Milos Beach Lefkada Vassiliki Festival

[Davy_H311]

day 1

The first two days the Milos Beach Lefkada Vassiliki Festival are sailed in the bay of Vassiliki. The wind kicked in at 4 pm and blew just long enough to finish the first single elimination.

From 9 - 10.30 race director Tom Hartmann registered 23 riders. As on every first official appointment on an event the expectations for the upcoming and the memories of the past event were the matter of conversation. Nicolas Akgazciyan´s (Starboard/Gun Sails) “doppio forward“ from the Red Bull ramp session brought him a reward of 1.000€, Dominik Schönthal (Fanatic/North Sails) injured himself driving a scooter and everybody was asking if Steven van Broeckhoven (F2/Gaastra), after his 2nd place in Sardinia 3rd double elmination, now steps down from the top of the podium.

Straight after the registration riders and organisation crew were introduced to the mayor of Vassiliki in front of the town hall. Riders were given roses and a bunch of Greek school kids sang a local song. It was an emotional and warm welcome on the island of Lefkas. The mayor also found his way to beach, taking a look at the freestyle action and talking to the EFPT riders. Everybody was pretty surprised when he started to talk to Niklas Strahlen (RRD/Simmer Style) in Swedish. The mayor, together with good looking, mostly English, crowd could see the green flag for the first heat going up at 4pm. The wind kicked very strong right from the beginning, so riders could rigg their 4.2´s. Already in the first few heats judges had to make a few really tight decisions. Colin Dixon (JP/Neilpryde) succeeded over his mate Andy “Bubble“ Chambers (JP/Neilpryde) with a 2-1 decision and lost his following heat against Niklas Strahlen (RRD/Simmer Style) also 2-1. Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard/Gun Sails) sailed a very solid race and could win over Spanish rider Antxon Otaegui (JP/Neilpryde) in possibly the best heat of the day. Davy Scheffers (Tabou/Gaastra) had bad luck in his heat against Vladimir Yakovlev (JP/Neilpryde). His mastbase was almost broken and therefore the winner from the last double elimination on Sardinia ended up on 9th place. Heat nr. 15 saw Edvan Souza de Pedro (RRD/Simmer Style) against Nicolas Akgazciyan and Yarden Meir (Fanatic/Simmer Style) against Steven van Broeckhoven. Although Edvan sailed a solid heat, it was the French rider who took the win and went to the final. Steven van Broeckhoven could win over Israeli Yarden, and so it was Akgazciyan against Van Broeckhoven. Although the wind was blowing stable throughout the whole race, it started to struggle just seconds before the finals. The race for third was decided with the horn opening the heat. Yarden Meir chose with 4,7 a way to small sail and had therefore no chance against Edvan Souza de Pedro. The opponents for the heat 17, the final in the single elimination, made their gear decision together. Under still sailable and fair sailing conditions Nico and Steven celebrated Freestyle windsurfing on the waters of Vassiliki. While amateur surfers left and right of the heat area were standing with slalom equipment, the EFPT riders managed to show impressive moves. Steven collected big points with an air funnel, while Nico showed everybody what the category “flow“ in the EFPT rules means. With the horn for the red flag the wind stopped completely. It took Steven and Nico quite some time to get back to beach on the glassy water at the inside. At about 6pm the result for the final heats was written down on race director Tom Hartmann´s ladder. Steven van Broeckhoven wins the first single elimination on the Milos Beach Lefkada Vassiliki Festival in front of Nicolas Akgazciyan.

As the thermal winds on the island Lefkada never show up before 2pm the race organisation set the skippers meeting for tomorrow at 13.00h. Most of may already have followed the competition on the live stream today. For those who wanna join us live tomorrow, get registered at http://www.vassiliki-watersports-festival.com/

[Davy_H311]

day 2

Andy Chambers (JP/Neilpryde) was the barbecue chief yesterday evening and he made it today from the last place in the single until the 5th place in the double elimination. Vassiliki was delivering perfect thermal winds again for the EFPT fleet, lasting exactly as long as the elimination needed.

