| Christian Freimüller and Tuuli Petaja win the RS:X Open Nordic Windsurfing Championship in Kerteminde |
| Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:16 |
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The RS:X Open Nordic Windsurfing Championship was held in perfect conditions last weekend. On Friday, the shifty breeze at the top mark made life demanding for everyone. This highly technical and physically tough class showed how action-packed and extreme windsurfing at this level really can be. 2 sailors one from Hungary and the other from Denmark, collided just after the start of race 3 in 20 knots of breeze. Aron Gadorfalvi [HUN] struck Jacob Holst [DEN] just in front of the mast. His fin buzz-sawed through Jacob's hull to a depth of 5-10 cm!. Aron wound up in hospital with a badly bruised thigh. Result: no serious damage but it was the end of the line for him in terms of racing! Saturday, it was raining with poor visibility. Racing was postponed to 1200hrs. 3 races were completed in a decreasing wind. Sunday, a further 3 races were completed in excellent conditions... sunny and 10 m/sec! The two German brothers Christian and Florian Freimüller were dominant. Christian beat out his elder brother, Florian to take the title with Anders Nors [DEN] on the bottom step of the improvised podium Tuuli Petaja [FIN] was top woman and 4th overall, 2 points up on Bettina Honoré [DEN]. Nikola Girke [CAN] was just one point off the pace in 3rd. In the RS:X Youth Division, it was Sebastian Fleischer who beat out the local talent Thomas Møhl [DEN] and Thomas Nikolaj Hangaard [DEN]. The battle for supremacy between Sebastian and Thomas is close as it has been since the spring when Sebastian grabbed the selection for Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF Worlds. From the local perspective, the result, unfortunately, once again, was the same. Sebastian won again. The close competition between these 3 young talents though is leveraging their development and making each one all the more determined to show who is boss at the 2010 RS:X World Windsurfing Championships. Social events Praise from the sailors The sailors only had good things to say about the RS:X Open Nordic Winbdsurfing Championship, the conditions and the organisation. "This is perhaps our most successful event to date and the perfect prelude to next year's RS:X World Windsurfing Championship in Kertmeinde "said the two event managers Flemming Kold and Henrik Møhl. All the 35 volunteers who set the framework for this event was in absolute peak shape and performed absolute best.
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