Friday 29 July 2011

PWA Fuerteventura

PWA Fuerteventura
After my training here in Fuerteventura for 10 days I felt totally ready to face the hard condition Fuerte always has to offer, 3.7 weather, big shop and sometimes even some small waves perfect to see high flying action from everybody and get some exciting heats!
JC/PWA
But looking to the forecast for the event everybody knew it wasn’t going to be any of this at all instead we saw Fuerte from a whole other side, sailing not smaller than 4.3 and even using 4.7 it was totally different then I thought it would be but all by all we had everyday enough wind in the afternoon to sail a whole double elimination.
The single
On the first day the wind kicked in around noon allowing competition to start, wind around 20 knts of wind it was perfect freestyle conditions for 4.3 allowing the show to start. I didn’t feel good in my heats and didn’t sail my best heat so far, I was struggling with the extremely choppy conditions. Not that fuerte not always is choppy but not like this leaving me struggling with even landing burner in my first heat against Levi Lenz, but landed good other moves like kono, culo, shakas on both side and just made sure I landed at least my 3 moves on each side to advance into the next round.
JC/PWA
In my second heat I would meat Antony Ruenes who always can put together strong heats like we saw in Lanzarote. Before the heat I went out and trained on my burners again for 10 min trying to figure out how to get them right in these conditions so I wouldn’t have problems with landing that in the heat as I knew I needed it to win again Antony. The heat went already a lot better than against Levi and I managed to advance against Antony to put myself in that top 8 spot after the single.
JC/PWA
On the second day we finished the single elimination. In the 3rd round I met Golitto Estredo and finally got a good heat together landing a nice skopu, burner, culo and so on but missed a massive burner OH on the way out. In the end Golitto just sailed a better heat to keep it going till the end of the single to put him on first place after the second day of sailing in Fuerteventura.
The double.
In the double I had to wait to see who my opponent would be. The conditions were really flat and it was 4.7 weather instead of 4.3 like the day before with some waves where I felt better in than in the flat conditions. I knew I was going to meet Davy as he was working himself up in the double again and knew I had to sail a good heat to win in the flat conditions which are the conditions where he feels home in. No chance to throw big airmoves like high shaka I gave it my best shot, I sailed a good heat landing burners both side, plaining Culo and a nice high Kono on the way in but couldn’t win as Davy sailed his best heat of the event landing perfect spock-culo and airfunnel into funnel900 on the way out putting me into a 9th place and get me out of my top 8 place.
JC/PWA

In the end it was another top 10 place but in totally different conditions than I expected and looked forward to but next year hopefully will see real Fuerte conditions again and go for a better result! Next up is Sylt end of September which will be all determent for the endranking where I will for sure stay in the top 10 but will have to get a good result to stay in my 8 place as there will be 2 discards after the 7th event.
JC/PWA
The last day there was not enough time anymore to run a single and a double which made us go to an alternative supersession. Everybody who wanted to compete was turned into 4 different heats from around 8 people where the first 2 would advance from into the superfinal. I had a strong first round but opened the heat with a nice big kono to put me already in a very good spot to advance into the super final which I just did behind Steven and in front of Quincy. The super final was fun landing a burner into flaka as only good move I knew I wouldn’t win at all but that didn’t matter for me as everybody just put on a great show for the crowed on the beach. During our latest run all doing a forward was just great! So a nice last day with great fun! 
Cheers Dieter

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Gran Canaria Trip Part 2

hello everybody

Here is the second part from my report of GC.


