The final day of the EFE/EFPT event in Le Brusc saw extremely strong wind, blowing with more than 40 knots. The new single elimination ladder was already prepared and the 36 competitors were ready to start the elimination.
But the police has upset the plans. “Red flags were put up along the whole coastline between Marseille and Nice with the strict announcement, that everybody who will enter either the beach or the water will be warned by the police. The council recommended to cancel the competition and gave us no authorization to send the riders out again.” Hanna Poschinger, EFPT Press manager, said.
Belgium top freestyler Dieter van der Eyken (20), who already made it in 5th place at the PWA freestyle event on Fuerteventura in July 2012, won for the very first time an EFPT event in his career. He lost in the final of the single elimination to Tonky Frans, but had a run in the double elimination winning against Davy Scheffers and defeating Tonky twice.
The C7 flag flying over Le Brusc – Pic: EFPT, Raffi Cherbedjian
Dieter enjoyed freestyle sailing in really strong wind conditions (Pic: EFPT, Raffi Cherbedjian).
Dieter´s preparation during the last winter and spring paid off. He spent thousands of Euros to travel and train in Western Australia and the Carribean. He not only improved his freestyle, he as well got great skills in wavesailing and attended the first PWA wave event at Sylt this year. Additionally he won the Dutch Freestyle title and developed his own freestyle sail (The Freek) together with Ben Severne.
The prize giving happened at 5.00 pm and saw a big involvement of local politicians and press. Dieter, Tonky and Davy got announced as the winner. Apart from the winners of the two competitions, Julien Mas was rewarded with a trophy in memory of Vincent Mellouet, who tragically passed away while windsurfing. The organization wanted to honor a person, who does a lot for windsurfing. Julien is also the organizer of the Wind Meet event in July in memoriam of Vincent Mellouet.
Dieter in the tow-in action (Pic: EFPT, Raffi Cherbedjian).
Dieter van der Eyken, who is also a Continentseven teammember, won the Double Elimination and 18 year old Antoine Albert from New Caledonia – he is multiple New Caledonian Freestyle champion – the tow-in show. Congratulations to Dieter and Antoine!
“I am super stoked to win at the EFE at Le Brusc. I already sailed at this spot before, but now it was different. The level of the competition was really high. Everybody in the top 16 was ripping. It was just amazing. And to win against so strong opponents makes me really happy. See you next year!” Dieter van der Eyken´s commented his first ever event victory on the EFPT tour.
The top 3 winners at Le Brusc (Pic: EFPT, Raffi Cherbedjian).
Tonky Frans, current number 5 in the PWA overall ranking 2012 and second at the final tourstop on Sylt, commented the event as following: “It feels so good to be back on the EFPT. We had big parties, a lot of good riders and it´s always great to see new guys on tour. I am really looking forward to the next year to be back again!”
Davy Scheffers, the tourleader added: “I don´t have anymore to say. Dieter and Tonky already said everything. But honestly I always hope to win and in this case I hope to win the 2012 EFPT tour at the final event.”
Final Result:
1. Dieter van der Eyken
2. Tonky Frans
3. Davy Scheffers
4. Adrian Beholz
5. Mattia Fabrizi
Results tow-in:
1. Antoine Albert
2. Julien Mas
3. Romain Pinocheau
The 10 tow in finalists at the EFE (Pic: EFPT, Raffi Cherbedjian).
Davy Scheffers (20), who won the first event at Sigri, Lesbos, Greece, actually leads the overall ranking and has the goal to win the EFPT tour. His hardest opponents will be German Adrian Beholz and Dieter van der Eyken. Let´s see, if Tonky will compete at the final, too.
The EFPT tour will see the final event in England. On November 3rd the CENTAUR King of the wind will be started at Weymouth. The location is well known from the Olympic Games 2012. The sailing competitions including RS:X were held there. 25 riders are on the entry list already. There are some new big names on like Andy “Bubble” Chambers, Paul Boef or Aleix Sanllehy. The CENTAUR King of the Wind will last till November 6th. Let´s hope the wind will be on during the event! The forecast looks great!
The forecast for Weymouth (Source: windguru).
