Geraldton adventure for Euro champion

The first-ever European women’s wave-sailing world champion is no stranger to the Mid West. Lina Erpenstein, a windsurfing competitor from Germany who sails for WA-based Severne Sails, used to live in Geraldton, and says she would not mind moving back. “It’s warm, it’s so consistently windy,” she told the Geraldton Guardian. “It’s one of the best places to train in the world.” Erpenstein was speaking in an interview over the summer, during a break from training. She also travelled to Gnaraloo and other wind-and-water spots in WA during the season. She said she was a medical student in Germany, and said she would consider doing a hospital placement in Geraldton in order to spend more time in the city. She previously worked at a cafe in the central business district in order to allow her to windsurf. “I really wanted to have the base in Geraldton (for) its consistency,” Erpenstein said. “I enjoy the foreshore, the cafes, and the good coffee. The beaches are amazing.” Erpenstein said when she was applying for the job, windsurfing was part of what helped her get hired. “I was lucky, because the owner of (the cafe) was a windsurfer and he saw it on my CV,” she said. “The team found out. I was always disappearing in the afternoons.” Erpenstein said she first competed in 2015 and every year since then. She is a wave sailor and also does freestyle, but does not compete in the second discipline. “What makes Coronation (beach) so unique is that it’s a place you can train freestyle and waves,” she said. “There are people just starting, and people doing double front loops.” She has two years of medical school and a year of practice. After spending more than three months in WA for her “winter” training, Erpenstein has returned to Germany, to her studies and windsurfing on the Baltic.