Slalomvictory at the Hallowind 2009 in Jadrija/ Croatia

In Slalom first and in Formula 2nd. Felt great (Pic: Kerstin Reiger)

Full speed on the first leg of the downwind Slalom (Pic: Kerstin Reiger)

“It was a long ride in the car of about 650 km through Hungary and Croatia. But it was worth the effort. Crystal water in the Adriatic sea, blue skies and wind from 7 to 30 knots brought a lot of action. The opponents from Croatia, Slovenia and Austria were excellent and it was a tough fight till the last race.”

Right to me Stojan Vidakovic, left 18 year old Enrico Marotti and to the right of Stojan Vladan Desnica. Congrats to all! (Pic: Kerstin Reiger)

From the 29.10.2009 until the 1.11.2009 the Hallowind 2009 event took place at Jadrija Beach. Jadrija is located on a penisula 5 km south of Vodice on the Jadranska Magistrale highway towards Sibenik, Croatia and offers great conditions for windsurfing.

The forecast for the days of the contest was not looking great, but in the end there could be 10 rounds of Slalom and 2 rounds of Formula finished.

On the first day, we went in super light conditions for a Formula race, but it got cancelled after one round, because the wind completely stopped.

A cold dry northern wind picked up on day two with gusts more than 25 knots and pushed a lot of white caps through the channel of Jadrija and Vodice – and we went for 10 downwind slalom rounds.

“It was definitely hard to choose the right gear. I went as big as I could and did not change to smaller gear, when the wind was at its strongest. The iSONIC 122 plus my Vector 44 and the Code Red 8,1 were the right choice. And when the wind dropped a bit I grabbed my 8,8.”

A packed start and myself very close to the boat. Green flag just goes up, but don´t think too much about over earlies at these events (Pic: Kerstin Reiger)

It was a fight with Stojan Vidakovic from Slovenia and Vladan Desnica from Croatia. Both were quite consistent and had excellent starts. I could win 3 races and took 4 times the second position. The other 3 results were discards. In the end it was a relatively clear victory, which made me super stoked. Th ekey to the victory was to speed up as mch on the first leg, where the water was flat and take board- and sailsize as big as possible!

On day three the northern wind picked up again around midday and we started a Formula race in 12 to 15 knots. In the end we had gusts up to 20 knots. It was my second race since I started to sail on this boardclass in October 2009. My Austrian trainingspartner Peter Pfaffenbichler pimped my 162 with one of his fins, which helped me a lot to perform much better compared to my first Formula competition 20 days ago. I finished race 1 in 4th and race 2 in 2nd position, which brought me overall in 2nd position. Stojan Vidakovic, former Olympic sailor in the Lechner Class and Slovenien Starboard/ Severne importer, dominated the Formula event. Congrats to him! I definitely will continue sailing on Formula kit. In the moment I only bring one board and one rigg to the events, which makes it super easy: a Starboard 162 plus a Severne Code Red 11,0 from 2009.

“I am really happy to finish the racing season with this results and that I started Formula in the end of the year, which is definitely another thrilling variation in the sport of windsurfing. Thanks to all people, who gave me great support this season.”

Absolute freedom in Jadrija, Croatia (Pic: Kerstin Reiger)

Kerstin had a hard time! Filming, taking pics and surviving the nights in far below 10° conditions. Thanks for all (Pic: myself)

Results Hallowind Jadrija / Croatia:

Slalom:

1. Chris Pressler (Starboard / Severne)

2. Vladen Desnica (Starboard / Severne)

3. Zdravko Cerovac (North)

Formula:

1. Stojan Vidakovic (Starboard / Severne)

2. Chris Pressler (Starboard / Severne)

3. Enrico Marotti (Starboard / Neilpryde)

Pics: Kerstin Reiger