MARK OF A CHAMPION VICTOR FERNANDEZ
Supremely talented, a consummate professional and one of the nicest guys in windsurfing, Victor Fernandez has been at the top of wave sailing for over a decade and is someone who is always a good bet for a PWA podium in any conditions with his well-honed skills and smooth style. One of the very few sailors to hold multiple world titles, he shares some of the secrets of his success and highlights of his career so far, in the latest instalment of our ‘Mark of a champion’ series. This feature was published in our October 2021 issue.
WORDS – Victor Fernandez // PHOTOS – Fish Bowl Diaries, John Carter
GOALS
It feels very good when you achieve your goals, or at least you work very hard to get close to where you want to be. I put a lot of hours into it, but it also being my passion and the thing I love the most helps it be just not work to get there.
I think the support of family is what makes me have success in my career and life in general as they always supported me to reach my goal, which was to be one of the best. I actually never thought when I was around 16 or so that I would be 3 x world champion in waves, but I thought why not give it a try if this is what I like.
Victor Fernandez
INSPIRATION
When I was young, I always looked up to windsurfing idols like Jason Polakow, Francisco Goya and many others. I watched so many of their videos and studied pictures of them in magazines over and over again; they inspired me so much.
Victor flying in Maui.
DECISIONS
A good career decision was to focus just on the wave discipline and put most of my time into it. I was also competing in freestyle and super-X for a few years and even slalom in my first 2 years on the PWA. I realised though that if I wanted to get to the top I had to spend more time in good wave spots such as Maui, Cape Town, Chile, etc.…and if I was going to Margarita to train for freestyle in the same season as the other destinations I wouldn’t get much better in waves, which was always my favourite discipline. I might have also made a few bad decisions, but I don’t regret anything I have done so far.
LESSONS
I learnt from some of my mistakes in the past, like one heat I remember at Pozo one year before my first victory where I went out to try my gear before my quarter final against Kauli and just in that moment they changed the jumping criteria from 2 jumps to 3. I did not realise that, so my heat started and I got 2 good jumps and 2 good waves, thinking I did a really good heat, but I lost because I was missing the 3rd jump, even though without a 3rd jump, 2 judges gave me the win! I did not know I had to do that extra jump, so from that day I learned I had to check the notice board before every heat, as losing your heat like that is quite hard to take. I finished in 7th place that year, but the year after in 2006 I had my first ever PWA victory at Pozo in the final against Kauli Seadi.
Finding the balance!
LIFE BALANCE
For me life balance is to feel good and to feel good I like to do the sports I like, be surrounded by the people I like and be healthy to keep doing all that as long as I can. That is how I feel happy and balanced.
MOTIVATION
I love the fact that in windsurfing I never stop learning and that’s why I like it so much, and every day conditions are different. I love to sail different spots and to share good sessions with friends is priceless.
STRESS
I had to find my way of how to deal with competition nerves and stress, and mostly my answer lies in all the preparation before the competition. Train at the spot before competing, prepare the gear that works best for each spot, have a routine of training in and out of the water, sleep well / rest well and eat healthily. All of these points are very important and also having the people I need to have around me during the event makes me calmer. At the same time I kind of like being under pressure during events, it makes it more exciting and it gives me extra energy to compete against the best guys.
COMPETITION
I love to compete against the best sailors because it takes the best of me and I still have a lot to give. When we compete, we are actually competing against the elements trying to find the best ramps, waves, etc.… so it’s very exciting and I learn a lot from it.
Victor classic slash off the lip in Hawaii.
STRENGTHS
I think my mental game is quite strong as an athlete, but I had to get it better with time. Also my consistency is a strength and comes from the hours I have spent in many different wave spots around the world. As a person I think I am quite easy-going, relaxed and I know what I want and what I don’t want to do.
RIVALS
I try to do my own routine during events, but more or less it’s like a normal day of training. I do not spend much time on the beach talking during the event with other riders because we do that when we don’t compete, so I like to be with my best friends and family.
I respect all the riders the same, at the end of the day we are all friends as well. I do like competing with some guys a lot cause they push me more, like Philip Köster, Marcilio Browne, Ricardo Campello and Jaeger Stone. They are some of my favourite riders and great competitors too, so it’s fun to be in a heat with them. I do admire Marcilio Browne and Ricardo Campello the most because they are amazing riders in both tacks, jumping and wave riding, and I like to see riders which are very good in any conditions.
