(STARBOARD NEWS)

After a couple of days of intensive racing on the water and entertaining evenings off the water, the 2013 Formula Experience World Champion has been crowned! And it’s no other than Starboard Dream Team rider Gonzalo Costa Hoevel from Argentina.

Since the start, Gonzo was the one to watch, with his Formula background and years of experience on the PWA World Tour and proved to be too much to handle for the rest of the competition. Congratulations to Gonzalo and the rest of the competitors! The 2012 Champion, Paulo do Reis, will be training hard to come back on top which should guarantee another year of competitive races in 2014!

Here’s a short interview with Gonzalo:

Starboard: Congratulations on the win and the World Title! How does it feel?

GCH: “I am stoked!! You don’t become World Champion every day!! Course racing is my favorite discipline and I was very close to get the Formula World Title in Croatia this year finishing in 2nd place, so winning this one means a lot to me.”
Starboard: Can you quickly walk us through the event? What was the key to your victory?

GCH: “When I stepped on the board for the first time the day before the event, I was bit nervous to be honest. After a few meters on the water, the gear felt very familiar and it felt like I had sailed on it all my life. After some upwind and downwind tacks against my key competitors, I felt I was flying. I knew at that time that if I raced good, I could be challenging the title.

I would say that the key to my win was my speed in all the different conditions we had. Also, racing in big fleets has always been something I was comfortable with and I have a lot of experience. And having four podium finishes at the Formula World Championships had to help too…”

Starboard: Do you prefer racing on One-Design gear or on your own, tuned equipment?

GCH:“Tricky question! My mind forces me to say that i prefer my own equipment but actually I enjoyed racing this one-design gear as much as my own. I think that if we generate a Slalom Experience Class, this would be a bomb!”

Starboard: Everyone is talking about seat harnesses versus waist harnesses. What’s your stance of this issue?

GCH: “I used a waist harness for that event in Araruama. I normally use a seat harness when I sail Formula, especially when I’m on my 12m². In slalom, I prefer my waist harness as I get more control with it. I believe a seat harness with a high back support and a high hook is the best for the FE class.”

After a couple of days of intensive racing on the water and entertaining evenings off the water, the 2013 Formula Experience World Champion has been crowned! And it’s no other than Starboard Dream Team rider Gonzalo Costa Hoevel from Argentina. Since the start, Gonzo was the one to watch, with his Formula background and years of experience on the PWA World Tour and proved to be too much to handle for the rest of the competition. Congratulations to Gonzalo and the rest of the competitors! The 2012 Champion, Paulo do Reis, will be training hard to come back on top which should guarantee another year of competitive races in 2014!

Starboard: They say the first trick to go faster in slalom is to remove the uphaul to be more aerodynamic. Do you think shaving your afro would make you faster?

GCH: “HAHAHA!! Actually, the story of the uphaul came out when we were in Tarifa doing some development for NP and we were going in circles until we realized one boom had an uphaul and the other didn’t! When we removed the uphaud, all made sense and we did gain some speed! So removing the afro can be something I will consider!”

Starboard: What advice can you give aspiring racers wanting to join Formula Windsurfing or PWA?

GCH: “I think the FE class gives a great taste of what we feel when we race in FW or PWA. It is a great entry-level class and I see it becoming very popular in a couple of years with a lot of kids between 16 and 20 years old. From there, you can easily jump to FW and then another step into PWA. It will open the eyes of many people. The FW and PWA racing is the fastest out there and it’s a lot of fun, you should give it a try if you can!”

Starboard: Thank you Gonzalo for finding the time to answer our questions. Once again, congratulations on the World Title and good luck for the winter training. We hope to see you on many more podiums next year!

READ MORE RACE REPORTS AND VIEW SOME CLIPS OF THE ACTION.

Pictures by Rémi Vila