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
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