Born in Germany I grew up in San Diego, California for the first 6 years of my life. One of my childhood memories is body surfing and boogie boarding in the shore break. My family moved back to Germany in the early 90s. I pretty much forgot all about playing in the waves, since being landlocked I didn't get to see the ocean so much any more. It took 17 years until I rediscovered my love to the ocean. Back then I joined a couple of friends on a camping trip to France. One of the guys had a surf board with him and asked me if I wanted to give it a go. I immediatley felt comfortbale in the water and actually stood up on the board on my first wave. Ever since then surfing became a bigger and bigger part of my life. I started planning my vacations around surfing, learned more about all the different aspects of surf culture, and started shaping my own boards.  Then Back in 2014 I broke my neck in a playfight gone wrong. 1,5 years later I was visiting the Island of Oahu and lived on a boat in Ala Wai Boat Harbour, Waikiki. I sat there watching those perfect warm waves roll in, two weeks straight, wondering how and if I could surf them again. But I didn't have anybody whom I trusted enough to help me in the water in case something went wrong, so I just mindsurfed the waves, wondering how I would handle a wipeout, or if I could get through the white water without being able to duck through. One morning I rolled down the pier and saw a guy in a wheelchair under the shower at Rockpiles, and it was obvious that he'd just come in from surfing. So I immediatley rolled up to him and started bombarding him with all the questions I had. That guy was Zach Tapec, and he just answered: "I can tell you how I do it, but you know that every injury is different, so you'll have to figure it out yourself. Go to White Plains Beach next saturday and check out AccesSurf. They'll help you!" So I rented a 9' softtop and went to the beach on that saturday. It didn't take long and I was in the water, and after being pushed into a wave the first couple of times I finally caught a wave all by myself and surfed it all the way inside. I got to know all the people, and the rest of my stay I went out in the morning to surf with them. Back home I contacted the german surfing federation (yes, we have a surfing federation!) and asked them if they knew anything about adaptive surfing. They didn't, so I offered to set it up for them. That's 6 years ago, and just this year me and Fritzi Schulz, whom I met through that initiative, started an organisation called Open Ocean which specializes in inclusive and accessible surf trips to bring both adaptive and non-adaptive surfers together and surf. My injury turned my life upside down, but in the end it's just about what you make of it - I guess that goes for anything in life.

Ama las olas entre mas grandes mejor. Enamorado del mar y de la vida.

I am a german athlete, fully blind, who is living in Cologne and discovered surfing 2 years ago. I am very excited to take part at this event and to know a lot of interesting people.

I started surfing in June 2018 on a citywave in Germany. I progressed to riverwaves in 2019 and to the wavepool in 2021. Finally 3 weeks before the Pismo Beach Para Surfing World Championship I took my surfing to the ocean in Lanzarote. Therefore I am a total rookie.