EFPT Palekastro Freestyle-Andre 2nd!

16.06.2009

Crete delivered excellent conditions throughout the 3 event days with 2 full double eliminations completed and Andre Paskowski finished 2nd!

Also showing a great performance was youngster Yarden Meir (Fanatic/Simmer) from Israel working his way up the ladder by winning 5 heats in a row. Yarden seemed to be on fire and was putting a big repertoire of moves together in his runs. With moves like Shaka, Burner, Culo, Kono and double moves.

The Final was up and conditions got pretty rough then with gusts of solid 40knts and flying sand through the heat area. Andre and Steven were fully overpowered on their small sails and tried to make the best out of it. Steven even tried to go for an Air Chachoo but a gust just took his gear away from him and threw it 30 meters away. It took him some time to swim after it and continue, while Andre could rack up points on the scoresheet by landing some nice moves like a full planning Forward, high one handed Shaka, Toad and several switch moves. Andre came out as the winner of this heat, so both riders had to battle again in the super final. Steven had injured himself on one of the hard crashes and came out of the water with a bleeding cut on the eyebrow. Race director Tom Hartmann checked with Steven if he is able to continue sailing. Steven could feel his eyebrow is swollen, but said he wants to go for it. All eyes were on the super final then between the 2 times European Champion Andre Paskowski (Fanatic/North) from Germany and the current tour leader Steven van Broeckhoven (F2) from Belgium. The show was worth it with high level freestyle action on both sides. This time Steven was able to perfectly execute his new school power moves again and therefore gained victory of the second double elimination and also the overall event. After the heat Andre and Steven kept on sailing and pulling some moves together, before they got off the water and the winner was announced at the beach in front of the spectators. Everybody was stoked... what a great show here at Kouremenous beach in Crete!

At 18.00h the official prize giving was held at the main stage. All riders got awarded with medals and windsurf trophies for the Top 3. This has been an awesome event here in Palekastro with some of the best action seen so far on the tour and also great hospitality of the village. We are looking forward to rock this place again next year.

Overall Event Result after 2 double eliminations:
1 Van Broeckhoven
2 Paskowski
3 Akgazcyan
4 Strahlen
5 Van Ochten