Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival
The Moreno twins - Iballa Moreno (Severne / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) & Daida Moreno (Severne Sails / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) - have been organising the Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival since 2012 and each year they continue to build a bigger and better event.
Last year the twins made history by becoming the first windsurfing event to offer equal prize money for both men and women. With the 2019 edition rapidly approaching we caught up with the twins to find out more about this year’s event:
Hey Daida and Iballa, the 2019 Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival is now only 10 days away - how are preparations going for this year’s event, which sees the event extended to 9 days compared to 7 in recent years… what was this reason behind you wanting a slightly longer event?
“Yes. Even if we only need 3 full days to finish the double [elimination] for the men and women, we felt we needed extra days to also make sure we ALL get the best Pozo conditions - also for the Juniors. We have over 50 Juniors!"
Last year you became the first windsurfing event to offer equal prize money for men and women - is this year’s edition going to be offering equal prize money again?
“Yes of course! As long our club organises the PWA IN GRAN CANARIA we will make this happen and try to be an example for all sports event organisers around the world.
After we did it last year in GC we also saw the World Surfing League doing it. Hopefully, we will see this in all PWA events around the globe one day. Women have great potential and we also deserve the same prizes as men. We are making sure if the money comes from public institutions and the government it has to be equal prizes for men and women by law in ALL sports events in Spain.”
How proud are you that for the second year in a row you will be able to offer equal prize money and continue to set the example?
"As women organisers this is something we are most proud of. We proposed this to the local government and they helped so we are happy this is finally happening in Gran Canaria. We are a change for sports in general."
Every year you have different activities and entertainment - can you already share some of the plans for this year?
"A part of extending the event by two days is to make sure we get the most radical Pozo conditions possible, we will have activities for kids every day. Also concerts and live music from local bands. We will also raise money for charity in three of the special nights like showing documentaries on the big screen, Canarian Music Night & Comedy Night. If you bring 1 kg of non-perishable food we will donate it to the Gran Canaria food banks.
Another important issue is that we will try to avoid is single-use plastics. So we will give each competitor a bottle to re-fill. We will also organise a big beach clean on the last day (like every year) but this year we will work with different organisations around Spain to help promote it. The more people who join the better! Plastic Ride, Clean Ocean Project, Oceans4lifegc are some of the organisations taking part.
Also, we will have “Skin cancer prevention’ and we will have a specialist doctor providing free checkups to competitors and also the general public."
Aside from preparing and running the event you will, of course, be competing… how are your preparations going from a sailing perspective?
"Yes good. The month of June has been light so it has been ok to advance the final details of the organisation. But we are motivated as always to make the best we can!"
Thanks, Iballa & Daida. Good luck with the remainder of the preparations for the event and see you in Gran Canaria.
You can stay up to date with all the latest news from the Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival by following their Social Media Channels:
Facebook: @GranCanariaWindWavesFestival
Instagram: @gcwindwavesfest
Twitter: @GCWindWavesFest
And you can stay up to date with all the latest news and adventures of the Moreno twins via their Social Media Channels:
Facebook: @morenotwins
Instagram: @morenotwins
Twitter: @morenotwins