2nd place EFPT Brouwersdam

Time for a little update about my latest freestyle competition, sitting in a little crêperie in La Torche in France waiting for the wind to increase.

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Last week was the EFPT competition in Holland. The EFPT stands for the European Freestyle Pro Tour and they organize the European Tour for the freestyle discipline. The competition was held at Brouwersdam, a famous windsurf spot in the South of Holland. It’s the third year in row they organize an international competition at this spot and it’s a great place for freestyle, and it’s the only EFPT stop where they also run a girls fleet.

I only had one day in between unpacking from Sylt and packing for Brouwersdam, swapping my wave boards and sails for my freestyle set. Nice to be home for one day, eating some healthy home made soup of my mom and sleeping in my own bed for one night!

The DamX event started on a wednesday morning. We had a good forecast and on the second day of the competition we started with the single elimination. I’m from the northern part of Holland so I am not a local at Brouwersdam and didn’t know what conditions to expect. We had a strong eastern wind which was increasing more and more during the day. The only bad thing about eastern wind is the COLD. It was freezing!

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I was using my 4.4 and passed a few heats to make it in to the semi finals. In the semi finals I was up against Maaike Huvermann, a fellow dutch competitor and 2nd in the PWA world ranking of 2016. I sailed a good heat but Maaike an even better one and it was her who advanced in to the winners final.

After the single elimination I was in third place, but since the wind was still blowing strong we straight away continued with the start of the double elimination.

The wind increased and I changed to my 4.0 IDOL. I was on my 86 liter, with my new 17 cm MUF fins PRO style.

In the double I first had to defend my third place against Jazzy Swerus before meeting Maaike again for 2nd place. I sailed another nice heat, landing shake’s both ways, a kono, switch kono, funnel, flaka, forward, puneta and spock. Just as in the single elimination I was happy with my sailing and performance, even before I knew I had won the heat. Maaike also sailed a good heat, but this time it was me who advanced.

Next up was my heat against Sarah Quita, 7 times World Champion freestyle and although I could not get close to her, I was sailing another good heat and I came off the water completely stoked after a long cold day of competing.

The days that were left there was not enough wind to finish a whole other elimination, but there was enough wind to do fun races, also organized by Dam X. Besides the fun races there were lots of other activities, stands and a food market.  On Friday it was my sisters birthday, and my parents, brother and sister all came over to Brouwersdam to have a birthday dinner for my sister. Nice to have my family around during a competition 🙂

On Sunday was price giving and I was very pleased to take 2nd place!

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After the EFPT in Brouwersdam I had another short day at home, changing back to my wave gear and to get ready for the PWA wave in La Torche. I started driving on Tuesday morning and arrived at my family in France on Tuesday night. They live only two hours away from La Torche and it was great seeing them before the competition. For the past few days it has not been windy yet, but we had some very nice and clean waves so I have been surfing every day!

Today and tomorrow looks promising for the wind, so fingers crossed! After this event I will be flying to Brazil. Back to where it all started for me and to windsurf in bikini again after these weeks of sailing in 8 degrees. Can’t wait!

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