schauinslandreisen Windsurf World Cup Sylt
The forecast for the fifth day of the 2023 schauinslandreisen Windsurf World Cup Sylt, presented by got2b, always looked marginal on paper and unfortunately that’s how the day played out. For short periods of time it looked like the wind may stabilise enough to allow some racing to be completed, but in the end the Slalom fleet spent the day on hold.
With plenty of down time today we managed to briefly catch up with the newly crowed 2023 Men’s Freestyle PWA World Champion - Yentel Caers (JP / NeilPryde) - for an interview, which you can read below:
Hey Yentel, congratulations once again on securing your second world title yesterday - how does this one compare to the first?
Yentel: “It’s feels so, so good. This one perhaps feels even better than the first because I also won the event in Fuerte earlier in the year. That has always been an event I have dreamed of winning and I’d come close over the years, but always ended up finishing second or third without ever winning it.
So I was stoked to have won in Fuerte and to be leading the rankings coming into Sylt, but it’s often a tricky one here as you never know what to expect. This year we were so lucky with the conditions. We finally had really good freestyle conditions, which makes everything better.”
You were drawn against Lennart Neubauer in the single and he knocked you out early which left you a long way to climb back - did you ever think your chance at the title this year had gone?
Yentel: “It’s hard to say. The thing is that if you want to win and become world champion you are going to have to be able to win against everyone and anyone. Of course getting Lennart so early on made things more difficult, and I think he proved that that was the hardest draw you could get as he won the event. I have a lot of respect for him and it’s great to see a young guy coming up through the ranks.
Then into the double I knew it was going to be a long way back and it felt like it was out of my hands because we didn’t know what conditions we were going to get. It could’ve just as easily been wave yesterday and now we’d still be on standby, but thankfully, we got lucky with perfect freestyle conditions.
It was a long way back, I sailed 9 heats in the double - 1 heat on Sunday and 8 yesterday - but it’s okay as they are only 8 minute heats.”
How proud are you that you were the only sailor to break the 40 point barrier - not just once, but on multiple occasions…
Yentel: “I don’t know I just really felt good in those conditions yesterday. It really suited me as it wasn’t too much jumping. I really love the proper freestyle moves like the shifties, double power moves coming in, while some other guys prefer the wave jump moves. Yesterday was the perfect conditions for me to be able to show what I can do. I started with a really strong heat against Dieter [Van der Eyken] - 42.1 points - so after that, in my mind it gave me the confidence that I could do it, so I just aimed to sail all my heats the same and it worked out. "
As you started to fight your way back through the double and got closer to the top 5 and the title - did you start to feel any pressure?
Yentel: “Of course I was aware that I was getting close to the top 5 and the world title, but I hadn’t checked any of the points, so I really had no idea which position I needed to get back into to become world champion. I knew if I beat [Adrien] Bosson that I would be guaranteed it, but that was really far away at the beginning of the day, so I honestly just tried to take it heat by heat. I wasn’t even checking which sailors I would be up against. I was just focused on my own sailing and luckily it went really well.”
You sailed a lot of heats… did you start to feel fatigued by the end?
Yentel: “I felt fine. I think after I had become world champion the stress /pressure in my body went away and that showed in my sailing by being slightly less explosive than at the start of the day. Plus the wind dropped a little bit and I made a few errors against Lennart, but massive respect to him, he sailed incredibly well.”
How will you be celebrating your second world title?
Yentel: “The celebrations started already yesterday evening. I have all my friends here, so with all the freestylers we went out to party. The freestyle is over, but we still have almost a week here, so I’m going to enjoy the Sylt holiday and just try and enjoy my time.”
Thanks, Yentel. Congratulations once again!
The forecast for tomorrow doesn’t look too promising on paper with less wind than today currently being predicted, so we will just have to wait and see if it is possible to complete any racing. A Slalom announcement will be made tomorrow morning at 7:30am to confirm whether or not we will plan to go ahead with an 8:30am first possible start.
You can stay up to date with all the latest developments from Sylt — including live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply by clicking HERE and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
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Overall Rankings 2023 PWA World Tour - Men’s Freestyle
1st Yentel Caers (BEL | JP / NeilPryde)
2nd Lennart Neubauer (GRE | Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Adrien Bosson (FRA | Duotone / Duotone Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
4th Steven Van Broeckhoven (BEL | Starboard / GUNSAILS)
5th Jacopo Testa (ITA | AV Boards / Point-7 / AL360)
6th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / Severne Sails)
7th Antony Ruenes (FRA | Tabou / GA Sails)
8th Antoine Albert (NC | Goya Windsurfing)
9th Youp Schmit (NB | Tabou / GA Sails)
9th Balz Müller (SUI | Severne / Severne Sails)
Result 2023 schauinslandreisen Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men’s Freestyle
1st Lennart Neubauer (GRE | Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Yentel Caers (BEL | JP / NeilPryde)
3rd Steven Van Broeckhoven (BEL | Starboard / GUNSAILS)
4th Adrien Bosson (FRA | Duotone / Duotone Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Jacopo Testa (ITA | AV Boards / Point-7 / AL360)
6th Antoine Albert (NC | Goya Windsurfing)
7th Balz Müller (SUI | Severne / Severne Sails)
7th Takuma Sugi (JPN | Tabou / GA Sails / Black Project Fins)
9th Takumi Moriya (JPN | Severne / Severne Sails)
9th Youp Schmit (NB | Tabou / GA Sails)
9th Sam Esteve (FRA | JP / NeilPryde)
9th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly / Severne Sails)
Current Ranking 2023 schauinslandreisen Windsurf World Cup Sylt - Men’s Slalom
*After 4 Eliminations (1 Discard)
1st Mateus Isaac (BRA | Severne / Severne Sails)
2nd Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
3rd Johan Søe (DEN | FMX Racing / Point-7)
4th Bruno Martini (ITA | JP / NeilPryde)
5th Nicolas Goyard (FRA | Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils)
6th Daniele Benedetti (ITA | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
7th Maciek Rutkowski (POL | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
8th Michele Becker (GER | Patrik / Patrik Sails / Patrik Foils)
9th Nico Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)
10th Sebastian Kördel (GER | Starboard / Severne Sails)