The second year in a row now Martini Croatia put up the funds to support the Surf Centar Perna with organising a stage of the European Freestyle Pro Tour. A small but fine fleet of ten sailors signed up for the second stage of the EFPT after the spectacular EFPT Lanzarote earlier this summer.
Steven Van Broeckhoven (JP/Neilpryde) from Belgium and Adrien Bosson (North/Fanatic) from France who are both hunting for the European Freestyle title in 2016 registered as well as top level freestyler Antoine Albert (Goya/Goya) from New Caledonia, Rafael de Windt from Curacao and Riccardo Marca (North/Fanatic) from Italy. Alongside those experienced windsurfers we’ll see EFPT rookie Johnny Yagen from Israel, highly talented Lennart Neugebauer (Starboard) from Greece and the Croatian sailors Turtko Ljutic, Marco Mudrovcic and Matko Jovanovic joining the pro division.
Adrien Bosson in yesterdays training session (by Boris Kacan)
The last two days with wind between 18 and 25 knots delivered the perfect training ground for the upcoming competition. Adrien Bosson stated: ‘I was already here last year but yesterday was definitely the best conditions that I sailed at this spot. Everyone was out: Steven, Riccardo, Rafa and also the two younger competitors. I was on my 5.2. Idol and the 100lt Fanatic Skate. It’s really different to the conditions in the other two events I have been participating in in the last month (editors note: Lanzarote, Fuerteventura) and therefor quite challenging with the choppy water and the strong current. However it was still fun and I hope we can get similar conditions for the event.’
Riccardo Marca from Italy (by Boris Kacan)
Unfortunately the thermal wind didn’t seem to properly kick in today. In the late afternoon a little tow-in show was organised to put on a show for a big national TV station showing up who will report about the event. Once again it became obvious how beneficial this additional discipline is concerning media coverage and action for the spectators. The pros were throwing some nice moves just in front of the beach which the crowds honoured the more the closer the maneuvres were executed to the beach.
The forecast for tomorrow and the next days looks very light, yet the local effects might boost it up to sailable conditions. Skippers meeting is schedulded for 1.00pm. We have our fingers crossed and hope for some good action within the upcoming days.
Steven Van Broeckhoven with a nice shaka in the training session (by Bori Kacan)