English version follows
Karo van Tonder SA89 becomes the new SBT mascot with the nickname Karoredrocket and the Severne distributor in South Africa.
Thanks to the’ “Interference” Grand grand doer (Fabio’ Tampieri) RIWmag joined the enterprising South African professional for an interview.
RIWmag: Hi Karo, thank you for giving us this interview.
A large part of the Italian public has already’ seen darting through these ulti years in the Luderitz canal and not only. In the last few months, sharing your posts on the SBT group’ Multiplied by.
But for those few windsurfers who still don't know you well in which area from South Africa you live?
Karoredrocket: Thank you so much for the opportunity to appear in your magazine and share my experiences. My hometown is Langebaan, a small town on the west coast of South Africa where we have some of the most incredible windsurfing conditions for slalom, the wave, speed and freestyle.
RIWmag: When you started windsurfing and how did you become a professional athlete?
Karoredrocket: My father started teaching me how to windsurf when I was 12 years during our summer holidays. In those years we lived on the south coast and visited Langebaan once a year for the school holidays. Soon I became passionate about sport and when I became a teenager I took professional lessons. My instructor that time, Charl van Tonder, became my best friend and today we are happily married and we share our passion for sport! We moved to Langebaan, one of the best windsurfing destinations in the country, and we spent a lot of time in the water. My windsurfing skills have continued to improve from all the sessions. In 2016 I was contacted by Raphael Gardelli, an agent of Severne, to become a team rider after she saw me in the water during one of her trips to South Africa. I was extremely intrigued and grateful for this extraordinary opportunity and I caught her with open arms. I received some of the best race equipment, speed and wave of the world and I made my way through the ranks, competing locally and internationally; becoming women's slalom champion in South Africa, setting the African women's speed record in Luderitz and becoming the 5th fastest woman in the world in the 2019. While promoting this fantastic sport and my journey on my social media platforms, brands have started contacting me to become their ambassador and to avalanche from there to today I have an incredible following of support on my Facebook platforms, Instagram and YouTube where I promote my sponsors and share my journey and windsurfing lifestyle with the rest of the world.
RIWmag: Why did you choose this sport? What do you like about windsurfing?
Karoredrocket: I've been a sports fanatic since I was very young and my biggest dream was to be able to fly. Windsurfing was the thing that most led me to that feeling! I admired my father from an early age as he went up and down the lagoon and I knew this was what I wanted to do! I had a great privilege to have a dad who spent so much time teaching me this fantastic sport from a young age and I also met my husband during my windsurfing trip.
One of the best things for me about windsurfing is that when I'm in the water, I feel so close to Mother Nature and the elements. It makes me feel alive and shows me the perspective. To maintain control of all items, my whole mind is busy and focused. This aspect of windsurfing diverts my mind from the rest of the world and focuses it on the here and now. Windsurfing for me is not just a sport and a career, but also a lifestyle. I've had some of my most epic experiences and challenges on the water and during my trip I've met great people who have become part of my windsurfing family.
RIWmag: Lately you have become a Severne distributor in South Africa. How did you get to this new role?
Karoredrocket: In all the years I've been a brand ambassador and team rider for Severne, I have inspired many windsurfers in my community to use Severne equipment and become part of this fantastic sport. Here in South Africa, windsurfing is a very small sport and it's hard to get some of the best windsurfing equipment in the world. Because of our incredible windsurfing conditions that prevail from October to March and the huge interest in Severne materials in our community, Severne noted the growing market and the need for a constant and reliable supply chain of equipment in our country. They contacted me to start the Severne South Africa agency. Thewes de Boer, the deployment manager for Severne, has created a solid structure so that I am able to provide year-round equipment to our windsurfers here in South Africa. I am very fortunate to have built a great following over the years and my incredible connections within windsurfing communities, and this greatly contributes to my advantage in running an agency for Severne here in South Africa.
RIWmag: At the moment you also run on the boards of the Italian brand AV Boards. How and’ born out of this sponsorship?
