Dany Bruch is a busy man. Designer and team rider for Starboard, event organizer of the PWA Tenerife... Dany never stops! Here is his report from Tenerife, just a couple of days after the PWA event and a couple of days before the Red Bull Storm Chase in Tasmania...

Here we are again! The Tenerife event is over and lots of stuff have happened in these last weeks...

First of all, I am happy that the event happened at the end. Three weeks before the start, it was really not looking good! We didn't have enough budget and it just seemed like it would not line up this time, but finally it did. Because of this, these last couple of weeks were just crazy! We basically organized the whole event in very little time! We had some stuff pre-sorted, but nothing finalized. So yeah, it was a nightmare! My phone was ringing non-stop and I even had a dream where I ran in the water with the phone in my pocket to kill it! Hehehe...

At that same time, I started to get myself ready for the competition as well. I was focused as usual and after the first heat, I felt released! Not that I had an easy one, Scotty (McKercher) was on fire! I have to say that now, with the 32 men format, there are no more easy heats, it's ON from Heat 1! I had a couple more heats, good ones, where I systematically worked my scores up. I was pretty confident with all of it and wanted more and more... Unfortunately, Victor (Fernandez) stopped me. I had a plan to beat him and it was starting to work out pretty well… But during the last 4 minutes of our heat, I needed a good jump and it just didn't happen! I spent 4 minutes searching for a wave to jump off, and it never came…! That made me a bit desperate and quite furious. I lost this heat by a 2-1 decision, loosing the 2 judges by 1.5 and 2 points! I had him (Victor) on the wave riding, I was just missing that extra jump I spent so long looking for.

That same evening, when the event got called off for the day, I needed to release some anger. I went sailing on my Blade 4.5m² totally stacked for about 3 hours (maybe I sailed too long...?). I went out there, fired up at 120% of power, nailing every single move and wave, doing between 3 and 6 turns on each wave and finishing all of them… I remember having about 20 waves in row without crashing a single one! I felt ready for the next day.

Next day arrived, the double elimination started and I still don't know what happened. I was still angry from the day before and wanted to bang my fist on the table to show how I sail here, at my home spot! I was sailing so good before the competition that I wanted to show off... I wanted to destroy each wave but I overcooked it. I did not need to finish each wave the way I tried to and ended up crashing at the end… After the first turn, I could have simply done some more "wobble dobble" and that would have been it… But no, I wanted to shred, which is what I did. I was just so amped and at 120% that I did not think about scores and points… I had some good jumps, some good waves, some of the sickest hacks and turns on the wave, but lost by 0.05 points! If I had finished one wave, it would have made the difference… But I reckon that this is how competition works! I wanted to win no matter what: not only the heat but the whole comp and I reckon it could have been possible.

Something I wanted to do this year was to get someone to do my job as an organizer one week before the event and during the event, to at least to answer my phone and emails. But with almost no budget and time, I simply could not find anyone… This is not an excuse, but it was just too much… I could not walk for 10 meters on the beach without someone approaching me for all kind of reasons… And it's hard to stay focused for a heat when so many issues have to be resolved at the same time…

Since the event is finally a bit more established, I am hoping to start working on next year's one this upcoming September to have everything more organized... Especially for myself! I was quite depressed to finish 9th at my home spot; really not what I was expecting, especially after so much training on and off water! I wanted and needed a bit of a reward but, it's not over yet! There a few more events to come and I will fight for a comeback!

At least, for the last two days of the event, I had the chance to finally sail a slab that is normally not windsurfable, because of the amount of bodyboarders in the water. It was a good size wave, with lots of wind and I got permission from my local friends to sail it for 1 hour each day at high tide... Even though, I still had some little arguments with some guys in the water, but I got some sick shots from John Carter and Sergio Villalba as well as some video… Soon to be released!

I also had a bad wipeout on my last wave. I got hit by the nose of my board on the neck… A big electric shock went trough my left arm and leg and after that, I was kind of out of order… I had a massive bump on my neck as I got out of the water, but I had to prepare the price-giving ceremony of the event. Having done that and being happy about how it all went, I went directly to hospital, hoping to be back with the guys to celebrate the end of the event… But after a scan of my spine and neck, the doctors asked me to spend the night in the hospital, as the concussion was too close to my head. So yeah! There I was, in the hospital for the night with my girlfriend, celebrating the great success of the event… I guess it's fine like that. I did not feel like I had something to celebrate anyway: yes for the event but not for my result.

We're now a couple of days after the event and we finally managed to finish packing everything up, settling payments...etc. And I am sitting in a plane, heading to Melbourne for a quick stop before Tasmania for the Red Bull Storm Chase… No rest for me, but I am ready to rrrrrrrrrumble!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Dany Bruch -

- Pictures are courtesy of John Carter / PWA World Tour -