APP World Tour Gran Canaria Pro-AM: Fireside chat with windsurfing legend & event partner Björn Dunkerbeck

Get ready for some serious carving as the APP World Tour returns for the third time to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to host the #1 stop of the World Surfing Tour. In the run up to the event held between 19th and 27th November, TotalSUP caught up with Björn Dunkerbeck, ocean athlete, windsurfing legend, numerous world speed records holder and partner of the APP World Tour Gran Canaria Pro-Am.

Hi Björn, welcome to TotalSUP! You’ve been pushing the limits and breaking records in watersports for a while now (42 Windsurfing World Championship titles alone!) What keeps driving you and what would life be without watersports?

Watersports are a big part of my life…SUP, wave and racing, windsurfing, free riding, foiling – all of it! Also Windsurfer LT and all other fun stuff such as long board surfing and diving with and without bottles.

Could you tell us more about life in Gran Canaria and your BD Surf School? Is SUP a big part of your offering now?

We do all watersports in three centres we have here on Gran Canaria and Bonaire, BD Surf School & Shop, Dunkerbeck Windsurf Center and the Dunkerbeck Pro Centre. SUP is the easiest way to start any watersport and a perfect training for windsurfing providing lots of fun for everyone on any type of water!

Will we be losing you to wingfoiling / foiling anytime soon?

No for sure not but I can do it as well 😉 I do however prefer windsurf foiling and fin power!

Could you tell us about your involvement with the APP World Tour?

We’ve organised the APP World Tour Wave finals three times here on Gran Canaria (Junior, Men and Women) and we plan to do this every year at the end of November and beginning of December. There’s always good waves and great temperature here with 20-25 degrees in Winter and 25-30 in Summer – So you’ve got a 365-day water action for all disciplines.

Could you tell us more about the upcoming Gran Canaria Pro-Am event?
The Gran Canaria Pro-Am takes place right on the beach of Gran Canaria’s capital City Las Palmas. 550, 000 people live here, so we’ll have plenty of public present and new SUP riders attending. We already have twenty-five SUP Centers on the Island of Gran Canaria alone!

What’s next? 

First of all make sure this year is a great one and then hopefully we can add a Pro-Am long-distance race again as we did this for the first three years of our APP World Tour events. So there’ll be a lot going on for sure and you can keep informed through my social media channels and via www.dunkerbeck.com – See you on the water!

We’re looking forward to tuning in to all the action – Good luck with the event!

Gran Canaria Pro-Am Format

• The Gran Canaria Pro-Am takes place right on the waterfront of Gran Canaria’s capital City Las Palmas and its stunning beach front of Las Canteras
• All the way to the west end of Las Canteras, the venue provides a wide variety of conditions and a consistent playing field
• There will be a seven-day holding period between 20th November – 27th November to allow athletes to capitalise on the best surf through the holding period
• There will be a call by 8am each day and there will be 4 days of competition within the holding period
• There will be open trials: The winners of which will gain entry into the main event to compete against the best Stand Up Paddle Surfers in the world and go after the 25k prize purse
• There will also be an Under 18s category as well as a SUP Longboard category

To find out more about the event and register, visit appworldtour.com

Follow APP World Tour on Facebook and Instagram 

To find out more about Björn Dunkerbeck, visit dunkerbeck.com and follow Björn on Instagram and Facebook