Karoredrocket: Raphael Gardelli, who is also the organizer of the Luderitz Speed Challenge event, Aurelio Verdi introduced me and told me about the fantastic boards he designs. Aurelius then designed an AV board 37 for me to compete at the Luderitz Speed Challenge last year and I managed to climb the rankings with a giant leap to become the fifth fastest woman in the world with my record speed of 44,55 nodes on average on 500 m. Aurelius proposed to me to become a’ ambassador of her speed and slalom boards and I became part of the family of AV boards. Aurelio is attentive to detail and his many years of experience in the world of board shaping makes him one of the best shapers in the world of windsurfing. It's a huge privilege to be part of his fantastic team.
RIWmag: Windsurfing and’ a sport predominantly frequented by men. What do you think of this oddity’ numerically and how you deal with it? What are the relationships with other practicing girls?
Karoredrocket: I think one of the biggest misunderstandings in the windsurfing world is that you have to have a heavy muscle mass, strong, as a man to manage windsurfing equipment and compete internationally, especially when it comes to the slalom and speed sailing disciplines. Most women who surf are light weights compared to men. So sometimes women avoid the use of powerful and completely camberated regatta sails, because they might feel they don't have enough strength to handle them. Girls feel intimidated by these disciplines. One of my biggest goals on my platforms was to inspire other women and show them that you don't need brute force, big muscles or a high weight to enjoy these disciplines. The most important aspect for me in the competitive world with a light weight has always been my technique and my equipment. I managed to break an incredible speed record in Luderitz having been last year the lightest competitor of the event with the same winds that the guys faced with double my weight, and this is thanks to the technique and the experience of navigation.
This sport has evolved and developed so much over the years and today's best race and speed equipment is super light and maneuverable. This makes sport much more accessible and fun for lighter women like me.
I met some of the most amazing friends in the windsurfing world who today are like my family. We support, we encourage and learn from each other during the competition. Naturally, There’ always the strange case of negative experiences among some female surfers, However, I learned to use these situations to fuel my focus and fuel my performance. For me, being a professional athlete means not only considering your results, but also be an example of good sportsmanship that young windsurfers can inspire. Nothing beats great sportsmanship in the world of professional sport, whatever your titles are.
RIWmag: Why did you choose the discipline of speed? Going like this’ fast on the water doesn't scare you?
Karoredrocket: From a young age I have always admired the brave men and women who face those nuclear winds and set incredible speed records for their countries. With South Africa so far from where many of the major windsurfing events in Europe take place, with the Luderitz Speed Challenge right here on our doorstep, it was a no-brainer for me to accept the challenge and represent Severne and South Africa at this event. I've always been a little’ adrenaline junkie, so once I learned to deal with the channel, and’ became compelling! I also like that at the event I race against myself to improve my speeds. It's very rewarding when you work hard throughout the year to prepare your mind, your body and equipment for this huge challenge and have concrete results that reflect your windsurfing skills. Being the lightest speed rider in Luderitz last year and climbing to fifth place in the world was also a way to inspire more women of my size to face extreme challenges like these, regardless of the size of all the other riders around you. To be successful in speed you need to have a very strong mind. After 3 years of racing, I go out the other side with a lot more mental strength, perspective and intuition of before. This event changed me a lot as a professional athlete and this experience I could never have acquired without speed sailing in the scariest and fastest channel in the world.
RIWmag: Of all the disciplines of windsurfing, which you think are the most’ suitable to be practiced by girls?
Karoredrocket: I think being a man or a woman shouldn't be the factor that determines which discipline is right for you. You have to try all the disciplines and choose the ones you like the most! Lo Speed Sailing, for example, was known as a pretty discipline for very heavy male athletes. After competing there for 3 years as a woman with a light weight and having achieved great goals, I can definitely prove that if your mind is strong, your excellent technique and you have a passion and dedication to discipline and your goals, Speed Sailing is perfectly suited to girls of all sizes. The same applies to other disciplines. Going out in the waves has contributed a lot to my speed sailing and slalom technique, so I think it's better to be able to combine two or three disciplines, because one improves the other and makes you an all-round windsurfer.
