On Thursday, the 28th of September 2023, we – Mr. Köpke’ s international class BG 23A had the pleasure to go on a day trip to Sylt together with the BG 23D from Mrs. Köpke to experience the world-wide biggest Windsurf World Cup with 200,000 spectators.
We started early and took the train from Flensburg to Westerland, Sylt. As we arrived, we first go an impression of the location, then at 1 p.m. Mr. Jörg Elias of “Sylter Tourismus Center” welcomed us. He has been the main organizer of the event for decades and could explain the beneficial connection between the World Cup and the tourism on the island in general (goal: extension of the tourist season), but also shared stunning information on the total costs (a budget of 2 million Euros is needed to cover all costs including the prize money of €120,000), and how such big project is still possible in challenging times. We also got detailed information on sponsoring, costs for the exhibitors – which explains why Max needed to pay €12 for a burger – and the general processes to pull off the World Cup.
Afterwards, we got a guided tour by Mr. Elias, in which he explained in some detail what needs to be considered when planning such an event, including the parties. That covered the lead time, technical and legal requirements. After the tour, we still had some time to interview the windsurfers – even talked to Sarah-Quita Offringa (current World Champion in Waves and Freestyle) and to take some pictures at the beach.
As a class, we shared a great experience which we will happily remember. We got the opportunity to learn a lot about such a huge event, and could find out which effects it has worldwide, also online with more than 1.8 billion contacts. And we learned a lot about windsurfing which is important when you are in Mr. Köpke´ s class…
