Right into action
After spending the full winter of 2020 in Western Australia for her winter training, Severne rider Lina Erpenstein left the Australian summer to attend to her studies in Germany. She was greeted at home with a big storm. The winter wetsuit and the boots were ripped out of the closet and she was right back on the water in the freezing conditions.
Story by Lina Erpenstein
Photos by “Bulgenslag”
After passing over 3 months in Western Australia for my 2020 winter training I flew back to Germany to get back to my studies. Arriving back home, it felt unreal, that just a few days ago I was still sailing in the Australian summery Indian Ocean.
But there was no time to rest, as the Baltic Sea was calling, with a storm hitting us this Tuesday with 50kn+ forecasted. I unpacked my 3/2 wetsuit and summer clothes, tore the 6/5mm out of the basement and after that, I turned the whole house upside down to find my boots and gloves in some corner behind the wardrobe. Luckily all my gear had made it through the travels with me, so I was ready to go and chase some storms.
Driving through the forests with bare trees I thought about all the times I had done that drive already and how many fun sessions had followed. When I arrived at the spot it was howling and some up to head high waves were coming through.
Fully excited I rigged my 3.3 S-1 and Nano 72l and after taking quite some time to put on the wetsuit and all the necessary accessories I was ready to go. It had been a while since I felt that cold burn in my face and the rain on my skin, but I was loving it!
It was nuking, making it hard to even sail in a straight line. That was surely the windiest I have ever sailed on the Baltic Sea! (Later on, I saw that the wind meter had measured 54 knots!)
After some rain showers, the wind dropped a tiny bit and the waves cleaned up. We ended up having a perfect session with super fun waves and some jumps. After all the summer sailing this felt like a completely different sport, but none the less fun!
Towards the evening the sun came out for a little glimpse through the drizzling rain on the horizon, throwing a full rainbow over the Baltic Sea – Wow.. home can be so stunning! After a couple of hours, we came off the water, super happy and exhausted from the cold. Luckily Frithjof from Bulgenslag was there to share the session and capture some of the fun moments in pictures – Thank you!
What a nice welcome back to Home Sweet Home!
You can stay up to date with the latest from Lina’s world by following her social media channels:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linaerpenstein/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erpensteinlina/
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