Winter Surf Worlds 2020 in Pärnu
December 12, 2019
The 2020 Winter Surfing World Championships WISSA will be held from 10th to 15th February in Pärnu, Estonia. This is the jubilee competition: the Winter Surfing World Championship is being held for the 40th time, being one of the longest-running surfing competitions in the world. This is the seventh international winter surfing event in Estonia. Latest international events there were World Championship 2016 and European Championship 2019.
Approximately 150 participants are expected to show colours in Pärnu Bay in the classes of sled (both with skates and with skiis), kite and wing. The sled and wing class compete in slalom, course race and speed disciplines. Kite classes have competitions in course race, speed and the new freestyle discipline. According to the Race Director Tõnis Kask, the most spectacular are the kites freestyle and sled-wing slalom: "These disciplines will be scheduled for the windiest days of the race week. Due to the high level of participants in the World Championships, it is difficult to say who will be the World Champions and if any title will stay in Estonia."
WISSA 2019, course race. Photo: Enda Pärisma
The patron of the World Championship organized by the Estonian Yachting Clubs is winter surf guru Kalev Allikveer, who has been a promoter of this sport for over 40 years. Winter surfing was born in Estonia. It began in the harsh Soviet times when, in 1976, Jüri Plisnik, a sailing sports enthusiast, and Jaak Kaldjärv and Tõnu Toomara designed their own winter windsurf-like riding gear. This is how the first competition class for winter surfing was born - the ski sled. In forty years the ski sled and the whole sport has changed a lot. The competition class for wings and kites has been added, and different sleds have in use according to the ice and snow conditions.
The 2020 Winter Surf World Championship is supported by Androna, Palms, Metallituba, Flaka, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Strand Hotel and the City of Pärnu.
Event website: WISSA 2020
Event Facebook: FB WISSA 2020
