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Antoine Albeau (FRA-192) has won the 2008 PWA Slalom 42 worldtitle, before the PWA circuit has been finished in Sylt. The French "Elephant" had won in the age of 36 years most of the competitions he took part: PWA events in Costa Brava, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, the Masters of Speed, the Speed Worldchampionships in Fuerteventura, etc.
In the last two events 35 times worldchampion Björn Dunkerbeck came back on the top of the podium. Was it only because he also used Starboards? More in the interview, which was taken by the Starboard headquarter crew.

Starboard: Congratulations Antoine! You ´ve won the PWA Slalom Champion three times in a row now, Speed World Champion two times in a row and you are the current Speed World record holder. Would you say 2008 has been your most successful year as a professional windsurfer so far?
Antoine Albeau: yes it is very good for me, I did it again. Really happy that I could defend my Slalom and Speed title this year and also break the world speed sailing record.

Starboard: How many World and PWA titles do you have now?
Antoine Albeau: I have 5 PWA world titles, 14 world titles in total.

Starboard: What do you have planned for the rest of the season? Still going to Sylt?
Antoine Albeau: Of course I will go to the PWA final in Sylt, for me the season is not done yet – there is still more work to do!!

Starboard: It’s no secret that Bjorn Dunkerbeck raced on Starboard boards for the first time at the PWA Turkey event. It became very close between the two of you and that must have been very exciting. Bjorn eventually won the event when we don’t recall that you have lost it him in three years.Everyone wants to know: was it the boards, or was it luck, or the wind conditions or maybe racer skill?
Antoine Albeau: Bjorn is a very good competitor and I think that he was maybe a bit fed up with being behind. So when he decided to use the same boards as I have he got back his competitive spirit and was more into the race. He made a good choice to take the iSonic as the iSonic are the most competitive boards on the market.

Starboard: If it ever happened, would you welcome Bjorn to the Dream Team?
Antoine Albeau: Of course. He will be very welcome to join me in the Dream Team and I would be very happy to test the iSonic with him.

Starboard: Starboard is currently ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd in PWA slalom, with the sail brands being Neilpryde, North and Gaastra. Do you think that has convinced everyone about the performance of the iSonics?
Antoine Albeau: For sure, the iSonics are the most competitive and easiest board to use with every sail – easy to get planing and easy to jibe, the speed is also very constant in high speed.

Starboard: So how about the future?
Antoine Albeau: The future is simple, windsurfing is in my blood so I will be windsurfing until I die!!

Starboard: Is Olympic Gold on Formula equipment something that would be attractive for you?
Antoine Albeau: yes it would be very interesting to have formula windsurfing in the Olympics. We would need to have a windy place (like London) to do it.

Starboard: We recently signed Jimmy Diaz on to the team. A great guy and a solid racer. What do you think?
Antoine Albeau: I think that Jimmy is a very good person – intelligent and easy to work with. I worked with Jimmy for many years with Neilpryde and it was great working with him, always ready to go on the water and motivating. He will be an asset for Starboard.

Starboard: Congratulations once more on your two titles and speed record. You’re on top of the World and with a bright future ahead. We’re very much looking forward to seeing what you do towards the end of the season and in 2009. Maybe break the 50 knots?
Antoine Albeau: Yes I would be very happy if I was the one who broke the 50kts barrier, now I need to get the best conditions and have some time to try, I know that I have the right equipment to do it. So you never know.

EFPT Tour ends a bit earlier than expected with a rider on top who was leading the tour through the whole season till the end!!! Antxon Otaegui (JP/NP) takes the title for the first time to Spain and is the new European Champion in Freestyle Windsurfing.

Another successful EFPT season is over. In a bit strange though because the last event had to be cancelled and so we not only miss a great event in Russia but also a prize giving ceremony of the fresh European Champion.


The latest happenings in Georgia and Russia made it necessary to take this decision and cancel the last event of the tour. As one of the conflict areas is less than 500 km away from our competition place it would have been quite impropriate to hold a windsurf event. The organizers of the Black Sea Cup decided to take a break this year and called it off, they stay focused for 2009 and wish to have us back there!!!



