What a memorable event.
In a time where things we always had taken for granted is hard to accomplish, it was a great pleasure to come to Terceira Island, Azores for the postponed 2020 Formula Windsurfing Foil European Champion.
The event would not be possible without the dedication of the organisers at Clube Naval da Praia da Vitória and the support of the local government and Portuguese Sailing Federation.
From the very start it was a battle of the titans with the Formula Windsurfing World Champion Nico Goyard and iQFOiL International Games champion Sebastian Koerdel splitting all the race wins between each other.
All those who made it to the island were treated with some atomic weather to start of the event with races, which even impressed the pros. Nico commented on one of those in particular – “The first lap was strong but still okay… The second lap was not. I crashed three times on the upwind and couldn’t do anything else than holding my boom the hardest I could! That was the windiest race I ever done in my life, with probably gust up to 40 knots.”
Sebastian was also impressed – „I managed to take two bullets and now i’m sitting two points behind Nico Goyard in second place after six races. The last race of the day was the windiest I ever sailed on the foil in my life. Flying water, up to 40 knots and nobody made it over the course without crashing I went swimming 3 times and still managed to win going dead downwind in the strongest gust to the finish. I am super greatful we can race in times like these.”
After the first six races were completed the next day after that brough some even more challenging conditions, so we did not race and then came the perfect day with six more starts. That brough us to 12 in total and some drama for the leader. Rebooked flights meant that the last day would have to be run without the French sailors and everyone wondered if the lead achieved would be enough. In the end the race committee managed to run three more bringing the event to a close at 15, three of which could be discarded.
Fernando Martinez Del Cerro from Spain finished in third and was the top master. Second was Sebastian Koerdel from Germany, who finished just 2 points behind the European Champion Nicolas Goyard from France.
Congratulations to all and we hope to see you back in Azores in November, where we would love to host the 2021 World Championships. More information to follow.
Results – https://foileuropeans2020.formulawindsurfing.org/results
