My background comes from dinghy sailing. I started racing in the Optimist Class at the age of 9, and continued with the Laser Radial and Laser Standard and was quite successful with numerous podium finishes, both nationally and internationally. In the Radial Class I managed a second over all in the Euro Cup after several top 5 positions.
However, after changing over to the Laser Standard I started to encounter the politics of my club as well as our federation. Despite a national silver medal, I got no support or encouragement to compete internationally, so my wallet and sailing carrier came to an abrupt halt unfortunately.
Instead I took up snowboarding. Fun stuff, but after 3 seasons and some bad winters I had enough. Time to head back to the water and a sport I could enjoy and practice all year round. With help from friends in Slovenia and Switzerland, I got my first windsurfing board in June 2009. I had a short learning curve thanks to my sailing background, and competed internationally in RSX, Raceboard and Kona One this year. (2011)
I saw some very nice footage from the 2010 Kona Worlds in Miami and finally went for the Kona One as my desired class, because of its very attractive price, fair class rules and high level racing. Luckily the Slovenian distributor helped me out with a board to train with before this years Worlds in Denmark.
It was great and went well although I was not consistent enough and had finishes between 1st. and 20th to finish 6th. overall, but it proved that I have the potential to become “a champ” in this class with some more training.
Listen to Ruk Puvar at Kona Worlds. (3:28 min)
Only the interview with Rok Puvar http://gallery.me.com/konajocke/100252
Super nice to compete with all weight groups together at equal terms, - thanks to different sail sizes.
See you all at the 2012 Worlds at Fuerteventura.
Take care
Rok
|