Stating that day two here at the EFPT in Matas Bay was action packed, would be a huge understatement. With a whole single and double elimination finished for three divisions (U16, U18 and pro) we’ve seen some great battles and some big surprises in the total of 34 heats that were on the water today.

Single elimination:

Corto Dumond, a young-gun from New Caledonia, caused quite an upset already in the early rounds of the single elimination by taking out Adam Sims (Sailloft/Patrik) from the UK. The 15-years old made quite an impression, not only in the pro fleet but also by winning the U16 division with a remarkable performance, despite his rookie status.

An outstanding show was put on by Yentel Caers (JP) from Belgium who seemed to just ‚warm up‘ during his first heats of the single to then put down some of the highest scoring heats of the day. He took out Dudu Levi (Fanatic/Gunsails) from Israel, Loick Spicher (RRD/RRD) in the quarter final, title contender Giovanni Passani in the semifinal and Antoine Albert (Goya/Goya) in the winners final to take victory in the first single elimination. Caers landed double moves like double culos, spock culos, air funnell burners and big konos and shakas in all of his heats. Powered up on his 5.2 he could add some extra height and style to his tricks.

Giovanni Passani was in a great form in the single landing a culo into kono and a shove-it grubby in his heat against Adrian Beholz (Sailloft/Patrik), two moves that have been marked down by the judges as ‚new combos‘, leading to a great score for the Italian. However, the pro freestyler from Italy couldn’t get past Caers in the semifinal and had to let his fellow landsman Mattia Fabrizi (Patrik) pass on to take third place. Mattia Fabrizi was a force of his own today. After being slightly disappointed about his result in Sardinia, one could see that he was determined to improve his ranking at this event. Fabrizi could convince the judges by landing double culos, flaka shakas, burner 360ies and futures in most of his heats.

Antoine Albert from New Caledonia charged through the single elimination, showing great diversity and style and managed to pull the second place in the end.

U16 Division:
The level of the four u16 competitors was amazing. The top three after the double elimination landed technical powermoves on both tacks with lots of style, showing their huge potential for the future. Taking third place has been Lennart Neubauer from Greece, who is sailing for Germany from this season onward. Lennart put together some great heats, but couldn’t defeat the top two who had also done their homework. Corto Dumond from New Caledonia, who was travelling the furthest for this event took the event win after an exciting super final against Stefan de Bell, securing his first place by 0,02 points only.

U18 Division:
In U18 polish sailor Max Lesniewski (Patrik) took third place, behind Marc Sogl (Goya/Goya) from Germany and Eugenio Marconi from Italy, who just won the Italian U20 championship recently. The young guns were landing konos, culos, shakas, bobs and forwards to give us a glimpse of what the future in freestyle windsurfing might hold.

Double elimination:

Straight after the end of the single elimination and with the north-westerly wind getting stronger and more steady, the double elimination has been launched.

Once again Corto Dumond from New Caledonia was a rider to stand out, alongside Eliran Levi from Israel, who has been on tour for a couple of years now yet could never quite get the results that he was aiming for. Both sailors finished in an excellend tied ninth place after the double.

Whilst some freestylers could mark down their best results in competition ever, some others have been eager to fight their way back up in the double, with Adam Sims being one of them. After the disappointment in the single, the Brit put together some great heats and took down Marconi and Dudu Levi, to then be defeated by Valentin Böckler (Gunsails) from Germany in a very close decision. In the next round however, Böckler met Tonky Frans (RRD/RRD) who was on a mission of his own. The tour leader after three events sailed heat after heat, climbing up the ladder, ready to take on the top riders of the single, yet didn’t manage to get past Giovanni Passani. The Italian was determined to sail his way up to the podium, winning three heats in a row by putting on some very smart competition sailing. There haven’t been much surprises in this double elimination, simply some slight shifts in the final result. Yentel Caers secured his first place by landing a culo 360, skopu 360 and spock culo to count on starboard tack and a kono, shaka 360 and bongka on port tack. He stated, that it is his first ever international double elimination win and that he was super happy about it.

Top three after the double elimination:
1st Yentel Caers (JP)
2nd Giovanni Passani
3rd Antoine Albert (Goya/Goya)