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
