Sports in The City - European RS:X World Championship ~ Windsurfing

Shahar Zubari just won the European windsurfing championship. Nice going for this young Israeli! [results] [Zubari - Wikipedia]

The 2009 European RS:X Championship (windsurfing finals) is in Tel Aviv this week. But for most beach goers on Tel Aviv's beaches this is just a jumble of sails on the horizon. Not that windsurfing is not a big thing here, after all Shahar Zubari was Israel's only Beijing Olympic medal winner (bronze). Not that Tel Aviv ignores international events in the city, they are announced weeks and months in advance and televised and reported in the national media (Haaretz article). So what is it? Tel Aviv simply has too much things to offer, the city is buzzing with activity specially summer on the beach, there is too much to do. Everyone has their own packed lives and weekends are for sunning on the beach for some Tel Avivians, there are just so many hours in the day tans have to be maintained and bikinis to watch and be watched. Anyway, the windsurfing event was here and a few fans gathered on the marina breakwater to watch on Friday and Saturday (June 19th and 20th). I can't tell you about the other days.

Twenty two countries are represented in the championship, mostly European with Canada, "Taipai", Hong Kong and Israel thrown in. The audience was light and enthusiastic, good to see Israelis interested in the sport. We were watching from the breakwater about 1/4 km away from the race buoys. Once the starting horn sounded the race seem like a complete chaos. I have to admit that this is not my sport, but I did look at the race notes before it started and figured out which buoys mark the course. With a set of binoculars you could follow the sailors and everything was clearly visible. My small digital camera was not enough to get a close shots of the racers, next time I will be better prepared. The weather was perfect with light wind, this give Zubari and advantage, he is a light wind windsurfer. The surfers from all over the world were somewhat surprised to be in the middle of a bustling city for the most part windsurfing races are heald in remote beaches with not more than a beach resort amenities. Overhearing some of the contestants was interesting. Most were totally surprised by the layed back feeling in the marina and along the beach. The marina is open to the public and the beach is meters away from a variety hotels and restaurants. The beach is dotted with people coming and going, from the water everything seems calm, like any Mediterranean resort town. Two Spaniards were wondering where is all the noise and bickering you hear on CNN? I wanted to jump in and give the standard Israeli "the media is one big conspiracy to make Israel the bad guy" speech, but than again these are athletes and they are here for a race. Let them get their own impression just by walking, listening and watching Tel Aviv's beach.