European Freestyle Expression - Big surprises on day 2

by EFPT on 26 Oct 2013 At the European Freestyle Expression, after spending a really nice social evening yesterday at Mafanas, where our Russian competitors and organisers of the EFPT Aqualeto Cup, that took place earlier this year, showed the final cut of the official Aqualeto Cup movie, it was competition time.

Preparing for an early start Tom Hartmann scheduled the skippers meeting for 8.30 this morning as the forecast looked sufficient throughout the whole day and we were looking out to run a single and maybe even the double elimination here in Six Fours les Plages. The buoys were set, the judging boat was out on the water the only thing that was missing were approximately 15-20 knots of wind. That was when the waiting game begun.

It was just after midday when the east wind started to pick up a bit, delivering conditions for bigger freestyle sails. When EFPT race director Tom Hartmann decided to give it a shot and start the competition, the riders were heading out with their 5.0-5.3s and big freestyle boards.

We've seen a big involvement of French riders, with 10 registered competitors but one of the biggest surprises today was definitely Olivier Gouezo (Fanatic/Sailloft) who is quite new to the international competition scene and first took out Andraz Zan (F2/F2), to then beat ranked fifth overall in the EFPT Max Rowe (North/Fanatic) from the UK. Gouezo could only be stopped by top freestyler Antony Ruenes in the third round and ended up joined fifth.

Throughout the whole race the conditions stayed very tricky with gusty light winds which seemed to favor the riders who were at the right place in the right time. That was also the reason why the heat format was changed to best trick (three tricks each tack count) and the duration time was extended to ten minutes.

The EFPT sailors were showing an impressive level and a lot of professionalism by making the best out of it. We didn't expect anything less, yet Steven Van Broeckhoven (JP/Neilpryde) impressed with clean power moves like big culos, air-funnel into funnel and flaka into shakas and also more 'olschool' orientated maneuvers like Tucans and Lollipops, just as the pressure in the sail allowed. Antony Ruenes, part of the French windsurfing team, took out team-mate Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard) who sailed amazing in those light winds but couldn't quite show his level in the heat against the other Frenchman.

Dieter Van der Eyken (Starboard/Severne) from Belgium wanted to defend his first place from last year and circled through different kind of sliding tricks but also through powerful moves which he partly started out of nothing.

Local rider and part of the organization team Adrien Bosson (North/Fanatic) who already impressed in this year's PWA events fought his way through the elimination, winning every heat until van der Eyken stopped him from moving straight into the winners final. On the other side of the semifinal Van Broeckhoven defeated Ruenes who was definitely not easy to beat, showing no handed flakas and regular chachoos against every opponent.

Whilst the wind seemed to drop more and more towards the evening the EFPT race director let the riders decide if they wanted to continue in those conditions or rather postpone with the possibility of not having a final result as the forecast looks marginal for the next days. There was a consentaneous decision by the riders to run the final.

We could have wished for better conditions but that's not how it works if you are having fixed dates. Everybody and especially the riders made the best out of it, even they could not perform all the new power-moves it was still an exciting elimination which got definitely shook up by some 'outsiders'.

The forecast for tomorrow doesn't look too special, but there will be a skippers meeting set for 9.00 am anyways in case the wind improves and we can start a double elimination. EFPT website