From the very beginning

The Severne brand has been a part of Maaike Huvermann’s windsurfing career from the very early days. This year marks the fourteenth year of Maaike riding Severne. Nowadays Maaike rides on both Severne sails and boards, is vice freestyle world champion, and has already racked up countless national and international podium finishes during her career.

Here is Maaike’s story in her own words.

This year marks the fourteenth year of windsurfing on Severne gear for me. It’s been an adventure and I would never have guessed what windsurfing was going to bring me when I first started out. Severne has played a key role in my development as a windsurfer and is deeply rooted in my identity as a windsurfer. So, I thought it would be a good moment to look back and reflect on the past years.

When I first started windsurfing and had all the basics down, it was time to find an upgrade from my triangle sail. My parents found me a complete 3.8 kids rig that looked like a regular wave sail. I was excited at first, cause most of the other kids that were planning had similar sails. But when I first tried it, I could barely get it out of the water, so it created a love-hate relationship with the sport. I would see the guys in the pool rip it up and it motivated me so much, yet I could barely lift the sail up.
On a windy day, I rented an XS-1 (which now is the Redback) and it changed the whole experience of windsurfing for me because I could handle the sail. I didn’t have to worry about weight, I could pull it out of the water with ease and could do light wind tricks in no time. Ultimately, I am 100% confident, I would not have continued to keep windsurfing if it wasn’t for the lightweight Severne Sails.
Being on similar gear as the pros and progressing quickly, it suddenly made the moves they were doing reachable. It fuelled a passion in me that, since that moment, I have never lost. I like looking back at photos because it makes me realise how much I’ve developed, but I still go out with the same mindset as I did back then.

What’s even crazier is the development of the gear over the years and the possibilities that it has created. The S-1 was great for learning the basics of freestyle, but the introduction of the FREEK freestyle sail really changed the freestyle game. The FREEK made ducking and preparing for moves so much easier, because of its flat and neutral nature. With the switch to 5-battens, the wind range of the sail was also increased significantly. This way you can carry much more power into the moves and create lots of lift and explosivity.

For me, it made learning the first power moves much easier and I progressed much quicker than before. Getting the extra bit of control on the duck gives you that extra bit of balance and time that you need when learning new moves. And of course, it created the opportunity for the pros to go for big airs and double power moves. I remember coming home from school and checking Continentseven to see if anyone had landed a new move. So cool to see how much people have pushed the sport and how far we’ve come.

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