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About The WWA Goals Commitee Membership Text Event Notification Submissions Suggestions Logo and Brand Photo Gallery Contact Current Projects Coastal Highway Member Profiles Burkhard "Boogie" Vierth Bronwyn Ward Clayton Dougan Craig Mc Creary Gareth Wood Gary Mc Corry James Court Leland Le Breton Megan O'Donovan Tom Taylor Troy Purcel Will Thorp Chris "Woo" Norris Mark and Simone Hollenstein

Mark and Simone Hollenstein July 2004 Name: Age: Born in: Grew up: Lives in: Occupation: Years sailing: Spot sailed mostly: Favourite spots: -greater Wellington: - in New Zealand: - globally: Favourite move: Favourite food: Favourite music: My surf van is a: My equipment: Other activities: Results: Mark and Simone Hollenstein Both 34 Zuerich / Switzerland Oberwil / Switzerland Mark: Nomad status right now, somewhere in Switzerland Simone: Plimmerton New Zealand until end of July 2004- then probably Zurich region, hopefully near the lake! Mark: Forex consultant Simone: PA / enjoying life Mark: many, I think around 20 Simone: about 12 years Plimmi last 5 years, all but distant memory now unfortunately! Plimmerton, and Tora if its on Waitara and clean Kina Rd north Any good NZ wavespot by miles !!!! Mark: I think that will be the jybe for me from now on....@#!$ Simone: wave360, turning into buttom turn and up the wave face into a cutback (not that I can do that all but I just like the flow of it...) Mark: Wot moves, I have peaked 3 years ago, just trying to keep up level! Simone: vulcan and frontloop - no way near though but very determined. Mark: Pizza, meat, pasta…. Just discovered this joint in Zuerich which make an absolutely alltime burger. Simone: everything that Lawrence cooks and smoked butterfish from Rob Snow. Mark: Depends on mood. Anything from Industrial rock to 80’s music! Simone: anything apart from boys & chicks group music Mark: I am without wheels at mom, but used to be an all time Falcon, oh, and it will be for sale in a few weeks ! Simone: Ford Fairmont SW - maybe a Hiace bus in CH Both: Carbon Art boards, Gaastra sails - wave/freestyle gear.  Both: Mountainbiking rules, get a good bike and hit them singletracks !! Mark: Hardly worthwhile mentioning. Ed: - because he is always organising them! Simone: Hardly worthwhile mentioning. Ed: actually Simone has been kicking butt. 1st open womens in both the 2002 and 2003 Taranaki Wave Classic THE QUESTIONS: Tell us a bit about where you are from, how you two met, and how you got into windsurfing? Mark: This is going to be interesting, as I havent cross-checked my answers with Simone!   I am from Oberwil, tiny village 20 k north of Zuerich. I went to same school as Simone, hell, she was a hot chick (Still is of course!), a few years later met again, but took me about a year of all out effort for us to be together!  I got into windsurfing around ’84 through Markus, another swiss dude who lived in NZ for a while and whom many might know. Simone's Version: Grew up in a small country village where you could play in the forest for hours without having your mum worried. Went to school with Mark but never liked him as he wasn't sporty enough - not that he wasn't good at sport but he was more into tuning his motorbike and racing around in the village. Well, he changed A LOT! Figured that out when I met him at a party some years down the track. Mark was totally into skiing (later snowboarding) and I got soon fed up, sitting at the edge of the lake and waiting for him de-rigg his windsurfing gear. How did you end up to be living in Wellington, New Zealand and how long have you been here? Mark: Wanted to escape Switzerland but stay in business, windsurfing was definitely a factor. Not many places you can do that.  Went to check it out in ’97, loved it, tried to get the visa, which was nearly impossible and took ages (the immigration system NZ sucks by the way!), we have been living in NZ since late 1998. Simone: Loving the outdoors, it has always been a bit of a mission to go sailing, skiing or biking in CH. You ended up in traffic jams or people knocked you off the bike because they thought the track belonged only to them. And of course the population - it was and probably still is too crowded. We were looking for a balanced life where you can work but still have a life after work. First we had Canada in mind but realised that the winter might be a bit too harsh and after discovering New Zealand it just hit us. After living here for more than 5 years, I guess we had an awesome life after work but were missing out on the work side a bit. Balance is everything. What do you like most about the Wellington windsurfing scene? Mark: No posers. All down to earth, very friendly people. Simone: Fantastic, real people, who love what they do. Has the Wellington windsurfing scene changed much while you have been here? Mark: I think everything has got more relaxed, and everyone is truly having a good time out there.  