For over a decade NeilPryde has been sponsoring the Baltic Cup event and this year the event will be held in Lithuania from 25 - 27 May. For full event information please download the PDF here.

To celebrate the outstanding performance of the current PWA Wave World Champion, Red bull has teamed up with NeilPryde and NP team rider Philip Koster to release a limited edition Philip Koster branded 4 pack of Red Bull.

The cartons will be available in Germany throughout summer.

This year the PWA Tour had their first tour stop in Podersdorf (Austria) from the 27th of April until the 1st of May. Every year the event in Podersdorf is really well organized and that didn’t change this year. There were a lot of activities provided to the visitors next to the Windsurf action. The weather throughout the week was great,because of this a lot of people found their way to the festival and a big summer feeling came up.

However, we were a little bit unlucky with the wind. Last year we had some decent North West winds with pretty cold temperatures. But this year, we had South Wind and about 30° with sunshine. On Saturday and Sunday there was enough wind to sail the whole single elimination. The wind was pretty gusty and most of the guys were on sail sizes around 5,2m².

My first heat I had was against Max Matissek AUT-97, who advanced from the first round. Max is THE LOCAL of the lake and he is really experienced at his home spot. I knew I had to be concentrated and give my best! In the next round I had to face my team colleague Andy Lachauer G-171. He is a really light sailor and planning very early.He also puts a lot of power in his moves and he had already advanced through 2 rounds, so I knew it wouldn't be easy. I advanced into the next round of the TOP 8 and had to sail against Bjorn Saragoza NB-11! Bjorn is super talented and one of the best riders on tour. He trained hard in winter, but I was able to beat him and advanced into the half-final. Now there were only 4 riders left. Gollito V-01, Taty Frans NB-9, Kiri Thode NB-61 and me. I had to sail against Taty, which I knew before, would be a really hard heat. Taty is training every year very hard in the winter and a really consistent sailor. I was very unlucky with the wind in this heat. It was so so gusty that I wasn’t planning for 7 minutes. I did some moves, but not the once I wanted to show, because I was really missing the power to perform them. Taty sailed very well and advanced to the final where he had to battle it out with Gollito V-01. Kiri and I faced each other in the small final for the 3rd place. The wind was a little bit stronger now and the judges saw Kiri with a very close decision as the winner of this heat. The final result of the single-elimination was:

1st Gollito Estredo V-01
2nd Taty Frans NB-9
3rd Kiri Thode NB-61
4th Steven van Broeckhoven B-72

Due to the lack of wind, the double elimination could not be finished and so the result of the single elimination was as well the result of the event. So I finished the event on a 4th place, which is good, but not what I really wanted. I did train hard this winter and wanted more out of this event. I hope that we have some decent winds at the next PWA stop on Fuerteventura, so that I can perform all the moves I was missing, especially in the half-final.

Besides the normal windsurf competition, the CHIMSEE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP in TOW-IN took place. I didn’t train any TOW-IN over the whole winter and I knew that some guys are really good in it, however I could win this event with a TRIPPLE Funnel Diablo. I am really happy about that and now I can call myself EUROPEAN-Champion in TOW-IN… J.

After the closing party, we had a lazy day and I started my trip home with Maarten van Ochten H-73. Unluckily I had some problems with my car on the way home, so that it took us a little longer. All in all it was a really nice event and I am looking forward to come back next year. Now I am going for some days to Dahab and train, before the next tour stop on Fuerteventura is coming up in the end of July. Thanks for all the congratulations and thank you to my sponsors.

Met vriendelijke groet/ Best Regards,

Steven Van Broeckhoven B72

www.stevenvanbroeckhoven.com

Pijnvenstraat 63
3920 Lommel
Belgium
Tel: +32 474 322993
Skype: stevenb72
twitter: www.twitter.com/stevenb72
facebook: www.facebook.com/stevenvanbroeckhoven

JP-Australia/NeilPryde/O'Neill/ChocoFins/Different-eye

Photo Credit: John Carter

Tonight saw the final of the EFPT tow in event and it definitely didn’t disappoint with big moves being thrown left, right and centre. In the end Steven Van Broeckhoven (JP / NeilPryde) was crowned champion after a super sick triple air flaka diablo. Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo produced a moment of magic with a funnel burner, but it wasn’t enough to budge Van Broeckhoven from the top. Kiri Thode completed the top three by jumping a perfect double air flaka diablo.

Last night was the final qualifying round of the tow in before Monday nights final. Steven Van Broeckhoven was the last rider of the first round to perform, but he instantly booked his place in the final with the highest scoring move of the last 3 nights. Van Broeckhoven delivered a sick triple popping flaka to blow away the rest of the competition. Joining him in the final would be Julien Mas (Patrik / Hot Sails) who popped an almost perfect culo, Dieter Van Der Eyken, after the young Belgium landed his first ever burner in the tow in. The lucky fourth placed rider also progressing into the final went to Maarten Van Ochten (JP / NeilPryde / MFC).

Tow In Results

1st Steven Van Broeckhoven (JP / NeilPryde)
2nd Jose Gollito Estredo
3rd Kiri Thode

Photo Creadit: PWA John Carter, gruberpictures.at, Walter Kölbl, Martin Reiter

Once again I had a trip to the vast desert grounds. This time I stayed there for 2,5 months and the main location for windsurfing was Blue Lagoon - a quiet paradise with very laid back lifestyle. The training company was all the time awesome ( Sten Aava, Christofer Kalk, Yegor Popretinskiy, Stefanos Damianos and some locals). Outside of the water it was nice to spend time with wise beduins. Blue Lagoon provided us wind almost everyday what makes it one of the best freestyle playgrounds. Hopefully every windsurfer has a chance to visit this pearl in the Red Sea. Here´s a short clip I made from the the trip. See you in Podersdorf!