The organisers of the Freestyle Pro Tour call the contests in which they cooperate with local events such as the German Freestyle Battles the "Proving Ground Series" and thus try to build up a pyramid-like star system up to the Championship Tour. Depending on the amount of prize money and the star rating of the event, riders worldwide can collect points for the title and qualify for higher ranked contests. Although the fundamental aim is to create a better structure within the discipline of freestyle, this type of mutual support also allows the discipline to flourish as a whole. The list of participants continued to fill up in the days leading up to the festival, until 58 freestylers were ready on the Thursday morning of the skippers' meeting. On the downside, it takes a lot of time (and wind) to organise such a big elimination. While the wind was a little weaker on the first two days of the festival, it was just enough on Saturday and Sunday to contest a complete single elimination for the men and women.
Single Elimination Men
Relatively light winds for today's "big" freestyle sails of around five square metres and choppy Baltic Sea waves - these are not necessarily the dream conditions for most freestylers in Germany.
It was clear to see that the "waver" who had signed up were coping particularly well in the challenging conditions. Leon Jamaer, for example, surprisingly knocked Anton Munz out of the race right at the start with double-sided shakas, loops and a switch chachoo.
Over the course of the single elimination, there were some exciting duels in the seven-minute heats. It was more about who made the best of the prevailing tricky conditions and put on the best show than about reeling off a large repertoire of first-class manoeuvres - the conditions didn't allow for that. Lars Bubelach stood out with his radically rotated one-handed flakas, while Nick Spangenberg, who also comes from a wave riding background, showed that he has what it takes to win freestyle heats as well.
But on the second day of the competition, which provided similar conditions to the previous day in the afternoon, it was the die-hard freestylers who made it through to the final rounds. Niclas and Lucas Nebelung, Felix Volkhardt, Julian Wiemar... these are well-known names in the German freestyle scene, all of whom have already had a taste of international competition in recent years. On Sunday evening, shortly before the last rays of sunshine crept behind the festival site and many guests had already made their way home, there were two riders in particular who were not bothered by the weakening wind until they finally faced each other in the final: Felix Volkhardt and Julian Wiemar.
Julian Wiemar was ahead in this exciting duel until the very last minute. But Felix Volkhardt, who is known for his solid power moves, didn't give up and actually managed to catch a good gust in the last ten seconds of the heat. Felix improved his score with a clean Kono and thus secured victory. What a showdown! At the last second - with the last rays of sunshine of the day and the entire festival weekend.
Single Elimination Ladies
The standard in the women's event is currently through the roof. With a total of eight participants, the field was well filled. Power moves such as switch konos and shakas are no longer a rarity among the freestyle ladies.
Lina Erpenstein, who came third on the PWA Wave Tour, took part in her first freestyle competition on Fehmarn and won it straight away. The highly motivated windsurfer Elena Dominick from Kiel, who can be found at the best spots in the country all year round, finished in second place. After Lina knocked former champion Johanna Rümenapp and Maike Lang out of the race, she had to work hard against Elena in the final. Lina filled her scoresheet with solid loops, grubbys and clew first spocks and ended up on top of the podium.
Ranking list GFB X EFPT Surf Festival
Gents
1. Felix Volkhardt
2nd Julian Wiemar
3rd Niclas Nebelung
3rd Lucas Nebelung
5th Mathias Genkel
5th Leon Struppeck
5th Jannes Thomsen
5th Foivos Tsoupras
9th Felix Söder
9th Julius Hartmann
9th Luca Hartmann
9th Kevin Langbehn
9th Magnus Wessel
9th Loris Vietoris
9th Sebastian Gux
9th Niklas Dost
Ladies
1. Lina Erpenstein
2nd Elena Dominick
3. Johanna Rümenapp
4th Lina Schmied
5th Maike Lang
5th Malin Körner
5th Melina Schütt
5th Shania Raphael
