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28-Jul-2011

2nd place Fuerte PWA freestyle!

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I made it! I finished 2nd in Fuerte. Which means I am 2nd overall in Freestyle this year! So happy. And I won the super session yesterday!!!

This season went so well, I enjoyed every moment of it. We had new events -and more of them- in amazing places. I managed to put together some really good heats and sailed every single freestyle final of this season. And as usual it's been so much fun hanging around with all the guys and girls on tour! I'm pretty sad that this was the last freestyle event for us girls this year, really gonna miss everyone. Bring on 2012!

The event was really well organised. Lots of stuff happening on the beach, a good crowd watching the action, and enough wind to compete every day. We ran a single and double elimination which finished on Tuesday. I sailed against Sarah-Quita both times in the final. They weren't my best heats but she sailed amazing, landing some really sick moves. Big up to Sarah-Quita for her 4th world title and thanks for being such an inspiration and motivation! I will be working hard on new moves for next year, that's for sure.

With a whole day to go still, the PWA crew decided to run a super session on Wednesday. Quite a lot of riders signed up for it. The format was really good, perfect to entertain the crowd on the beach and to make it a fun afternoon on the water. We all had 3 gos per heat to show the best moves. A boat anchored outside was sending us in towards the beach one after the other and we had to go for a move in between 4 buoys, right there close to the beach. I think the public loved it as well as the riders. I landed a pretty fast one handed grubby cana brava and won the girls super session!!! So happy.

You can see lots of sick pictures and videos of everyone on www.pwaworldtour.com.

I have a lot of people to thank for their support. Thanks to all of them I just had my best season and best time on tour ever: my family, friends, sponsors... The list is long. Thanks to all of you for believing in me and supporting me like you do.

Someone who deserves a big mention for his great help is Dr Aly Sabri. We worked hard together during the months before the competition season. Thanks to him and his coaching I went into events as ready as I could be, both mentally and physically. I finally managed to sail heats like I wanted to and to my full potential. The training we did was so interesting and I learnt so much, much more than I thought I could in such a short time. And I can't wait to start training again! Check out his website to know more about him and his work: www.dr-sabri.de

I'm now back in Tenerife for a few days. Looks like we'll get some strong wind and waves this weekend, can't wait. The OTC crew is looking after us like kings as usual - legends.

Again thanks to everyone!

16-Jul-2011

5th place in Tenerife!

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We've just had such a good event here in Tenerife! Sick waves, wind and awesome job by the organizers. We went through the whole single and double elimination in two and a half days. I love the conditions here, some of the sessions I had were so good I couldn't come in. At high tide especially, there's heaps of good waves to ride, the wind isn't too strong so they stay clean, it's just so much fun.

I went through a few heats, getting good riding scores, until I went against Karin Jaggi. She beat me, leaving me with a 5th place. I'm happy about my result, it feels good to be in the top 5. I need to learn some proper jumping now though to be able to go further. That will be my mission from now on! Karin ended up 4th, Nayra 3rd, Iballa 2nd and Daida 1st. In the guys, Kauli did 4th, Jaeger 3rd, Dany 2nd and Philip 1st. They all sailed so well, it was great to watch. Very inspiring. I'm especially happy for Jaeger - his riding is just insane and he finally could show what he can do on a wave, and for Dany - he's the local legend, sailing sick too of course, and he made this event happen, without him we wouldn't be here!

Next week I'm off to Fuerteventura for the next PWA event. It's the last freestyle competition for this season. Looking forward to it and ready to rock!

13-Jul-2011

PWA wave events, Pozo and Tenerife

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Pozo didn't go too well for me in the end. It started well, did a good first heat in "normal" wind conditions - 3.7 just fine. Then the rest of the week turned into proper Pozo style conditions - 3.0 out of control and no idea what's going on. I got through a couple of heats but finished with a 7th place... Oh well, to be honest, I'm a total chicken with the jumping in these conditions. I gotta take the positive out of it, it was a good experience to get out there and even just to sit and watch the amazing show. The jumping that was happening there was totally insane. Massive. It's worth checking the videos and photos on the pwa website just to get a little bit of an idea of what's going on in that place.

We are now in Tenerife for the next PWA wave event that will take place in El Cabezo, from the 14th to the 20th of July. I've been windsurfing around here a bit but never on that spot until 2 days ago. I just came in from a 3 hour session, enjoying it a lot there. 4.2, lots of fun waves around, some good turns, the kind of conditions I'm comfortable in. So I hope I can do better in this event! Let's see what happens, I'm just looking forward to getting out there and catching some good waves!

The event will be live, so make sure you watch all the action on www.pwaworldtour.com, it's proper inspiration!

8-Jul-2011

News from Pozo and coaching weeks in Holland

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Sorry for the lack of update since the Carribean events, I have been on the road a fair bit as well as enjoying some good windsurfing in the Canaries.

After some boardbags mission at the airport in Aruba the flight back was actually easy and this time my bags followed - lucky as I had 24 hours at home before taking off again for the next part of the summer: the Canary Islands. I flew to Tenerife to meet Simon. We stayed there for a week and got some fun waves. Really good to catch up with the guys there too. During that week we flew over to Gran Canaria for a day, for Nayra and John's wedding, which was awesome. Big congratulations to them both!!! They looked amazing and it was great to see everyone there. A couple of days later we went to Gran Canaria again, with the ferry this time. A nice wavey ride 35 knots winds...

So we're now in Pozo for the first PWA wave event of the season. The first day was pretty epic. The guys were trying to hold onto their 3.6's and I was on 3.0 overpowered. The waves were really good and the show was awesome. They ran the first 2 rounds of the guys single elimination and everyone was going massive. The following day was flat and a lot less windy. So I just went out to train a bit of freestyle. And yesterday was ok again for a little while, just enough to run the first round of the girls. I was against Sarah Bibby, an English girl who's here for her first event and sailing well. The wind wasn't too strong which I was happy about. I landed a couple of loops, got a few good rides and made it through to the next round.

We'll run the following rounds this afternoon I'm sure, the wind is pretty strong already, just waiting for the tide to be right so that the waves get better. I'm against Silvia next who sailing really well, let's see what happens, I'll just give it my best!

I'm running 2 windsurf coaching weeks in Brouwersdam, Holland, this summer, from the 8th to the 13th and the 14 to the 19th of August. The first week is open to everyone, guys and girls, and the second one is a girls special. There are a couple of spaces left in both weeks. Fancy stepping up your windsurfing with some intensive coaching and have a great time on and off the water for a week? Email me for more details or sign up directly onto www.boardguru.nl!

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