Meet Emma – flying towards the Olympics

We’re proud to welcome Emma Schleicher to the Noora family and to support her journey. At 19, Emma is an iQFOiL windsurfer from Germany, competing around the world. This year she moved up to the senior class, where she is one of only three German women. Her biggest dream is to compete at the Olympic Games one day.

We asked Emma what it’s really like to be a young girl in a fast, physical and male-dominated sport, and what she would say to other girls who are thinking about giving it a try.

How it started

Emma was born near Munich, but when she was around ten her family moved to Greece, where she lived until the end of 2025. It was there, at a beach café popular with windsurfers, that it all began.

My younger brother and I watched all the people out on the water and thought it looked so cool that we immediately wanted to give it a try.

Her parents signed the two kids up for a family windsurfing course, and what began as something fun to do together became “a huge part of my life and something I’m incredibly passionate about.”

Her brother Moritz has been there for all of it. Until the end of 2025 they trained in the same group and travelled to competitions together, always with “someone by your side who understands exactly what you’re going through.” On the days when one of them is struggling, the other is there to motivate.

Windsurfing wasn’t the only option. Emma played football at an academy connected to Valencia and even got to play on the pitch at the Allianz Arena. Then came a choice:

At some point, I had to choose between football and windsurfing, and obviously, I chose windsurfing.

When she’s home, Emma studies Sports Science at the Technical University of Munich. She also plays guitar, loves karaoke and is, by her own admission, “basically singing all the time”, so expect a car karaoke session if you ever share a long drive with her.

Lined up and a little scared

Emma’s first big international regatta was in 2019, in the Techno 293 youth class. She was new to the sport and remembers feeling “really excited but also quite overwhelmed” and “a little scared, too.” Over the years the nerves turned into excitement. Then this year she moved up to the senior class, and for a moment she was right back at that first start line.

Suddenly, I was lining up alongside so many incredible women with a lot of experience, and I felt a bit lost and intimidated again. But after competing in several regattas in the senior fleet, I’ve started to feel more comfortable and confident each time. I’m learning so much from racing against these athletes, and it’s exciting to see how much I can grow. I think that’s one of the great things about this sport: there’s always a new level to reach and something new to learn.

A week to be proud of

Ask Emma for the moment she’s proudest of and she doesn’t pick a win. She picks the U19 European Championships in 2025, which she went into injured and where she still led the regatta for almost the entire week.

In the end, I finished second because of the medal race format, but what makes me proud isn’t just the result. It’s how I managed to stay focused, trust myself, and keep going even when things were difficult.

Photo: @sailingenergy

Being a young girl in iQFOiL

Emma knows what it’s like to be one of very few. At senior level in Germany, only three women compete. A few younger girls are coming up through the youth classes, but the numbers are still very low. Training alongside men can feel intimidating for girls who are just starting out, but Emma says it comes with real benefits:

But honestly, training with men also has so many benefits. You can learn a lot from them, push yourself to improve, and benefit from the level they bring to training. And once you spend more time around them, you realise they’re not as intimidating as they might seem at first.

Her hope is to see more girls give it a chance:

I really hope we can grow the female community in Germany and get more girls involved in iQFOiL. It’s such a cool sport, and I’d love to see more women competing, pushing each other, and growing together.

There are also things people outside the sport don’t see. Foiling is physically demanding, and for young women it can be a challenge to gain and maintain the body weight the sport requires. Then there are the comments, even from men within the sport, that the women’s level isn’t as high as the men’s.

We’re racing on almost the same equipment and pushing ourselves to the maximum of what our bodies allow us to do. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that the women’s level is simply lower. We’re competing at our own physical limits, just as the men are at theirs.

Even the gear isn’t always made with women in mind. Emma says women’s wetsuits are sometimes “cut in a way that’s too tight around the shoulders and restricts your movement.” A lot of female iQFOiL athletes end up wearing men’s wetsuits for the extra room, but as Emma puts it, “obviously, they don’t fit women properly either.” That’s why freedom of movement, comfort and durability come first for her, and why she was happy to tell us this:

Honestly, my Noora wetsuit is the most comfortable wetsuit I’ve ever worn! You really notice the difference when you can move freely and don’t have to think about your equipment while you’re sailing.

