Today we sailed the double elimination in a nice wind from around 25 knots with pretty much the same conditions as yesterday only maybe a bit lighter wind as I was now sailing on my 4.3 the whole day. Which was the perfect sail choice for me today.
As I became shared 5th in the first single elimination I had to wait 2 rounds before I could go on the water to do my first heat to defend my top 10 place and get ranked up higher. In my first heat I would meet Andy 'Bubble' Chambers who was really on fire yesterday with a good heat against tonky but now had to fight his way up again till me. And was having a consistent sailing again today. So in the double we got right up into the strong heat already and for sure no easy heat in this doulbe. Against Bubble I did a great heat, I was focussed and managed to get some really good moves like, Kono, Shaka-flaka, toad, burner and some more nice moves which made me pretty sure I would win this heat against Bubble which I did.
In the next heat I would be up against Phil Soltysiak from Canada who was the only one who could end up in the top 4 on one of the events last year beside the normal top 5 combination, and was ranked 6th last year overall which would make it a really hard heat! But it just started perfect because I started my heat with a huge kono which felt really high, and like I was told afterwards by the judges was one of the best kono's so far of the competition. This gave me confidence to put on a good heat for the rest of it and get me to sail to victory to get in the top 6 which before I came to vietnam was not even possible in my wildest dreams so was really stooked to hear that I won against Phil who was also sailing very good.
Next up was Steven van Broeckhoven, so a Belguim heat fighting to get in the top 5. I know from before it would almost be impossible to beat Steven as he did very well last year and was again in good shape this year but I gave it my best shot. The heat was going pretty well but during my attempt for a toad on the way out I lost a lot of hight which I had to gain back and lost some time also with a crashed move. In the end I did some good moves like a kono followed by a culo right in front of the judges. And managed to get a burner but not a really good one which was not good to be able to win this heat but on the way out I had a great run with airflaka,shakaflaka and ending with a nice double ss chacho gave me still a chance against Steven. In the end Steven won like I already thought before the heat but it was really close only losing by half a point which gave me a great feeling that I was on the right way that I even can put some pressure on the top 5.
In the end it was a great day with for the moment a 6th possition after the double which is a good start from the competition, 2 more days so maybe we still can finish another double although the windpredictions give only wind for one more day but we will see!!
stay tuned!!
Cheers Dieter
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