RIWmag: Windsurfing remains a sport that is difficult to live professionally and to sustain itself economically. What do you think of this difficulty’ cosi’ intrinsic to this sport? You can live by working only with windsurfing or you also take care of other activities’ in order to achieve a sustainable economic situation?
Karoredrocket: In my country windsurfing is a very small sport and is not easily recognized by large companies, brands and sponsorships. It took me many years and a huge amount of hard work to get where I am now, doing windsurfing as a full-time job, promoting my sponsors and growing the sport as an agent for Severne. My advice to anyone who wants to make a living with windsurfing is to devote a lot of work to promoting themselves and the brands that represent themselves on social media as well as training for events and titles. You must be an expert in both fields to achieve the most sustainable success in professional sport. With my degree in food science, diplomas from personal training and chefs, I'm also attracting the fitness and health industries (health) on my platforms to get more visibility for my sponsors, attract more women to my platforms and also inspire them to start windsurfing!
RIWmag: Lately you've become the SBT mascot. What do you think of this facebook group and its leader The Grand one?
Karoredrocket: I feel very privileged to join the SBT family and become a mascot! I think it's important to keep windsurfing a fun sport and make people laugh and enjoy the light side of the sport! This group focuses on fantastic windsurfing content, old-school humor, relevant news in the world of windsurfing and fun. Groups like SBT make windsurfing easier to recognize, funny and unique.
I am thrilled to be the face of this group and to contribute positively to the world of windsurfing. Grand grand doer is a very passionate windsurfer and has a great perspective on the world of windsurfing. For me and’ stato estremamente di supporto e mi ha motivato in tutto ciò che faccio. È un piacere lavorare con il Nonno ed entrare a far parte della sua famiglia di windsurf. Ammiro il suo coraggio nel mostrare al mondo che il freestyle non ha limiti di età!
English Version
Karo van Tonder SA89 becomes the new SBT mascot with the nickname Karoredrocket and the distributor Severne in South Africa.
Thanks to the “interference” by Nonno (Fabio ‘Tampieri), RIWmag reached the young enterprising South African professional girl for an interview.
RIWmag: Hello Karo, thanks for giving us this interview.
Much of the Italian public has already seen you whiz in the last few years in the Luderitz channel and beyond. In recent months, the sharing of your posts on the SBT group has multiplied.
But for those few windsurfers who don’t know you well yet, which area from South Africa do you live in?
Karoredrocket: Thank you so much for the opportunity to feature in your magazine and to share my experiences. My home town is Langebaan, a small West Coast town in South Africa where we have some of the most amazing windsurf conditions for slalom, wave, speed and freestyle.
RIWmag: When did you start windsurfing and how did you become a professional athlete?
Karoredrocket: My dad started teaching me how to windsurf when I was 12 years old during our summer holidays. That time we lived on the South Coast and visited Langebaan once a year for the school holidays. I soon became hooked onto the sport and when I became a teenager, went for professional lessons. My instructor that time, Charl van Tonder, became my best friend and today we are happily married and share our passion for the sport! We moved to Langebaan, one of the best windsurf destinations in the country, and spent a lot of time one the water. My windsurf skills continued improving from all the sessions. In 2016 I was approached by Raffaello Gardelli, an agent for Severne, to become a team rider after he saw me on the water on one of his trips to South Africa. I was extremely excited and grateful for this amazing opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. I received some of the worlds best racing, speed and wave gear and worked my way up the ranks, competing locally and internationally; becoming SA female slalom champion, setting the African female speed record at Luderitz and becoming 5th fastest woman in the world in 2019. As I promoted this amazing sport and my journey on my social media platforms, brands started approaching me to become their ambassador and it snowballed from there. Today I have an amazing supportive following on my Facebook, Instagram and YouTube platforms where I promote my sponsors and share my journey and windsurf lifestyle with the rest of the world.
