Björn - Born To Windsurf

Our documentary tells the life time story of Bjørn Dunkerbeck and at the same time it tries to find out what characterizes and still drives the person behind the top athlete of the century.

The film shows the enthusiasm and passion of a man whose life is dedicated to windsurfing and who, after three decades of professional career, is still among the world bests in speed surfing. Bjørn Dunkerbeck was often perceived as someone who took his wins for granted while being at the same time unapproachable as a person. To get closer to him who he really

is Bjørn also displays his private life for the first time, showing his family and himself in a way that only his closest friends have ever been able to experience. Bjørn, who competes for Spain, speaks seven languages and has a multicultural lifestyle. He particularly cares about the sen- sitive habitat of the ocean. He says: “You can stop the plastic pollution while walk along the beaches and collect the trash. We have to keep the world ́s oceans clean and healthy, at least because 50% of the oxygen we breath comes from the ocean.” Björn Dunkerbeck wants to raise awareness about the importance of ocean conservation and how individuals can propel this effort in ways big and small. Bjørn shows also his social consciousness when he supports his back then drug-addicted arch-rival Josh Angulo and talks about drugs in surf sports.

Björn never lost his focus within being a professional athlete for more than 30 years but unbearable pain due to his broken hip almost end- ed Bjørn’s athletic career two years ago. After his surgery, he trained extremely intensive at the age of 51 to achieve an absolute athletic climax at the end of his career with breaking the speed world record. Bjørn also owes his success to his parents, who moved from Denmark to Gran Canaria for windsurf- ing in 1977. In Winter 2020/2021 his 17 year old son Liam who is already a world leader in the junior classification, started his first professional World Cup season. Regards the career of Björn it is exciting to follow his son on his father ́s roots. The relationship between father and son becomes larger than life when both try to surf the world ́s biggest wave at Jaws, Hawaii in January 2022.

To make the most successful professional athlete of all time understandable, sports legends like Marcel Hirscher, Kelly Slater, Aksel Lund Svindal or

Lewis Hamilton explain how to become an exception among the best.

Additional the movie looks back at Bjørn’s greatest victories from the perspective of his challengers Robby Naish, Anders Bringdal, Antoine Albeau and Josh Angulo.