Seb Garat: got 6th at Mondial Du Vent - report

After a bad start on the 1st event in Morocco, I had a much better competition here in France, almost at home.
Many competitors registred for this event, and the first day of competition was only for the trials. As I was still in the top 8, I could keep my energy for the main event!



On Sunday, we started the single elimination in a very strong wind. These day, I pumped only my 6 and 7 meters Obsession Pro on the beach. I think the wind was blowing over 40 in the gusts!
I met the Austrian rider Mike Shitzofer in my First heat of the day. We both were overpowered on our 6m kite, but I still manage to crash less than him and passed this heat.



On the next one, I met the Liam Whaley who just had beat Youri Zoon in his previous heat. I crashed way too much on my heat, and had trouble trying to keep control of my kite in the very strong wind. Liam landed a lot of tricks and beat me !
We had to wait until wednesday that the Tramontane wind came back to finish the double elimination. I met first Patrick Blanc from spain. This young rider rode very well, but I win over him with more power in my tricks.


Then I met the dominican rider Ariel Corniel in the fight for the 6th place. The wind was good for my Obsession Pro 10,5 in this heat. I had my best heat of the comp, and scored a 48 points heat. With the new scoring system, only the 7 best tricks count, and we have 12 attempts maximum per heat. And each trick has a note between 0.1 and 10. That mean that my average tricks note in this heat was over 6,8.

Than I met Youri Zoon for the 5th place heat. I went still on my 10,5 Ob Pro in this heat, and was perfectly powered during the 2 first tacks of my heat. Then the wind totally dropped and Youri could make some tricks at the end of the competition area as I had my board under the water ! I expected the race direction to cancel the heat and to re-run it in decent conditions, but it didn't goes this way and I lost...



I was just frustrated that I couldn't express myself in this last heat. Anyway, I finish 6th on the second event of the year. I'm sure I can get better if I ride in good conditions and reach the top 5. That's my goal for the next event in Holland in May.



While I was Freestyling, my windsurf Team mate Antoine Albeau was racing against the kite on the Speed challenge, fighting every run for the victory, and in the end he took a good 3rd place.
Congrats !
Cheers, and thanks for support.
Seb