RIWmag: Why did you choose this sport? What do you like about windsurfing?
Karoredrocket: I have been a sports fanatic since a very young age an my biggest dream was that I could fly. Windsurfing was the closest thing that got me to that feeling! I admired my dad from a very young age as he paced across the lagoon and I knew this is what I wanted to do! I was very privileged to have a dad who spent so much time teaching me this amazing sport from such a young age and also meeting my husband through my windsurf journey.
One of the best aspects for me about windsurfing is that when I am out there on the water, I feel so close to mother nature and the elements. It makes me feel alive and it gives me perspective. In order to stay in control of all the elements, my entire mind is occupied and focussed. This aspect of windsurfing takes my mind off the rest of the world and focus it on the here and now. Windsurfing for me is not only a sport and career, but also a way of life. I have had some of my most epic experiences and challenges on the water and I’ve met amazing people on my journey who became part of my windsurf family.
RIWmag: Lately you became Severne distributor in South Africa. How did you come to this new role?
Karoredrocket: Throughout all the years of being a brand ambassador and team rider for Severne, I inspired many windsurfers in my community to use Severne gear and to become part of this amazing sport. Here in South Africa, windsurfing is a very small sport and it is difficult to get hold of some of the world’s best windsurf gear. Due to our amazing windsurf conditions that prevails from October right through to March and the huge interest in Severne gear amongst our community, Severne took notice of the growing market and need for a constant and reliable gear supply chain to our country. They approached me to start up the Severne South Africa agency. Thewes de Boer, the distribution manager for Severne, created a solid structure so that I am able to provide gear all year round to our windsurfers here in South Africa. I am very fortunate to have built up a large following throughout the years and my amazing connections within the windsurf communities and this greatly contributes to my advantage in running an agency for Severne here in South Africa.
RIWmag: At the moment you also run on the boards of the Italian brand AV Boards. How was this sponsorship born?
Karoredrocket: Raphael Gardelli, who is also the organiser for the Luderitz Speed Challenge event, introduced me to Aurelio Verdi and told me about the amazing boards he designs. Aurelio then custom designed a 37 AV speed board for me to compete with at Luderitz Speed Challenge last year and I managed to climb the ranks with a giant leap to 5th fastest woman in the world with my record speed of 44.55 Knots average over 500m. Aurelio approached me to become an ambassador for his speed and slalom boards and I became part of the AV boards family. Aurelio has attention to detail and his many years of experience in the board shaping world makes him one of the best shapers in the world of windsurfing. It is a huge privilege to be part of his amazing team.
RIWmag: Windsurfing is a sport mainly frequented by men. What do you think about this numerical disparity and how do you deal with it? What are the relationships with the other windsurf girls?
Karoredrocket: I think that one of the biggest misconceptions out there in the world of windsurfing is that you need to have a heavy, strong, muscle bulk build like a man to manage the windsurf gear and compete internationally – especially when it comes to slalom and speed sailing disciplines. Most women who sail are light weights in comparison to men. So sometimes women would steer away from using powerful, full cambered race sails, because they may feel that they do not have enough strength to handle those sails. They feel intimidated by these disciplines. It has been one of my greatest aims on my platforms to inspire other women and show them that you dont need brute force, big muscles or a heavy weight in order to enjoy these disciplines. The most important aspect for me in the competitive world as a light weight has always been my technique and my gear. I managed to break amazing speed record at Luderitz as the lightest competitor at the event last year in the same winds guys double my weight took on, due to technique and sailing experience.
This sport has evolved and developed so much over the years and the top race and speed gear of today is super light and manoeuvrable. This makes the sport so much more accessible and enjoyable for the lighter weight females like us.
I have made some of the most amazing girl friends in the windsurf world who are like my family today. We support, encourage and learn from each other while competing. Of course, there would always the odd case of negative experiences amongst certain female windsurfers, however, I’ve learned to use these situations to stoke my fire and fuel my performance. For me, being a professional athlete means that you are not only considering your results, but also being an example of good sportsmanship that young windsurfers can look up to. Nothing beats great sportsmanship in the world of professional sport, no matter what your titles are.