The 4th day they gave really strong winds and if it was, looking to pozo which would be totally overpowerd we drove down to Vargas to have my first session there everybody was on there 3.7 and 3.3 leaving me now chose but unpacking my 3.3 for the first time and even that was actually to big.
After one and half hours of sailing I had enoufh of flying away as the wind was just getting stronger and stronger and I was rather on the beach of Pozo watching the wave guys fly sky high than sail another session.
The 5th day it was time to take a break I sailed already a lot the past month and wanted to see the finals which I just came just in time for on the beach as they already really started urly. The wind was so strong that they that looking back afterwartes to it I think I wouldn’t have got a nice sail at all that day and took the perfect day for a break. After watching the finals which where already finished at 11 we went back home to relax a bit and sort out the film material and pictures we already had so far. But after sitting in the house the whole day I got tiered of it and we went to take a trip more to the inland of Gran Canaria to see wath the island has to offer besides windsurfing. We drove up to Sant Agustin up in the montaines. It was unbelievable there was almost no wind while on pozo it was blowing 45 knts the nature was super nice and all so quite. It’s the first time I went somewhere else than the beaches on the islands but was for sure the one hour drive worth it!

On the last day of Gran Canaria it looked the same wind as the day before leaving me looking for another spot both on Vargas and Pozo everybody was flying on there 3.3 and 3.7 and the waves waren’t always the best.. So we drove more to the north where there’s always a bit of less wind than at Pozo etc. We found a spot close to the airport and couldn’t belief only John Sky was outsailing and nobody else. There was perfect wind for 4.0 some nice waves coming in up to 2 meters and breaking pretty nice for backside waveriding.
I had my best session of the whole trip as I went on the water John already had enoufh of sailing 2 hours and lefts home to pack for Tenerife I had the whole bay (which isn’t that big) all for myself, sailing for 2,5 hours straight having the best wavesailing session since Tarifa this winter. Looking back afterwartes on the footage I still can’t belive only in the end I got visite from other surfers when the wind actually started to die of and the waves got to big for the spot sometimes reaching almost 3m which resulted just in a close out. It’s a spot where I will go again if Pozo gets to windy!
Gran Canaria was a great trip which was for the first time ever for me concentrated on wavesailing a bit hopefully I can do next year the same or maybe visite another island! Take also a look on my facebook Fanpage for more pictures from this trip:

Cheers Dieter

Tuesday 19 July 2011

Gran Canaria trip part 1

hello everybody

 
After another sick day of jumping conditions in Lanzarote on my waveboard it was time to go to Gran Canaria for the First time in my life for a trip of 6 days to both surf and watch the worldcup wave at the best jumpingplace in whole of Europe!

The first day that I could surf I woke up looking to the sea with no wind at all on it wondering whether I was so unlucky to get the first day a strange  windless on Pozo but as soon as I arrived I saw already white caps and some sails going up and down. But unfortunately no waves which left me back driving home to get my freestyle board out and get a freestyle session on my 4.3 on Pozo already getting a warm welcome with the rocky slippery beach at high tide which wasn’t the easiest to get out, but all by all it was a nice first day with some good freestyle sailing.

The second day the wind was already stronger and the waves were a bit better getting my freestyle board out of the way to make place for my waveboard which I would sail on the rest of the days during my stay in GC. I was sailing the whole day on 4.3 and 4.0 till the competition started late in the afternoon for the ladies. But it all was going good, I got more control in the backloops, started to do the shakas and takas in the waves and started to try the reverse on the waves which I could do the day before already on the freestyle board but is a bit harder on the waveboard as it doesn’t slide that well obviously.

The 3rd day the wind picked even up more getting myself fast out on the water before the competition would start as the tide was coming up again and the waves would improve even more. I was fully stacked on my 3.7 that day making it perfect to go for some higher backloops and try my first pushloops which resulted in not a big success but in a lot of great spectacular crashes by going to vertical and always catching the top of the mast, but soon I will try them again! Also that they I got a bit more the technique better of the reverse and got to land some nicely in the waves. But after 2 hours of sailing competition was going to start and everybody went of the water to enjoy the show which was just unbelievable. The jumps where so incredible watching for sure the best jumping in my whole life especially the ones of Philip Koster with a perfect dry landed pushloopforward but also the massive stalled double forward from Ricardo Campello where you could see him coming back for another board and the sick shakas in the waves from both Victor Fernandez and Marcilio Brown.

