Interview with Maciek Rutkowski - POL-23 - TEAM - GAASTRA / TABOU

JH: Hi Maciek, welcome to the team! You must be stoked!
MR: Thanks a lot! I’m super happy and relieved to finally have this public. The negotiations have been long and I always try to make a decision like that as consciously as possible analysing every pro and con etc etc so it’s been a pretty gruelling process. And than after we agreed in December I couldn’t tell anyone for almost a month so that was pretty hard, too! Good times only from here on out, though!
JH: You used to ride for GA / Tabou at a national level back in 2010. What made you want to look for new opportunities and want to join the international GA / Tabou team?
MR: Yeah that was a great two years back in 2010 and 11. I won my first Youth World title, went on tour for the first time, won my first PWA heat and got my first looser final all with Gaastra/Tabou, so I definitely have some good memories! After the 2015 season I felt like I needed a change for various reasons and GA/Tabou with 3 guys in the top6 was definitely something I could pass up on looking into! Then in November I went to Tarifa and tried the gear and from there on I was sold and 100% confident it’s the best choice!
JH: And how do you compare the performance of the current 2016 Gaastra ‘Vapor' and Tabou ‘Manta' compared to when you used them 5 years ago?
MR: Oh, the gear has changed soo much. First of all 2010 was the last year of Dan Kaseler designs and 2011 was the first of Peter’s so already from 2010 to 2011 there were big differences. Now with Benny v/d Steen on the development team since a few years it’s simply another planet and the 2016 sails are truly outstanding. As for the boards Fabian kept this unique feel the Tabous always had this kind of comfortable almost “wavey” kind of feeling were you know the board is gonna go thru any rough parts of the course smoothly and turn super tight around the mark if you want it to. So to keep that and make it twice as fast from 2011 until now is pretty remarkable!
JH: You are still considered to be very young compared to the average age of the PWA Slalom sailors. How do you see the future of the PWA Slalom tour and developments in equipment?
MR: Haha, I actually don’t see myself as a young guy anymore. I feel right at home on tour and probably the older guys don’t like it so much, but I feel kind of on the same level as them. I think it’s the only way to beat them. Respect their strengths and experience, learn from their moves, but don’t think they’re untouchable! I think PWA Slalom will go more and more towards a live streamed show it’s slowly becoming. I would even personally like to see an obstacle or two to jump over on the windy days in Fuerte! As for the gear it’s really hard to predict. There is quite a few aerodynamic and hydrodynamic solutions that in theory should kick ass in windsurfing slalom, but somehow they don’t. But a revolution will probably come sooner or later, just no idea what it will be this time. And for now, we just continue to work on the gear step by step, to make it faster, yet easier, more comfortable, better to jibe etc etc.
JH: Did you consider 2015 to have been a successful year for yourself on the PWA tour?
MR: Not really. Coming off of a 16th in 2014 the expectations were pretty high and I guess that was part of the problem as well. I had a shocker in Costa Brava and from that point on I felt I had catching up to do and couldnt afford any mistakes. I was top5 in Turkey for 5 days of the event but couldn’t hold onto it and in Sylt we had just one elimination and I went out in the quarters, which put me down to like 20th on the ranking. After that I decided to call it a year and refocus for 2016. Stayed at home, trained physically like a madman and just made sure I do all the right steps so that 2016 is gonna be much better. Joining GA / Tabou is definitely one of those steps!
JH: Slalom can be quite a adrenaline fuelled affair with tempers occasionally rising. There is a very amusing photo of yourself with your new team manager, Ross Williams, where he has you by the scruff of the neck after a disagreement on the race course. Tell us a little about that and how you anticipate team manager / team rider relations to fair for 2016?
MR: Yeah, haha that photo is pretty classic! And it’s funny because myself and Ross are actually good friends ever since I joined the tour and this was pretty much the only argument we ever had. And the day after we both apologised, hugged it out and it made our relationship even better. So absolutely no worries there!
JH: What are your ambitions for the 2016 season?
MR: I just wanna keep improving, getting better and race to the best of my abilities. If I get of the water and feel like I was at only 60% of my max performance level I absolutely hate it. It’s not that I’m not trying it’s just that it’s super hard to be at a 100% over a 7-month, 7-event season. That’s were the physical and mental training I’ve been doing should help a ton! And if I’m gonna be at my 100% I know the results will come, and I mean like really good results. So that’s pretty much the goal - maximise.
JH: From everyone at GA / Tabou we wish you a successful season!