The first day of the EFPT final 2017 at Brouwersdam saw an early start with a skippers meeting at 8.30 and the first heat at 9.00. A fleet of 11 ladies and 37 men – a lot of kids are competing in the pro class this year (around 30% of the fleet are kids or youth riders) – registered to compete at the final EFPT event. After 6 hours of competition a full single elimination in the men and women fleet got completed.
Video DAM-X 2017 – Day 1
The Conditions
The wind was up and down and a few heats had better conditions and some heats had less wind. Some heats needed to be cancelled due to the gusty conditions. The wind blew in between 12 and 20 knots.
The top men
The Italian freestylers Jacopo Testa, the current EFPT tour leader and Giovanni Passani, one of the upcoming riders on the PWA tour in freestyle were the riders who made most out of the conditions during the single elimination. Jacopo, who recently made it on the podium of a PWA event for the first time, qualified in a really tight heat against Davy Scheffers in the quarter final for the top 4 and then made it against a strong sailing Antoine Albert into the winners final.
Giovanni Passani defeated Sam Esteve and Amado Vrieswijk won against local Rick Jendrusch. Then Giovanni managed to win his semifinal heat against Amado Vrieswijk, the 2016 and 2017 PWA vice world champion in freestyle with a great performance. Giovanni is able to plane in the lightest gusts and show his moves. And that’s what he did against Amado, who is a bit heavier and seemed to struggle a bit in these up and down wind conditions. For a few people it perhaps was a surprising result, but Giovanni has been sailing on a really high level for a long time already and we were very sure to see him on the podium soon.
Giovanni Passani
The Winners Final Men
The winners final was held in really light conditions, but both finalists, Jacopo Testa and Giovanni Passani are light wind specialists and managed to get the gusts for the moves. Although the conditions were a bit poor, both riders managed to show big moves. In the end Jacopo was the better rider and showed the more technical heat. „Jacopo Testa was landing a regular Chachoo, a big Kono and Culo as well as a Spock-Culo on Starboard tack and a Burner, Cana Brava, Eslider and Skopu on Port tack. Passani answered with Konos on both tacks, a stylish Air-Funnell, a Culo and a Burner just to name a few, but couldn’t succeed over Testa who continued his run for the podium positions and sailed technical heats winning on style and diversity,“ the EFPT wrote.
Top 4 men
The Losers Final Men
The wind was a lot stronger in the losers final between Antoine Albert and Amado Vrieswijk. This time Amado had enough power and was able to show his moves and defeated Antoine Albert. Antoine Albert sailed great and won against de Bell, Julian Wiemar and Riccardo Marca.
Injuries
Rick Jendrusch unfortunately dislocated his left shoulder during a Shove-It Spock in his heat against Amado Vrieswijk. Rick just was on the road to recovery from his last shoulder dislocation and wanted to take it easy during this competition. The shoulder dislocated already for the third time within one year and Rick will need to rest and go through a period of intense rehab to be fit for the next season. We wish a quick recovery! Although Amado was his oppnonent in this case, he stopped competing and helped Rick, who got rescued by a jet ski.
The top women
The 10-times freestyle world champion Sarah-Quita Offringa convinced the judges with really solid heats sliding through Esliders, Spock Diablos, Flakas, Shakas or Lolly Pops. Sarah-Quita, who used her 5,1 sail did well in the light conditions. Maaike Huvermann missed some power in her sail and wasn’t able to show her full move repertoire. For place three we saw a heat in pretty good wind conditions, as the wind shifted from west to southwest and picked up just right before the heat start. 31 year-old Dutch Arrianne Aukes, who is the oldest competitor in the ladies fleet, sailed a great heat and landed all her tricks without crashing. 15 year-old Alexa Escherich fought hard, slided through a clean Spock and showed Chop Hops. We as well would like to mention German windsurfer Johanna Rümenapp, who definitely has the skills to break into the top in the double elimination.
Sarah-Quita Offringa
Result Men single elimination
1. Jacopo Testa
2. Giovanni Passani
3. Amado Vrieswijk
4. Antoine Albert
5. Davy Scheffers, Ricardo Marca, Rick Jendrusch, Sam Esteve
9. Tonky Frans, Francesco Cappuzzo, Andy Lachauer, Julian Wiemar, Marco Lufen, Julien Mas, Valentin Böckler, Matteo Testa
17. Max Matissek, Tim Ruyssenaars, Adam Sims, Aron Etmon, Lennart Neubauer, Rik Coumans, Vladimir Yakovlev, Marc Pesman, Milan Gielingh, Alex Mertens, Nascimo Fournier, Tigo Kort, Pavel Khomenko, Felix Volkhardt, Sten Bremmers, Stefan De Bell
33. Bohdi Kempen, Nil Bacon, Raphael Bauer, Jens Van Gorp
Result Ladies single elimination
1. Sarah-Quita Offringa
2. Maaike Huvermann
3. Arrianne Aukes
4. Alexa Escherich
5. Salome Fournier, Sterre Meiyer, Hanna Poschinger, Johanna Rümenapp
9. Lina Erzen, Margo Kurvink, Tess Van der Hulle