Now I’m already 7 days Fuerteventura full training again on Freestyle for the competition that will start on the 23 of july! A update from my training here will come just before the event!

Tomorrow part 2 will come online!
Cheers Dieter

Tuesday 5 July 2011

PWA Lanzarote review 7th Place

Hello everybody
After 2 new events in the Caribbean on the PWA it was time to go back to Europe’s most windy islands in the Canaries and pack our Bags for “only” a 4 hour flight to the place where the PWA comes every summer.  First stop on the Canaries is like always Lanzarote with a good forecast it promised to become a good show again.
JC/PWA

The first days of my stay here in Lanzarote I took the time to get a bit used to the conditions and work away my jetlag before the competition would start to be as fit as possible again for already the 3rd competition in row. I also rigged up my spare gear from home as my boardbag would only just arrive on the first day of the competition as they left it behind in Aruba on the way home, but all by all everything just came good in the end having my favorite equipment just 15 min before the first heat on day one.
JC/PWA

The first day we got nice wind conditions blowing around 18-20 knts making it perfect freestyle conditions as there where not to many waves around like you can have here sometimes. In my first heat I had to go against Nicolas Spadea from Italy, I sailed a very good heat pulling of a great repertoire of moves including, burners, skopus, culos, konos and big shakas. Making myself confident for the next heat against Davy Scheffers. That heat I started well in the first 2 min taking the lead in the heat but once I started crashing I didn’t stop anymore, I felt weak as with all the commotion over the missing boardbags I forgot to eat and drink for a couple of hours which was not the best idea. The heat ended up in a disaster, where I started crashing Davy started sailing better and made it sure he would win and I already knew I lost straight away when I came from the water having my worst heat so far on the PWA tour. The only thing I could do was work myself up again in the double.
Time for the double.
After a day of less wind we could finally finish the first single at the 3rd day to start immediately with the double and putting me back in action and giving myself the chance to work myself up again for a good result. In the first heat I met teammate Rick Jendrush who sailed very well the previous heat beating Leo Ray who came back on the Freestyle tour for the first time this year making him an opponent  do not underestimate. With 4 out of 7 moves counting I felt more comfortable and ready to fight myself up again in the double. I gave Rick no chance sailing a very technical heat and making sure I would advance in the next round where I would meet Edvan Da Souza. I saw him already sailing some nice heats but I knew if I kept going like I did against Rick I knew I would win. I crashed a bit more this heat but still made my moves and showed  the judges what they wanted with big Shakas, super fast konos and nice burners on both tacks putting myself in the top 10 to meet Taty Frans where I had to win against to get into the top 8 which is my goal at every event. But that heat hat to wait till day 4 as the wind got weaker towards the evening.
JC/PWA
On day 4 I was in the first heat against Taty in a more stronger wind than the days before. Waiting till 1 O’clock till the conditions really kicked in it was time to finally get through against one of the top guys as I already had 3 times this year that I lost by half a point against them determent to do good I started with going for a one handed shaka which was not going like in practice as it ended up in a big crash giving Taty in the beginning of the heat the lead but after 2 min. of not finding my groove I got back into it and made the best out of the last 6 min putting a heat together with on the way in a perfect burner, fast culo, shakaflaka and double spock OH as my counting moves and on the way out, an Airflaka, big shaka, double puneta and another perfect Burner showing good diversity made me win against Taty who sailed a good heat but not his best one making me finally win the heat! Against Bjorn I had a less good heat and Bjorn an amazing heat giving the advantage to him leaving me on a 7th place putting myself again in that top 8.
JC/PWA
Today I saw how wavy Lanzarote can be in strong wind making me feel quite happy it wasn’t competition then hopefully I can do more jumps by next year so I would also be able to perform at least as well in these strong conditions! Will put pictures of today later online.
JC/PWA
Now I’m off to Grand Canaria for some waves to train my jumping and have a nice time to relax a bit after all the freestyling from the last month!
Cheers Dieter