Cape Town Part 3

Christmas was awsome! First nice session with RRD Superstyle 4.5 and 88l Twintip in Langeban, then delicious christmas dinner. What you could wish more? Forecast for next days is very good, hope it will come true. Happy holidays everybody!

Cape Town part2

Christmas time!!!!!

It is defenetly bad season here in SA this year. No wind for couple of days now, well at least not strong enough. I hope for windy days from today on. Anyway... I wish you merry christmas and happy new year 2010 !!!

Capetown part1

Hey everybody!

It was quite a while since I updated you with some news. Sorry about that but was nothing special going on. I was waiting for equipment 2010 and the most important thing is that this year I am fully on RRD. Sails and boards. Sails are working very very good, better than I expected. The material (monofilm) is strong as well so it Is perfect for all conditions. I am sailing on Superstyle model, which is freestyle sail but I can't complain in wave conditions. about the boards.... freestyle board is sick! I have 88l at the moment and it slides like crazy, it has faster exeleration and really nice pop. I was waiting long time for new pads and now they are here. Normall thin pads are great! On top of the board on the rail is some bump (I don't know how is it called) which gives you better planinng abilities( you can push the board away from you and it still stays on the water with the whole bottom). Anyway top stuff. In wave riding I am not and expert so I still need some experience to give you info but for me on perfect waves the twinzer is much better than single fin. Ok enough about equipment... I am in Cape town already 11 days and last week was very bad. Almost no wind ( 1 day of sailing with big sails). Now the wind is back on track. Full power every day without stoping. I use all the time 4.1 or 3.7 and 74l twinzer or 88l twintip. In the morning we always go to the lake( cuz the wind is not so strong), and in the afternoon action on waves. Today some waves built up so it was a perfect session on melkbos. Lets see what can we get in the afternoon. Enjoy and expect part 2 very very soon ;)

New short video

Andraž Žan SLO 49 short promo from Andraz Zan on Vimeo.

Freestyle action filmed by Svetoslav Bolgarchuk in Egypt. Check it out!

Slovenian champion 2009 !!!

Finally all the competitions in 2009 are over. Last one was held on sunday 18.10. on Slovenian small coast in town called Izola. Conditions were more than crazy. Super choppy with gusty and very cold wind. Despite all the craziness we finished full double elimination. Heats were extended on 8min in single and 7min in double elimination, so it was fair for everyone. Judges decided to judge by overall impression system(EFPT). There were 13 competitors which is very good for so small country. First the wind was light, I used 5.2 and RRD Twintip 100l later in the final I was powered up with 3.7. Every next heat I showed better action on the water and victory of single elimination was mine. After I was waiting for about an hour for my opponent. It was again Zan Sude who wanted revenge. Wind was very tricky this time so it was a lottery to choose the right sail. I took 4.3 and it was just enough. Zan and me were both fighting hard in very difficult conditions. My performance was better and the judges were convinced. Marko Simic was third, Zan Sude second and I became Slovenian freestyle champion. The season was really good for me and I will do my best to be even better in the next year.

Photos by Franci Brezar

Vsa tekmovanja za leto 2009 so končno končana. Zadnja tekma je potekala na slovenski obali v Izoli. Razmere so bile več kot nore. Morje je bilo dobesedno razbito, veter izredno nekonstanten in mrzel vendar smo kljub temu uspeli izpeljati dovojno eliminacijo. Heati so bili podaljšani na 8 min v enojni in 7 min v dvojni eliminaciji. To je bilo najbolj pravično za vse. Sodniki (Bobo, Žiga Hrček in glavni sodnik Tine Slabe) so sodili po principu skupni vtis (kakor sodijo na EFPT-ju). Tekmovalcev je bilo za majhno Slovenijo veliko. 13 freestylerjev se je prišlo borit za naslov državnega prvaka. Nivo je od lanskega leta močno narastel, žal je lahko tistim, ki niso prišli pogledat tekme. Veter je bil skoraj cel dan na naši strani. Na začetku je bil malo muhast, zato smo tekmovalci vozili s 5.2 in več ter okoli 100 l deske, proti koncu pa je pokazal zobe in morali smo vzeti 3.7 - 4.2. Za vse so bile razmere zelo težavne, a smo jim dobro kljubovali. Najprej sem zmagal enojno eliminacijo, nato pa v dvojni to samo še potrdil. Prvič sem postal državni prvak v freestylu in ni lepšega kar se ti lahko zgodi za konec sezone. Le trdo delo vse poplača. Hvala vsem, ki ste me podpirali, hvala sponzorjem, prijateljem in pa predvsem staršem, ki še imajo nekaj potrpljenja, saj študij ne gre ravno po planu.

Rezultati:

1. Andraž Žan (KJD Tramontana)

2. Žan Šude (Style team)

3. Marko Simič (Hr)

4. Miloš Miloševič (Style team)

5. Matej Učakar (Style team)

6. Mitja Kotnik

7. Jure Černec (Style team)

7. Jurij Panjan (Style team)

9. Denis Lampret

9. Žiga Korenč (Style team)

