Camille Juban wins the 2022 IWT Fiji Pro

Camille Juban wins the 2022 IWT Fiji Pro

AV-Bords rider Camille Juban takes a spectacular victory on the first windsurfing event ever done on the legendary waves of Kurukuru Mailani, aka, Cloudbreak, in Fiji Islands.

Photos by Fish Bowl Diaries courtesy International Windsurfing Tour

All the AV-Boards family is celebrating the great victory and the outstanding rides displayed by the wave guru from Guadeloupe. This event in Fiji is so far the apex of wavesailing worldwide, and having Camille on the top it’s like a dream come true.

These are the words of our hero right after his gorgeous performances in Cloudbreak waves:

“I’m super happy about the contest! It was the first time that we had a windsurfing contest in such legendary wave! It’s always kind of dream for me to compete in those kind of waves, so taking the victory it means a lot for me and it was great! I was expecting a little bigger waves for the final and I really want to make a show and make big aerials and stuff, but I had some good ones already and I’m super happy!

A big BRAVO! to the local organizers since it was a super special event, because you have to go by boat and this means a really different organization than a normal contest, as the reef was outside the coast and it was 40 minutes boat ride every time to go! So that also make it super special, and when you go on the boat and you see the wave from far then you get excited. And being with all the guys and the crew in these moments was super good. And as I said, to compete in that contest it was really sick!

Contest wise, in the first round somehow I was not really into it and I didn’t had the good riding yet, so I was second and Morgan (Noireaux) won the first heat. And then on the same day we did the semi-finals and in my semi-final I felt better and the waves were really good. I sailed a little bit better, so I won that heat and I was really happy about that. And this just got me the riding and I tried to kept the riding for the next two days, because the final was two days later. Then in the final I just gave everything I had, because it was very important for me to win that event, and I just wanna to prove to myself also that I still can win in down the line conditions. And you know, being on that spot before gave me a little advantage that helped me a lot in the final to choose the right waves and to do what I had to do to win.”

But if you want to understand to the full what Camille was able to do during the final, you have to read the report that Bernd Roediger wrote for the IWA website:

“…The person closest to center stage has to be Camille Juban. A stylish surfer and windsurfer, who managed to be in tune with the sets of the day throughout the trip. His relationship with Kurukuru Mailani runs deeper than the rest of us, they have history and it shows. Camille was our unofficial guide to this wave from the very first windsurf sessions, we all instinctively fell in behind him to watch how he was flowing with the wave. It was his prior trip to Fiji and his windsurfing exploits at Cloud break that captured our imaginations and led us to this place, this event. He recreated that magic for us everyday, and though it made for a daunting challenge competitively (and was just a bit annoying in terms of how easy he made this wave look). All competitors could agree that it was a privilege to watch Camille.

His performance during the final was nothing short of miraculous. We ran a 40 minute final but Camille had us wrapped up in a battle for second after only a few waves ridden. The conditions were challenging, messy waves and shifting wind directions. I personally had a shocker heat just trying to find a rhythm in the disjunct surf. If you were to watch me alone, you’d have seen that it was a pretty dismal day. But to watch Camille was to see those conditions in their best possible light, as he roped into the cleanest waves with the longest walls and the best opportunities for scores. He drove deep bottom turns on waves that seemed to come out from under our noses, projecting his signature skyrocketing aerials over the most dangerous shallow reef sections that we have come to lovingly know as “shish kebabs”. Many of my battens have broken there, in that sullen coral graveyard, and I have lost much skin there in vain attempts to resurrect my gear. If you can make the dangerous, the unapproachable and the confusing into something fun and compelling, then you have done the work of an artist. To watch Camille Juban sail Cloudbreak was to watch art in motion. …”