The first day of competition is traditionally started with registration of the riders. After collecting their lycra’s and getting their pictures taken, the athletes were also asked to fill in a questionnaire with their favourite moves and spots. This will provide for some interesting statistics and facts (thanks to our friends at the Super Gusty Podcast) that will be shared during the event livestream. The riders went on to sticker-up their sails just before the skippers meeting started at 11.00. After a few words from EFPT CEO Adam Sims and Race Director Danny Kater, the riders were released for the start of a long waiting game.

First skippers meeting for the event. Picture by PROtography.

After many “Next announcement at’s” it was Yentel Caers (JP/Neilpryde) and Steven van Broeckhoven (Starboard/Gun Sails) who took to the water with their foils. Unfortunately there is no Foilstyle division at this EFPT event, so all the clean and potentially high-scoring Culo’s from Steven did not count towards anything but awe on the beach. Still, a good show was put on for an otherwise uneventful afternoon.

Steven van Broeckhoven showing off his Foilstyle skills. Picture by PROtography.

At 16.30 the riders were released with a little caveat: at 18.00 a tow-in training session was planned. Especially for the rookies this was the perfect opportunity to get familiar with this discipline of windsurfing. The session actually turned out to be a mix of all disciplines. We saw some riders foilstyling, some doing tow-in and yet others managed to pump themselves into normal freestyle moves as the wind was unexpectedly increasing. With these tricky conditions for tow-in a few riders managed to impress: Tigo Kort (JP/NeilPryde) landed a nice Culo and Lukas Schill (Duotone) did a burner without much prior experience. The show was topped off with Lennart Neubauer (Starboard/Severne) who managed to squeeze out an Air Funnel Burner.

Lennart Neubauer rotating through an Airfunnel Burner. Picture by PROtography.

The forecast looks better for tomorrow so we expect some action packed heats. Make sure to tune into our livepage to see all the updates and follow the livestream when it airs!