It was a long 9 days at the 2012 Reno Sylt Grand Slam, the final tour stop of the 2012 PWA World Tour. The forecast was great for nearly every day of competition, but on and off clouds and showers made running a smooth competition difficult for the crews. A full freestyle double elimination was completed taking advantage of good conditions on the 1st, 3rd and 5th day of the competition.

I was well focused for the event and sailed good heats every one of the days. The first day the conditions were the most difficult with so much chop on the water that everybody was struggling to land new moves. The strategy was to play the game safe and consistent to get through heats. It worked for me, and I moved up over Adam Gavriel (Israel), Bjorn Saragoza (Bonaire) and lost out to Steven Van Broeckhoven (Belgium) to finish the single elimination in a tied 5th position.

On day 3 I only sailed one heat against Maarten Van Ochten (Holland) which I won, and then the competition was postponed.

Day 5 saw perfect freestyle conditions starting early in the morning. My first heat was against Dieter Van Der Eyken (Belgium), followed by a heat against Youp Schmit (Bonaire). Youp was sailing really well and I unfortunately could not match his moves, meaning I finished the event in 6th, and the year in 10th overall.

Generally it was a really good event for me, I managed to land some moves I’ve been practicing over the summer in my heats, like Spock Culos, Kabikuchis and port-tack Pushloops. It’s always a big step to take a new move from landing it free sailing to landing it under pressure in a heat, so the last event of 2013 leaves me stoked on training hard and getting ready for the 2013 tour.

Today I fly to train in Brazil for 2 months. Looks like the first tour stop of 2013 will be in Vietnam at the end of February, I can’t wait!

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