It’s the question on everyone’s lips, what’s the story behind the ladybug caps of German club Harsewinkel.

Proud team official, Dirk Brockmeyer, explained that in 1998 the Harsewinkel club turned up to their first World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand without any cap at all.

“We arrived and learnt we must wear a cap” said Dirk, “We didn’t know what the caps were”.

They ran off to the local shops in Auckland and chose the now famous red and black polka dot material.

“My grandpa then made the caps for all the team” Dirk said, beaming at the memory.

The team then travelled to Muriwai Beach for the competition. “Everyone was saying what’s this cap, and we said it’s Harsewinkel”.

“Everyone we met was wanting pictures with us”. Something that has carried through from the 1998 Championship to the 2024 Gold Coast competition, with many Australian and international teams seeking photos with the locally dubbed Harsewinkel Ladybugs this week.

After the New Zealand Worlds Championships, Dirk’s grandpa took the caps back to Germany where they were quickly adopted as the competition cap for the club.

The German club of about 500 members do a lot of pool swimming and kayaking.

“In Nippers, Youth and Opens we have maybe 80 members competing in Germany,” Dirk explained.

As club hopeful Ben Brinkmann lined up for the start of the youth men’s ski quarter final, the team said they were very proud to see him as the only international athlete in the race.

“We mainly train in the German rivers near our home, in flat water. But twice a year we travel to France for training camps in the Atlantic Ocean,” Ben said.

Despite the rare chances they get to train in surf, the competitors were excited to be competing in surf conditions on the Gold Coast and are certainly showing their might in the big swell.

Ben battled several sets on his way out to the cans and only narrowly missed out on progressing to the semifinal.

“We are a strong German team and we are wanting to beat the Australians, but it doesn’t always work,” the team official said with a goodhearted laugh.

After such a random beginning, the Harsewinkel team are so happy to wear the red and black polka dot cap in every competition in Germany and around the world.

“This cap, is our cap forever”