Up first then is Fanatic/North sailor Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo. Starring in some big productions from Andre Paskowski at the end of last year it looks like he is now back at home in El Yaque with good friend Cheo Diaz and it turns out that Ricardo Campello is also on the scene, check the photo below.

On top of that Gollito has released the odd move recently, including this insane double burner!

Kiri Thode is up next and up he certainly is as he continues to push to new heights. Looks like he wants to show the world a thing or two with this air kabikuchi off flat water. That said, eyewitness reports tell us that he was already doing them during heats in Fuerteventura last year. That we can definitely believe.

No guesses for who is next, that’s right third placed PWA Freestyler from 2012 and PWA Freestyle World Champion from 2011, Steven Van Broeckhoven. Although news is fairly quiet from Steven over these winter months we know that only means one thing, new moves are in the pipeline as well as one epic winter training video. This is all backed up by Andraz Zan who was in Sao Miguel de Gostoso at the Club Kauli Seadi Centre with Steven for sometime during December, both training and filming. Below is an image captured from some of that very footage, back to sail, switch stance in some form of shaka position… confused? Us too. What we do know is that the next video will be coming out towards the end of February, so be patient and we’ll be sure to have it on here around that time.

That can only mean it is Taty Frans next. Taty has been at home in Bonaire by the looks of things, no matter what goes on there we can be sure of one thing, Taty will be windsurfing. Probably the most technical windsurfer of them all he shows us power with one of his latest updates, an outstanding skopu in some pretty choppy conditions.

So last but by no means least, Tonky Frans. Well to be honest we posted his latest video already today so go check that out here – boardseekermag.com/news/video-tonky-in-holland. We do know that Tonky is now spending a lot of time in Europe, training in cold waters could well be the advantageous for next year, I guess we just have to wait and see…

For the wave and slalom heads, tune back in soon for a similar round up.

In the end it was Adam Sims from the UK who took the award with a pro-active performance as both a competitor and an event organiser.

We caught up with Hanna Poschinger, EFPT Press Officer and Tour Manager for a few words about the competition and the final winner:

“We had a fantastic time this year on the tour, there was a lot of support from the industry, the event organisers and the competitors themselves. The idea behind this competition was to help highlight the supporting industry brands of the EFPT and to promote the sailors and the tour through the public vote. We had a number of important characters from all over Europe within the draw, which saw almost 1,200 LIKES and 250 SHARES. Our final winner really deserved it due to his consistent and great overall result (8th place) but also for being a huge driving force as one of the organisers of the final EFPT stop in Weymouth, England. This was also a first for the UK and we hope to return there at the end of this year. Congratulations to all the nominees and competitors on this years European Freestyle Pro Tour.”

An interview and more is promised on efpt.net soon.

Further to this Rick Jendrusch became the EFPT Rookie of the Year after showing some impressive sailing throughout 2012. However, many will remember his come back at the King of the Wind event in the UK where he charged his way past many high profile freestylers to finish 4th. His level continues to improve fast and we look forward to seeing him back in action on the EFPT and PWA next year.

Jendrusch flying high at the EFPT stop in France

The EFPT competitors and crowds gather

Tonky Frans makes a guest appearance in France and wows the crowds with this spectacular pushloop off the smallest wave!

Photos – Raffi Cherbedjian