In Spring of 2021 Helēna Rožkalne 3-year student turned to VUAS Student Council with a request for financial support for her at the World Championship. Without any doubt in the member meeting her request was supported, and last week she participated in the Windsurfing World Championship in the Raceboard Class, which took place from the 16th until the 21st of August in Riga, Ķīšezers. In total 64 participants from 13 countries – Germany, France, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Russia, United Kingdom, Croatia, and Lithuania – participated in the championship.

Even though male participants were significantly more than female, Helēna reveals that the competition was fierce and she had to fight for the achieved award. In total men took 14 trips, but women – 12. The weather was very inconsistent – from heavy rain and wind that reached 15m/s, till sunny and almost windless. When looking back on the week full of challenges, Helēna concludes that the changing weather was a perfect way to figure out the fastest and most skilled windsurfers in the world.

About how colorful the competition was, Helēna reveals: "It was not boring even for a second. On the first day, I experienced a painful fall, resulting in very unpleasant bruises and I pulled some muscle in my back. My best trip was canceled due to a storm that started right before the finish. ALL of my muscles were hurting. I constantly felt like I could eat a horse, so eating a chocolate bar every day was the norm. However, there were a lot of positive emotions – the exciting stress before every trip, the joy of every good result, the smiles and nice words from the competitors on and off the water. The best feeling though was the excitement after the last trip when I knew I had kept my position and would finish the championship in 3rd place in the women's category. Oh my God! It was hard to believe that my dream had come true, but I did it and now I can safely say that I'm pretty good at windsurfing. Of course, I couldn't have done it without the support of my close ones, the championships Latvian team, and Ventspils University of Applied Sciences Student Council. Now I have to prepare for the Latvian championship and set a new goal for international competitions for the next season."

Ventspils University of Applied Sciences proudly congratulates Helēna on her achievements and wishes her the best of luck in her future championships!