RIWmag: Why did you choose the discipline of speed? Doesn’t going so fast on the water scare you?
Karoredrocket: Since a young age I’ve always admired the brave men and women taking on those nuclear winds and setting amazing speed records for their countries. With South Africa being so far away from the where a lot of the major windsurfing events happens in Europe, with the Luderitz Speed Challenge right here on our doorstep, it was a no-brainer for me to take up the challenge and represent Severne and South Africa at this event. I have always been a bit on an adrenalin junky, so once I got the hang of the channel, it becomes addictive! I also love that at the event I am competing against myself to improve my speeds. It is very rewarding when you work extremely hard throughout the year to get your mindset, body and gear ready for this huge challenge and have concrete results that reflects your abilities as a windsurfer. Being the lightest speed sailor at Luderitz last year and climbing right the 5th world position was also a way for me to inspire more women my size to take on extreme challenges like these, no matter the size of everyone around you. In order to succeed at speed sailing, you need to have a very strong mind. After 3 years of competing there I come out on the other side with so much more mental strength, perspective and insight than before. The event has changed me in a very good way as a professional athlete and this experience I would never have gained through anything else other than speed sailing in the worlds scariest and fastest channel.
RIWmag: Among all the windsurfing disciplines which do you think are more suitable for girls to practice?
Karoredrocket: I believe your gender should not be the factor that determines which discipline would be suitable for you. You should try all the disciplines and choose the ones you enjoy most! Speed sailing, for example, has been known as a very heavy-weight, male-dominant discipline. After competing there for 3 years as a light-weight female and achieving big goals, I can definitely prove that if your mind is strong, your technique excellent and you have a passion and dedication towards the discipline and your goals, it is perfectly suitable for females or all shapes and sizes. The same goes for the other disciplines. Wave sailing contributed greatly to my speed sailing and slalom sailing technique, therefore I believe its best if you can combine two or three disciplines, because the one improves the other and makes you a very well-rounded windsurfer.
RIWmag: Windsurfing remains a difficult sport to live professionally and to maintain financially. What do you think of this intrinsic difficulty in this sport? Do you manage to live by working only with windsurfing or do you also take care of other activities in order to obtain a sustainable economic situation?
Karoredrocket: In my country windsurfing is a very small sport and is not easily recognised by big companies, brands and sponsorships. It took me many years and massive amounts of hard work to build up to where I am now, doing windsurfing as a full time job, promoting my sponsors and growing this sport as an agent for Severne. My advice to anyone who wants to make a living off windsurfing is to put just as much work in promoting yourself as a brand on social media as you are training for events and titles. You need to be an expert in both fields in order the get the most sustainable success in professional sport. With my degree in Food Science, Personal training and Chef diplomas, I am also attracting the fitness and health industries to my platforms in order to gain greater exposure for my sponsors, attract more females to my platforms and also inspire them to start windsurfing!
RIWmag: Lately you have become the SBT mascot. What do you think of this facebook group and of its leader Nonno?
Karoredrocket: I feel very privileged to become part of the SBT family and mascot! I think that it is important to keep windsurfing a fun sport and to make people laugh and enjoy the light side of the sport! This group is all about awesome windsurfing content, proper old-school humour, relevant news within the world of windsurfing and fun. Groups like SBT makes windsurfing more relatable, entertaining and unique.
I am stoked to be the face of this group and contribute in a positive way to the world of windsurfing. Nonno is a very passionate windsurfer and has a great outlook on the world of windsurfing. He has been extremely supportive and has motived me in everything I do. It is a pleasure working with Nonno and becoming part of his windsurf family. I admire his courage to show the world that freestyling has no age limit!
interview: www.RIWmag.com
photo: Joos Bester, Stefan Scaky, Pep Bonnet, New10, Louise du Plessis, courtesy Karo van Tonder SA89
