On the 28th of June we’ve finished a second World Cup event on the Spanish island called Lanzarote. We had 5 days of competition and we’ve managed to finish two double elimination. All the top freestyle riders registered for the event. It was a first competition where the new freestyle format could be properly tested. In Podersdorf there was not enough wind for that. And after the event it was sure that it was a very good decision from PWA. Freestyle started to grow again and became more interesting for people from outside of a windsurfing industry.
Every day we were competing on sails around 5.2 m2. It was windy on every single day except the final day. The level was outstanding. New moves like Culo, Kono or Burner combinations were made in almost every heat. There was no easy heat in the contest. Everyone showed good skills so you couldn’t make mistakes. The fight for the victory was between Gollito Estredo, Kiri Thode, Ricardo Campello and Marcilio Browne. Those four riders presented the best style, moves and technical skills. I have to mention a very good result from Andre Paskowski and Normen Guznlein who finished 3rd and 4th in one of the elimination. But in the end it was Gollito Estredo who sailed the best and showed the newest combinations of moves. The second place went to Kiri Thode. Third was Ricardo Campello and the fourth was Marcilio Browne, who won one elimination but finished worse in the other one.
I’ve sailed all my heat pretty good. In both double elimination I finished 13th and in one single I was 9th. In the overall ranking after the event I finished 13th. Till now it’s my best PWA result.
The next world cup contest will be in Fuerteventura on the 23rd of July. I’m already here where I will spend three weeks on training for the event. I have few moves which I have to learn before the next contest. I know that if I will train hard then I can to a lot better here and that is my goal for now.
I’ll inform you how is the training going.

Jakub Kosmowski
sponsors: Tabou, Gaastra, Da Kine, FOB, Aloe-Organics

We are running a next double elimination. In the first heat I went against a talented young Brazilian Ian Mauro Lemos. In this heat I did clew first flaka, gozzada Cana Brava, shaka Cana Brava and few more trick on switch. I won that heat and went against Tonky Frans and that was where all the fun started. In the begging Tonky couldn’t find a rythm and I sailed quite good. I did Funnel, eslider one handed diablo and a shaka Cana Brava. At that point Tonky did shaka flaka and ponch flaka. I’ve added a switch chachoo cana Brava and a clew first flaka. I knew I was leading till that time. Later unfortunately I messed up my gozzada cana brava which was not really clean and most probably that was the trick which decided who is going to win that heat. Tonky in the end did a culo and shove it spock and i replied with a shove it spock and a ponch. After the end I knew it’s going to be quite close. After the decision it came out that I’ve lost with a half a point difference and it was that gozzada cana brava which I’ve mention before! I’m really happy I could have a close fight with a third rider in the world and I know that if I work before fuertaventura then I can fight for better places in the next comp. At the moment I was twice 13th so in the overall ranking I will be around that place.

We have a brake now and the heat will be started again at 16:30. Tomorrow most probably we will start another single elimination.

Yesterday it was again windy in Lanzarote. The conditions were worse than the day before but it was still constant wind so we could easily finished another single elimination.

The second world cup event shows how high is the level. In every heat riders where landing tricks like: burner, shaka diablo or toad. It shows that changing to a different scoring system was a good choice. Here in Lanzarote we could do maximum six moves and the best four where judged. It allow you to try some more difficult moves without loosing points for crashing.

It was second time in Lefkas that we had a EFPT contest. Last year we didn’t had to good conditions but this year the forecast were promising and it looked like it’s going to be a great competition here. In three days of sailing we managed to finish a double elimination.

We had the best conditions on the first day of the contest. It was windy for a 5.0 m2. At that they we finished the whole single elimination. I won my first heat against Nikos Athanasiou but then later I lost to Steven van Broeckhoven and finished nine in the single. Anxton Otaegui won the single, Andre Paskowski was second and Steven van Broeckhoven was third.

On Saturday the wind dropped but the judges decided to run double elimination so all the riders went out on there biggest equipment. I took my 6.0 but still sometimes it was to light. That day all the riders worked really hard to stay in planning and make some next moves. My heat where quite constant and even with such a light wind I managed to do some technical tricks in every heat. I won two heats, one with Stam Promponas and the second one with Martin van Ochten. Unfortunately after those two runs I was quite tired and I didn’t sail as good as before. Niklas Strahlen used the situation and did few more moves then me and won the heat. For me it was finished for this contest and I have to be happy with the nine position. The organizers managed to run few more heat but the wind died 5 heats before the end of the double.

The last day came wind the wind from the morning and after a skippers meeting at 14:00 we started first missing heat. Normen Gunzlein sailed very well trough all his heats and from place number 5 he went up to the final where we’ve met Anxton Otaegui. The final was unbelievable and both of the riders wanted to win really bad here in Greece. Normen did less moves but tried to make more sort new,technical tricks and landed burner diablo, shaka one handed and culo. Anxton on the other hand tried to do as many moves as possible with a lot of variety. He’ve landed all the tricks on switch really clean with a lot of speed and in the begging he nailed a massive shaka. After a long break and waiting time the decision was 3 to 2 on Axton Otaegui and he won both of the Greek events.

Result:

In the end I’m quite happy about those two event in Greece. I sailed on the same level trough all my heats. In Milos Beach I also sailed well on a bog sail which was never my best side. Both heats with Steven van Broeckhoven where hard but also close which gives a good sign for next contests.

The next stop is in Lanzarote for the World Cup. I hope we going to have good conditions and I can show some good moves.