Nevertheless we are proud to present the brand new EFPT and European Champion, a 24 years old crazy Spanish from Lanzarote - Antxon Otaegui. The dude was on and off on EFPT for the last few seasons but for this year he took it real serious and it seams to pay of. The 3rd place in Spain was a great start into the tour, after Tarifa winning 2 events, having one second place and taking the 4th place in Podersdorf which was a PWA and EFPT combo, Antxon was the first ranked EFPT rider, he stands on top!!!
An amazing season for him and we’re quite sure that his amigos will give him a sick party at home!!!

Second place: Normen Günzlein (JP/NP), 23 year old German Fresstyler who is just waiting to get his turn. Also Normens season was super successful, he won the first one in Tarifa and was leading till Podersdorf, after Austria he was on Antxons heels till the end and these two boys knew exactly how to make season exiting. Before greece the two JP/NP riders event went to practise together on the island of fuerteventura. The progress Normen did in the last year on tour is amazing and everyone expects very good results every time he hits the beach.

Third place goes to Nicolas Akgazcyian (Starboard/Gun Sails) from France. Also 23 years old he brings great honour to the “grande Nation”. A fantastic character who is always in a good mood. With winning Vassiliki and finishing Podersdorf right after Antxon he did a great job this year. Also his second place on the last event in Turkey was important, especially because he went almost through the whole double after loosing in the single quite early. The one who stopped him in the end is the guy who owns the 2008 title…

In fourth position we have to mention Steven van Broeckhoven (F2). Belgian newcomer and definitively the “rookie of the year”!!! coming out of nowhere he ends in a top position and everyone expects this guy to go anywhere but up. An amazing start into his professional life which is outstanding and shows again the potential which lies hidden in probably every country. If this guy made a statement its: come out, go to competitions and proof yourself among the big ones – its worth it!!!

But there are more to mention than just the first 4.
All these riders who take the effort to spend money, time and energy to travel Europe and show their skills in so many places are remarkable. They keep the windsurfing spirit alive and motivate people all over the continent. We said it before and we say it again: they are ambassadors of this Sport. After all we have to admit we had a great season. Sick events in perfect places. Riders, organizers, visitors and crew enjoyed the 6th EFPT year in perfect conditions. All events were windy, every stop had a result, we spent the best time at nice spots which are dedicated and mostly influenced by the sport we love. The crazy stories of this year will be told over and over again and everyone who met the whole travelling bunch of crazy guys will never forget the time on the beach with them…

Again we thank all organizers, hotel and organization crews, sponsors, magazines, websites and all supporters who made this season possible. We take a bow and promise to be back in 2009. If there’s one thing for sure it’s the motto that’s alive from the first season: "There’s no beach out of reach."

Björn Dunkerbeck (SUI, Proof, North Sails) and Valerie Ghibaudo (FRA, Loft Sails) are the European Champions of Speed Windsurfing 2008!

In a thrilling final gold fleet race number 6 Björn Dunkerbeck defeated Antoine Albeau, who was leading the competition until that final race. Both were tight in points. Antoine Albeau had the top speed of the season (43.68 knots) and set a new spot record in Karpathos as well as well.
Cyril Moussilmani saved his third place with his fifth third position out of six races, clearly ahead of former world record holder Finian Maynard, who finished in fourth. In fifth place Chris Lockwood from Australia followed.
In the womens fleet French top speedsailor Valerie Ghibaudo dominated all six races with six victories. In second position Anja Kruse followed with five second places. Third place went to Elke Schill from the hosting Pro Center. Only three ladies were competing. Karin Jaggi did not participate in the European Championships after winning the Speed world title in Fuerteventura early in August.

