AUTUMN IS ON!
Autumn has officially started in Europe and is has been a windy one filled with plenty of action and great results for our team riders.
With the World Cup in Sylt most of our team emigrated north to join the biggest world cup event of the year including 3 different disciplines. 10 days of action was guaranteed and a few titles where up for grabs.
The first part of the event saw a massive Westerly storm hit the island providing challenging but typical North sea conditions for both the Wave and the Freestyle fleet to complete a full single and double elimination
MENS WAVE
In the wave discipline, we saw Philip Koster make most out of the conditions to make it all the way into the final of the single-elimination, taking down teammate Jaeger Stone in the quarter-finals after a great showdown between our 2 top wave sailors.
With a second place in the single-elimination, the conditions got more tricky in the double-elimination. Extreme currents, lighter winds, bolt onshore winds, and a big shore break made it hard for all competitors to get out. Despite being on his biggest gear and starting off the heat with some good scores, Philip wasn’t able to find a second backup wave and had to ultimately settle for 3rd place.
With 3 events done so far, Philips consistency (3 podiums in a row) sees him now in the lead on the Overall PWA world tour going into the last event Maui that will start at the end of this month:
Philip’s statement:
“Sylt has been a good event again, hard to believe how consistent it has been in the past few years. We had port side shore conditions and starboard onshore which made it quite an interesting contest. Stoked with my 2nd place in the single but in the double-elimination I couldn’t defend my position because I missed out on 1 wave due to strong currents, big shore break, and super light winds. Stoked to be on such light equipment which made it possible for me to come that far with those tricky conditions!”
Philip was using:
Blade Pro: 5.0 / 5.3 / 5.7
RDM RED: 400 / 430
Cyclops Carbon: 36
WOMENS WAVE
In the single-elimination, we saw an on form and freshly crowned European wave champion Lina Erpenstein claim 3rd place on the first day of the contest with perfectly side shore conditions. Lina’s wave rides impressed both judges and spectators.
The surprise of the event in the woman however, was Maaike Huvermann, who took down teammate Iballa Moreno (who has been struggling with a knee injury over the past months) before being crowned queen of the Sylt’s shore break in the double-elimination, climbing up all the way to second place, making it her best finish to date on the PWA Wave world tour.
Maaike’s statement:
“Really stoked to make my first PWA Wave podium, it’s only my second year on tour in the waves and Sylt can be a bit of a challenging place. I was happy to make it out without too many problems and climb up the double. In the end I was pretty tired but still really happy with my second place here! Now back to my books for studying!“
MENS FREESTYLE
With probably some of the most extreme conditions seen to date for Freestyle, it was the stability of the Freek that showed crucial in the single elimination. Coming into the event as 3rdon the world tour, Amado Vrieswijk could do only one thing and that was winning the contest & then see where the rest finished if he wanted to get World Champion. Thanks to the help of teammates Balz Muller (who took down Yentel Cears ) and Dieter Van der Eyken (who took down Youp Shmit ) the road to his maiden world title was open and Amado was virtually on top after a great victory in the single elimination.
However, things weren’t in Amado’s hands and despite winning 2 out of 3 events this year, his misstep in Fuerteventura cost him dearly to eventually finishing 2nd on the overall rankings in 2019.
Amado will now have to wait for 2020 to give another throw at the Freestyle World title, but after his performances in Bonaire and Sylt, he will go into the next season as one of the clear favorites for the title.
Amado’s statement:
“I’m really happy to win Sylt in such epic conditions. Especially in the single-elimination we had some of my favorite conditions with big ramps and strong winds being on my smallest gear! It feels good to end the PWA season with a win and I’m more than ready to step it up even more for 2020 and aim for the Worldtitle in Freestyle!“
MENS FOIL
After 6 days of onshore winds, the second half of the PWA event provided some excellent conditions for light wind offshore foil racing with a total of 11 eliminations done!
With 2 of our team riders in the World title fight it was a 9 persons drag race to see who would follow up Gonzalo Costa Hoevel as Foil Racing Worldchampion in 2019. Both Amado Vrieswijk and Matteo Iachino enjoyed some great results in the new down-wind Slalom racing course with an exciting final in elimination 5 being a highlight of the event. In this final it came down to a photo finish between both of our riders with Matteo Iachino just overtaking Amado in the last reach.
In the end, both riders lost to much ground in the up and downwind course races against the experienced RSX & Formula sailors to keep their title dreams alive. Iachino still kept on the pressure till the last day but eventually had to settle for 3rdfor the 2019 PWA overall Foil racing after a strong and consistent performance in 2019 on the Foil.
Matteo’s statement:
“Very happy to be on the overall Podium for the Foil racing this year in Sylt. I learned a lot again this and especially feel comfortable in the Foil Slalom racing which will be an integrated part of the Slalom tour next year which will make light wind racing even more exciting. Now my focus will be back in full on Slalom to get ready for New Caledonia in November.”
Matteo’s gear:
Hyperglide 10.0 / 9.0 / 8.0
DAM-X / A FREESTYLE CELEBRATION
With the event finished in Sylt most of our Freestyle team decided to travel down to Brouwersdam for the last stop of the EFPT at Brouwersdam for the Dam-X event.
Severne represented both on the water as on the land with victories in the EFPT event in both Men, Woman & U16 and a great presence on the beach with our new Foil Glide & soon to released Redback together with most of our 2020 gear.
Before the weekend started all the attention was turned toward the last stop of the EFPT which was highly successful for our Freestyle team with top podium places in 3 out of 4 categories completed.
In the men’s contest, we saw PWA event winner Amado Vrieswijk take a clear victory in the double-elimination after an incredible display of moves being the only rider to land his now trademark double air culo at the Brouwersdam during the event. Scoring the 3 highest heat totals of the event in his way to victory.
In the women’s elimination, it was Maaike Huvermann who successfully defended her European title from last year despite being in the hospital till the day before the contest with a lung infection and not feeling 100% fit when competing.
In the U16 division, it was Lennart Neubauer who proved why many call him the future of Freestyle showing dominant for winning his second event of the season in the U16 & claim the European U16 Freestyle title on an all Severne overall podium with Tigo Kort & Bohdi Kempen taking 2nd& 3rd.
Interesting fact this competition is that Balz Muller took to the water his Foil for the first time ever during a contest this season. Despite being disqualified for doing so, Balz opened the door for what might be the next thing in light wind Freestyle performing all the latest Power moves within the time of the heat and going high than anyone else doing so and showing why he’s one of the pioneers in windsurfing & modern Freestyle.
SIDE EVENT
During the weekend the attention turned more towards the fun part of the event with a down-wind Slalom and plenty of people visiting the Severne stand. Despite being a rainy first day the turnout on both days was great with many people passing by to have a look at our latest products & ask info about the latest developments on in the Severne world.
Thanks to all our team riders for being there and let it be windy this autumn!
