PWA Sylt 2014, 5th place overall and first Wave main event competition

Hello Everybody

The PWA in Sylt has been one with a lot of waiting, with the first and the last day of competition being pretty much the most important ones as it were the only days with enough wind!

And also a lot of playing this addictive game.

Sylt is the biggest event of the year with 3 disciplines being sailed over 10 days, biggest crowed and the best setup to always make it a good time. On day one we usually only have the registration but as the organization was keen on getting a result in the waves an exception was made and at 2 p.m. the competition started. As I initially didn’t get a place into the trails I was pretty surprised when I found out I was in heat 3 just noticing it about 20min. before they started. With wind being pretty light and onshore I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a 87 litre board from Danny Bruch to sail my heat. 

Full house in Sylt

As I went on the water jus about 15 min before my heat I didn’t even have the chance to warm up on the waves and just sailed out to get a bit used to how the board felt in the turns on the outside swell. With 12 min. heats and just 2 waves to count wave selection was really important. I started perfectly with a nice wave with 2 front side hits and a 3rd backside turn scoring me a 5,5 on my opening ride which gave me some comfort to find a 2nd backup score. As I got outside again I almost needed another 5 to 6 min. to find my backup score and managed to get a pretty big wave and make one big frontside hit on it to score a 5 point wave and get my heat total up to 10,5 to make me win my trial heat. 

The one that would have made the difference..

In the main event I was straight up against the worldchampion from 2013 Marcilio Brown, I knew I had to step it up if I wanted to have a chance so after my first waveride (which scored 4.83) I decided I needed a big backside 360 or something else special to make the difference. With just about 4 min. to go I got a pretty decent wave to go for a big backside 360. I went for it and got so close I still can’t believe I didn’t make that one but the white water just pushed me from the board. In the end I just lost by something like 1,3 points and would definitely have won if I landed my backside 360, what an intro into waves would that have been taking down the worldchampion on my first contest of wave! Looking forward to do more next year!

Freestyle gear ready to go!

After a lot of days without wind we finally got action again on the 9th day, offshore and light but enough to do a single elimination. I started with a pretty good first heat against Yentel Caers who was sailing really good and would have won against quite some of the other guys or even me if I didn’t have a good heat. After that I wasn’t sailing to good anymore, I was busier with the rankings in my mind than actually sailing a good heat. I got lucky against Bosson and just made it through but couldn’t make it to the semi’s as Tonky just scored a little bit better than me which left me with a shared 5th place in the single. Considering how I sailed I’m super happy with this but I know I could have done better if I had my mind more into it. In the end it was just enough to keep 5th on the overall and keep my position in the top 5 for 2 years in a row!! At least one of my goals made for this years, let’s make getting a podium place on a event next year happen a few times to catch up for this year!!

Another year finished on the PWA season

Can’t wait to compete again next year on both Freestyle and Wave!! Will train hard this winter in both Australia and Bonaire to improve my skills even more! 

Cheers Dieter

PWA Fuerteventura 7th place & 5th overall

Hello Everybody

So the second stop of the PWA just ended and my trip to the Canaries also ended. This year the weather and the wind have been pretty strange with even a few times rain in the morning (never happens in summer normally) and not even one day on 4.0 and even more sailing on 4.8 than on 4.4 .

During the contest the wind was pretty good considering the previous days where the slalom guys were still almost on their biggest gear. In the single I started off with a great heat against Rafael de Windt but struggled hard in round 3 against Adrian Bosson who was sailing amazing! I didn’t have my best heat and with the level being so close at the top now a mistake makes you lose straight away. So early exit in the single and one hell of a double lined up as I wasn’t the only one who made a mistake..

In the double I had to get past Tonky Frans to get into the top 10 so one heat could decide a lot for the event and also the overall this year. After winning my heat against Yarden Meir and watching Tonky’s heat against Youp Smith (who was also having an early exit losing in round 2) I knew I had to sail a really solid heat against Tonky to win and hope he didn’t sail like his previous heat.

So green flag up and sail my best heat of the event. The wind was a bit tricky with moments and it was quite hard to find a good ramp for air moves. I had a really solid heat landing one of my best paskos in my heat after just 2 minutes and a perfect spock culo on the way in together with 3 pretty high scoring moves. I didn’t see much what Tonky did and wasn’t really sure it was enough to pass, I wasn’t able to really fully show what I was able to do, but in the end it was enough to get into the top 10 and get the chance to get even further than that.