A short diary of the event:

Day 1: The event started with the first split fleet race in speed sailing history, to get a proper seeding for the upcoming silver and gold fleet races.
Antoine Albeau dominated group A, Peter Volwater in second ahead of Cyril Moussilmani and Chris Lockwood. Group B kicked off with the long expected duell between Bjorn Dunkerbeck and Finian Maynard. Björn showed with some fantastic runs over 41 knots the potential of that strip. Surprisingly Ben van der Steen came in second, followed by Torsten Luig in third and Finian in fourth.

Day 2: winds of 8 Beaufort in the Devils bay, gusting up to force 10, brought problems for almost all of the silver fleet competitors. The gold fleet was setting new standards in competition of speed sailing in Karpathos. Antoine and Bjorn Dunkerbeck were both pushing for higher and higher speeds, followed by Cyril Moussilmani in third and Finian Maynard in fourth. After a short break, the Silver fleet was sent out, and it was a hard time for the mainly amateur sailors. In winds of up to 10 Beaufort almost all of them had problems to go up to the starting zone. With the top 7 sailors advancing to the next gold fleet race then the next round was started half an hour later, with again Antoine Albeau in first and Bjorn Dunkerbeck in second. Third this time Finian Maynard, and Chris Lockwood in fourth.
After a longer lunch break, the day went into the fourth round for the first discard of the competition, and this time it was Bjorn Dunkerbeck who was faster than anybody else. Albeau this time only in second, and Moussilmani in third.

Day 3: the riders had a break; the wind never reached suitable strenght.

Day 4: no wind for racing

Day 5: One more round was completed in relatively light winds, leaving the decision about the title open to the final two days of the competition. The speeds were extremly good in the light conditions, proved by topspeeds of over 40 knots by Bjorn Dunkerbeck. Also Antoine Albeau in second and Cyril Moussilmani came close to 40 knots, then Chris Lockwood and Finian Maynard.
Bjorn Dunkerbeck could win the last two rounds and Antoine Albeau, who dominated the beginning of the event, were tight in points now, and due to the better top speed Antoine still in the lead.

Day 6: the wind was completely off.

Day 7 (final day): The wind started light, with the wind strength suitable but with a too square direction. At 11:00 the conditions were ok. From the very beginning it was a tough battle between Dunkerbeck and Albeau, both with speeds in the high 39 knots, but then Björn came up with three 40 knots runs, while Albeau could not get that speed on the final leg.

The final ranking for the 2008 Karpathos European Championship:

1. Bjorn Dunkerbeck (SUI, Topspeed: 42.92 knots)
2. Antoine Albeau (FRA, 43.68)
3. Cyril Moussilmani (FRA, 42.30)
4. Finian Maynard (IRL, 41.88)
5. Ben van der Steen (NED, 40.76)

Chris Lockwood, originally in fifth position, is not counted towards the european championship, but for the overall ranking.

1. Valerie Ghibaudo (FRA,36,91 knots)
2. Anja Kruse (GER,30,67)
3. Elke Schill (Ger, 28,90)

>>> FULL RESULT

© speedworldcup.com

Andre Paskowski just came up with his latest online video project STACKED. He followed Gollito and Victor and got filmed himself, too. The result is an extraordinary 10 minutes long movie. Andre found some time in his busy life for an exclusive interview with continentseven. We talked a bit about the video productions and his attitude towards production and sport.

How long did you work on the video?

Well, I worked around 1 week to plan and organise all the movie. Then we filmed around 3 weeks to get all the footage. After returning from the Canary Islands 3 weeks ago I was working on editing together with Sebastian Dörr (the editor) and on some small promo things (moves, trailer etc.). Now I will need in total one more week to make the movie known.

What´s the content about?

As always in my movie the main content is crazy windsurf action. Till now you just know my videos for freestyle action but this time we also have a nice wave part. Also we included a few nice effekts. So all in all i think the viewer can expect to watch nice 10minutes of windsurfing wich will make him hungry for the own next session on the water.

Who are sailors on the vid?

It´s Victor Fernandez for the Wave Part, Gollito and myself for the Freestyle Part.


Are you over producing selling DVDs?

