Looking Back, Looking Forward on the AWT, the American Windsurfing Tour
The AWT just saw its final event on Maui at the beginning of November 2011. Nathan Mershan won the pro class category of the AWT tour, Morgan Noireaux the Youth Class, Ingrid Larouche the ladies category, Royn Bartholdi the masters men and Jordan Reid the amateur ranking. The overall tour ranking saw 209 riders in the five different categories. [more]It was quite interesting to see actual top sailors like Marcilio Browne, Camille Jubon or Graham Ezzx fighting it out with big names, who most of them retired from the Worldcup. Names like Matt and Kevin Pritchard, Josh Stone, Kai Katchedorian, Keith Teboul, Francisco Goya. It was also positive to see a relatively big group of kids and ladies participating at several events.
The 2011 goals of Sam Bittner, the head organizer behind the fresh tour, were to inspire the future of the sport windsurfing in the states plus provide an opportunity for windsurfers to showcase their skills.
“We had an excellent turn-out at all events. Santa Cruz had 76 competitors, Pistol River had 86, San Carlos 25, and Maui a whopping 107 competitors. Unfortunately the Hatteras Wave Jam was canceled due to Hurricane Irene, but we are looking forward to competing there next year. In all, there were 223 different windsurfers registered for the 2011 AWT. Congratulations to all who participated!” Sam Bittner stated.
And she added: “Media coverage was great this year as well. There were over 115,000 views of the live cast from the Maui contest and we can look forward to seeing coverage of the event on Ocean Paddler TV and the Hawaiian Airlines in flight video starting in February. We are bringing windsurfing back into the eye of the public. Plus I had a blast organizing the events and have already started preparing for next year.”
Have a look on the tentative 2012 American Windsurfing Tour Dates in 2012:
Santa Cruz Classic: May 3rd – 6th
Pistol River Wave Bash: June 14th – 17th
San Carlos Cactus Cup: July 28th – August 4th
Hatteras Wave Jam: September 19th – 22nd
Maui Makani Classic: October 25th – November 3rd
Add the events to your calendar and get prepared for the competitions through the next months!
AWT 2011, continentseven.com 2011