On the last day only the top 12 was left of the contest and I probably had one of the ”easiest” heats of this round against Balz Muller. So pretty confident I went on the water but actually had one of my worst heats against Balz who had some really solid moves. My experience got me through on this one as in the last 30 seconds I still needed to land one move on the way out to fill my score sheets, in the last 20 seconds I managed to land my Airfunnel (after crashing it 3 times) and got through to the top 8, to meet a second Severne teamrider Amado Vrieswijk. 

Well I had to do a lot better to win from him and to be honest I just didn’t, I couldn’t get my heats together this day and ended the event with a heat that didn’t satisfy me but with a result that is good enough to claim back my top 5 position on the overall ranking! So not my best event on Fuerteventura this year but lucky for me I sailed my best heat in the double when it really counted.

Next up will most likely be the indoor in Poland and in the mean time I will enjoy some time at home and hopefully score some great conditions here!

Cheers Dieter

EFPT Lanzarote 3rd place with Tow in

Hello Everybody

A few days ago the second EFPT stop of the year ended at Lanzarote. Being one of my favorite locations to travel to I was looking forward to a great event with a good chance for wind.. Well at least that’s normally the case on the canaries in summer anyway, but sadly enough not during the event.

We got close a few times but as it turned out the wind just took a 4 day break during the event, with a good day of sailing a day before and after the event… How unlucky can we be right? So during all the waiting at the beach for wind, Anxton Oteagui knew the forecast wasn’t looking to good and decided to run a tow-in contest with 2000 euro price money for the top 10.

With one day the qualification round and the next day the final the public could see a bit of windsurfing rather than nothing. My qualification run went quite allright and managed to get 3rd to go into the final, which feels pretty good as I crashed every single move in Podersdorf last time I did tow-in..

So the final was up and I was in 7th place on the starting list. Looking to the scores of the qualifying heats I knew my best chance would be the double funnel. I got around quite good the first one but the second rotation wasn’t really perfect as the noise caught the water to early, luckily I managed to keep standing on the board and get an allright first score.. After that we had 2 more attempts, after crashing my skopu attempt and seeing everyone else stomp good moves I knew I had to do my best tow-in move ever if I wanted to get a good result. So said so done, I came flying out my double airfunnel and knew I would have a good score, not enough to win but just enough to get on to the podium for the first time ever in a tow-in contest. 

Although we got unlucky with the wind the organisation did an amazing job and made it a really fun event again! Can’t wait till next year but hopefully with real wind this time! Next up PWA Fuerteventura!!

Cheers Dieter

PWA Bonaire 2014 6th place

Hello everybody

All pictures by JC/PWA

First PWA event of the year finally happened and what an event it was! The highest level competition I’ve ever seen and definitely one to remember for a very long time!

Conditions where amazing these 4 days and actually almost couldn’t have been better.. During the registration day the wind was to light to compete but everyone knew the forecast was amazing. It actually became a super relaxed first day like this where everyone could take the time to prepare all their gear without having to hurry to be in time for their first heat. Atmosphere was super relaxed and everyone was ready to compete!

I had a pretty good event with a 6th place, it always could have been better but also worse. I sailed pretty solid heats but just missed out on the top 4 in a single elimination 2 times.. I could have done it but the first time I lost quite unfair in my opinion against Tonky Frans as the judges made 3 mistakes on just 16 moves which was really frustrating, especially as I just lost with half point and this probably would have made the difference. Anyway that’s how it goes sometimes you win sometimes you lose. The second time I ruined it myself so fair job from the judges there I just simply should have sailed better! 

My best heat was probably against Bjorn Saragossa in the first Double elimination. He really pushed me to the maximum as I saw him sail an amazing heat but luckily I won making me advance into the top 8 and probably scoring my best heat score so far of my career with around 55 points out of 60! It was also great to see him getting a 6th place in the second double elimination sailing some solid heats and helping me actually to jump over Youp Schmit in the ranking. Who was also sailing amazing in almost all his heats (just against Bjorn he sailed a little bit less good). 

Everyone was sailing on such a high level it was a must see event and for the people who saw the live stream out their, you know where I’m talking about right?!! The action was just insane!! Also the Severne team performed extremely well and both Amado Vrieswijk and Maaike Huvermann did exactly what I was hoping for, finishing 3rd and 2nd scoring the first podium places for Severne sails in the Freestyle disciplines on the PWA! The Youth world champions of last year showed they want more than just a Youth world title!!