No! I still could imagine to produce a selling DVD. But for such a project I would need a lot of time which I do not have in the moment. A successful DVD you can not make in 4 weeks. I see my Online Clips as a good alternative. We offer definitely good action plus an editing which is on a high quality. We reached with 2forTEN over 100.000 views... I think it is good to transport freestyle and windsurfing to people, who can not be on the water all year long or even to people who never saw windsurfing before. With STACKED I hope to reach these numbers again or even top them.

Is it hard for you to focus on competing and video production?

Yes, sometimes. It all takes more time then it looks like. But I am a windsurfer and competitor first. I want to reach my sportive goals. So I check before the season, how much work is possible or not. This year my results were not as good as they used to be the last couple of years. But I am confident to bring back the good results next year and in the same time having great and interesting movies.

Is your focus more on producing videos or on your competition career?

Well. As I said already. I want to win events. BUT you can not win all the time. I won the Euro Title the last 2 years but it is not possible to win events for the rest of my life. I want to do also a good job off the water for me, my friends, my supporters and the sport. The videos are one part, which are or were obvious to see - now with STACKED and before with 2forTEN. But I do other things like photoprojects, writing articles, taking care of team riders as well.

Do you visit filmschools to improve your skills or how do you get all the knowledge. Honestly your movies get better and better!!!!!!!!!

That is a big compliment. Thanks. Of course we want to push our own limits. I am in charge of the filming side. I did not went to a filmschool. I really like to film and work together with the riders. I think I have a good view for the action and a good workflow with the riders. Maybe because I also windsurf on the level. So I know what is possible and looks the best.
Basti, who is in charge of the editing, went to a university to study media design and his focus was on movie editing. So he has a school background.

Thanks for the interview!!!

© Continentseven.com 2008

Qingdao showed that it was not the light air, fairy puff venue that it has been mis-labelled for the past four or more years. In fact, was probably one of the windiest Olympics so far.

Tom Ashley won the Gold medal in the RS:X Mens windsurfing event, the first Gold Medal New Zealand has won since Barbara Kendall’s in 1992 in Barcelona. Ashley generally performs well in a breeze, as we saw in the 2008 Worlds at Takapuna where he looked to be well in his comfort zone, and his height is very advantageous. Frenchman Julien Bontemps finished one place behind Ashley to take silver, whilst Israel's Shahar Zubari edged out Nick Dempsey to win bronze.

Female Windsurfer Jian Yin won China's first ever Olympic gold medal in sailing. Alessandra Sensini from Italy won the Medal Race to take the silver medal, becoming the first female sailor to ever win four Olympic medals, whilst Great Britain's Bryony Shaw won bronze.

ISWC Speed Windsurfing European Championship Karpathos 2008 - 20. to 26.08.2008

The fight for the European champion title is still open between Antoine Albeau (FRA, Starboard) and Bjorn Dunkerbeck (SUI, Proof, North Sails) after 5 days of sailing. Both sailors are tight in points, but Antoine leads with top speed of 43,68 knots and the minimum points of 2,1 after 4 races , which include one discards. In the womens fleet Valerie Ghibaudo (FRA, Loft Sails) is already through winning all races so far. There are only two opponents, who are less experienced in this discipline and are far away from Valerie´s top speed of 36,91 knots. Patrick Diethelm (ITA-120), who became 2nd in the 2008 worldchampionships and current worldchampion Karin Jaggi (SUI-14) are not participating in this race.
With a bad forecast for tomorrow and a slight chance for wind on the final day of the competition, it all looks like the decision will be taken in the last race of the last day. Let´s see if Björn can beat Antoine as well in a speed windsurfing event or if Antoine will keep the leading position and will win the European title after being on top in the world championships early in August on Fuerteventura.