There has also definitely been a shift towards wave / freestyle and general fun sailing as more and more are experiencing different aspects of windsurfing. I also think the politics have all but gone, no one really gives a toss anymore what gear the guy next to him is sailing, which is cool. Simone: Guess it has become a bit more relaxed. It's great to see windsurfers of all levels having fun out there no matter how good they are. I'm also impressed about how many women have taken up the sport. Go girls! What prompted you to set up the wellingtonwindsurfers website, arguably the best NZ windsurfing community website? Mark: Thanks ! I just thought it would be a cool thing to have an independent portal with all the info and guides and all on it, it was set up reasonably quickly actually, the updating of the contents was the major workload. Simone: Wasn't involved in setting up the site at all. Mark has got ants in the pants, so one day, he just sat down and built the site within a couple of days. Describe your best windsurfing experience Mark: I cant relate to any one best experience. Sure, I will remember all great Taranaki days until I suck the big kumara, but the key is, I have always enjoyed the windsurfing about the same regardless of the level I was at. The better you get, the bigger the conditions need to be to have the same fun, so in theory, you will experience less and less epic sails…? No, that cant be, now I am confused. Simone: Kina Rd. north break in light winds and moderate swell. It's been a while back but I remember riding those smooth waves without having to hang on to my sail too much. 3-4 buttom turns with hardly anyone around. It was one of the best sessions I had up there. Describe your worst windsurfing experience Mark: 1) Any 1 hour drive to lake to find hardly any wind, you try to go out but the wind is 3 knots to light to get planing on a 7.0 , you try for 1 hour, and you plane once. Then it starts raining and you drive home, only to get a speeding ticket. 2) A few years ago, Palliser bay, mid winter or something, 40 knots plus, hienously cold, huge swell, had enough after about 1 leg. (Woo didn’t even get out of the car) 3) The 10 times I tried kitesurfing. In fact that easily tops the list and is one thing I will never touch again in my life. Simone: Back in Switzerland, I started work very early to be able to leave around 4 pm to get to the lake in time. After getting stuck in the traffic jam (there are always road works around, no matter how good the roads are). Finally after arriving there, I first had to find a parking space and then had to carry my gear over the main road while watching out that I didn't get run over by a car; rigged up in a hurry on a small piece of grass along the motorway and as soon as I hit the water, the wind dropped. Yeah Andy, it doesn't just happen to you. It's a terrible feeling I can tell you. You feel like being kicked in the gut. It's even worse when everyone else is coming out of the water with a grin on their face...And maybe one day at Baileys Rd, Taranaki. There was a huge messy swell,and very strong winds, got trashed and had to swim for a long time to get to my gear and as soon as I could get hold of it, another monster spitted it a few metres away. Tried to hold on to it but nearly torn out my arm and I was thinking of sharks. Both of you are very keen and very good wavesailors, what attracted you to this dicipline? Mark: windsurfing has always been wavesailing. I can recall in ’87 or something, Mistral brought out their new brochure and all I looked at was the Mistral Hookipa and Mistral Diamond Head, the things that exited me was pictures of Robby Naish in waves and guys doing Cheese Rolls, that’s where its always been at for me. I still think it’s the king discipline, you got one element more than in the other disciplines, which is the wave and ocean swells, and it just adds a whole new dimension to the sailing. Simone: I remember when I went on holidays in Spain with my family when I was about 12 years old. My dad and I spent hours in the surf swimming, getting trashed onto the sand and laughing our head off. Coming from a landlocked country I was always fascinated by the sea, water in general. I just love the whole buzz around wavesailing - the roaring sound of the wave, the butterflies in my stomach, the search for a good wave and the thrill you get when you finally catch a good one and then