2^nd January, 2008

Happy New Year everybody !!!

My first session at home after Brasil was with my new Neil Pryde Combats… Beautiful sails, lightweight, soft in the hands, and really good looking as well !!!

Despite the dramatic change of temperature after Brasil, I had some good sessions at home, really motivated in the water with my new rigs, but also some really cold sessions, during which I wished I wasn’t in Greece and this cold weather !!!

In a couple of weeks I am off to South Africa, so all good ! I’m really happy that I will be back in my boardshorts and summer clothes on the beach, although I will still have to wear a long wetsuit in the water… I also heard that Cape Town has been going off lately, so I’m looking forward to going down there !!

Also, you can’t have missed checking out my best mate’s on tour website (Laure Treboux). Ripping it up in West Oz on her new equipment, Fanatic boards and North Sails !!!! So this year we’re also team-mates !!!

26^th December, 2007

Since a few days I am back at home from Brasil. The first moment I stepped my foot on Europe, I wished I had stayed longer in Jericoacoara, because Europe this year is really cold… unbelievable…

But it’s also good to be back home with family and best friends, spending Christmas time. Still, I cannot wait to go on the next trip !!!

I have also put up some photos from Jeri on the Gallery…

Hello !!!

Fanatic teamriders Victor, Gollito and Klaas are nominated for Surfer of the Year 2007.

Check out the poll, it’s going to be closed on the 30^th November 2007 and by voting you can also win some boards, sails and other stuff !!!

The nominated windsurfers are:

http://www.dwsv.net/Surfer_of_the_Year_2007_Award/Surfer_of_the_Year_2007_Award.htm

You can win these boards, sails and some other goodies:

http://www.dwsv.net/Surfer_of_the_Year_2007_Award/Surfer_of_the_Year__Preise_VOTE_and_WIN.htm

Direct link to the poll page is:

http://userservice.delius-klasing.de/formulare/desJahres/

23^rd November, 2007

I have been at home since August. Now, it’s the time of year when it is starting to get cold in Greece… winter suits, 5 mm and still your hands freeze if you stay out on the water for long. Time to go to Jeri, Brazil. The perfect spot to train starboard tack and freestyle, the paradise beach with warm water, everyday wind, beautiful atmosphere, and of course, some of the best sailors in the world training there.

i just added some videos in the gallery section !!! 

check them out.... 

9^th October, 2007

This year I missed the Sylt event, due to a shoulder injury… I was freestyling at home before Sylt and I pulled my shoulder quite bad, so I could not compete in Germany. The wind in Sylt was not that good this year (AGAIN), the boys didn’t have a result in waves and the girls had only a single elimination with really light wind. With only wave riding counting, Nayra Alonso took first place in the event, which was quite fair because she is a really good wave rider.

In Greece, I have been doing physiotherapies and sailing a little bit with friends at my home spot, whenever there are good conditions.

I have put some new pictures in the gallery “Loutsa”, my home spot.

Thanks a lot to Fotis Papadopoulos for taking the pics !!!

After the Canaries PWA tour in July, I spent August and September at home, with friends and family. We had some good sailing sessions, especially in August, when I went to the greek island of Mykonos… When the north wind (meltemi) is working, Mykonos has a really nice spot, Ftelia Beach, which can have really good waves, even though the wind is onshore… We had a good time there, freesailing with friends… Since end of August I am back at home in Athens, the wind has not been that good, but we still had a few days with good conditions in the Korinthian Gulf, about 1,5 hour west of Athens.

I put up some pics in the gallery, check them out !!!

31^st July, 2007

Pics: John Carter / PWA

The last stop of the Canaries PWA tour was Fuerteventura, with the freestyle contest running from the 25^th until the 30^th July. The scenery in Fuerte is quite different from Pozo, with warm water, sandy beach and proper freestyle conditions, so it was really good to finish the competitions in the Canary Islands here. The days before the contest were very wavy and windy, but on the first day of competition we had perfect freestyle conditions. There was some amazing sailing going on and a lot of surprises, as always.

Unfortunately we had only one single and one double elimination, after that we had no wind for three days, because of the Kalima. Brawzinho won the men’s single elimination in freestyle, with some sick sailing against many of the big names. Kiri and Gollito were left outside the podium in the single, and sailed against each other in the double. Kiri finally prevailed, and had another 6 heats until he was against Brawzinho in the final. He beat him the first time, so they had to resail according to the system of the double elimination, but the second time Brawzinho managed to keep his first position. After 2 freestyle events, Kiri Thode is the tour leader in freestyle, followed by Brawzinho, Thomas Traversa and Gollito.

For the women, the Fuerte freestyle competition was the third and last for the season 2007. I had one heat in the single against Yoli de Brendt, who has an advantage over me in these flat conditions, since she has trained only freestyle in the winter. I had a good heat, but she landed two switch moves and advanced to the next round, although my scores were very close behind. I was gutted I didn’t advance but also happy for Yoli, because she is a really good and pure freestyle sailor, for sure one to look out for the future. In the double elimination I was against Nayra Alonso, but in my heat the wind dropped a lot and I didn’t have power to do my moves.

Daida managed to secure first place in this event, despite tough opposition by both Laure and Sarah-Quita. Since it was the last event for the women’s PWA Freestyle Tour 2007, the overall ranking is 1^st Daida Moreno, 2^nd Sarah-Quita Offringa and 3^rd Laure Treboux.

24th July, 2007

I have a completely new outlook for my gallery, thanks to }{elios, and also added some new pictures from the recent PWA Grand Slam in Gran Canaria...

Check them out !!!

20th July, 2007

Β Β Β  Β Β Β Β Β Β  The Super Session that took place on the last day of competition was a lot of fun! It was the first day that we had some good waves after the wave contest had finished, so it was good to be sailing in Pozo with good conditions again… I was a little bit confused as to how it was going to work, I thought we were going to have 2 heats for women, like a semi-final and then a top-5 final, but as it turned out, we only did one heat, from which 1st, 2nd and 3rd place were announced…

Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β  In the 15 minutes that the super session lasted, I did a high tabletop, some forwards and some pushloops, but in the pushloops I was a bit underpowered, I could not go as high as I wanted and had to throw it with my body, rather than using the sail to pull me around. I also felt like I was always in the wrong place and could not find any steep waves to go higher. I lost the third place for only a little bit, the judges scored Junko’s forward higher than they did my tabletop. But this is how competition is like… So Daida was 1st, Iballa 2nd, Junko 3rd, I was 4th and Karin was 5th.

It was fun though, all the girls together in the water trying to go as big as possible ! The feeling during the heat was quite different than competition actually; I liked it much more…

Today we are off to another island of the Canaries, Fuerteventura, for the next freestyle competition that starts on the 26th July, and runs till the 30th. Sotavento, the spot where the contest takes place, is good for freestyle, although it is quite choppy –especially on the outside-. The wind is looking really good for the whole week, and for sure we are going to have an intensive freestyle training for the contest.

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Pic: John Carter/PWA

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