On August 8 to 10 the finals of the largest and most popular windsurfing competition in the Baltics, Neil Pryde Baltic Cup took place in Estonia at the Pirita beach, Tallinn.

Last years champion of Latvia Janis Preiss (North/Fanatic) showed his strength, with 6.1 points he was clearly the best and left behind two strong Estonians – Erno Kaasik (Neilpryde/Starboard) took the second place (18 points) and Martin Ervin (Neilpryde/Starboard) was the third (22 points). Then Finnish windsurfer Jani Paju (Gun/Lorch) came fourth (23 points) and Juhan Peedimaa (Neilpryde/Starboard) was fifth with 24 points.

Ranking was held in five different categories and besides Open Fleet also:

Women

Kateriine Mik (Gaastra/Fanatic) – Estonia – 198 points and in overall 44 place,

Ieva Trizna (Gaastra/AHD) – Latvia – 488 points and in overall 63 place,

Eerika Aasa (Neilpryde/Starboard) – Estonia – 535 points and in overall 67 place.

Seniors

Arvydas Moliusis (Gaastra/Starboard) – Lithuania – 96 points and in overall 27 place,

Koit Teder (Gaastra/Starboard) – Estonia – 145 points and in overall 39 place,

Peeter Nommik (Gaastra/Starboard) – Estonia – 165 points and in overall 43 place.

Juniors

Jürgen Joepera (Gaastra/Fanatic) – Estonia – 156 points and in overall 42 place,

Siim Siirak – Estonia – 202 points and in overall 45 place,

Christopher Kalk – Estonia – 250 points and in overall 48 place.

…results in xlx file

On the first two days of the contest there was strong 8 – 10 m/sec north wind blowing that rolled up solid waves. These were perfect conditions for the hard competition, where the top windsurfers from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland gathered. After the first day’s four races Janis Preiss (North/Fanatic) was leading, but Erno Kaasik (Neilpryde/Starboard) and Jani Paju (Gun/Lorch) were very closely behind.

On Saturday the legendary public competition Aegna Marathon was held. The Aegna Marathon is a course race windsurfing competition, where both serious sportsmen, as well as beginners can compete with each other. The course will start from the beach of Pirita, go around the sign in front of Aegna’s port and end with a finish back at Pirita beach. The distance to Aegna and back is 24 kilometers, but this time windsurfers had to cover more than 60 kilometers because of the wind conditions. When the start was given, then the wind was strong (10-11 m/sec) and waves high, but soon the wind dropped and beside Aegna island the water was almost calm. Janis Preiss (North/Fanatic) won the marathon with the time 1h 30min, Erno Kaasik (Neilpryde/Starboard) was secon 1 h 34 min and Martin Ervin (Neilpryde/Starboard) third 1 h 37 min.

Because the weather conditions were very good, there was one more race held in the afternoon and Latvians took the first two places there. Preiss was the first and Maris Smiltenieks (Gaastra/Starboard) the second, third was Estonian Juhan Peedimaa (Neilpryde/Starboard).

In the early morning of Sunday, the conditions were still quite good and there was one race, which was won by Latvian Krisjanis Tutans (North/Fanatic). But during lunch time on Sunday as the wind dropped, the decision was made to cancel next races. So alltogether there were seven races, among which Janis Preiss won three.

The Tallinn competition was also the final event for the overall Neil Pryde Baltic Cup, where more than 200 windsurfers competed this year. In overall the first four places were taken by Latvians – first Janis Preiss (North/Fanatic)(14,2 points), second Maris Birzuls (North/Fanatic)(49p.), third Krisjanis Tutans (North/Fanatic)(54,7p.) and fourth Maris Smiltenieks (Gaastra/Starboard)(56,7p.). Estonian best windsurfer Erno Kaasik (Neilpryde/Starboard)(57p.) was fifth and Juhan Peedimaa (Neilpryde/Starboard)(59p.) took the sixth place.

1 Janis Preiss LAT 23 Open Fanatic North

2 Maris Birzuls LAT 11 Open Fanatic North

3 Krisjanis Tutans LAT 168 Open Fanatic North

4 Maris Smiltenieks LAT 68 Open Starboard Gaastra

5 Erno Kaasik EST 2 Open Starboard Neilpryde

6 Juhan Peedimaa EST 47 Open Starboard Neilpryde

7 Martin Ervin EST 202 Open Starboard Neilpryde

8 Toomas Mölder EST 44 Open Fanatic Gaastra

9 Kristaps Vitols LAT 313 Open Starboard Neilpryde

10 Arbo Arrak EST 10 Open Starboard Neilpryde

11 Margus Otsa EST 55 Open Starboard Neilpryde

12 Arvydas Moliusis LTU 789 Master Starboard Gaastra

13 Tälis Petersons LAT 119 Open Starboard Neilpryde

14 Klavs Ozolins LAT 2 Open F2 Warp

15 Bruno Strauss LAT 134 Open Starboard Neilpryde

The best senior was Lithuanian Arvydas Moliusis (Gaastra/Starboard)(184 points), who in overall got 12th place. The best women was Kateriine Mik (Gaastra/Fanatic)(508 points and in overall 41st place) from Estonia and in junior fleet the best was Estonian Jürgen Joepera (Gaastra/Fanatic)(495 points and 39 place).

…NP Baltic Cup 2003 results in xlx file