Amado Vrieswijk claims event victory at home, Maaike & Oda are 2nd & 3rd

A blistering 5 day of action took place on the caribbean island of Bonaire, with the bar in Freestyle windsurfing being set even higher! Local boy and top favorite Amado Vrieswijk took home the win with a massive comeback in the double elimination, turning the previous years' rankings upside down. In the womens fleet, Maaike Huvermann made history by being the first ever to win a heat against Sarah-Quita in 11 years.

Woman:

Once again the battle for 2nd place between Oda Johanne and Maaike Huvermann was one to watch out for. For the last 3 years, both have been against each other on multiple occasions and both performed on an incredibly high level during both of their matchups, with Maaike just edging out Oda in both occasions, to set herself up for an even bigger final against Sarah-Quita Offringa!

After an already close final in the single elimination between Maaike Huverman and Sarah-Quite (losing by just 2 points), Maaike was fired up in the double elimination to rewrite history. In 11 years Sarah-Quita hasn’t lost a single heat, and after getting close on a few occasions, Maaike showed exactly what competition can do to a person: With 30 seconds to go, Maaike managed to land a Kono before making the crowds go wild, by landing the first ever Chacho performed by a woman in competition. And in the dying seconds of the heat, it was indeed enough for her to claim her first ever win over Sarah-Quita.

Although Maaike lost in the super final against an outstanding performance form Sarah-Quite, it’s only a matter of time before Maaike will claim her first event win in the future. Being the first person to win over Sarah-Quita in 11 years was definitely a massive boost for Maaike´s confidence, and although she is currently studying in the Netherlands, she will be more than fired up to keep on pushing even harder in the future.

Gear Setup:

Maaike Huvermann - 2nd Place

Sails: Freek 4.8 & 5.2Mast: RDM Red 400Extension: CyclopsBoom: Enigma Wave 140-190

Oda Johanne - 3rd Place

Sails: Freek 4.8 & 5.2Masts: RDM Red 400Extension: Cyclops 36Boom: Enigma Wave 140-190Harness: Air

Mens competition

After a disappointing start in the single elimination, Amado Vrieswijk had only one goal and that was to make it all the way back to the top. Learning from his mistake in the single elimination, Amado put on an impressive comeback run by registering the 7 highest heat scores of the event, and highest heat score ever (since live scoring was launched in 2016) of 188 points during his comeback to the final, which consisted of an impressive 10 heat wins in a row.

It was a demonstration of what modern freestyle is. Amado landed all the big double combo power moves there is consistently heat after heat, to not leave anything down to luck. And showed why he was the favorite coming into this first event of the season. On his path through the most difficult double elimination ever in recent history taking down all his main rivals for the world title, Amado started off with by facing 9 times world champion Golitto Estredo in the 3rd round before taking down Adrian Bosson in the 5th round. Next up was Yentel Cears for a place on the podium which could lead to crucial differences for the end of the year, when the overall rankings are finalised.

Amado on his victory at home:

“It’s a relief to win here on Bonaire, and to show all tof he hard work has paid off. It was a long comeback in the double with 10 heats in a row on a level that was insanely high due to the perfect conditions we have here. I really had to concentrate on landing all my moves good heat after heat, and I’m extremely happy I could execute them perfectly each time during my comeback in the double. It’s still a long year but it feels good to start the year with a win and put some distance with the riders I have competed for the title with over the last years. I’m already looking forward to Fuerteventura!”

Gear setup:

Sail: Freek 5.2Mast: RDM Red 400Extension: CyclopsBoom: Enigma Wave 140-190

With 3 podium places in the bag and our first event victory, the Severne team is already looking ahead towards the next PWA competition in France starting Wednesday! Its time for the race season to kick off!