Competition and Freesailing

It's been a busy October with two competitions and some memorable freesailing sessions. The first contest I took part in was the last German Freestyle Battle of the year. I only finished third because I somehow couldn't find my form in my heat against Anton Munz, still just losing by half a point. There was no double elimination, so no second chance...
After three great events, I am now ranked first in the overall German freestyle ranking 2016. My goal is to do the same next year. Thanks windsurfers.de for the nice report: http://windsurfers.de/news/gfb-orth-2016-mathias-genkel-ist-deutscher-meister_a-7777.html
I can only train in northern Germany this winter. That's why I'm hoping for a mild winter. So far, things look quite bad, to be honest. We haven't had the best autumn storms and the forecast just looks cold.
However, I feel well prepared for the cold days. During the Danish championships in Klitmoller at the end of October we already got some really cold conditions in. We competed in four to five degrees air temperature. I could win the freestyle elimination. Yet, the wave discipline was so much more fun this time. We sailed in starboard tack conditions and got scored on one jump and two waverides. I managed to put together some solid heats and won against local legend Mads Bjorna and only lost to Lars Petersen by half a point in the semifinal of the single elimination. I finished third in the single and then lost against Mads Bjorna, who sailed really strong, in the double .
After Klitmoller I had a few lay days to recharge the batteries and then had an amazing wave session at the Baltic. Here are some photos:
Thanks to Michi Balluff / surfpic.de for the shot
Thanks to Claudius for the shots/ masthoch.de


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