Surf World Cup Podersdorf - Perfect conditions on Day 3

by Vivienne Masters on 29 Apr 2013 Surf World Cup Podersdorf Day 3 proved to be a much more relaxed affair, after yesterday’s action packed day, as light winds and glorious sunny weather returned to Podersdorf, which created the perfect conditions for the opening heat of the European tow-in event, which took place at 5pm. By the time it was ready to start the second heat, 8pm, there was a slight breeze, which made for challenging and choppy conditions. In front of a packed out crowd Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra) stole the limelight in the first heat as he claimed victory with a brilliant burner 360, meanwhile, in the second heat of the day Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / North) continued his winning ways after landing a massive burner 180 and wowing both the crowd and the judges in the process.

It was a case of so close, yet so far for Rick Jendrusch (F2 / Severne / Mystic) as the young Dutchman mixed it up in heat two with a really slick one-handed bob, showing a great deal of diversity. However, it wasn’t enough as Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) and Dieter van der Eyken (Starboard / Severne) pipped him to a place in the final.

With plenty of down time today we caught up with man behind Tricktionary - the windsurfing bible - Michael Rossmeier (F2 / Avanti) and Youp Schmit (JP / NeilPryde).

PWA: Freestyle places a tremendous amount of pressure on your feet, resulting in many sailors suffering from painful lumps on the top of their feet. What causes this?
MR: 'For me this problem started when I started learning flakas and e-sliders, mainly e-sliders from going switch. Most normal footstraps have such a narrow point for transferring the pressure that eventually you start to develop these lumps.'

PWA: What did you do to stop this from happening?
MR: 'Originally I tried using kite straps - which was ok for me as my foot has a low profile - but for others they couldn’t get their feet in the straps.'

PWA: How do the Tricktionary foostraps prevent the problem?
MR: 'The footstraps are much wider, which means that the pressure is transferred more evenly across the whole of your foot, rather than a narrow area.'

PWA: After deciding that kite straps weren’t the right solution, what did you do?
MR: 'I took apart a lot of footstraps from all the different brands - including kitestraps - to try and figure out how I could make my own footstraps. With help from Monty Spindler in Tarifa I was able to find out how to get my own footstraps into production.'

PWA: How long did the development the Tricktionary footstraps?
MR: 'I have been developing them for two years. It was mainly just me, but a few other people also did some testing.'

PWA: You also hold your own windsurfing clinics, is there a minimum standard a person needs to be to attend?
MR: 'No, the clinics are open to windsurfers of any level and I usually hold the clinics in Egypt and Greece.'

PWA: You and Phil Soltysiak (Starboard / Sailworks) have a project called 'Windsurfing into the Unknown', do you have any plans for future projects already?
MR: 'We are working on it, but it’s unknown for the time being. (As the name suggests).'

PWA: Thanks for your time Rossi.

Youp Schmit recently recovered from this injury, so we decided to see if he’s back to being 100% happy with his foot.

PWA: Have you now fully recovered from your injury and how long were you off the water for?
YS: 'After having an operation in October I am finally back on the water. My foot feels good again now, but I have also changed to a softer set of footstraps which are more forgiving on your foot. For now this is working well. In total I was off the water for three months, but I’m happy to be back now.'

Tomorrow’s forecast is predicting light winds again, but as previously mentioned anything can happen in Austria due to its unpredictability and local thermal effects. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am tomorrow morning with the first possible start at 10:30am. There is action guaranteed though as the third heat of the European tow-in event will be taking place at 8pm.

Advancing into Tuesday’s Final from Heat One - European Tow-in:
1st Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra)
2nd Julien Mas (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg)
3rd Bjorn Saragoza (Starboard / Hot Sails Maui)

Advancing into Tuesday’s Final from Heat Two - European Tow-in
1st Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / North)
2nd Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Dieter van der Eyken (Starboard / Severne)