The EFPT has a new owner & CEO. UK freestyler and video producer Adam Sims will take over the job. Read more about the change at the top of the European Freestyle Pro Tour.

Adam Sims: „I’m extremely proud to take on the new role as owner and CEO of the EFPT tour. Of course I’m very excited to have a solid (and experienced) team working side by side with me. Danny Kater will do a flawless job I have no doubt. Hanna Poschinger already does a flawless job. Plus we’ve got our own Graphic Director Lukas (who also designed the @aalvaamedia logo) and to round that all off – Flo Ragossnig will be responsible for the web design.  I’d say quite the team. Of course not forgetting those miserable judges who do a pretty good job I suppose (still fuming about that heat in Lanza 3 years ago…) just kidding, these guys are the icing on the cake.

More importantly an opportunity to truly thank (on behalf of anyone that has passed through the doors of an awesome EFPT tour ) Tom Hartmann for his dedication and commitment to the tour, you wouldn’t know how much he has truly done without taking on this role, huge respect. And of course thanks to Harry Schaffrian for the chief of the behind the scenes work.“

 

Adam Sims: One that gives opportunity to passionate riders to begin and continually grow their careers within. Highly professional with a strong focus on media production that highlights personalities within the sport. A tour that is both loved by the public and the riders competing in it equally, one that is dedicated to providing fair and unbiased competition. Where necessary, being a tour that feeds to the ultimate pinnacle of the sport, offering the top competitors the chance to get a pass to the World Tour.

Adam Sims enjoys the European winter in Cape Town

Adam Sims enjoys the European winter in Cape Town

About the history of the EFPT

After being founded in 2003 by Harald Schaffrian, Gerhard Polak and Christian Müller, the European Freestyle Pro Tour has gone through few changes in its initial structure. Whilst Gerhard Polak and Christian Müller started to focus on the organization of their world famous windsurfing events, the Surf World Cup in Austria and the Engadinwind in Switzerland respectively, Harry Schaffrian stayed on as the CEO of the tour. After combining the job of a tour manager, press officer and race director over several years and as the professional requirements rose, Harry started to establish a team for the EFPT: staff who would work all year round on the marketing, tour management, press and event management.

For the past ten years Austrian Tom Hartmann, former competitor on the tour,  had been running the tour management, event management and race directory at the EFPT events as well as Hanna Poschinger has been responsible for the media output on and off the events as well as communications and event management.

In 2017 Adam Sims joined the team for the event video production and became the face of the EFPT, the artist behind capturing and editing the action and the narrator of what was happening on a daily basis. With the professional status of the tour rising even more and the live scoring system being implemented for events, Danny Kater jumped on board as web administrator throughout the year and head judge at the events.

 

The current situation of the EFPT

With a rough year for every organization in professional sport and event organization in 2020 as well as certain changes in the core team, new ways to guarantee the continuance of the tour had to be established. Right from the beginning there was a clear tendency to consign the tour to someone who had the skill-set, motivation and knowledge to be able to push the EFPT even further and grow it continuously.
All members of the committee came up with the same name: Adam Sims. The freestyle windsurfer from the UK had been on the tour for many years as a competitor, reported about the tour as a journalist for Boardseeker and Boards UK and finally joined in as a complete team member, producing the highlight video clips and providing the live stream at the EFPT events. It had been agreed that Adam Sims would be the perfect man for the job if he was willing to take it, which included purchasing the EFPT with all legal rights.

For all the information regarding the changes in the team and the official statements of former CEO Harry Schaffrian and former tour manager Tom Hartmann – the Austrian from Vienna will focus on the GKA and the Wing Foil Tour in the future – an extensive interview with the new owner and CEO Adam Sims will follow this week, as well as the rebranding of the tour and the preliminary tour calendar! Bring on 2021!!

Source: EFPT 2021

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