Picture by Protography Official.

Hi, I’m Lucie Honegger, a Swiss windsurf girl. I recently competed as the only woman in the first ever foilstyle competition organized by the Freestyle Pro Tour – foilstyle being the foil discipline of freestyle windsurfing.

Foilstyle is a rather new and still very small discipline, so there are especially few women practicing it. I barely know a handfull of fellow foilstyling girls.

I’ve figured out, that taking part in events is extremely valuable, not only for you but also for the sport itself and the representation of women in it, even if it might seem intimidating at first. The event organizer’s goal is generally to get as many competitors together as possible, especially women if it’s a men’s dominated discipline. They have always been very responsive and encouraging towards me, even so when I was the only girl registered in the discipline.

At my home spots I’m used to being the only girl doing some freestyle, and more often than not, I’m even the only person jumping (besides maybe my Dad). If that seems familiar to you, it might be quite intimidating, coming to an event and seeing all the pros in action. However, from my experience they are all really friendly and happy to help, by giving you tips for methods or gear, you can profit a lot from that. Competitions are generally a great place to get inspired and push your level, whether you’re still new to the scene and can observe all the action live in front of you or are advanced and get pushed by riders with a similar level.

Because there are not that many girls pursuing freestyle windsurfing, I get most of my inspiration from men, who usually have been doing the sport a lot longer than me, but whom I unintentionally compare myself to.

Besides, on social media you usually just see the best of the best doing crazy things, which can be incredibly inspirational, but – at least in my case – it also often leads to a feeling of “I’ll never reach a level near anything like that”, forgetting that the just several-seconds-long-video is only a highlight of hours or even days on the water and also forgetting all the factors in the background, like the training opportunities and life circumstances over the last couple of years leading up to that clip, which are clearly not the same as mine.

Meanwhile I’ve learnt that you have so much to gain at events, not just the top of the ranking list. Shortly before it’s my turn to go on the water, I usually get incredibly nervous and question why I’m doing this to myself but after a couple of minutes I get into the flow and try to just show the best I can. In the end I absolutely love the adrenaline rush of a competition.

Because I have a bad habit of putting myself and my abilities down, I frequently forget that compared to the rest of the world I’m actually quite skilled in what I do. I’ve put a lot of energy, hard work and passion into it. I also like competing for this reason; if the people who surround me at a competition see worth in me it’s reason for me to do the same.

I believe I’m not alone with those thoughts and feelings and if you relate, this is for you. I think everybody deserves to hear it once in a while. You’re good enough, you deserve to put your abilities on display and if you’re the first one, or one of just a few women doing it, you’re insanely brave and you rock!

Check out this video of Lucie smashing it at the ERF event!