“To reach the highest peaks!”
Latvian windsurfer Janis Preiss crosses Baltic sea from Liepaja to Gotland in 11 hours on his windsurf board!
On Tuesday 10th of September, around 12PM, windsurfer Janis Preiss returned to Latvia. The day before, September 9, he crossed the Baltic Sea on his Gaastra Formula windsurf board from Liepaja (Latvia) to Gotland (Sweden) with assistance of supporting yacht “Nordic Virgin“ and made the 320km in 11 hours. It took 8 years to achieve his dream.
Asked about how he feels after 11 hours on the board and crossing the finish line, Janis said “I definitely don’t feel any emptiness, its more a feeling of satisfaction“. Finally the dream, which began 8 years ago, became a reality. “First time when I tried to do it in 2005 it was more like a joke – can I do it or not. Like a game with buddies – go somewhere, do something. We failed at that time. Second time a lot of recklessness was conceded. It wasn’t so simple as it seemed in the beginning,” remembers Preiss. But it didn’t unnerve him, just the opposite! It had to be done to the end. “If I started it, I had to finish it. Besides it was a great opportunity to prove that it can be done and only with a windsurf board” explains windsurfer when asked why he didn’t give up the challenge. “It was very important to me to show people in Latvia that there is such a beautiful way of sports as windsurfing. On the day everybody talked about it and that’s great! We have 500km long coastline by the sea. In fact in any town there could be a boat, windsurf board and a trainer, who could teach kids how to windsurf. It would make me very happy, if I would inspired someone to start windsurfing with my example”.
Janis commented that there wasn’t any special way that he prepared for his trip to Gotland Island. He just windsurfed as much as he could this summer. No gym, bicycle or anything else, to be in good physical shape. “This race season was very intense. Besides windsurfing becomes also my work, we produce very high quality fins here in Latvia. In fact last two years I also make tests for them by myself and now they really are in such a level, that I give them for test also to other professional riders, who finds them very good and suggests, what should be improved. It took me huge amount of hours on the water, which reflects in my physical shape”, said the sportsman.
To cross the Baltic Sea it took about 11 hours by windsurfer – “ it wasn’t easy physically or emotionally, in the end it was just harder and harder” said Preiss; and admits “the past third part took most of the power, I was quite tired. But I also have to say that all the conditions were just great – wind was blowing, sun was shining, equipment worked just perfect, as well as my supporting team on the yacht“. There was no moment when he would even consider the possibility to quit.
Along the way he had no problems, nothing was changed in this equipment – everything worked great. Preiss reached the shore of Gotland’s city Slite just with three short stops – to drink an energy drink and have a chocolate bar. In one of the lasts stops he admitted that he had problems with his back and on the water on his board did some muscle stretching. The average speed was about 30km/h, the deepest spot in the sea he crossed – more than 200m.
What helped him to achieve his dream? “I guess it was all together – the team, supporters, people close to me and of course my sponsor – mineral water EVEREST,“ replies Preiss admitting that also the weather conditions were just perfect to achieve the goal. On the supporting yacht the brave windsurfer was accompanied by his good friend and assistant Arnis Krauklis, who kept an eye on sportsman’s health conditions, gave advice and watched that the escorting yacht doesn’t block the wind or interferes his trip in any other way.
Until the end of October Janis continues his racing season, after that – a little bit quieter as the active season concludes. “I don’t know yet what I’m going to do in winter. Haven’t thought about next season yet,“ tells the sportsman, but admits that also in the future he definitely will do windsurfing and most likely for a long time. As he tells himself, it doesn’t have any age limit!
In conclusion – Monday, September 9th 2013, Janis Preiss sailed the 320km long distance from Liepaja (Latvia) crossing Baltic Sea with his Gaastra Formula windsurfing equipment and reached the Gotland Island of Sweden in 11 hours. No windsurfer from Latvia has finished the crossing before. For him it was the third attempt to achieve his goal. Last attempt to cross Baltic Sea was in August of year 2010, when he made two thirds of the distance to Gotland. At that time the wind intensified to 25m per second with swell 5 m height, so the trip was stopped for safety reasons.
On the supporting yacht with the crew was a filming team from “Platformafilm“, who will make a documentary film “To reach the highest peaks“ about windsurfer Janis Preiss trip to Gotland with the great support of his sponsor – mineral water EVERST.
