Here is Dieter van der Eyken's update from the Belgium Wave Championships! After a long weekend of competiting, Dieter is, until the next possible event this Autumn 2013, the Belgian Wave Champion! Congratulations to our versatile freestyler!

Hello everybody!

I’m 2 weeks at home again and I have to say I did quite a lot of sailing as it has been pretty windy! The highlight of the past 2 weeks was probably the Belgium Wave Championships! First possible weekend we could run the competition, conditions looked perfect on the forecast for a competition on real Belgian grounds: Bredene! Instead of standing a whole weekend long on a freestyle board, I was now concentrating on getting my wave sailing up again as I didn’t sail too much in the waves this winter, but felt still really comfortable. I don't think I was ever so consistent in my takas as this weekend.

On Friday, we did the single elimination of the competition, with what looked at first like an amazing day and turned out to be not the best conditions. Waves where not very big, with a maximum of 1m and the wind was lighter than I thought it would be. Still, 4.4m² full power but let’s say it’s not what we all hoped for! After making it through the semi final against Fabrice de Vos (4x Belgian Wave Champion) with probably my best sailing of the event, I was up against Jonas Handekyn, last year's Belgian Wave Champion.

Jonas and I were the only ones who could land takas and backside 360s consistently enough to do them in the heat so I knew it was going to be a close heat. On jumps we’re pretty much at the same level a well but luckily for me, I can land back loops on smaller waves and was able to make the difference there, especially as the wind dropped before the heat to 4.8m² weather! So... super stoked after winning the single! But it was time to defend my first place in the double elimination the next day.

Again, we didn't have the conditions we hoped for but I guess that’s how competitions always go! Pretty similar to the day before, the wind decided to drop just for the finals, forcing us to extend the heats by 3 min to give us more time for our 2 jumps. On waveriding, it wasn’t too bad actually! The wind turned a bit offshore and super gusty because of all the buildings on the Belgian coastline but instead, we got cleaner waves with more than 1 or 2 turns possible sometimes. I did 2 good wave rides with one taka and another one where I did 4 turns with the smallest aerial of my life. On the jumps, I did my cleanest forward with wind from the left in my life I think, and finally could land a one-handed backloop in the contest as during the last 3 min the wind picked up big time to get me pretty powered up on my 4.8m².

In the end, I won the heat and can call myself Belgian Wave Champion for now! In Autumn, there is still a chance to run another competition if the conditions are good... I hope I will be in the country than to defend my first place... But anyway, super stoked I was able to win my first wave contest ever!

Next update will be about some session at home or maybe even about the EFPT in Russia which starts Monday!

Cheers!
Dieter - B35

To find out more about Dieter van der Eyken, visit his blog here!