Who’s next? Aiming to nurture the future of our sport, the Freestyle Pro Tour is organising it’s yearly Rookie Camp at the Surf Opening in Austria once again. Happening on the weekend of the 6-7th of May, the camp will teach ambitious freestylers the basics of competition, help them improve their moves and allow them to meet likeminded rippers. This years rookie camp will be coached by Maarten Molenaar (Starboard/Gunsails), who’s 10+ years of instructing experience will be fully devoted to your latest freestyle goals. JP and NeilPryde are also supporting the camp again in 2023, offering a JP Freestyle Board for the most impressive rookie. Check out the highlight video from the 2022 camp, and learn about the camp details below.

Hard Facts
Registration: Register HERE/ Sign-Up closes the 5th of May 2023
Meeting Point Start: Saturday 6th of May 9:30 – 10:00 am @ the event site
End: Evening of the 7th of May after the prize giving around 5:00 pm
Food: 2 meals per day included, lunch and dinner
Equipment:  Participants can store their equipment at the event site during the days of the camp.
Costs: 2 Day Camp 100€ per person, 1 Day is 60€. Sibling discount: 2 days camp for 2 rookies is 160€

 

Daily schedule Rookie Camp Austria

The following is just a general schedule. It can drastically change depending on the wind and weather forecast. For example if it’s only windy in the morning, the day can take place in reverse order. Also if there are rookies who can only join one day, the schedule might be adjusted to accommodate them.

Day 1

Morning: Registration and meeting everyone at the event area. 
Forenoon: Learning about competition format (scoring, flags, timing, area, judging etc.)
Lunch: Eating all together, at the event site (lunch included!)
Afternoon: Exploring the spot, learning about the prevailing wind directions, currents, tides (or also dangers of the spot)
Late afternoon: Hitting the water for 1-2 hours, sailing all together, having fun and practicing moves. The coach will be filming for the video analysis and giving tips.

Day 2

Morning: Reviewing last evenings session and analyzing moves that were filmed. The coach will give individual tips. And in demand, he will also individually recommend which moves to use in the heat and plan a basic heat strategy.
Forenoon: Hitting the water again, practice more.
Lunch: Time for a break and food. We’ll need the energy!
All afternoon: Practice-competition (trying to make is as real as possible).
Evening: Prize-giving and dinner

We asked Rookie Camp Coach Maarten Molenaar about his excitement surrounding this camp:

Maarten Molenaar: “What a pleasure to be able to coach the future generation of freestylers! I’ve been teaching windsurfing for 10 years now, with loads of youngsters learning their first freestyle (power) moves under my wings. To be able to now introduce upcoming freestylers to the competition scene next to that is such a treat. Working with freestylers is great because they have an endless drive and dedication to improve themselves. These camps are also a great way to get to know fellow ambitious windsurfers and to get the tools to keep on improving session by session after the camp. I can’t wait to see you all on the water!”