The windsurfing elite had to wait three days because the weak wind did not allow any official races at the California Windsurf Cup Heiligenhafen. But the wind returned just in time for the final day. This meant that two complete foiling eliminations could be carried out. Fabi Wolf, the 2023 GWA Foiling Champion, dominated the season finale ahead of Vincent Langer and Lars Poggemann. At the GWA Youth & Junior Championship held as part of the event, Keno Recke won the Youth U21, Erik Wehkamp the Youth U19 and Paul Regber the Junior U17.
Happy ending after a slow start
“We are pleased that the wind played along so well in the end. We had a record number of participants here and, above all, many young riders who traveled to Heiligenhafen for the GWA Youth & Junior Champions. Heiligenhafen is a perfect location for a major windsurfing event. This was an excellent finale for the 2024 season of the California Windsurf Cup. Congratulations to the athletes,” says Matthias Regber from Choppy Water GmbH, which organizes the California Windsurf Cup.
Wolf wins 500 euros for opening victory
Right in the first race, Fabian Wolf made it clear that he had traveled to Heiligenhafen to win. He laid the perfect foundation for this by winning the opening race. He was also able to look forward to 500 euros in prize money. The first race of every California Windsurf Cup is endowed with a total of 1,000 euros in prize money through the LVM Insurance Grand Prize. Vincent Langer was able to look forward to 300 euros for second place, while Jonne Heimann won 200 euros for third place. Lars Poggemann and Alexander Neubert completed the top 5 in this race.
Things got really exciting again in the second elimination. Vincent Langer led the final for a long time and would have taken the lead in the event rankings with a win in this run. But on the penultimate leg, Wolf was able to overtake Langer and thus secured his second win in the second race. Langer again came in second. Lars Poggemann secured third place ahead of the Dane Kasper Nielsen. Fifth place again went to Alexander Neubert.
Event win with 0 points
In the event ranking of the California Windsurf Cup Heiligenhafen, Fabi Wolf dominated after two race wins with the ideal score of 0.0. This means that he can clearly win the season finale of the top German windsurfing series. In second place is the GWA Champion 2024, Vincent Langer, with 4.0 points. Lars Poggemann secured 7.0 points with a third and fourth place and thus third place on the podium. Alexander Neubert has already impressed with consistent performances throughout the entire season and secured 10.0 points with two fifth places and thus fourth place at the California Windsurf Cup Heiligenhafen 2024. Jonne Heimann fell in the last final, but his third place in the first elimination still gave him 13.0 points and thus completed the top 5.
Big performance for the juniors
The GWA Youth & Junior Championship was also held for the first time as part of the California Windsurf Cup Heiligenhafen. For the first time, the German Windsurfing Association has organized a joint championship for all young windsurfers, regardless of age and equipment. This attracted a large number of youngsters. Erik Wehkamp from Kiel is the 2024 GWA Youth U19 Champion. He won ahead of Jesse Richter from Hanover and the Dane Kasper Nielsen. Keno Recke secured the title of GWA Youth U21 Champion ahead of the Frenchman Brendan Lorho and Leo Richter from Kiel.
Paul Regber is the GWA Junior U17 Champion 2024. He won ahead of Philipp Köhlert from Braunschweig and Tom Franke from Kiel. In the Junior U15, Gustav Grünbaum from Rostock won ahead of Julian Ahrens and Mika Henning. In the special ranking for the Olympic iQFOiL and iQFOiL Youth&Junior Equipment, Erik Wehkamp won ahead of Lasse Brudek and Ole Moikow from Kiel. In the Techno Windfoil ranking, Tom Franke won ahead of Fritz Grünbaum and Oke Hochschild.
Complete success despite little wind
The GWA Youth & Junior Championship Heiligenhafen 2024 was a great success. For the first time, there was a joint championship for all young windsurfers in Germany. It was a shame that the weak wind prevented the fin slalom and techno riders from competing. In foiling, however, things got pretty serious. The unique atmosphere of dozens of young people of different ages coming together here showed that the Windsurf Cup is growing dynamically. But here in Heiligenhafen in particular, the excellent location also contributed to the success. The meadow was ideal as a base for organizing a large windsurfing event.
Despite three days of calm, the California Windsurf Cup was ultimately a sporting success. The event village on the kite field and the supporting and party program were also successful. In the future, communication and visitor management will be optimized so that even more guests can attend this great event.
The date for next year has already been set: From September 4th to 7th, 2025, the final of the California Windsurf Cup 2025 will again take place in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligenhafen.