DOWNTIME
Away from windsurfing, I spend time with my family or with my friends at home doing different things. Now with my son for example, I do things with him that I would never have done or go to places I would never have gone to, and it’s very nice to disconnect from my routine as a pro
WINNING OR MONEY?
This is a hard question. Winning for me is not everything, as I have been quite happy in many events which I did not win, but I performed very well in. So results are not everything you need to be happy. Money for sure is important to make a living and to be able to travel to places to train, otherwise it would not be possible to win, but it’s not everything if you cannot do what you really want to do.
POWER FOODS
My power foods are fruits, vegetables, nuts and water. I try not to eat much meat, only when I know it is local meat. I think for everyone it’s a bit different and you need to find what makes you feel healthy and have energy. I love good coffee too.
TALENT OR WORK?
I think 70% of my talent is natural because I like windsurfing so much, and the rest is for sure coming from the hard work that I put into it.
Tweaked table top in Maui.
TRAINING
It’s hard to give a picture of an average week for on-water training, because in waves we don’t sail every day. At the beginning of my career I put more time in on the water. In Pozo I used to sail 6 hours per day during the 2 months I was there as an example and on Maui around the same. Over the last few years though I spend maybe between 3 to 4 hours average on the water per day, but I put more time into taking care of myself at the gym, doing strength work 3 times per week. Some of my training at the gym changes depending on the time of the year and how close we get to the events. For example 2 weeks before the event starts I sail a bit less and work out with less intensity. I don’t do running because of my ankles but I do swimming to compensate on the cardio side and also SUP and surf.
ROCKY MOMENT
In 2007/2008 I was vice world champion and in 2009 I met my coach, Antonio Casimiro, at the University of Almeria and he helped me to reach my first world title in 2010. In 2009 we trained too hard at the gym and I got a bit too heavy, so I did not do very well and I told him I felt a bit heavy on my wave gear, so we changed the training to be more light, but without losing strength, and that was the key preparation to getting my first PWA World Championship in 2010.
FAMILY
My wife, Manuela Jungo, is a professional kitesurfer. She is from Switzerland and she used to compete on the world tour for many years in the freestyle discipline. Now she is doing more strapless and she has started wing foiling too. It’s not easy to organise our time in the water with our son, Kona, but we are learning how with time. The best tip is to be in one place for a longer time rather than to do small trips of a few days. Having many things in the van doesn’t really help and another tip is to be very selective with both your own kit and things for your child and just bring what is necessary, otherwise you end up with the van full of stuff!
Kona likes the water so we have done some body surfing with him and also a bit of surfing while we were on Maui, Almerimar and also in Tenerife. He likes to do things for 5 to 10 minutes and then do something else!
We enjoy spending time with our parents in Almerimar and Switzerland. In Almerimar we live near the beach. We go biking, skating and our son Kona likes to play on the beach a lot, he loves the water, sand and rocks, so he is very easy going. In Switzerland, my wife Manuela´s parents have a farm so it’s great for our son to spend some time there because he loves all the animals like cows, ducks, alpacas, etc. and he is fascinated by the tractors when his grandad takes him on them.
DREAM EVENTS
There are 2 events that I would love to win, the Aloha Classic and Cape Verde. Unfortunately we don’t have these special events all the time, so there are not many chances to win them like Pozo, Tenerife or Sylt, but I have been preparing for those conditions a lot over the past few years because they are my favourite conditions and I have so much fun competing in them.
My dream event would be in proper wave riding conditions. I would really love to have an event at Topocalma in Chile with mast-high, long barrelling waves, and sailing on a 4.5 Duotone Super Hero and Fanatic Grip 82 litre. This is just an example, but I would not mind an event in many other places like Mauritius, Western Australia, Cape Verde, Peru and many other down-the-line spots.
BAD TRIP
My first ever trip away from Europe was to Puerto Rico when I was 15 years old, when Oxbow clothing invited me to their photo shoot with the other team riders. I arrived at the airport and no one came to pick me up. I had no cell phone, but luckily a woman at the information desk at the airport helped me to contact my dad so he could call the Oxbow guy in Spain to tell the international team manager to pick me up the next day. Apparently they did not pick me up that day because the conditions were really good!
WORDS TO LIVE BY
Do what you like the most, don’t be too hard on yourself and share it with the people you love.