Freestyle Pro Tour Paros - Overall
by Freestyle Pro Tour 3 Jul 05:12 AEST
Eugenio Marconi was one of the first sailors to embrace the more creative side of the format - Freestyle Pro Tour Paros © Freestyle Pro Tour
As the riders gathered at the event site of the 2025 FPT Paros for one last time and the Meltemi winds once again began blowing strong, the stage for the final day of the event was set.
After a more relaxed and experimental day yesterday, the gameplan for today was rather similar - changing up the format, and running some exciting competition.
Today's format: A Game of Surf.
"Game of Surf" is a windsurfing spin on the classic "Game of Skate" format - extremely popular in skateboarding - where two riders go head-to-head in a trick battle. One rider starts by performing a freestyle move; if they land it, the other rider must replicate it. If the second rider fails to land the same move with a higher score, they receive a letter—starting with "S", then "U", and so on until spelling out "SURF". The first rider to reach all four letters loses. Crashes while setting the move also resulted in the riders receiving a letter. The format emphasizes diversity and creativity, aiming to push riders to try difficult or unusual moves under pressure.
Right from the getgo, riders began getting creative. Even before the first heat start, we saw riders getting creative in their warmup sessions, with Bodhi Kempen (Severne) practicing Funnell Clocks before the first heat even started.
Competition kicked off, and even more creativity started coming out. Eugenio Marconi (Duotone) started his heat against Tigo Kort (JP Australia / Neilpryde) a Forward Loop and Culo, both of which the Dutch rider replicated without much issue. Things got interesting after Marconi pulled out a Shaka Cana Brava, putting him ahead and allowing him to take the win.
Jacopo Testa (WeOne / GunSails) felt like a fish in the water in this new format. The Italian master of style pulled out his full swiss army knife of moves, showing just how diverse and technically skilled of a sailor he is. In his first heat, he improved on all the moves set by Felix Bittdorfer, then pulled out a huge Air Spock to seal the deal. Up next for Testa was a matchup we've seen multiple times this event - a battle agaisnt Takumi Moriya (Severne). Despite a weaker performance from Takumi, Japo continued to impress, with a Triple Spock and once again ending the heat with a huge Air Spock.
Maarten Molenaar also put on a strong showing in his battle against Pier Bongianni. In classic Sardinia-style fashion, Bongianni came out with a Gozzada, followed by a Culo. However, Molenaar beat him at his own game, matching his Gozzada and one-upping him in the back-to-sail category by setting a Matador that Bongianni was unable to recreate, giving him the heat win.
Molenaar was stopped by event winner Lennart Neubauer matching him in the Matador game, additionally pulling out a Double Culo and Spock Culo to secure the win in the heat. Neubauer also got creative inbetween heats, bringing out the Mitato - a move he himself invented, that consists of going into a Grubby-like rotation after ducking the sail regular stance. Victory in this heat matched him up against Bodhi Kempen who was pushing hard throughout the entire elimination, bringing out big moves that most of his competitors simply weren't able to match - until he was stopped by Lennart. The two riders were matched head to head, until a Flaka Ponch from Neubauer made Kempen unable to match, giving him the heat win and a position in the final.
On the other side of the ladder, the Italian stylemaster Jacopo Testa kept up his charge. Victory against Takumi Moriya put him into a semifinal against Yentel Caers (JP Australia/Neilpryde). An early Toad from Testa put Caers on edge, followed by a strange Clock Diablo-esque move but reversing the rotation halfway through gave Testa a lead. However after crashing while setting the next move, Caers managed to catch up putting both riders at 3 letters. Testa sealed the deal setting his trademark Air Kabikuchi - a move that Caers did perform, but not quite as stylish as Jacopo.
This set the stage for a final - Jacopo Testa versus Lennart Neubauer. The heat kicked off with Lennart crashing on his way to set a move, passing his turn to Testa and taking the first letter Continuing the trend of unexpected and creative moves, Japo started off with a Switch Clew-First Flaka. After a Shove-It Spock followed by a crash setting a move on the way out, Lennart took his turn back and lay down the pressure with a Flaka Ponch, and Double Burner tying up the score. This left things down to the wire - all or nothing, Jacopo Testa setting, whoever does the move better wins. And - in classic Testa fashion - Japo blew Lennart and the crowd out of the water, stomping a massive Air Spock, that Lennart was simply unable to match.
With that, the experimental competition format was concluded and Jacopo Testa being crowned the victor, competitors headed out onto the water for some freesailing sessions, as the wind kept cranking until the end of the day. As the sun got lower over the horizon, the crowning of the event winners took place, with Lennart Neubauer and Pier Bongianni recieving their trophies and the final claps and cheers marking the end of the Freestyle Pro Tour's stop in Paros.
Next Stop: Lake Geneva. The tour now takes a short hiatus over the length of the summer season, before returning for the finals of the Tow-In and Foilstyle fleets in Switzerland from the 8th to the 12th of October. In the meantime, make sure to stay tuned to all our channels for exciting freestyle content coming your way while we await the tour to return!