DAY 1

Riders Arrival, Registration and Briefing

With all the riders finally present, or almost all of them, the competitors from 11 different countries and 4 different continents (plus New Caledonia), the registration and briefing got underway. However, not without a few last minute flurrys. The first of which was the final wildcard placement. Having pulled out of competition at the very last minute, Nick Van Ingen offered up his wildcard to the next person on the list, Nik Hibdige from the UK, unfortunately with less than 24 hours to change all his plans for a week and travel from the UK to Austria, Hibdige had to pass up on the offer, next up Mauricio Alvarez. Alvarez, who has recently only just returned to the water after one and a half years break due to knee surgery also passed up the offer for obvious reasons, in the end Paul Simmerl was the one to take that last spot and so he joins the remaining 31 riders to begin competition as of tomorrow.

The other flurry of activity saw a strong storm rage across the competition area during the final minutes of registration, Adam Sims, who was already signed up and rigged, threw on his wetsuit and hit the water on his 4.8 Sailloft Quad and Patrik 101l. He returned fairly promptly, after one run, despite pulling a couple of moves, due to a huge bolt of lighting stretching across the sky not so far out in front of him.

 

During the briefing the riders were told about the usual rules and regulations and shown the heat ladder for both the tow-in and the official competition. There is a lot of focus on the riders this year and presenting them to the public, there is one thing that is for sure, it is a great week to be an EFPT competitor.

Outlook

The forecast is changing from hour to hour, however it looks like wind is set to kick in on Sunday and also Tuesday. the plan will be to finish a double elimination and to complete tow-in qualifications on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the final on Wednesday evening.

ContinentSeven Best Trick Contest

Lastly, ContinentSeven will be hosting a best trick contest this year with €1000 prize money up for grabs. The format of which will be announced closer to the time but one thing that we can be sure of now, if the wind provides, then you know those tricks you see on the pros video parts? Well it might just be the first time we ever see some of them stomped in competition. Stay tuned, or perhaps leave your thoughts on how you would like to see it run in the comments below.