attitudes are changing with more chicks going for it and raising the overall standard.

Ques 3: What are the benefits and drawbacks of being a lady on the World Tour?

Firstly, you don’t have 64 girls to compete against and that maybe it is easier to get really low level sponsorship like cheap kit. But it is really difficult to get good sponsorship (that will pay for all your travelling) if you are a lady.

I also know that you can drop onto a wave with the men and they don’t become so angry!

Ques 1: When did Fanatic want a piece of Alonso action?

It started after my result in Sylt in 2003. Daida (Moreno) talked to Craig Gertenbach (Fanatic Team Manager) about sponsorship for me with Fanatic. I sent off my profile and they asked me on board which was great!

Ques 2: Do you work hard on getting outside industry sponsorship?

At the moment, I have stopped trying as I was spending all my time sending off portfolios rather than out sailing! You also have to work hard if you get a good sponsor, sending them stuff, keeping them happy. I am happy with the industry sponsorship I have and I want to concentrate all my time on getting my sailing better over the next 12 months and give them good results.

Ques 3: Every Pro sailor in the Canaries seems to have a van sponsor, mainly VW but you went for Mercedes.

My Mercedes Vito deal is with a local dealer. It’s also kind of destiny as my father died when I was 16 years old and he used to drive Mercedes and he had a good relationship with this dealer. So I tried to ask them for a van without them knowing he was my father. Then everything went really good and I got the deal and then I told them who my father was. It was a nice feeling that I had done it on my own and that I was driving a Mercedes like my father.

Ques 1:Tell us your goals for 2005 and what moves you have to learn?

I don’t set results as goals. I never say, for example, I want to finish top 3. My goals in competition are to finish each heat feeling proud of what I have done. Feeling that I have done a good performance and I am on par with the other World Cup girl sailors.

I really want to do push loops but at the moment I’m being very, very pussy!

I have to also improve my starboard tack freestyle. I can do one-handed spocks on the other tack and I’m going for spock 540’s and grubbies. But on this tack I’m still not consistent with my vulcans.

Ques 2: The Hawaii Pro 2005: how will you do?

It’s really different from any other competition. It’s Hookipa, it’s starboard tack, it’s another world! So firstly I’ve got to get my confidence up at Hookipa. Try to get a good feeling their and try out my loops. It is so different from the competitions in the Canaries.

(Find out how she did in the next issue!)

Ques 3: Super X for girls in 2005. I here it will happen in Lanzarote and Fuerte. How have you been training for that?

First of all, I had learnt to duck gybe. Serious! The learning in Gran Canaria is so different, I say I was learning forward loops real early and I was just keen to wave ride. So I have learnt the duck gybe and forward loops on both tacks.

Ques 1: Name me that evening when you looked over at John Skye and thought Phoaw….!!!

Well, we met in Sylt 2003 and yes it was an evening but nothing happened as I had a boyfriend back home. However it wasn’t going so well with the boyfriend and me and John got on really well, we had a lot of fun and the feeling was nice. When I got home, my relationship went really, really wrong and after that I went to Maui (in early 2004) where I met John again and we gave it a chance.

Ques 2: What about the language barrier?

When we first met, I couldn’t understand everything he said. But my English was better than his Spanish. Give him 10 beers and then you will see: proper, perfect Spanish! He is improving a lot and trying hard but it is difficult. We try to talk sometimes but when things get too slow and boring I say, ‘Ahh…back to English’.


(...John joins in…)

Ques 3: How has it helped you hanging out with Skyeboy?

Nayra: Going out with John has helped me a lot. He is a very good freestyler and he likes to go and train freestyle so that motivates me to go and train at the Lake (here in Cape Town ) which I would never think about doing before. He obviously tells me a lot of things to do to improve…

John: I also break you a lot. I broke her the other day because I was saying, ‘You have to try this, you have to try that on this tack, clew first this…’ and then she gets pissed off with me.

Ques 5: How has Nayra helped you John?

John: The biggest way that Nayra has helped my sailing is with my port tack, onshore jumping which used to be my biggest downfall. Last year (2004) because of Nayra, I spent the whole summer in the Canaries. Port tack, onshore jumping is now my favourite thing and my result in Pozo in 2004 was largely due to Nayra.

However, the biggest think actually is that she is so motivated to sail. She’ll be like, ‘Come on, let’s go’. I’m pretty lazy in the morning, I’m relaxing in bed and she’s like, ‘Come on, come on, we’re missing the wind’

Nayra: Yeah, he annoys me a lot when he’s like that, the laziness!

Ques 6: What about at contests, do you help each other out?

John: Our first contest together was the Hawaii Pro in 2004. We both did pretty bad and also we both ended up stressing so much about what the other sailor was doing and it ended up messing up both of our minds. So after that, we decided that we would be completely separate.

Nayra: Don’t give too many opinions or too much advice. Be together but at competition time look after yourself.

John: Say at the Hawaii Pro, I would have a gap before my next heat and I wanted to go but then I would have missed Nayra’s heat so I can’t go, I can’t get any lunch because I need to watch her. Where as at Pozo, I didn’t really think about it. If I didn’t want to be at the beach, I’d go and have a coffee or go home and if I missed her heat, it didn’t matter.

I also get more stressed if Nayra is watching. I think I’ve got to do well, if she is watching….

Nayra:…and most of the time, if I am watching, John does really, really good but when he is watching me, he has evil eyes and I always crash everything!

Ques 7: Finally, when are you getting married?

Nayra: What?!!!!!

(Nayra and John leave the interview abruptly!)