Results after 5 rounds:

Men (Top five out of 45 riders)
1. Antoine Albeau 4,1 points and event topspeed of 43,68
2. Björn Dunkerbeck 4,1 points
3. Cyril Moussilmani 12,0 points
4. Finian Maynard 15 points
5. Chris Lockwood 17 points

Ladies (Top 3 out of 3 riders)
1. Valerie Ghibaudo 2,8 points and event topspeed with 36,91
2. Anja Kruse 8 points
3. Elke Schill 11 points

source: speedworldcup.com Pic: Judith Ebeling

HOOD RIVER, ORE.—Several of North America’s top freestyle windsurfers descended on the Columbia River Gorge in July for the 2nd Annual Gorge Freestyle Frenzy, the nation’s largest high-wind freestyle windsurfing event.


Tyson Poor of Orinda, Calif., claimed the crown in the “Super Frenzy” division—the professional division allowing the most difficult tricks—wowing the crowd with double-forward loops and other advanced maneuvers.


With classic Gorge winds reaching 35 mph at the Spring Creek Fish Hatchery, the day featured impressive windsurfing action on the water and a big crowd of spectators all along the shore. Along with Poor, other first-place finishers were: Men’s Division, Jake Miller, Makawao, Hawaii; Women’s Division, Ingrid Larouche, Bingen, Wash.; Master’s Division, Peter Najim, Hood River, Ore.; and ProKids Division, Jordan Reid, Pleasanton, Calif. Because of his top finish in the ProKids division, 15-year-old Reid automatically qualified for the ProKids Worlds in Bonaire. Complete Frenzy results are listed below.

Just in its second year, the Gorge Freestyle Frenzy has been covered by a variety of national media, including a two-page article in the July issue of Men’s Journal magazine. The Frenzy is a locally produced event, founded and organized by Royn Bartholdi of Hood River, with the help of volunteers from the community.

This year’s Frenzy drew 45 competitors from throughout North America, and showcased why the Gorge is one of the top recreation destinations in the world. For more information on the Gorge Freestyle Frenzy and participating athletes, visit Gorgefreestylefrenzy.com for more infos.

Check the pics of the event here.

2008 Gorge Freestyle Frenzy Results:

Super Frenzy
1st - Tyson Poor, Orinda, Calif.
2nd - Whit Poor, Orinda, Calif.
3rd - Wyatt Miller, Berkeley, Calif.
4th - Rob Warwick, Hood River, Ore.

Women
1st - Ingrid Larouche, Bingen, Wash.
2nd - Zoe Najim, Hood River, Ore.
3rd - Katie Crafts, Hood River, Ore.
4th - Roxanne Christensen, White Salmon, Wash.

ProKids
1st - Jordan Reid, Pleasanton, Calif.
2nd - Jonathon Poore, Santa Cruz, Calif.

Men
1st - Jake Miller, Makawao, Hawaii
2nd - Mitch Gingrich, San Diego, Calif.
3rd - Sean Aiken, Hood River, Ore.
4th - Patrick Bergeron, Haiku, Hawaii

Masters
1st - Peter Najim, Hood River, Ore.
2nd - Sofien Sehiri, Berkeley, Calif.
3rd - Dan Thompson, Freelton, Ont.
4th - Derek Rijff, Carrying Place, Ont.

After a brief spell on F2, Philip Koester has signed back with Starboard. Svein Rasmussen, president of Starboard International, was so impressed by Philip’s performance in Gran Canaria he flew to the Canaries to personally congratulate and bring the 14 year old wonderkid back to the brand with the Tiki logo.

At the Gran Canaria PWA Wave event last month, Philip Koester knocked out wavesailing superstars Levi Siver and Alex Mussolini before losing closely to Victor Fernandez. Philip also won the airtime award with the biggest jump of the event at 4.08 seconds. And he’s only 14. Not since the time when Bjorn Dunkerbeck appeared on the scene have competitors seen such a impressive talent at such a young age – so definitely a space to watch out for.

With young riders like Sarah–Quita, Kiri Thode, Jaeger Stone, Amado Wiesvijk, French darling Alice Arutkin, Connor Baxter, Zane Schweitzer and with the experienced Jimmy Diaz now the official Dream Team Coach for these youngsters, it certainly look like a second generation of Starboard Dream Team riders is about to storm the world.

Interview with Philip Koester about the competition in Pozo, future plans and idols. Check it out here.