of course riding the wave - it's just an awesome experience. Mark, you have been involved with organising a few major wavesailing contests while you have been here, including the TWC 02 & 03 and the Freewave,03 what motivated you to be involved with these contests? I guess I am somewhat competitive. I can go cycling with mates for ages, but every now and then I need to do a race, as it is exciting and really good fun. Whilst windsurfing is a lot less competitive, I always believed you can get the same kind of event atmosphere going, just in a different way, windsurfing events need to be more relaxed and fun oriented. I just liked being at the beach with mates and have something going on and happening, instead of everyone just going for a sail, packing up and going home again. Unfort. windsurfing events are a major nightmare to organize as conditons are always a hassle Mark in his favourite position at his favorite Wellington location - Plimmerton - pic B.Zuur Simone showing us who the boss at Didi's Cape Palliser Mark Enjoying Oahu's uncrowded wavesailing conditions on his way back to Switzerland. Simone in Action at the TWC 2003, Pungarehu - pic D.Mcfee Mark spinning through another forward at Plimmy - Pic B.Zuur Mark (red Board) in Maui - 2001 Simone Blasting at Seatoun around 2000 . Where would you like to go on a windsurfing holiday? Do you have any windsurfing holidays planned? Mark: Now that I am in Switzerland, if I want to do real wavesailing, I will need to come to NZ, who knows maybe we can arrange for an Xmas Taranaki trip from here in the next year or so.  From Europe we will most likely go to Morocco, Barbados or Cabo Verde, which has an epic wave apparently. Simone: I would love to go to CaboVerde at some stage and also checking out Cotillo on FuerteVentura. The last time I was there, I had to stay at the beach because it was too rough (could just waterstart). Finally, when will you be back? Will you be back? Mark: For a vacation, hopefully soon. Otherwise, it is impossible to tell. One cant rule out anything these days. Simone: Never say never but I don't think within the next few years. Settling down needs a lot of time and you don't want to do that every 5 years. But we'll be back for holidays, that's for sure! Do you have anything else you want to say to the Wellington windsurfing community? Mark: You guys have the best sailing just at your doorstep, we will miss it heaps. Thanks so much for all the support and friendship all of you have given us over the last 5 years, it is difficult coming to a country where you don’t know anyone, and to become as integrated as we were is not something one can take for granted. We really appreciated that. It’s a real shame not being able to sail with you guys anymore, but so is life, and really hope we will be able to pop around at some stage or meet somewhere or whatever. Looking forward to stay in contact with everyone! Simone: I've spent 5 of my best years here in New Zealand and it would not have been the same without you guys (my god that sounds cheesy but it's true!). Settling down and meeting people in a foreign country was so crucial and you all made that very easy for us. You're a great bunch of people and you will be missed! Editors comment: This months saliors were a no brainer to pick. Well, we still can't believe Mark is gone and Simone is going. In the five years they have been here they have become incredibly woven into the fabric of the Wellington windsurfing community and will leave a lasting impression on us. Mark is not only one of the best wavesailors in New Zealand, he has created the Wellington windsurfers website, organised local and national contests, motivated numerous wavesailing missions, and been a bloody good mate to a number of us. Simone mentions that Mark has ants in his pants. This is a good description for Mark's motivation and enthusiasm for everything he applies himself too. Mark has an idea and he does it, and does it really well. Mark has single handedly motivated most of our Wairarapa Coast expeditions, opening up new spots and spots last sailed during the late eighties and early nineties. Don't be fooled by Simone's modesty. She has become arguably the best women sailor in New Zealand, winning both the 2002 and 2003 womens open class of the Taranaki Wave Classic. It is not hard to see why. Simone is always in the thick of it no matter how big, windy, heavy or tricky the conditions are. Whether its mast high, gale force Pungarehu or huge heaving Tora, if the boys go out, she's out and she's thriving. There is only one way to describe how we feel about Mark and Simone leaving. . . . . .

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