The 6th place is a good start for me and I’m really looking forward to Fuerteventura to improve my overall result and get back into that top 5, I know it won’t be easy but the motivation is there! It’s a good start of the year and with a month of training together with Amado Vrieswijk on the canaries I’m sure we will both push each other to the next level!!

Next up is the EFPT in Lanzarote but before that a week of teaching for the Next Generation Project at Brouwersdam! Still places free so if you want to join make sure you check www.ngp-windsurfing.com or mail to info@ngp-windsurfing.com for some more information!! So hopefully see you next week at the Brouwersdam!

Cheers Dieter

4 day trip to South of France

Hello everybody

As I’m writing this I’m on my flight to Bonaire for the first PWA event of the year. I haven’t been updating my blog to much with travel story’s anymore but hey why not get started with it again! So during my last weekend at home the forecast was bad, super bad. I stayed home longer especially for the long weekend of my parents and could talk them in to repeat a trip we did 5 years ago during the same periode, a 4 day trip South of France in Leucate!!

The forecast was good and gues what, I wasn’t the only one who saw the forecast and decided to go. Pretty much the whole trip I sailed together with Yentel Cears who talked his parents into it as well after reading my update on facebook. We sailed 3 days on 3 different spots. The first day when we arrived late in the afternoon as we left in the morning we sailed at Porte la Nouvelle pretty much where the Defi wind had their course layed out. Lucky for me I just arrived when they where going to finish so straight on the water 4.4 weather and perfect flat water in perfect tempertiors! Balz Muller was also out there with his brother and Antoine Albert joined this session as well. Perfect first day ending with a nice pasta and a long sleep!

The next day was the best day out of the 3. Yentel showed me a spot inbetween Porte La nouvelle and La Franqui where all the speed sailors go. Flat water, strong wind and not to many people sailing! We almost sailed 5 hours that day and it was perfect to train double moves finally landing does first double burners, still some work to do but pretty stoked I could land some Airskopu’s both ways! Yentel was pushing at well and his airskopu’s where getting more and more consistent so its good to see another Belguim stepping it up, definatly one to watch in the future!

After this day I was so broken, pushing for those double moves run after run took a lot of my energy and the next day it was just howling! So time to go to the lake of Leucate and rig the smallest freestyle sail I have 3.6! It’s the first time I use the 2014 one and its sick! I’m not a favorite of super strong winds but with this sail I feel pretty comfortable (especially as I won my first EFPT event on this size!). Balz was also on the water and how much fun is to watch this guy, he doesn’t know fear and lands some moves I couldn’t think are possible, he knows how to handle the strong wind and pushes freestyle in another way than anyone else! Can’t wait to see his next clip cause I’m sure it will be another sick one again.

After 3 hours of sailing the wind dropped a bit and we decided to go back to the city have a nice pizza and pack everything for the next day. After a long day of driving home I could look back on a great weekend with my parents and my sister sailing everyday in some of the best conditions I ever had in Leucate! Lets hope now it doesn’t take another 3,5 years before I go back to this place defiantly going to make some more trips to there when I’m in Europe! Now wind is one in Bonaire so lets train even more and get ready for the worldcup in 2 weeks! Can’t wait! 

Cheers Dieter

A look back on the EFPT in Podersdorf

Hello everybody

A bit later than I promised but been to nice weather at home to sit behind my computer the whole day, pretty sure you will understand that ;) As promised a little update about the EFPT in Podersdorf with some pictures off the days after the event. If you want to see the onces from during the event make sure to check out the update on the severne website on following link: 

http://www.severnesails.com/news/team-severne-reports-efpt-podersdorf

So what went wrong in Podersdorf?

Airflaka with on 4.0 just a few days after the event

It’s been my 5th time in Podersdorf since I started competing in Austria. Somehow I really like the place but my results never seem to satisfy me or get close to my level. This year I got another 9th place (4th time already!!) which is the worst result I ever had in the EFPT since 6 years.. The wind was extremely light and it came down to the fact that I did a Culo in the first (and also only gust pretty much) instead of doing a Kono like Jacopo. I knew 9,5 minutes long I had to do just a Kono to advance but just didn’t get the chance to even go for it, quite frustrating.. Anyway that’s how it goes I guess and if they want to push for a result in wind where the biggest gust of the whole competition (besides the finals than there was actually just enough wind to do power moves) was just above 15knts luck gets quite a big factor compared to when its windy.. In the end I still had quite some good free sailing session when there was actually wind and managed to get second in the best trick contest so that made up a bit for the rest.. Tow-in didn’t go as planned as I somehow crashed every trick I went for so competitive wise we can better forget Podersdorf fast!

afternoon session together with Adam Sims

After staying a few days longer in Austria to score some really good sessions on the lake and a little underpowered session under the bridge the forecast at home became the best I’ve seen in months so perfect time to get home! SW wind at its best surprising me the first day with 4.8 full to overpowered conditions at Brouwersdam as I was too convinced at home I wouldn’t need a 4.4 (wrong!!!) but in the end the sun was shining and the wind was blowing so happy days!! 

