SUI-4 - Laure Treboux's official site

Tough conditions yesterday for the wave single elimination here in Sylt! As the forecast predicted it, we had some onshore, slightly starboard tack conditions. The wind picked up through the day, reaching 35 knots and building up the waves, making it pretty hard to go out. The high tide didn't help as it makes the current ridiculously strong. And the cold... I coudln't feel ma hands the whole time I was out there.

The only way to make it out the back was to be powered up and start from the top of the beach, take as much speed as possible along the beach and find an opening in the big dumping shore break... I gotta say it wasn't the most welcoming conditions and I was a bit nervous before going out. I observed the beach and the guys going out for a long time, but the beach kept changing every minute, so it was really hard to work out the best path out there. Once you got nailed in the shore break it was almost impossible to make it back out, even some of the guys got stuck in the inside during their whole heat. Not very reassuring...

I was against Heike in my first heat, with Alice and Fanny sailing against each other at the same time. We all went out together but I was the only one to make it out the back. Unfortunately the other girls got stuck in the inside and couldn't sail their heat. I did my best to survive and had to concentrate big time not to make any mistake. I managed to stay out there and ride a few waves, and made it through to the next round. The following heat was against Nayra, and even though I saw that the wind had picked up a fair bit, I decided to stay on 4.2. Not a good decision as I was already overpowered before, and this time I could not even hold on. I sailed for a while but it became just unsailable so I came in. With 3 minutes remaining I didn't have time to change sail and go back out. Nayra sailed well, she did some jumps and got some rides, so she won the heat.

I'm so happy just to have made it out there and to have been able to sail! I'm ranked 5th at the moment which is good considering the conditions, especially with starboard tack wind!

The conditions stayed like this until the end so they could run the whole elimination. Iballa won the girls, followed by Daida, Karin and Nayra. In the men's fleet Alex Mussolini won, followed by Josh Angulo, Antoine Albeau and John Skye. Everyone sailed well and in such hardcore conditions anything can happen. One mistake and you lose your heat...

Today the wind's lighter and they started the freestyle, and for the weekend we should have a massive storm coming... There should be plenty of time to do the double elimination.

Early start on the 3rd of the PWA event here in Sylt, with a 7 o'clock skipper's meeting. Well it's not that early, but it's dark and cold here at 7. The freestylers are starting at 7.30. Looking forward to watching the guys ripping! We're on hold for the waves, let's see if it gets good enough to start today. I hope it does while it's still port tack! Looks like we'll get starboard tack conditions for later in the week, not my favourite really.

Check out the live ticker, photos and videos on the PWA website.

Due to injury, I was forced to come home early and stop competing after my first heat of the first day at the PWA in Fuerteventura. Definitely an unlucky season for me!!!

I was training there for 2 weeks straight before the beginning of the event and was on great form, landing some really good stuff, like ponches, full planing high switch flakas, air flakas and everything. I was really looking forward to a chance to improve my ranking after a pretty bad event in Lanzarote. I could do top 2 there and that was my goal.
I went out on the water for my first heat against Iballa. It was howling and I decided to go on 3.4, thought it was a bit big but the wind is always gusty there and I wanted to be powered up all the way to the beach. I quickly understood that 3.0 would have been a better choice though... I went for a clew first spock for my first move, came out of it full speed and my downwind rail caught... Which threw me straight in my boom and fully twisted my wrist. It was pretty painful but when you're sailing a heat you just don't think about it and keep going. But that was it for me, the next day I tried sailing but just couldn't hold on my boom.

I was hoping for my wrist to get better in the next days so I'd be able to sail again, but also for the wind to stay so we'd do 3 double elimination so I could get a discard. My hand got better after some injections (thanks Judith!), pretty amazing stuff actually but the wind stopped completely, and with no time for a 3rd elimination I decided to go home and sort out my hand.

I hope nothing's broken and I'll be fully fixed soon!

Here's a clip of one of the first ponches I landed. It's not the cleanest but it's ok, I actually get up just after the clip stops. Thanks Kuma for filming!

One more time Pozo was an epic event.
40 to 50 knots winds, good waves and crazy action. We did a whole single and double elimination in the waves and the slalom guys got to sail 14 races!
All of it was amazing to watch, the racers flying over the water fighting for the first place and sometimes crashing so hard, the wave sailors launching into huge crazy jumps.
Philip Köster, 15 years old ownder kid, was the star of the event. He's pushing the level to another dimension, going higher than everyone else. He won the event, followed by Victor and Ricardo. Daida won the girls and Iballa was 2nd. Their jumping is still way ahead of everyone's, doing doubles and huge backies in 50 knots. Karin was 3rd and Nayra 4th.
Everyone was sailing amazingly well though. All the heats were amazing to watch, it's really motivating to be there and seeing how far windsurfing is going!
I had a bit of a tough draw, sailing against Evi Tsape in my first heat of the single. She's sailing great, doing table top forwards and pushies, I tried my best but couldn't beat her. Then I was against Karin Jaggi in the double... Again, I did my best and actually did pretty well, I wasn't far behind her on the score sheets, but she still beat me. So I ended up 9th.
I was hoping to do better really, but it's ok, it's always a good experience and I actually enjoy competing in the waves, it's a lot less stressful than freestyle for me. I just want to go and train really hard now and come back next year to try and do better!

Lanzarote this year didn't really go as well as planed... It started really well with a 2nd place on the first day before things started to go downhill.
I felt ready for this event though: I love the conditions there, arrived 10 days early to train and was sailing really well before the comp started, landing all the moves. I even had first class support there with me, my mate Popov, who helped me out throughout the whole event, cooping with my sometimes not very funny moods....
Everything should have gone really well, but sometimes for some reason it just doesn't happen!
There was a lot of great moments, on and out of the water. It's always great to catch up and sail with everyone, the conditions were awesome with some very windy days and big waves. The level is just insane this year, everyone's stepped up their riding, all the moves are now so high and powerful, and with such big waves coming in there was some sick jumping happening out there: doubles, air chachoos, tweaked pushies, and so on.
As I said I started really well with a 2nd place on the first day, but the following weren't as good...
On the 2nd day my outhaul got undone twice during my heat, I lost and dropped one place. In the following elimination I sailed all the way to the final and was quietly and happily waiting to go out and sail the final against Sarah, when I'm suddenly told that there was a mistake and I'm actually not in the final but in the loser's final. It's mentally the worst to be told such thing and to have to go out within 5 minutes and sail a good heat... My watch wasn't set, my sail not ready - the wind had dropped a lot in the meantime- and even though I tried my best I just wasn't ready. And I lost another heat. A couple more similar stories happened, and in the end I dropped to 4th overall.
Anything can happen during a competition and I'm really disappointed with my result as I know I can do much better, but sometimes it's just how it goes.
Sarah won the event, her sailing is just above everyone else's and a great inspiration. Junko was 2nd, she sailed very well during the whole event, and Daida was 3rd, throwing some massive doubles and other big jumps. All the girls have improved this year, it's really good to see!

I'm now in Pozo for the next PWA Wave event. There will be a lot happening in the next days that's for sure!!!

By the way, sorry for the late Lanzarote report, it's been pretty hectic the last few days, but I'll be better with what's happening here and will keep you updated!