PWA Fuerteventura coming up!
With only one and half day to go before the start of the PWA Worldcup Freestyle here in Fuerteventura it’s time for a little update about my training and preparation for the competition.
I arrived more than a month ago in Fuerteventura which now sounds like such a long time but it doesn’t feel that way! Think because the conditions have changed so much since I’m here; from 4.8 light wind and flat water to 3.7 completely overpowered and waves; every day is different.
It was so nice seeing more and more familiar faces appearing every day over the past few weeks. By now I think all freestyle riders have arrived and it’s great seeing everybody again after training in different places all over the world! This is one of the things I like most about Fuerteventura; because it’s summer and people have holiday, lots of people go here to windsurf and you meet freestylers, windsurfers and friends that you might have not seen in a very long time.
My sailing is going very well. After my first week here I went to see a physiotherapist because the choppy conditions and strong wind made my ankle hurt again. (Last year I torn all the ligaments in my ankle the day before the competition with a Ponch crash). Rainer of E.T.M. did an amazing job taping my ankle and giving me some exercises and now, three weeks later I feel such more comfortable with it and without pain. I went to the gym almost every day, but just to strengthen the muscles in my ankle and to do some yoga and stretching.
Some Yoga at the beach 🙂
Picture of me in the coolest Gym I have ever been; full of windsurf boards, flags of the past PWA events and even a boom to practice your freestyle moves during your gym session!
Today we could store our equipment in the equipment tent so I rigged up all my sails; from 3.7 till 4.8 ready for any type of conditions we might get! I even have a 3.4 with me this year, but I can’t rig it at the same time as my 3.7 so only if those nuclear winds (like we had today..) will show up during the event I will rig that sail.
Tomorrow I will go and try out my sails a bit, have a short session and do some big food shopping for during the competition and then the event will kick off on Friday. Unlike other years we will start the same day as the registration day so after registering in the morning we will start with the single elimination in the afternoon. With a good forecast like it is now we will probably be able to finish two double eliminations and I will have to sail every day for five days in a row but we will see!
Although there is only one event this year for freestyle and this event being one of the hardest freestyle spots I know, there are still fourteen girls that signed up to compete and its cool to see that there are so many new girls on the list this year! Wish all of them good luck and most of all a great time 🙂 The level of both the guys and girls is very high and I think its going to be a great battle; very much looking forward to get it started and to see whats going to happen this event!
After the event I will spend one more day here in Fuerteventura before heading to Tenerife to participate in the PWA WAVE event! Very excited to join a wave event after more than two years! Have not done any wave sailing for the past five months (except for the Dutch Championships one day!) but luckily I have three days to get used to my wave board again.. I always struggle finding the footstraps on my waveboard after I have only been freestyling as they are so much wider apart then on my freestyle board 😉
Well, that was about it for now, I’m trying to update on my blog every day during the event! Here some pic’s from Fuerte
I like beaches where they have signs like this! 
Smileeeeeeee before you go on the water! And if you wear Sun Zapper Pink Zinc Stick you HAVE TO smile because every body is smiling at me when they see my pink painted face 😉
A flat water session with my 3.7 wave sail as it was too windy for my 4.0 Whitetip freestyle sail that day!
