The Rollei Summer Opening presented by Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge at the Brandenburger Strand in Westerland on Sylt is now over and we have two joint champions! [more]
The excellent weather conditions enabled us to run races on every event day – seven Slalom eliminations and 11 Formula Windsurfing races. The outcome of the Championship was still unsafe until the end of the last race. In the end there are two joint winners on the podium: Vincent Langer (GER-1, RRD, Point-7) from Germany and Sebastian Kornum (DEN-24, JP, Neil Pryde) from Denmark, both titled “Funboard Racing Champion 2014”.
The main focus on three of the event days was on Formula Racing. Sebastian Kornum from Denmark topped the leaderboard, winner of seven of the eleven races. Janis Preiss (LAT-23, GA-Sails) from Latvia claimed second with one race win together with consistent top-3 results. The best German racer in this discipline was Vincent Langer who ended up in third.
Over two days the sea of Westerland offered extreme conditions with big waves and winds up to wind force seven, perfect for slalom races. At the end of the event we can look back at seven slalom eliminations. The races were dominated by Vincent Langer in first place with the ideal 5.0 points. He is followed by Gunnar Asmussen (GER-88, Patrik, North) from Flensburg, who was the only one to interrupt the victory series of Vincent Langer. Sebastian Kornum took third place.
The Funboard Racing Championships are a combined ranking out of the Formula Racing and Slalom results and are endowed with a total prize money of eur 10,000. The event was dominated by the duel between Sebastian Kornum and Vincent Langer who both showed amazing races in both disciplines. Vincent dominated the slalom elimination but Sebastian demonstrated equal talent in the Formula racing. At the end of the event both are on the same level of points. Langer reached with the first place in the Slalom and the third place in the Racing 4,0 points. Sebastian reached 4,0 points with the first place in the Racing and the third Place in the Slalom. This tie can not be solved, so the prize money as well as the title “Funboard Racing Champion” has to be shared. Both will be more than happy about the eur 500 prize money each. There hasn’t been such a result ever before.
Janis Preiss from Latvia demonstrated his excellent form with a second place in the Formula Racing and a 6th place in the Slalom results summing up to 8,0 points. With only one point more Christian Justesen and Gunnar Asmussen are following both with 9,0 points. In this head to head fight the German Asmussen takes profit from his second place in the discipline slalom. In the tie-break he can push the Dane Justensen to fifth place.
Anissa Morath (DEN-85, Gaastra) from Denmark is the best women scoring a 21st place in the fleet dominated by men. Jan-Moritz Bochnia (GER-9, F2, Point-7) finds himself on place 19th which grants him the victory in the youth-U20-division. Michel Antoine Becker is only 15 years old and wins the junior-U17-division with an 16th place in the overall fleet. Each of the three can happily receive eur 500 prize money.
The best rookie of the event is Luis Ponseti (GER-293) on place 21. Janis Preiss from Latvia wins a second trophy for finishing as number one in the master-Over 35-category. Arvydas Moliusis (LTU-789 Starboard, Severne) from Lithuania is the best Grandmaster (Over45) with a 12th place in the fleet.
The Rollei Summer Opening presented by Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge was a great success. The wind conditions allowed spectacular competitions on all five days of the regatta. With a total of 18 races the Funboard Racing Championships will enter history as one of the most successful regattas. A total of aproximately 80.000 spectators came to the “Brandenburger Beach” on Sylt to follow the windsurfing competition.
The date for the Summer Opening 2015 in the next year is already confirmed: From May 13th to 17th the windsurfers will open the summer season on Sylt again.
Results: Overall / Slalom / Formula Windsurfing
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