The Rollei Bullet HD Summer Opening presented bei Volkwagen Nutzfahrzeuge is over and British windsurfer Ross Williams got anounced as the European Formula Champion 2012. During four days windsurfers from 13 nations were fighting at Westerland on Sylt for the Formula European title. While the 4 competition days 75.000 spectators showed up at the Brandenburger Beach.
The first seconds after the start at Sylt (Pic. Stevie Bootz).
Two days out of 4 saw excellent Formula conditions. Ross Williams (GBR-83) from UK, who is right now on fantastic form and recently made it on the podium at the PWA Slalom in South Korea, dominated the event from the beginning and claimed the victory. He could win 5 out of 7 races and won with the lowest possible points. Arnon Dagan (ISR-1) from Israel followed in second position and gave Ross a hard time. Steve Allen (AUS-0), who finished in third, 7 points behind the winner had strong moments and finished several times in second position in single races. Casper Boumann (NED-52), who came in fourth, was the third European in the ranking and took the third spot on the podium. Casper is very well experienced on the RS:X gear and again he delivered the proof that sailors switching from the Olympic Class towards the Formula discipline can fight for the top spots.
A shot from the pricegiving at the Brandenburger Strand, Westerland (Pic: Stevie Bootz).
Some big names like Antoine Albeau, who attended the Defi Wind in Gruissan at the same time , Gonzalo Costa Hoevel from Argentina, Sean O´Brien from Australia or Jesper Vesterstrom from Denmark were missing. But overall it was a worldclass fleet. The biggest names on the list dominated the event, but young sailors are pushing hard to make it on the podium soon. German Vincent Langer, Brazilian Gabriel Browne, who already won big events at his homespot in Fortaleza or in Miami, Maciek Rutkowski from Poland, who has great skills in the Slalom discipline and in waves as well or Sebastian Kornum from Denmark, who also performs great in three disciplines.
The current number one in the Formula worldranking, Brazilian Paulo dos Reis – the ranking contains 518 competitors – made it in 7th position at the Formual Europeans here at Sylt. Current number 2, Brazilian Wilhelm Wilhelm Schurmann, made it in 9th position at Sylt.
The event organiser Matthias Regber from Choppy Water already announced that the Summer Opening on Sylt will be back in 2013. It looks like the Formula Windsurfing discipline has a strong comeback in Europe right now. There are many more events in the upcoming month. Have a look on the touroplan here.
Ross, Arnon and Casper are the top 3 in the European Championships (Pic: StevieBootz).
Final result Formula European Championships 2012:
1. Ross Williams (5,0 points)
2. Arnon Dagan (9.0 points)
3. Steve Allen (12.0 points)
4. Casper Boumann (23.0 points) and third best European
Full results after 7 rounds (included 2 discards) here, have a view on the equipment list at Sylt here