Thermal winds never come before 2pm. Therefore the EFPT riders could spend a few more hours in their beds. At 1pm everybody attended the skippers meeting ready for the double elimination. Andy “Bubble“ Chambers lost in yesterday´s single elimination in the first heat against his british mate, and maybe the most hilarious speaker around, Colin Dixon. So for today Andy was up to correct this mistake. The naked chef sailed very stylish and fluently throughout his heats. He could win over Max Rowe (Simmer Style) in the first round. In a very tight heat, where both riders had big moves like no handed Flakas and Shove-it into Spock, Andy finished his heat not crashing even once and therefore could pass. His solid and fluent style brought further victories against Andraz Zan (RRD/RRD), Niklas Strahlen (RRD/Simmer Style), Davy Scheffers (Tabout/Gaastra) and also his JP-Australia/Neilpryde teammate Antxon Otaegui was left with nothing after he met Andy in heat nr. 31. After 6 heats the British sailor gave Nikos Athanasiou an interview for the live broadcast. Andy stated that he is super happy, but also super tired right now. Heat nr. 32 showed Yarden Meir (Fanatic/Simmer Style) on the opponent list. Chambers batteries were nearly empty after 6 heats. The Israeli won and succeeded into the next heat where he was 1 on 1 against Braz Edvan Souza de Pedro (RRD/Simmer Style). Colin Dixon announced Edvan as the king of the dancefloor from yesterdays party, and the always smiling South American proved he can also perform well on the water. Yesterdays finalist Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard/Gun Sails) got eliminated by de Pedro and ended up on third place. After 34 heats only two riders remained in the double elimination ladder. Edvan Souza de Pedro and the regular guest Steven van Broeckhoven (F2/Gaastra). During the 8 minutes pause from the prior heat to the final one, a few strong gusts forced a lot of amateur riders to call the rescue boat. Steven and Edvan had, as yesterday Steven and Nico, again a difficult decision which sails they should choose. The powerful Belgian van Broeckhoven rigged a bigger sail than Edvan, who gambled, and took 4.5sqm. The heat was dictated by the wind. Steven managed to stay in the upper, more windy, part of the heat area, while Edvan had to pump really hard to get his moves done closer to the beach. Some might say now that it is boring to see, or read, Steven van Broeckhoven winning. To those we have to respond that we don´t get tired of Steven´s explosive style. While about 100 windsurfers in the bay of Vassiliki, even the slalom guys, are far away from planning, the huge Belgian pulls off Air-Flakas, Toads, and switch Konos. As the final opponents made there way back to the beach it was already clear that Steven van Broeckhoven takes the first double elimination on the Milos Beach Lefkada Vassiliki Festival.

For tomorrow the whole event moves to the second spot. Located in the north of the island, Milos Beach will be the playground on the third and fourth day of the event.

[Davy_H311]

day 3

Day 3 of the Milos Beach Lefkada Vassiliki Festival was up to be sailed in front of Christos Stratos´ Milos Beach Club. After 2 windy days in Vassiliki, today the EFPT fleet had some time to relax at the beach.

Early in the morning the whole event, including riders, race crew, fans and the team for the live-stream left the Wildwind Club Vassiliki in direction north, where the Milos Beach Club should become the playground for the European Freestyle Pro Tour. The weather forecast said sunshine and temperatures about 34°C. Usually this is a good sign for the thermal winds of Lefkada, but today there was maybe too much humidity in the air for sailable conditions. Soon after the skippers meeting at 1pm a few riders went on the water with 5.7sqm. In the gusts they could, supported by the choppy water, stick a few nice tricks, but on average it was just not enough to start a second single elimination.


Riders spent their unwanted day off sitting together at the beach, playing around or just relaxing in the sun. Tom Hartmann, the EFPT race director, kept postponing the first possible start, having 7pm as the last possible in his mind. A few minutes before 7, the Corona Girls were already dancing on tables, the wind came back. Antony Ruenes was the first one heading out with 5.2sqm. The French could get some good gusts, and so the race crew decided to give it a try. The first heat was Adrian Beholz (F2) against Jamie Drummond (Fanatic). The blond German and his British opponent pumped hard in their heat, but also after 2 minutes extension time, the judges could not write down enough moves on their papers. At 7.30pm Greek time the race organisation called it a day.


