The two were not only seen in the junior final of the 2018 Surf DM, they also took 9th place in Huntington Beach last year with the German junior national team. And one of them won the QS Junior Pro Espinho a few days ago and the Caparica Surf Fest Junior Pro just today: we’re talking about the two Presti sisters.
Audrey and Rachel Presti were born in Florida and have dual citizenship because of their German mother. So the two girls really shook up the German surfing scene last year. Among other things, Rachel Presti made a name for herself as the 2018 German champion and junior champion in the women’s U18 section of the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships.
But who are the two new stars in the German surfing sky? Wavetours met the two for an interview, because from this year Audrey and “RayRay” are on the road as Wavetours team riders!
However, the couple’s extraordinary surfing career began quite normally: At the age of 7 and 8 respectively, the sisters attended a surf camp in the summer and discovered their love for the sport there. So it came to be that their mother had to push her daughters into the waves on surfboards all summer long, says Audrey. She is now 14 and her sister Rachel is 16. They have been surfing professionally for several years and have been collecting titles.
Audrey, for example, is particularly proud of her success as first in the NSSA U14 and took fifth place in the Live like Zander WSL Pro Junior last year, while Rachel has already brought home a world championship title: “My greatest success was definitely winning the ISA 2018 U18 girls surfing for Team Germany. It was a team event at the end of last year and was one of the best I’ve ever done.”
The team is the top priority for the Florida-born girls. The Prestis place great value on their fellow human beings, not just when surfing, but also in their private lives. In addition to the two youngest members of the family, there is also an older Presti sister, Charly. She works in California, but despite all the traveling, the three have a great relationship: “My sisters are my best friends (even if we argue now and then). I travel and surf a lot, especially with Rachel. It’s great when you can share life with your siblings,” emphasises Audrey, and Rachel underlines: “I don’t know what I would do without my siblings, I get on really well with them.”
Ultimately, it is the family that has shaped the juniors’ German culture: “My mother taught us a lot of German things and the way I behave is very German. And I just love German food!”, says Rachel. Her sister agrees: “I was brought up between Nutella and Kinder chocolate, so I carry the German in me!”
The two Presti sisters were lucky enough to be able to start under the black, red and gold flag. And that ultimately led them to the Wavetours team. “I feel good here. Wavetours feels like a big family, we help each other,” summarizes Audrey. She and Rachel have settled in well in the team and have been able to develop their friendships with other Wavetours team riders, such as Dylan Groen. Rachel adds: “That’s why the support among the Wavetours surfers is so good, we always support each other.”
This is also necessary, because the two have a lot planned for this year: While Audrey mainly wants to travel the world, Rachel has made a concrete decision: “I want to secure a place in the top 30 of the QS Tour and thus qualify for the Olympics in Japan.”
With this in mind, we keep our fingers crossed for the two sisters and hereby officially welcome them to the Wavetours team!