She also wants to feel like herself in what she wears:

Especially in a male-dominated sport, I think it’s important to have gear that makes you feel comfortable and confident while still allowing you to express your femininity. For me, it’s that whole “look good, feel good” thing. I want to feel athletic and perform at my best, but I also want to feel feminine and like myself.

Photo: Custom made 3mm Long Jane, with lavender upper body and black lower body.

Emma has two role models in windsurfing. The first is Gelly Skartlou, who represented Greece at the Olympics, has worked as a coach and is someone Emma knows personally.

Even now, as a mum, she still gets out on the water, and we’ve had a few sessions together. She’s such a kind person, and I really admire the way she approaches the sport. She reminds me that, even when you’re pursuing big goals, you should never lose the fun and love for what you do.

The other is Emma Wilson, whom Emma raced against for the first time this year.

This year, I got to race against her for the first time, which was really cool for me. I admire how consistent she is and how she keeps coming back stronger, even after disappointing results in medal races. After losing my own medal race, seeing how she kept pushing and fighting for her goals was especially motivating. 

Flying

So why iQFOiL?

I love foiling, the feeling of flying above the water, and the speed.

When you lift out of the water, she says, it “feels like flying”, and sometimes “all you hear is the sound of the foil cutting through the water and the waves breaking underneath you.”

It’s also a sport with real risks, and Emma is honest about that. Is she ever afraid? “Honestly, yes.” She has had “a few pretty serious crashes”, but that hasn’t stopped her.

But at the same time, I really enjoy pushing myself out of my comfort zone and daring to do things on the water that challenge me.

Her approach: “It’s about finding that balance between respecting the risks and being brave enough to push your limits.”

For girls who aren’t sure it’s for them

Emma’s own start wasn’t all flying either.

When I first switched to iQFOiL, I honestly didn’t enjoy it that much in the beginning because I was scared. Everything was new, and I had to step way outside my comfort zone.

At the beginning, she says, “you fall a lot.” So what would she tell a girl who isn’t sure it’s for her?

I would say: keep going and trust the process!

Give yourself time, she says, and “not give up just because it feels difficult at first.”

And then, at some point, something just clicks. You start flying over the water, and honestly, it’s one of the best feelings ever.

Looking back, “sticking with it was one of the best decisions I could have made.”

Emma is also honest that iQFOiL is expensive and that “there isn’t really a shortcut.” Her tip is to start with windsurfing at a local club or school and build your skills from there. There’s also a big kids’ windsurfing and foiling camp near Kiel every summer.

Life on the road

Sticking with it also means a lot of travelling. This year took Emma from Palma and Hyères for the Sailing Grand Slam to training blocks in Portugal, Kiel, Estonia and Weymouth, and on to Poland before the U23 World Championships. In November she’s heading back to Greece for one more block.

Some places become home along the way. Lake Garda feels “a bit like a second home”, with its reliable wind, its mountains and its road cycling. And then there’s Loutsa near Athens, where she learned to windsurf.

I have so many memories connected to that place, so it will always have a special place in my heart.

Being away from family and friends is the hard part, and her mum would love to have her at home more often. But Emma knows they support her 100%.

It’s not always easy, but knowing that I have their support makes a huge difference and helps me keep going.

The Olympic start line

The Olympics are 100% my biggest goal.

She knows it takes more than a dream:

You have to break it down into hundreds of smaller goals and take it step by step.

And she knows where it’s all heading:

I want to stand on the Olympic start line one day, and that dream is what drives me to keep going, even when things get difficult.

Photo: DSV/Felix Diemer

Thank you, Emma, for sharing your story, and for being an inspiration to girls out there. We can’t wait to follow you on the way to that start line.