On the final day of the event the wind arrived and brought suitable conditions to start the EFPT freestyle windsurfing competition. 12 to 22 knots from NW to W and sunny weather – as predicted in almost all weather forecasts – allowed the 26 participants to compete in a single elimination on Sunday afternoon. As this wind direction is much stronger further outside, the heat area got moved and the crew, judges, photographers and filmers got shuttled to a bigger boat.

Adam Sims, who actually recovers from his surgery, produced a very nice 4:40 minutes video recap about the final event day.

EFPT IFCA Grand Prix 2017 – Freestyle Video produced by Adam Sims, EFPT 2017

The riders had the chance to relax on a yoga island, which was connected to the boat. Unfortunately Max Rowe and Steven van Broeckhoven had to withdraw from the competition due to physical problems during the week.

We as well spent around 5 hours on the boat filming the best action and taking photographs. We know the spot and windsurfed there ourselves but never watched a freestyle competition at this spot before. It’s a nice place to run a competition right next to the big fields of reed and quite close to the green and gentle Leitha hills. The atmosphere was very relaxed and the riders took the gusty conditions quite relaxed, too although the wind dropped to 5 knots or suddenly picked up to 20+ knots and they were a bit overpowered on their 5.2m sails. Some riders organized a caddy, who sailed out with a smaller gear set. The wind pushed big clouds over the lake and from time to time some raindrops hit the huge heat area and the judges on the roof top of the boat. Watching some of the world’s best freestylers from a boat in the middle of the lake was quite an exclusive situation. The event was definitely a good start into the international freestyle competition season.

We saw 10 minute long heats in variable wind conditions. Some heats had to be re-sailed due the gusty conditions. But all in all it was good freestyle competition on a high level.

The Final

Amado Vrieswijk and Yentel, the two top ranked riders in the competition, qualified for the final. The wind conditions were on the lighter side and the two finalists had to show 4  moves on each tack. Both riders went for similar moves like Konos, Burners, Shakas, Culos, Spock Culos and Shakas. In the end Amado had more variety in his moves and landed moves with high difficulty cleaner. The Bonairean showed an old school Lollypop, a very powerful Shove it Spock 540, a clean Kabikuchi and a relatively dry double Culo. All in all it was a big show after a long party night in difficult wind conditions.

The Losers Final

In the losers final French hot shot Sam Esteve started off very strong, but Italian Jacopo Testa, who finished the tour in 3rd in 2016, had a strong comeback during the second half of his heat and saved the remaining spot on the podium. If we have a detailed look on the full result we can see a strong presence of younger riders in the top 5 with Italian Riccardo Marca and German Andi Lachauer. 

The Austrian tour stop was a good success. Sam Esteve landed a new move combo during the radical tow-in show on Saturday and the freestyle windsurfers rocked the lake on the final day. The new spots showed its potential.

Full result EFPT IFCA Grand Prix 2017:

1. Amado Vrieswijk
2. Yentel Caers
3. Jacopo Testa
4. Sam Esteve
5. Adrien Bosson, Antoine Albert, Riccardo Marca, Andy Lachauer
9. Tonky Frans, Rick Jendrusch, Giovanni Passani, Julien Mas, Davy Scheffers, Adrian Beholz, Nico Akgazciyan, Tim Ruyssenaars
17. Loick Spicher, Marco Lufen, Max Matissek, Max Rowe, Max Brinnich, Eilon Wilson, Eliram Levi, Rik Coumans, Jeremy Plüss, Paul Simmerl

The next EFPT contest will take place in Tarifa from the 18th-21st of May, where the chase for the EFPT title 2017 will continue.

©Continentseven

 

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