Porsche on Sylt.
Porsche on Sylt.
Porsche on Sylt.
 

Porsche on Sylt.

Ken Hake
He's seen all the world's oceans. Yet Ken Hake is happy to be going back to where his journey began, where the breaking waves are smaller: to the island of Sylt. Sometimes you take a few detours before arriving back home. Today, the Porsche Connect App is here to provide assistance. We've taken away Ken's beloved 911 for the day and loaded his surfboards into a Porsche Cayenne Turbo.
Porsche on Sylt.
First Mile
Ken's dad drives his Porsche 911 out of the garage so that Ken can take out some of his 25 surfboards and pack them into the Cayenne. This isn't just any old Porsche 911 – it's one of around only 200 964 Turbo 3.3 cars built with an ex-works power kit.
Now we have to separate this ‘born-and-bred islander’, as Ken calls himself, from his Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 for the next 24 hours. He has a Cayenne and a task to perform. Today, Ken is going to test the functions of Porsche Connect. He's done his homework and has already planned a route for today using the Porsche Connect App. Our stopover is the ultimate goal of every surfer – the perfect wave.
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Everything prepared
Ken has planned the route and the destination: the perfect wave.

“I'm surprised at how seamless the transition from the smartphone to the vehicle's Connect system is and how effortlessly it gets me to my destination.”

“When I was a kid, my dad was still using paper maps to navigate. Thankfully, those days are over. I think it's great to be able to sit on the sofa and configure a new route using my smartphone. Then all I have to do is hop in and drive away,” says the 39-year-old, as he glances at his smartphone display.

First Mile/Last Mile Navigation is an App-based service from Porsche, which promises seamless navigation getting to the car, while driving the car and for the last few metres to your destination after parking. “The App is incredibly well integrated. I'm surprised at how seamless the transition from the smartphone to the vehicle's Connect system is and how effortlessly it gets me to my destination,” says Ken, who is today relying on Porsche Connect to help him find as yet unknown surfing spots. The extended navigation via smartphone guides Ken not just over the last mile, but right down to the last metre. Once he gets as far as the water, however, he's on his own.

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View of the sea, and Porsche takes Ken Hake directly there.

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Hamburg, coast, expanse:
After his studies in the USA, Ken is again today cruising through Germany.

“I care deeply about the Porsche brand, but for me it's all about the passion, and not Porsche as a status symbol.”

Sylt was the birthplace of the surfing scene in Germany almost 70 years ago. Ken learned to skateboard and surf not long after he'd mastered walking. He went on to become German surfing champion and was a member of the national team. At the age of 18 he moved to San Diego in the USA, where he studied business and marketing while working part-time in a skate shop. In 2010, he received a job offer too good to refuse and moved back to Hamburg, closer to his roots, where he now lives with his wife and daughter. He currently runs his own label, Marine Machine, and works as an agent in the fashion industry.

Last Mile

In addition to being a surfing and skateboarding enthusiast, he is passionate about air-cooled Porsche cars. It is this passion that inspired him to team up with his friend Angelo Schmitt to organise the first Petro-Surf festival on Sylt in 2018 “There are lots of cool motorcycle festivals and surfing festivals around the world, but there's no event that brings together air-cooled Porsche cars and surfers. There are a lot of people out there who are passionate about the Porsche brand and love the air-cooled models. The time was right for a special gathering,” explains Ken. “My 911 gives me freedom, I love driving it. It's kind of like my mechanical brother.” Petro-Surf – a combination of the words Petrol, Retro and Surf – is in Ken's opinion the bringing together of two passionate cultures and an expression of an attitude to life. Ken is already planning to host a second Petro-Surf festival in July 2019.

Back at his parents' house, Ken takes the surfboards from the Cayenne and puts them back in the garage. He then drives his dad's 911 alongside. “All we need now is a sofa,” laughs Ken.

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Whether it's the air-conditioned 911 or the surfboard, both are carefully maintained after use.

The offer described here is for a 2019 model year Cayenne Turbo, and indicates service availability in Germany.