9. Jaka Mulej (Style team)

9. Robert Rekar (Style team)

9. Jaka Mankoč

Naxos Prince of the wind 8.-11. October

Event in Naxos is almost finished. We were all expecting big very well organized event with good wind and action but we got much more than that. Event was organized on much different level than untill now. It was the first so professional event I have ever been to so far. No PWA event can compare with it. If I point out some thigs... Day before the event we had strong wind around 25kts or more. I was sailing with 4.7 and 100l RRD Twintip. In the afternoon we had supersession upwind in the port of Naxos. There was for sure a few hundred people who enjoyed the session and also helicopter was every minute around with photographer and camerman. First day of competition we had good wind untill afternoon when it dropped a bit. That was not a problem cuz we started really early like at 8 or 9 o clock so we managed to do full double elimination. Later in the evening we had very nice photoshooting from the water. Every evening a very delicious dinner was organized for the riders and accomodation was free of charge. Today is the last day, there is no wind but we will be again busy with wakeboarding show and some promotion of equipment. The EFPT season is over I was on two events in Alacati I finished on 8.place and Naxos very good 5.place. Overal I will end on 11.place. This are the best results so far so I'm happier than ever before. Also PWA season was super good for me. It was my first year and I finished on 13.place which is pretty awsome. That's it... next week we have Slovenian championship, so that will be finally the last competition this year.

Nice photos from Michael Sumereder AUT 9

Tekmovanje na Naxosu je skoraj končano. Vsi smo pričakovali zelo veliko, dobili pa smo še veliko več. Tekmovanje je potekalo na zelo visoki ravni. Nikoli prej se še nisem udeležil tako profesionalno organiziranega tekmovanja. Noben event PWA-ja se ne mora primerjati s tem, no mogoče Sylt kjer je veliko več gledalcev in medijev, vendar ugodnosti za riderje ni. Dan pred eventom smo prispeli zelo utrujeni, saj je bila naša pot Sylt-Naxos. Niso nam pustili počivati, popoldne je bila že prva točka. Supersession v pristanišču Naxosa. Bilo je več 100 gledalcev ki so uživali v akciji. Prav tako je helikopter poskrbel za nore fotografije in filmčke. Veter je bil super...cca 25kts, le popoldne je jakost malo padla. Vozil sem 4.7 in RRD Twintip 100l. Prvi dan tekmovanja 8.oktobra smo imeli dober veter, okoli 15-25 vozlov. Vozil sem 5.2 in RRD Twintip 100l. Odpeljal sem taktično in prišel do polfinala, ko pa sem čas nastavil narobe in začel prepozno, vendar nimaš kaj, učimo se na napakah. Po enojni eliminaciji sem bil 4. nato pa v dvojni zgubil heat, saj je veter spustil in začela se je »pumparija« končal sem na 5. mestu. Takoj po tekmovanju smo imeli photosession z vodnimi fotoaparati in fotke so res neverjetne. Vsak večer smo imeli organizirano večerjo in naj še omenim da smo bivali brezplačno. Drugi dan tekmovanja ni bilo dovolj vetra zato smo imeli ponovno superssession s čolnom prav tako pa smo končali finalni heat dvojne eliminacije. Zmagovalec eventa in toura je Steven van Broeckhoeven. Tretji dan je bil bolj dan za počitek, saj je bil prejšnji večer kar vesel, izvedli smo supersesion in BMX show. Zvečer je Andre Paskowski predstavil odličen film FOUR DIMENSIONS, ki si ga morate ogledati! Dobite ga lahko pri meni az.slo49@gmail.com . Danes je zadnji dan...brezveterje, vročina, vendar je tudi danes na sporedu supersession wakeboard potem pa podelitev. Po podelitvi nas čaka dolga pot čez bivšo Jugoslavijo in to je to. EFPT sezona je končana, bil sem na dveh tekmah v Turčiji zasedel 8.mesto tu na Naxosu pa 5. in v skupnem pristanem mislim da na 11.mestu kar je zame do sedaj najboljša uvrstitev v EFPT-ju. Tekmovalna sezona je skoraj zaključena... PWA 13.mesto, EFPT 11.mesto ....sem več kot vesel in drugo leto na polno akcija. Tudi Žan Šude se je dobro odrezal. Prvo leto vedno nabiraš izkušnje, tako kot vsi. Čaka nas še državno prvenstvo v Izoli, potem pa malo pavze in hardcore trening čez zimo. To je to za ta denar....LP Andraž Žan SLO 49

Fotke: Michael Sumereder AUT 9

World cup Sylt/ Germany

The event on Sylt is almost finished. We manage to do all disciplines. Full double elimination in wave as well in freestyle and Slalom guys didn't just chill on the beach either. Wind was more or less around 5-20kts untill yesterday when it picked up to 50kts and brought 3-4m waves. It is still blowing and it doesn't want to stop. The tents are barely holding. All in all... event was very very big, it was many people who 100% enjoyed the action. Freestyle was amazing. In single I had to fight with Matia Pedrani. The heat was cancelled because we had some misunderstanding with the judges...the time was not right and we didn't see the flags. Later we resailed the heat but the wind dropped and I didn't have enough power to do good moves. I lost and double was my chance again. I got Dutch sailor Paul Zepper. I took good tactics and preformed the moves nice and clean and won. Next Opponent was very very strong sailor Steven van Broeckhoven. Wind was picking up so we were both powered up on 5.2 and this time I took the big board. Heat was almost on when the wind dropped totally on like 4kts. It was a problem for us to come back because the waves were quite big. After one hour or two the wind came back strong and we pulled the heat. I pulled out good moves but he did even better so he won but I was happy to sail good. I finished on 17. place and on my overall ranking in PWA is now 13. place but we will know 100% in the evening. I am very happy as my goal was to reach top 15 and I did even better. After a few hours I leave Sylt and go for the final EFPT event on Naxos/ Greece which will take place on 8.oktober. Stay tuned! Some lifestyle photos down...