The 2024 Defi Wind took place from May 9th to 12th in Gruissan, in the south of France. It was the biggest windsurfing event of the season hosting 1500 windsurfers excited to race. The plan was clear: a 40km long course with several jibes. Unfortunately, the famous Tramontana didn’t show up. Despite this, the participants enjoyed a full program on the shore and had a chance to visit our Starboard booth. We displayed our 2024 board range, allowing everyone to have a closer look at our freeride and freerace boards. In the end, two Fun Races were raced with a light wind. Congratulations to our Dream Team rider, Matteo Iachino for taking respectively first place in the Men Overall category.
Matteo about the 2024 Defi Wind:
“I’m really happy to win. In the end, it’s always better to win than to lose. We were unlucky because the Tramontana didn’t come, so we didn’t have official Defi Wind races. We had one day with some onshore, side-onshore light winds and we did two races. One in a slightly stronger breeze and one in a really light breeze. I managed to win these light wind races. It certainly feels super good to win there with so many people in the water and a strong fleet of pros.
As I said, it’s not an official race, so it’s not 1500 people planning up and down for 40 kilometers. We did a shorter course, but it’s still a really good race to win. After the win in the speed foil and a good performance on the speed, it’s good to start the season like this. I was using the Starboard X-15 85 with the 8-meter sail in the first race and with the 9-meter sail in the second.”
Photo Credit: Defi Wind