Airskopu on 4.0, was really windy at this moment just creazy!

Now the windy days are a bit over, time for nice warm weather at home has come but lets hope it doesn’t last to long, only 2 more weeks till I fly to Bonaire so lets hope I still score some other great sessions at home! 

an overpowered session at Brouwersdam on 4.8

Cheers Dieter

Belgium championships of wave at Bredene

Hello Everybody

It’s been a very long time since I wrote on this blog but well what can I say too much sailing right and been more busy on my fan page on facebook than on my blog.. No excuse I know but well didn’t find the time yet to write before as it has just been windy the whole time pretty much.

So first 2 contest of the year are finished with not the best succes on the first one with the EFPT in Podersdorf (report will come online on Friday) but winning the first stop of the Belgium championships wave made a bit up for it. So let’s first start with the good competition and most recent action!!

SW wind in the weekend means BK wave in May so already on the second weekend of the waiting period it was one of the best forecast we could ask for. 30-35 knots from the WSW which is perfect for Bredene! As soon as we arrived at the beach it was blowing full on that nobody bordered to take their medium sail but straight away started rigging there smallest kit for the competition. The aim was to do a double in one day and with the forecast looking good the chance for achieving the goal was really big! So with 2 jumps and 1 wave to count the competition started with almost all the big names on the list. Wout Burman impressed me the most during the warm-up with big backloops, stalled forwards and landing a perfect wave 360 in the competition area.

I myself rigged my 3.3 and didn’t find a good rhythm always missing a bit off power to finish my wave rides because of the strong current but being fully stacked during my jumps with sometimes almost no control so pretty windy! After passing my first 2 heats with some luck I met Fabrice de Vos in de Quarter finals, the wind dropped a little bit and I decided to go on my 3.6 S-1 to have a bit more power on the wave. In the end it was the perfect choice as I sailed my best heat of the whole single elimination. Landing a perfect big back loop and push loop (which I never do normally but in competition you have to push yourself right?!) as jumps and landing a backside 360 in the crucial part was enough to go into the semi -finals.

In the semi-finals I had 2 great wave rides one with a backside 360 and 1 with 2 turns and a taka but couldn’t really find my jumps as the wind dropped a bit. I still did a good back loop but only did a small forward as backup jump. In the end I lost as only 1 of the 2 waves counted and Thomas Buellens landed a OH back loop in the last seconds of the heat making him advance into the final winning it in the end in front of Olivier Pas who got a bit overpowered on is 4.2 as the wind suddenly picked up again. I was quite bumped with this loss and that was in my mind in the double when I had to sail the loser final. I didn’t sail good and lost again Nick De Wannemaeker but in my mind I knew I would fight back in the double.

In the double the wind was perfect for 3.6 waves got better and with 2 jumps & 2 waverides counting I knew exactly what I had to do to win! In my first heat I was against Wout Burman who already sailed 5 heats in a row and was tiered by the time he had to sail against me. I found a perfect rhythm straight away from heat one managing to land good back loops and push loops for jumps and a backside 360 and some nice snaps for waverides to make me pass all my heats till the super final against Thomas Buellens again. In this heat I sailed the best I did pretty much of the whole competition. Landing a good back loop OH, perfect push loop and one of my biggest back loops together with my first taka of the whole double elimination (which was harder than in the single as the waves got a bit hollow) and a backside 360 to close the deal! I’m really stoked I could fight my way back to first place in the double elimination after 5 heats against some of the best sailors in Belgium. The level from everyone went up a lot compared to the year before so it’s a good assurance that my training in West-Oz in the waves paid off let’s see if I will do some more wave events in the future! Will see, now focus is fully on freestyle again for the PWA in Bonaire!!

Report from Podersdorf will come online Friday, else it would be a little bit too much text and too less action!!

Cheers Dieter