German Freestyle Battles @ SurfFestival Fehmarn: Spontaneity Remains the Top Priority

This year’s Surf Festival once again hosted the first stop of the German Freestyle Battles, with a largest ever 9 riders participating in the women’s fleet, and 28 male battlers showing up to take part.

There was plenty of anticipation for Saturday at the event: the first battle of the year, and the Danish weather service was already forecasting wind suitable for 4.4 m² or 4.8 m² sails.

However, everyone taking part quickly realized that southwesterly wind with rain showers is not exactly the most stable weather setup on the island. Standing around and sailing alternated almost as frequently as stopping and going at the traffic lights of a busy intersection.

Meiky Wieczorek, who jogged from his sponsor’s pagoda to the Battles tent every time his heat was restarted, must surely have covered enough kilometers that day for a half marathon.

After repeated starts and stops, and with the available time window getting tighter and tighter, the women were at least supposed to get the chance to produce a result. But even that proved more difficult than expected. Unfortunately, only two of the nine heats could be completed. A real shame, as this year’s women’s fleet was truly impressive.

It included newcomers Anneke Jaap, Bijou Shahmirian, Maike Mittelbach, and Nadia Jablonski. Linda Mankova from Slovenia also joined the women’s fleet, alongside vice wave world champion Lina Erpenstein, GFB winner Elena Dominick, Maike Lang, and Lina Schmied.

In the evening, a Tow-In Battle was scheduled to take place at 6:00 p.m. However, the call from Marc Hollenbach, who was already in position on the tow-in boat, was rather sobering: “I don’t think tow-in is the right call here; Niclas Nebelung is planing continuously on a 4.8.”

At 5:55 p.m., a decision had to be made: Tow-In, Supersession, or Super-X after all?

After a quick consultation with the riders, a phone call to the boat, and with just two minutes to go before the start of the show, it was clear; Super-X was on the table!

Improvised and adapted on the spot, the format featured a running start, followed by the riders performing freely chosen move on the way out, a gybe around the boat, and then another move on the reach back toward the beach before entering the finish.

After two exciting and highly entertaining races, it was clear why Lennart Neubauer is currently regarded as the best freestyler around. With incredible power and energy, he pumped through the first reach and then almost continuously on his way to victory.

Foivos Tsoupras, who had quickly organized a 5.2 sail from his sponsor, finished second after Lennart manipulated his mast-foot position. Niclas Nebelung took third place.

The second race was also clearly dominated by Lennart, while Niclas Nebelung and Sebastian Gux secured second and third place respectively.

After three races, only 10 minutes remained in the tightly packed festival schedule, and with the last gusts of the evening, one more heat could be held with the goal of finding the “Best Trick.” Foivos Tsoupras claimed third place with a Lazy Susan. Sebastian Gux, now based in nearby in Kiel, fought his way into second place with a truly cleanly executed No-Handed Burner.

First place went to reigning FPT Champion Lennart Neubauer, whose perfectly executed double Shaka earned the highest score from the judges.

The GFB would once again like to thank Marc Hollenbach, Leon Delle, and Oliver Tom Schliemann from Racer of the Sea, who agreed to jump back in their boat last minute after it only had just been brought ashore, head back into the water for us and suppor us with every means available wherever they could.

– Loris & Shorty from the German Freestyle Battles Crew