EFPT King of the Wind - Strong repertoire on day 3

by Hanna Poschinger on 7 Nov 2012 Starting the double at in the Centaur King of the Wind competition on day three at 9.30am in the morning, it became obvious quite quickly who went into it with the intention to make a comeback! F2 rider Nikos Athansiou from Greece won two of his heats against Will Rogers (Starboard) and Malte Hecht (Sailloft) to then be just stopped by Adrian Beholz (Sailloft). Nikos showed a strong repertoire on moves including power moves and very technical maneuvers like a switch flaka.

Pro freestyle windsurfer of Slovenia Andraz Zan (F2/F2) managed to climb up in the double elimination ladder after having a rather disappointing result in the single. He faced Adam Sims (Sailloft) and Julien Mas who he defeated with routine until young Rick Jendrusch (F2) dispatched him before he could step up into the top five. F2 team member Jendrusch showed a strong performance and sailed five heats in the double also taking out Jeremy Plüss from Switzerland, Adrian Beholz (Sailloft) from Germany and even UK top rider Andy Bubble Chambers (JP/Neilpryde). Only Adam Gavriel from Israel could stop the rookie with a sick style in all of his power moves and made Jendrusch end up in fourth place! The wind dropped a bit in the heat for the second and third place between Gavriel and Dieter Van der Eyken (Starboard) but clearly favored Van der Eyken.

Davy Scheffers was already preparing on the beach, listening to music and being fully in the zone to be able to defend his first place of the single. The final battle of the Dutch rider against Dieter Van der Eyken was expected with excitement. Scheffers sailed a very strong heat again nailing a regular chachoo, a huge air funnell and massive culos while Van der Eyken stuck shakas and one handed shakas both ways, esliders both ways and also a switch flaka just to name a few moves from each rider. Still it seemed that Dieter lacked a bit of power and Davy won by a five to zero decision.

The results after the full double elimination are as follows:

1st Davy Scheffers from Holland
2nd Dieter Van der Eyken (Starboard) from Belgium
3rd Adam Gavriel from Israel


Bonfire night, a massive firework display, a spectacular tow in show with the pros and an Austrian champion.

5.00pm the skippers meeting at the town beach of Weymouth was scheduled. The riders transport was arranged and at the spot right in front of the big promenade sponsor flags were hoisted and a few clothing brands put some nice stuff for the upcoming winter season on display, some also knowing how to attract the masses (and the riders) by letting two pretty girls provide cupcakes and waffles.

After a few test runs the shore started to fill up with more and more people, eager to watch the action on the water. Colin Dixon was on the mic and his commentary was heard along the whole beach and throughout the town as we had a connection to the city's sound system.

A follow up spotlight was arranged as well as high class flood lighting. The fleet of riders competing for 500€ prize money was as follows: Adam Sims (Sailloft), Phil Richards and Andy Bubble Chambers (JP/Neilpryde) from the UK, Max Matissek from Austria, Jeremy Plüss and Christian Birri from Switzerland, Davy Scheffers, Tim Ruyssenaars and Rick Jendrusch (F2) from Holland, Julien Mas from France, Adam Gavriel from Israel and Dieter Van der Eyken (Starboard) from Belgium.

Every rider had two runs of which the better one would count. After an hour of competition with many spectators the result for the top three was as follows:

1st Max Matissek (Fanatic) from Austria with a sick air funnel into funnel diablo
2nd Andy Chambers (JP/Neilpryde) from the UK with a clean culo
3rd Julien Mas from France with an air funnel into funnel

The result was clear with all judges having the same decision here.

We'd like to congratulate the winners and compliment all the riders who got involved! You put on a really amazing show which didn't go unnoticed as members of the council were also on the beach, fully enthusiastic about the tow in session and the King of the Wind event. We are going to be in the local newspaper tomorrow morning and they want to get a five year plan of the potential future development of this event! Well done to everyone, freestyle windsurfing is coming back to where it belongs: the spotlight of the scene, media and European Freestyle Pro Tour website