BK Wave was on!!

hello everybody

As I hoped last week on my blog BK wave finally happened in very hard conditions with typical Belgian or in this case French conditions as the competition was held at La Pointe. It was rainy, cloudy almost no sun but very strong wind with big waves which were getting bigger every hour. It all started very early as we all knew the wind was going to drop in the afternoon and turn onshore so the competition started at 9 just half an hour after sunset which made it impossible to warm up. Luckily I did some wave sailing the week before in side onshore conditions so I was totally used to it again and could find fast my rhythm. The first heat the wind was still quite side shore with waves from 2-3 meters and a very strong increasing wind so I was fully overpowered on my 4.0 but past the first round so I could go back and rig up my 3.7.

By the second round the wind even increased more and also turned more onshore which made it really hard to do some good wave rides and keep you're height as it the currents was really strong. I did a good heat although it was not my best but for the conditions there where is was more than good enough to pas.

Now I was up against Olivier Pas one of the only Belgian riders who can do the tweaked push loop good and landed it every heat so one of the favorites as he did also some good wave rides. The wind was just howling and the waves where now sometimes getting up to mast high and the wind was almost onshore which made it almost impossible to do front side wave rides. I did make it to my 2 wave rides with some good turns but could only do one jump where I needed to so I knew I had lost, although in the end I found out it was pretty close as my wave rides did score high. The competition was over for me and I finished in a nice 5th shared place. The final took place in Sangatte as there was still some wind and side to side-onshore wind and moderated waves. In the final we saw Jonas Handekyn winning it as young gun against the rest with nice wave rides and the best clean landed back loop from whole the competition! In second Olivier Pas with a nice push loop and good wave rides follow by Fabrice Devos who got the highest jumping score of the final. In fourth came Arno who was the wave champion of last year.

Cheers Dieter

End of the competition year, time for some wave!

hello everybody

It's been since Sylt since I wrote something on my blog. Now the year in the PWA and also the last freestyle event happend here in the netherlands I can look back at a good year. In my first year at the PWA I finished 12th far above my expactations and also became 2nd in the first EFPT event in the beginning of the year which in the end gave me still a 7the place in the overall ranking although I only did 2 events! This was also the first year I didn't compete at the national competitions as there was no wind on the last event 1 week ago and so no chance to defend my netherlands and belguam freestyle championship this year, maybe next year will see.

Now freestyle competitions are over I'm trying to go more wavesailing when the wind is good as I will compete in the belguim championships of wave so I can get a bit used to the waves again. This saterday we got some great conditions with a strong NE wind from 25 knts and nice waves from sometimes 2meters and in the back even 2.5-3 meter gave us Bredene (belguim) at it's best with wind from the right and a great day of sailing. I put some nice new pictures on my slideshow so you can have a look there how it was saterday.

For next week the conditions look assome although it's going to get colder but that doesn't matter if you see the windforcast from brouwersdam with probably also some good waveaction again with wind from the left this time and hopefully on saterday the Belguim championships of wave!!

Stay tuned as hopefully there will be a update next week from the Belguim Championships of wave!

Cheers Dieter

Sylt day 5-7

hello everybody

After my last update and after ore first single there was not much action going on anymore beside's just hanging around in the Sailorsclub and watching the slalom during the first day. The wind that day was maybe even a bit stronger than when we had to sail ore single but the gust where les strong so it ended up in a race who could make the best out of the lowwind conditions. Bjorn sailed a very solid heat and didn't give Albeau any chance to take him over again which made him win the first day of racing.

The second day the wind was totally away and there was not much to do till they decided to go for a tow in freestyle session right in front of all the people. Golitto, Steven, Taty, Tonky and Nicolas gave their best shot and landed some sick moves but also sick crashes right in front of a beach full of people. The sickest crash was the one from golitto when he over rotated his burner which gave a big crash. Taty did a perfect dubbel funnel to take with it the 3the place after Golito with his over rotated burner. The king in tow in from Austria stayed undivided with landing first a perfect culo in no wind and on he's last running doing a massive airfunnel into funnel where he launched himself perfectly in the air and in my point of view actually could have jumped around the whole way but maybe that's for the next time!

The third day from this blog there was not much going on during the day, no wind no tow in and so also no action, just watching the action of the quicksilver pro surf in France on the live stream to make the day pas faster away. In the evening although we went out to celebrate Bjorn Saragoza his 19the birthday which he became at 12 O'clock so again Happy Birthday Bjorn!

So that is it for this blog as for the moment the slalom just started again in 16 to 22 knots but full offshore so no chance for freestyle in the front, maybe the next days!!

Cheers Dieter