Hello
everybody
Last
weekend we had the last stop of the Dutch Freestyle championships which where
held at Lauwersmeer in the very north/cold of the Netherlands! It was the first
time for me to ever come to this lake as last year I missed out on it and I
have to say that the organisation did a really good job providing us nice parking
place, a great pool party on Saturday night and a nice prize giving on Sunday
afternoon!
On Saturday
we didn’t have enough wind to run an official competition which made us move to
a tow-in competition.. With only 10°C I have to be honest it wasn’t the most
fun I had during the weekend as I was more freezing on the side than getting
pulled in by the boat, in the end it was just to show something and have at
least a result of something in case it wouldn’t get windy the next day. In the
evening we had the best way to warm up with a nice pool party together with all
the competitors, which was really a lot of fun and a great way to spend the
evening!
On Sunday
the wind looked much better with winds around 20 knts. We started the
competition around 11 a.m. and by 4 p.m. we finished 3 single eliminations to
get the end result. I can’t remember the last time I sailed competition in such
cold conditions with air temperatures around 2°C it was hard to stay warm and
motivated to keep on sailing and get in the cold water again.
In the
first elimination I sailed a good semi final, which gave me a lot of confidence
for the final where I would meet Davy Scheffers, Rick Jendrusch and Nick Van
Ingen. Unlike my half final I started terrible with pretty much crashing every
single move during the first half of the heat. We had 6 moves to count with no
limit of attempts so I knew nothing was lost yet but I was getting really cold
of falling in the water the whole time. As soon as I landed my first Airfunnel
I got a bit warmer and got my form back linking one move after another, kono,
culo, burners, big shaka and an airfunnel 900 gave me the lead in this final
where the level was lower than in the semi finals. Rick got second in that final
in front of Davy who got 3rd which gave me a good lead in the overall of the year
(with my 2nd place in the first competition just before Sylt). With the plan of
only doing 2 singles it even looked good for the event lead.
In the
second elimination Davy re found his form in the final and I didn’t manage to
land my big moves like the spockculo and the kabicuchi. And with Davy making in
the final minute of the heat a perfect flaka shaka I knew I had to be satisfied
with second place in that final before I even heard the results. I didn’t mind
too much as I thought it was over for the day and was more thinking about a
nice hot shower than the result of the final as I was getting really cold of
standing on the side. But with the wind that still was their and enough time to
run another single elimination we decided to do another 3rd single elimination.
I knew if I
wanted to become Dutch champion I had to finish in the top 2 to win the overall
title even if Davy would win the last elimination. With that in mind I was a
bit more relaxed for the final in the 3rd elimination but still wanted to win
of course! I sailed a good heat making spock culo, big kono, perfect culo,
super fast Burner, airfunnel into funnel, airbob and a good shaka720 . I didn’t
see what Davy did but I knew I had enough to be in the top 2 and had the title.
In the end I lost the final in a close decision against Davy, which gave him
the event win, and me the Dutch title as I had a better discard.
So great
weekend with good competition and good Dutch conditions cold, windy and rainy
just like we know it! Dutch Freestyle Champion 2012 for the second time in the
open category after winning the title for the first time in 2009, missing it in
2010 and getting second in 2011, stoked!!
Up next are
the EFPT’s in Le Brusc/France and Weymouth/England, hope to score good here as
well before winter training starts in Brazil!
Cheers
Dieter
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