Fuerteventura Freestyle Worldcup 2014

31st of July- 2nd of August

What a blast I had this year in Fuerteventura.
I’ve been coming there for 8 years now I think.
I still can’t believe the warmth, welcome and support I’ve received from the locals. Felt great to be back there from day one.
This has been one of my favourites stops on tour for quite a while now. At first it was just for the seemingly endless beach, the blue water, the fun & challenging conditions and the magical sunset sessions. But over the years the organization has improved and the event has grown to become everything I think a windsurf event should be about: Promoting competition but at the same time keeping the “fun” in it. Besides action on the water there was a big tent with music all day, entertainment for the spectators drinks and food stands etc. The atmosphere was amazing.

After sailing in Pozo for 10 days I was completely drained. So when I got to Fuerte, for the first 4 days I didn’t even get on the water. I really needed to recharge. Good time to watch the slalom action from the beach and cheering the ABC island boys ! Preettyy amazing that Antoine Albeau won the event again. What a legend.
In the end we didn’t get as much wind as we’re used to from Fuerte.
So before the competition started I really only got on the water 2-3 times.
I took a 4,8 & 5,2 Severne Freek and 4,4 & 4,0 Gaastra Pure to the event. I really like the way the gaastra works but the severne’s are so stable and also work really well. Thanks to Amado & Dieter I had my 4,8 Freek tuned perfectly. So by the time the comp started I was feeling comfortable on all my gear.

By the end of the event we were only able to finish one single and double elimination. This adds some pressure as there isn’t any room for mistakes. Sadly enough Arrianne Aukes (vice worldchampion) twisted her ankle very badly the day before registration and this kept her from competing. Her not being there would leave the rankings wide open for everyone else. I Still wish her a swift recovery!

This was the best and worst single elimination I’ve had in a while!
I sailed three heats in total in this first elimination and used 4.8 Freek & 91l Flare. The first two heats I crashed out on quite some moves and I wasn’t able to land the power moves I’ve become quite consistent at. Although I passed these 2 heats I was frustrated to the max and I was seriously lacking the energy to put up a good final heat. I had been practicing back home for 6 weeks learning new moves but I couldn’t keep it together in my heats so I felt like I was right back at square one. In the final I would be up against Olya Raskina from Russia.
After some support from friends on the beach, some banana’s for extra power ( thank you Petra!!) and a peptalk by myself, to myself (SQ to SQ peptalks), I hit the water and decided I was going to bust out everything I could, no matter the energy level, no matter the previous heats I sailed.

The 2-3 years before I wasn’t confident enough to try the bigger moves and I never really had to as I could win with other moves that I was more consistent at.
So I was always in that comfort zone. But to progress you have to step out of that zone I heard. Finally I decided to really push myself. I had a sick heat and didn’t crash out on any move: Shaka, air flaka, burner, kono, culo, ponch, toad, spock 540, loop, shaka 1 hand and some other others I can’t remember. Doesn’t matter. The feeling I had afterwards was indescribable. I hadn’t been this satisfied with my freestyling in competition in a while!
Results in the single: 1st SQ, 2nd Olya Raskina, 3rd Oda Brodholt.

The next day in the double elimination I only sailed one more heat to defend my first place. Again I had to sail against Olya. This time I used my 4,4 Pure and 91L Flare. I tried to go full power again. I did crash a few more times but I still managed to squeeze out all the moves I wanted to: Burner, Culo, Kono, Shaka, Ponch, Airflaka. My goal for Fuerte was actually to land a pasko in my heats. too bad I couldn’t make it happen. But I’ll get there!
Winning the final of this double elimination also gave me the event win.
I made sure to start celebrating on the beach with the whole ABC crew we had and all the freestylers. The prizegiving was crazy with sooo many people. Just really want to thank all of them for all the support.
All in all I had a great event and I’m really happy about my performance. But I was even more excited about all the other girls pushing the level. Congratulations to Olya & Oda for their first podium finishes!

Thanks to the PWA crew for getting everything done that week.
Also to the local organization: Annika & her crew
Big thank you to my sponsors: Starboard & Mystic

Next event: waves in tenerife. Paam Paaam!!