David Garrel and Nicky Van Hoof took the lead of the European Speed Windsurfing Championships, after being completed the first round of competition.
The Fanatic Belgian Speed Week 2011 was held in windy Gruissan, France. Fifty one windsurfers enjoyed a first day of interesting sailing conditions, despite the two-metre waves and onshore gusts.
In the second day of speed windsurfing, the race officer moved the event to an inland location, at Marin, to get flatter water conditions. A fun slalom race was run. On the third day, the wind increased and windsurfers had a counting round.
On Friday, the officers changed the course three times as winds were shifting between 15 and 25 knots. Then, no wind.
The Fanatic Belgian Speed Week 2011 could've had more windsurfing races, but also could not had been run. Garrel and Van Hoof are the sailors to beat in the next round of the 2011 European Speed Windsurfing Championships.
Sunday, 17th of April 2011, registration day for the Fanatic Belgian Speed Week.
Despite the bad weather forecast we had 51 enthusiastic entries that arrived on the beach at Gruissan for the start of the competition.
Monday , first race day, the wind strength was good, but the direction was onshore and there were waves of 2 meters. The race officer decided that we couldn't guarantee the safety of the riders, so he cancelled the race for that day.
Tuesday the race officer decided to move the event to an inland location at Marin to get flatter water conditions but the wind was not very strong, around 14 knots. So we planned a fun slalom race. 14 riders were ready to join the fun race but when the course was all set up the wind dropped to 8 knots, so racing was called off for the day
Wednesday, the wind wasn't that strong but we opened the course. If the speed was high enough it would be official. The wind gods were with us and the wind increased and we had a counting round!
Thursday the wind was very light and the forecast was poor so racing was cancelled for the day. Friday, today they announced a lot of wind, but when we arrived on the spot we saw immediately that it was not the wind they had promised. The race officer decided to keep everybody on hold. From the boats we got the message that the wind was between 15 and 25 knots, with wind shifts of 45°. They changed the course 3 times ! At 2 O'clock (14.00) the race officer gave the sign that the competition was over. There was still not enough wind, it was good for some free sailing but not for a competition. 30 minutes later we saw that it was a good decision because the wind dropped completely. At 17.00 o'clock we had prize giving, with a lot of great equipment given by FANATIC and SONNTAG Fins. It felt good when we received compliments from several riders about the organization of the event, It was a pity that there was not more races, but that's windsurfing.
Here is a video of Ruben Hofman (B-505):
Final results of the Fanatic Belgian Speed Week 2011:
Men
- David Garrel
- Torsten Mallon
- Patrick Van Hoof (B-52)
- Wilfried Vanherweghe
- Alain Degendt
- Manfred Merle
- Marco Bal (NED-838)
- Björn Haacke
- Marco Van der Leer (NED-207)
- Yves Grossen
Women
- Nicky Van Hoof
- Birgit Höfer
- Imke Debruyn
Bron: Organizer Patrick van Hoof
