TUESDAY

The final day of competition has a small chance of wind in store but with less than an hour until the final call it is a very slim chance that the second single will get underway. So it is highly likely that Gollito Estredo is the winner of this years first PWA event, with Steven Van Broeckhoven in second and Kiri Thode in third. Head back later for final confirmation and video updates.

MONDAY

There was little to light wind on Monday until 12 o’clock when suddenly the conditions improved and Phil Soltysiak was the first to hit the water. Fully planning just a hundred meters off the beach he grabbed the attention of all the other riders and PWA crew and preparations to start competition got under way immediately. After 2 hours of stop/start winds with several attempts to begin the first heat the crew decided to set longer postponements until the wind eventually dropped off and there was no chance to try to start the second single elimination. Despite this there was still plenty of moves being thrown and once again Continentseven were on the scene to capture the action, here is their take on it.

_______________________________________________________________________

Now on the fourth day in PWA Austria much has been happening over the weekend. Currently a second single elimination has just begun as a strong south wind has kicked in, surprising all competitiors, many of whom were expecting a day of tanning and enjoying the event site. In this news post we catch up with what has happened thus far. Firstly a special thanks to Continentseven who have allowed us to use and push their clips which they have been producing of the event.

FRIDAY

On the opening day of the event temperatures soared as Austria truly stepped into summer with a bang, there were many fears that the ongoing winter spell would affect the event and hot tubs had been brought in ready to keep the riders warm. As the conditions didn’t improve the highlight of the day was the tow-in training which took place later in the evening. Check our round up about this a little later, following this the opening ceremony was held later in the evening. A thousand strong crowd were there as the riders were introduced one by one, here is what happened.

SATURDAY

The day that everyone was talking about, the forecast showed strong south winds like you rarely ever see on lake Neusiedler and the forecast certainly delivered. An early start for all as the plan to complete a full double elimination in one day had been hatched and so the riders and crew met at 08:00 on the beach, however the wind wasn’t playing ball and the moment everyone arrived the wind disappeared completely, leaving all slightly bewildered. However, an hour later and the first windsurfers hit the water on the 4.8′s and sure enough as soon as they hit the water they were returning for 4.4 and even 4.0′s, the competition was on!

There were many fierce battles throughout the day, some upsets and a few injuries, all of which can be read on the official PWA Press Release HERE. In the end it was 5 x world champion, Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo who stormed to victory ahead of Steven Van Broeckhoven and Kiri Thode who finished second and third respectively. Action clips from the early heats and the double elimination can be seen below.

SUNDAY

With light winds forecast Sunday saw little action take place on the water except that of two tow-in qualification rounds (tune back in later for our round up). The slightly slack winds were perhaps a good thing for many of the competitors who were out celebrating until the small hours after the triumphs of the previous day.

MONDAY

With the first round kicking off the winds are fickle and the start of the first heat continues to be postponed. We will be sure to get an update later in the day as to what is happening, for those interested and with time then keep an eye on the PWA Live Ticker, where you can follow all the competitors as the day progresses. PWA Live Ticker.

More at www.elyaquefilm.com

Rewarded

Gollito Rewarded

Gollito may have missed out on the World Title in 2011, but he was back with a vengeance  in 2012. Gollito performed at every event, in every heat to take the World Title with an impressive three wins out of three.

As the champion was crowned the movie by Andre Paskowski documenting the life of Gollito was also released. Rewarded is a true labour of love from the multi talented Paskowski who continues to inspire many with his moving videos. Is this the movie and moment of the year for you?

Philip Koster

World Wave Champs Crowned

Philip Koster and Iballa Moreno were crowned World Wave Champions in 2012; Koster taking his second title at age just 19 and in awe inspiring fashion, whilst Iballa Moreno sailed better than she ever has before to beat her sister Daida in many tense finals.

David vs Goliath

Koster had been unbeaten for more heats that anyone could count, but on one light wind day in Klitmoller he was finally beaten in the double elimination super final by Thomas Traversa of France. In his first PWA event win Traversa scored solidly, whereas Koster couldn’t get a second high ride, this secured the event win for Traversa taking down the man some thought couldn’t be beaten.

Bernd Roediger

Rise of the New School

On the other side of the pond the AWT held a great tour, culminating in an epic event at Ho’okipa. Throughout the series Camille Juban had been the one to watch, he took the overall title, but it was the final of the pro men in Ho’okipa that through up a few surprises. Kevin Pritchard made it through to the final, bucking the trend and using a single fin, but he was beaten in the double elimination final by 16 year old Bernd Roediger. Could the young Hawaiian challenge Koster for the title if event locations were a little more varied?

Josh Angulo and Bjorn Dunkerbeck, collision!

Angulo vs Bjorn – The Take Down!

Every slalom heat on the PWA tour is a battle, with most of the top racers being fairly big, powerful guys who are not going to back down at a gybe mark. Whilst this makes racing very hard, it definitely adds some excitement for spectators. One of the most unbelievable moments in 2012 came from Josh Angulo, who when he was pushed tight at the first buoy by Dunkerbeck seemed to sail straight into him, slicing his sail in two from leech to luff! The image below shows a little but anyone who saw the incident live will remember just how spectacular it was!

Dorian van Rijsselberghe

London (well, Weymouth) 2012

The Olympic racing may not be every windsurfers cup of tea, but in 2012 the RS:X class provided a true spectacle of our sport in Weymouth. Dorian van Rijsselberghe did not just win gold, the 24 year old out performed the whole fleet with an unbelievable amount of bullets giving him the gold with one race to go. Though he couldn’t be caught Nick Dempsey was hot on his tail and took a silver medal to add to his bronze from Athens. In the women’s fleet Marina Alabau stormed to victory in the stronger winds of Weymouth. All in all we think the windsurfing at the Olympics was absolutely outstanding, do you agree?

Olympics Reborn! 

After the despair of earlier in the year as windsurfing was voted out of the Olympics in a shock decision, the sport gathered together like never before to push for windsurfing to be reinstated. After a few long and hard months of lobbying, tough decisions and lots of work from many another vote was taken and in a twist of fate windsurfing took the Olympic spot back from windsurfing.

Antoine Albeau

World Speed Records

Antoine Albeau, one very small canal, one even smaller board and a lot of wind lead to the world speed record being absolutely smashed at the end of the year. Albeau was joined by a couple of others to take the record well over, but it was the big Frenchman that finally pushed it all the way to 52.05knots. For the women Zara Davis also pushed the world record to incredible new speeds.

Now have your vote and use the comments below to let us know your opinions!

Did you tick other? What windsurfing moment made your year that we haven’t mentioned? There are many more windsurfing stars and events that we wanted to add to our shortlist, but unfortunately there just wasn’t room; what do you think should have made it? Drop us a comment below to tell us what your top windsurfing moment of 2012 was.

Boardseeker catches up with two big names in freestyle; current freestyle world champion Gollito Estredo and former champion Nik Baker.

Image credit: PWA/John Carter