Day 2 at the EFPT Lanzarote kicked off with some pretty exciting heats: the last five of the double elimination. After having not the best start in the single elimination yesterday, Yentel Caers (JP/Neilpryde) from Belgium was on fire in the double, trying to work his way up to the top four. In his heat against Antoine Albert (Goya/Goya) from New Caledonia he showed a mix of very technical maneuvres like double culos and double burners and big jumps like paskos, a very clean air chachoo and a nice stalled forward. Albert was answering with some big moves of his own like a nice tweaked pushloop, a huge culo and a backloop as well as a no handed burner coming in. Caers could still advance in a 5:0 decision to face Amado Vrieswijk in the next heat.

Both riders showed a firework of all the latest freestyle moves combined with some big jumps like ankle dry shifties. Coming in the judges were marking down double burners and double culos on both sides of the draw. Caers went for a super nice pasko whilst Vrieswijk rotated through a massive kono over a wave. Both riders showed great style, diversity and technical difficulty and gave the judges a hard time in this very close heat. In the end the Bonairean could win over Caers by a 4:1 decision.

Vrieswijk had to then take on strong sailing Frenchie Adrien Bosson (North/Fanatic) in the next heat for third place. Bosson fired through his moves landing bonkas, a huge pasko that was rotated purely in the air and a massive culo on the way out whilst Amado landed perfect shifties and a big stalled forward. Coming in he was going for double culos and air-funnell burners just to mention some highlights. Vrieswijk was missing a move in the end on starboard tack and had to let Bosson pass to face Testa in the next round.

The Italian rider is definitely on form at this event. He went for a perfect spock culo and double spock as well as a planing kabikuchi coming in and a double forward, a massive burner one handed and a perfect pushloop going out. Bosson could win on diversity with a nice pasko, a shaka, a huge burner and kono going out and a super stylish burner funnell, air-funnell 360 and a skopu coming in. Testa did absolutely kill it though and could pass through winning on style and technical difficulty.

Multipe European Champion and former World Champion Steven Van Broeckhoven (JP/Neilpryde) from Belgium had to face Testa once more in the big final. Testa and Broeckhoven were putting on a great show both going for double forwards on the same run which was clearly very impressive to watch. Testa powered through a spock kono, a one handed air kabi and a spock culo which Van Broeckhoven answered with the most perfect spock culo later in the heat. The Belgian rider furthermore landed a clean shifty, a nice backloop and a shove-it spock on port tack in very challenging conditions. In the end the decision favored Van Broeckhoven 5:0.

The top four after the double elimination were therefor:
1st Steven Van Broeckhoven (JP/Neilpryde)
2nd Jacopo Testa
3rd Adrien Bosson (North/Fanatic)
4th Amado Vrieswijk (JP/Severne)

After a very short break the horn for the second single elimination went off at 12.00am where we’ve seen quite some upsets. Riccardo Marca (North/Fanatic) who seemed to be in good form yesterday struggled today due to a minor injury after coming down hard on a pushloop and had to let Francesco Cappuzzo pass to the next round. Cappuzzo was putting together a very decent heat against his next opponent Tonky Frans (Patrik Diethelm) landing shakas, double culos and a backloop. However he couldn’t defeat Frans who sailed well and could only get stopped by Jacopo Testa in the quaterfinal.

With the strong wind and high waves yesterday came also some damage – unfortunately not only equipment-wise. Jazzy Zwerus (JP/Neilpryde), Tony Mottus (JP/Neilpryde) and Hugo De Sousa decided to pull out of the competition due to injuries. We would like to wish all the competitors a fast recovery!

The EFPT rookies Johnny Yagen from Israel and Cheppi Gustowski (North/Fanatic) from Bonaire seemed to feel more comfortable in the conditions today and could show more of their skills. Yagen went for very stylish shakas, air flakas, culos and even a double spock whilst Gustowski sailed a good heat against Vrieswijk, even landing a nice backloop. Amado Vrieswijk was sailing on a top level stomping perfect and super high shifties, double forwards, paskos, pushloops and backloops as well as air funnell burner and culo combinations.

Just around 3.00pm the wind dropped quite a bit and made a fair competition impossible so the riders were kept on 15 minutes announcements. Fortunately the event could be restarted at 4.00pm with wind suitable for 4.8 – 5.2 and still some really good ramps.

Yentel Caers who was eager to make it to the podium this time, once again failed taking down JP-Australia team-mate Vrieswijk after defeating Yagen and Maarten Van Ochten (JP/Neilpryde) who himself is an opponent to look out for – especially because of his great jumping skills on port tack.

Adrien Bosson was killing it in this second single elimination taking down Bastiaan De Koningh (Starboard), Adam Sims (Patrik Diethelm), Antoine Albert and Jacopo Testa to then find himself sailing the winners final against freestyle legend Steven Van Broeckhoven. Bosson landed super nice air chachoos completely upright, perfect paskos, backies as well as big culos and konos both ways and air-funnell burner combinations. The heat against Jacopo Testa however was the closest one of the competition with both riders performing incredibly well.

Steven Van Broeckhoven took out Marc Sogl, Noah Vocker (North/Fanatic), Sam Esteve (JP/Neilpryde) and finally Amado Vrieswijk in the semi-final. Van Broeckhoven was sailing as routined and powerful as ever. With four moves counting each tack and Vrieswijk missing one move Van Broeckhoven went straight to the winners final facing Adrien Bosson.

The winners final between Steven Van Broeckhoven and Adrien Bosson as well as the losers final between Amado Vrieswijk and Jacopo Testa were a pleasure to watch being a fireworks of big moves.

Vrieswijk seemed super switched on in his heat against Testa, whilst Testa didn’t sail as confident as in his heats before and even missed a move on the way out.

Bosson sailed a very confident, stylish and powerful heat with a bonka, a double air shaka, a pasko and a culo counting on the way out and a burner 360, culo, a huge air-funnell and a skopu counting on the way in. Also Van Broeckhoven landed some high-scoring tricks like a shove-it spock, a big shaka 360 and a pasko on the way out a double burner, a kono and an air-funnell burner coming in just to name a few.

The top four of the second single elimination are therefor:
1st Adrien Bosson (North/Fanatic)
2nd Steven Van Broeckhoven (JP/Neilpryde)
3rd Amado Vrieswijk (JP/Severne)
4th Jacopo Testa

With a lighter forecast for the next days we hope to finish the double elimination tomorrow.