2002 PWA Freestyle Qualifier Neuesiedler See Austria Day 1

The wind came in smoothly at around 11 O' clock and everybody was prepared for a relaxed morning. A little bit later the riders couldn't believe their eyes because the wind picked up heavily within 15 minutes and sails down to 4.2 had to be rigged in a hurry.

The show went off and spectacular freestyle action could be seen. The 32 riders fleet showed a lot of classic moves due to the fact that a new scoring format was used including conventional tricks. But also top moves like Grubbies, all variations of Spocks and clew first Spocks and even flat water Goyters and an unbelievable new move from North Sails team rider Web Pedrick (North Sails/AHD): a flat water Taka, he calls the Swazy, were performed.

A whole round was completed and the winner of the first round was the top seeded Dutch rider Remko de Weerd (Gaastra/AHD),followed by Diony Guadagnino (Neil Pryde/JP), Web Pedrick (North Sails/AHD) and Raimondo Gasperini (Fanatic). The head judge decided to go straight into the losers round, since it is a double elimination.

Late in the evening the wind dropped and only a few heats remained to finish the second round of the double elimination. The winner of the first round, Remko de Weerd (Gaastra/AHD), is waiting for one of the following riders who are still in the race to battle for the first place:- Martin van Geenhoven (North Sails/AHD), Diony Guadagnino (Neil Pryde/JP), Alex Humpel (Neil Pryde/JP), Michi Schweiger (Naish/Naish), Andy Pusch (Neil Pryde/JP), Raimondo Gasperini (Fanatic), Web Pedrick (North Sails/AHD).

Beat Steffan