Forerunner of windsurfing
How does one become a 25-time windsurf? world champion at almost 50 years of age? "There's no secret, otherwise there'd be a lot of people setting records." begins Antony.
Coming from a sailing family, Antoine Albeau was born in the 70's, at the same time as the arrival of windsurfing in the world. His father was a forerunner in the field as he was one of the first sailors, and opened a sailing school on the Ile de Ré, which Antoine and his wife now manage.
"In the '80s and '90s, it was the euphoria of windsurfing. Everybody was either windsurfing or boating. There was a lot of activity, both at our school and at other schools, with a lot of people going."
A career of competition
Practicing from a very young age, Antoine started competing at the age of 10/11 in all the clubs in the region and won every victory in his category. He followed this up with a sport-study in La Rochelle.
"I had a real Olympic coach, did a lot of training, a lot of tune-ups. The first few years were not easy. I won my first minor French championship at Port Camargue in 1986, and won a few French titles after that."
Always more efficient, despite the arrival of new faces on the circuit, Antoine Albeau keeps the motivation to continue.
"It's clear that if a few years ago I was fighting to be in the top 5 or 6, it wouldn't have been the same. My level is such that I continue to be in the forefront."
With the health crisis, the year 2020 has been very difficult for sportsmen and women. All the competitions on the circuit have been cancelled and the horizon for 2021 is still unclear, even if training resumes.
A new record project
But now the windsurfer has set himself a new challenge: break the speed record for sailing on water thanks to the Zephir project .
"This Zephir project gives me another motivation: to do something else, to set another goal, to go as fast as possible, faster than my previous records. It's perfect timing because I wanted to stop the World Cup circuit. Things are moving forward. We can't go on for years either. It's a difficult sport because it's very professional. We don't have a lot of money either. We're our own conductor and we take care of everything: training, travel preparations, trips, preparation of equipment... This project offers me a new approach with a pole of people doing different tasks. In the end, I will only be the actor. I will focus on the record, the focus. I'm going to be the sportsman who's only going to do the preparation."
Nevertheless, Antoine should participate in the 2021 Windsurfing World Cup:
"I'll do the world cup stages if they're taking place. With the arrival of the foil last year, we had to do mixed slalom events with foil and fin. I wanted to compete in events like this, but since that didn't happen, I'd like to do it this year."
