Whilst the whole EFPT crew have been very busy at the event in Austria, also our partners in Sigri, Greece have been working hard on the stop of the tour which they will stage from the 10th to the 12th of August. Marcel Simon, who is organising the event, put a lot of effort in it over the last few months. His dedication paid off and he managed to get more and more people and companies involved to support the event.
Yesterday night, the Chiemsee European Tow In Championship went into it's last round. As the crowds filled the beaches, the ten qualified riders made their way to the launch area. It wasn't long before Maarten Van Ochten opened the finals, with his first move. The atmosphere was electric and never before has such a large number of people been seen at a tow-in event. Everybody was expecting a lot of the sailors who made it into the final and their high expectations were fulfilled in every kind of way as the riders showed high air moves and powerful combinations that had never been seen before.
Everyone who has been following tow in events in the last couple of seasons was probably looking forwards to last night, when the fleet included world champion Steven Van Broeckhoven from Belgium and Julien Mas from France.
Huge moves, massive crashes and a touch of Bonaire style - this is what round two of the qualifiers had in store last night.
Yesterday hundreds of people gathered on the beach to see the first ten riders compete for the three places in the final. We saw an international fleet of sailors with each one having the potential to advance. The atmosphere on the water and on the shore was amazing with riders cheering at each other and with the eyes of the spectators glued to the contest area.