The Skippers meeting for tomorrow is again scheduled at 1pm. The weather forecast looks good for the last day of the Milos Beach Lefkada Vassiliki Festival.

[StevenB72]

Hi,

Here a brief report about the efpt event at the beautiful island of Lefkada, Greece.
The event took place on 2 spots: the first 2 days at Vassiliki and the last days at Milos Beach.

We immediately moved to Lefkada after the event at Sardinia to have training in Milos and Vassiliki.
Milos is very beautiful and calm. Nearly every afternoon the wind rises for 5,6-5,2 sails. The wind is cross-onshore from the left with nice chop for powermoves.
Vassiliki is totally different: the gusty wind here is cross-offshore from thee right and starts after 4pm during 2 hours for 5,2-4,8 sails on flat water.

The first day of the event the wind started earlier as usual: at 2pm we could use our 5,6 sails already and later in the afternoon the wind increased to using 4,8 sails fully powered.
I used the F2 rodeo 98 and the gaastra echo LE 4,8. I won my first heat against Genkel G-984.
My next opponent was the local rider Promponas GRE-393, a very talented guy. I kept controle and won the heat as I landed all my best moves.
Next was Yarden Meir from Israel. He can sail incredible heats with sick moves but I could win without any mistake. In the final I met Akgazciyan F400. The gusty wind dropped so it was hard to chose the best rigs. I took the F2 rodeo 107 that plans a little earlier and keeps on planing, with the gaastra echo LE 5,2. This seemed to be the best choice. I started far way off to use the best wind. Akgazyian took the risk to stay in front of the beach using the gusts. My tactics seemed better and I could bust out all my powermoves while Akgazyan was struggling to get some power on the inside. So I won the first single elimination.
The 2nd day the wind stayed the same, good for 4,8 full power. But after a 2 hours waiting time before my heat, the wind died a bit.
Edvan Souza from Brasil won against Akgaziyan to face me in the final of the double elimination.
The wind was super gusty and the wind turned more offshore. So it was pumping out of the wind and being overpowered in the gusts of wind. The heat ended without any wind.
But the heat counted as we had enough moves. I was happy when I was announced as the winner of the double elimination.

I also won a price of the internet voting and a free dinner for 2 persons. And I joined the jury of the Miss bikini contest, not bad!

Day 3 we drove to Milos beach, a 40 minutes drive. I like this spot more because of its consistent wind and good chop. But the wind only showed up during the afternoon for the biggest rigs to die before the start of the first heat.
Day 4 same story with fog that blocked the thermal winds. So no further eliminations could be run.

More info at www.efpt.com
My heat against Stam Promponas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhgCFU9rwtg


The Result
Rank Name
Sailnumber Board Sail
1 Van Broeckhoven Steven B-72 F2 Gaastra
2 Souza de Pedro Edvan BRA-250 RRD Simmer
3 Akgazciyan Nico F-400 Starboard Gun Sails
4 Meir Yarden ISR-91 Fanatic Simmer


Top 4 overal ranking


01 Van Broeckhoven Steven 740 B72 F2 Gaastra
02 Akgazcyan Nicolas 520 F 400 Starboard Gun Sails
03 Scheffers Davy 360 H-311 Tabou Gaastra
04 Meir Yarden 300 91 Fanatic Simmer Style


Best Regards

Steven Van Broeckhoven B72

[wcjulha0710]

From 9 - 10.30 race director Tom Hartmann registered 23 riders. As on every first official appointment on an event the expectations for the upcoming and the memories of the past event were the matter of conversation. Nicolas Akgazciyan´s (Starboard/Gun Sails) “doppio forward“ from the Red Bull ramp session brought him a reward of 1.000€, Dominik Schönthal (Fanatic/North Sails) injured himself driving a scooter and everybody was asking if Steven van Broeckhoven (F2/Gaastra), after his 2nd place in Sardinia 3rd double elmination, now steps down from the top of the podium.

wow! Reward is 1.000€ ! It's really attractive!
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