The World Cup in Sylt (Germany) just ended and our team sailed fantastic in freestyle, wave and foil. Below you can read some comments from some of our team riders about their own experiences. The wave sailors were sailing on UltraKode´s, the freestylers on the Ignite´s and the foilers on the Foil 177 boards, powered by the Starboard Race Foil.
Philip Köster – Men Wave
It´s really hard to believe that we scored another great wave contest on Sylt! I´m really happy that we got to compete in sideshore port tack conditions. And the starboard onshore conditions were definitely not easy. In the single elimination, I made it to 2nd place, but unfortunately, I couldn’t defend it in the double-elimination. It was dead onshore, and with one missing wave I couldn’t make it out in time because of the strong current and light wind. Now I´m looking forward to compete on Maui!
Steven van Broeckhoven – Men Freestyle
It was really difficult! I was really happy to make it into the top 2 during the single elimination. I had some good heats, but in the double elimination, it wasn’t going my way. I took the wrong sail size and I was really struggling to get my moves! But I´m super happy to get 3rd place here in Sylt and also 3rd overall!
Sarah-Quita Offringa – Women Wave
Yeah! My 2nd win at the Sylt World Cup. Sylt has such a big variety of conditions and once again delivered the goods. We sailed in a bit of side shore port tack conditions as well as full onshore-starboard tack conditions. It is tough to sail out there and you need to sail a smart heat. So I’m happy I was able to do that in both the single elimination when there were squalls all day long and the wind was very up and down. As well as in the double elimination when there were big onshore waves and lighter winds. I’m super happy with this result, because in the Canaries I recorded 2 x 3rd place, so it feels great to make a final and finish on top this time. Even cooler is that now for the first time in my windsurfing career I’m actually leading the Overal Wave ranking, which I’m still wrapping my head around. Anyway, the battle is still on in Maui between Iballa, Justyna and me. I will do my best there and hopefully, I can earn my first wave title! Finally also a massive congrats to Maaike for her first wave podium!!
Maaike Huvermann – Women Wave
Sylt delivered again! Very challenging conditions with the onshore wind, the shore break and the current. Went through a fair amount of washing machines this week. All in all, I had a lot of fun on the water. Probably most happy about making it out for all of my heats. I took my 80L board to give me a little bit more volume and that really seemed to work out well. Really happy to make it to the podium!!
Sebastian Kördel – Men Foiling
I’m quite happy about my result on Sylt and my overall 5th place in the foil world ranking! We had to wait for 7 days until we could hit the water with the foils but we got rewarded with 3 days of action-packed, super tight racing. Especially on the last day, everything came together for me and I scored a bullet in the course race and a photo finish second place in the slalom! I’m stoked that I could show my performance on the last day of PWA foil racing in 2019!
Lennart Neubauer – Men Freestyle
Before I came to Sylt my goal was to win one heat. But I did not really believe in it, so I was super happy when I won against former World Champion Kiri Thode. I could not believe it! After that heat I told myself that anything is possible. I was very motivated in the next heat against Riccardo Marca and won that one as well! The best heat score was the one I did after against Antony. I lost with 4-5 points in the end. I think this event was super cool and super happy with my 13th place in the PWA World Cup here in Sylt.
Matteo Iachino – Men Foiling
I´m really happy about my overall 3rd place. If someone told me last year I would be in the top 3 I´m not sure I would believe it. So pretty stoked! This year I came to the last event leading, so I really wanted to win. We were around 5 sailors with almost the same points so the battle was close. The course racing is not really my discipline, but I had some okay results. On the slalom foil racing, I also did a few mistakes, so I finished the event in 4th, but I am happy to secure the top 3 in the 2019 Foil World Cup!
All photos by John Carter/PWA
