IFCA Championship - Jenna Gibson

Jenna, now 4 x IFCA world champion, congratulations, how was the Journey?

“Well, I drove across via France and then Germany, where my brother is currently working so I stopped into see him, and I’m now there on the way home. The journey took about 16 hours in total, but, if you’re coming from the UK and are in a hurry there is a Harwich to Holland ferry that would cut off a fair bit of the driving."

Image Credit: John Carter.

And the event site, tell us something about that?

“Absolutely stunning, the event was held in Hvide Sand which is a massive fjord just inland from the North Sea. There is standing depth water for ages which makes it a really great place to compete as you can stand up while waiting for starts. There was loads of parking and the surrounding area is really beautiful."

We heard you had a real mixed bag of weather through the week?

“Yes, the first couple of days were windless, hot and sunny, we (the athletes) spent the time preparing in shorts, tee shirts and sun cream. By the third day the wind was coming and the weather would literally turn in a second. We had one situation where all the fleets had to be recalled as the wind went off the scale and no one could actually sail it was that windy ! It also got really cold and I had the hot aches in September ! Overall we had a huge range of conditions I used all my sails from 8.4 down to 5.8 and would have used smaller If I had been allowed !"

If you were allowed ? Was there some controversy on the gear you could use then?

“Yes. We were allowed to register 4 sails and 2 boards for the event, which for a week long competition in Denmark in September is not really enough. I registered my Duotone Warps in 8.4/7.8/6.8/5.8 and Falcon slalom boards in 99 and 116. Thankfully my 116 has quite a wide tail so it is Ok with the 8.4 but, especially for the heavier men the choice was almost impossible which board to leave out as if you’re 100 kilos plus a 116 won’t work in light winds but equally it’s going to be a real handful in 30 knots plus if you choose the two bigger sizes. I also found that in the really windy races the 5.8 was “do-able” but on the absolute limit of control, I would have really liked to use my 5.0.”

So, the competition, how was it?

“Tough ! I had been battling against Justine (Leitermeyer) all year on the PWA Slalom - X and while we had finished on equal points she had beaten me on countback so we finished 2nd and 3rd. This event saw the reverse, so I’m super happy to take the win, but it was hard racing, in fact you couldn’t lose concentration for one minute as the whole fleet were pushing really hard.  Aside from the limited gear rule the event it self was run incredibly well, they pushed really hard to get the maximum number of races in, but, especially in the light winds were really conscious of the wind minimums to ensure that we had a fully credible world championship.  While the competition was fierce across the fleets I would definitely recommend the event to anyone familiar with slalom racing, If you place reasonably well in the UK national fleet or better you really shouldn’t embarrass yourself and have a good time. The atmosphere is fantastic with competitors coming from all over Europe and beyond.”

A PWA podium and an IFCA world title, what’s next then?

“Im back to university soon, so I will be concentrating on my studies and the remaining UK slalom events, I’m especially looking forward to the One Hour Classic challenge, it sounds really fun and I hope to see lots of people from free riders to hard core racers there."

Thanks Jenna, on behalf of the whole of the UKWA congratulations and we look forward to seeing you on the water.