10 days in Fuerteventura have been an exciting time for the Black Team. Is one of those events where it’s not just about the competition itself, but the chance to take the opportunity to work on more aspects.
The team manager turned up with a brand new sample set for the new Slash freestyle and 4 sails per size for the new AC-1. A total of over 25 sails to put on the water for testing and photo shooting!
Nicolas Akgazciyan was a real highlight from this PWA event. He practically sailed 10 minutes only on the new Slash 4.0 and 4.4 samples, and after 2 double eliminations in 5 days, he finished for the first time in his life, on the podium in third position!
[mk_blockquote style=”line-style” font_family=”none” text_size=”16″ align=”left”]I’m 30, and it’s crazy to think that after so many years of being top 10, I managed to jump on my best score ever. I worked hard with my trainer and my boards and sail development. I never had a set of sails for longer than week, as new protos kept coming, and finally for Fuerteventura, just one day before I received the sails I dreamed of. I went for a session to see how the sails were feeling, and realized that it was what I wanted. Everything felt easy on them as if I had them for many years. I did not waste my energy on the water, but saved it for the completion!
Nicolas Akgazciyan, F-400[/mk_blockquote]
As the freestyle finished there were 4 days of great winds for the slalom discipline. Perhaps one of the nicest slaloms from a long time, and definitely from this year. Pascal Toselli from the Black Team, after a rough start of the first days, finishes 10th.
[mk_blockquote style=”line-style” font_family=”none” text_size=”16″ align=”left”]I did not start the event believing in my skills. I had problems with health last month, and I could not sail every day. I was feeling better, but I was still not focused as I would have liked. After I had my physical problem, I was not strong in my head to go on the starting line feeling like I did everything that I could go for the win. I realized this only during the event, and I started to do better and better by starting entering the finals only at the end. 10th is ok, I know I can do better, ad will try to prove the real speed of my equipment in the next event
Pascal Toselli, F-916[/mk_blockquote]
[mk_blockquote style=”line-style” font_family=”none” text_size=”16″ align=”left”]Fuerteventura is a kind of mid-term test. Important to finalize the development work for the small racing sails for the next season, checking out how the new freestyle sails work, a great time to spend together with the team to summarize the work which has been done and needs to be done. We did a lot of testing during these 10 days in the canaries, and finalized a lot of projects. We had the chance to do some photo shooting as well, thanks to the nice waters of Fuerteventura do allow. I’m happy from what Nico achieved this year. It really shows what work can bring. We had long nights to finish work on the gear….I remember especially after a full day of Defi wind racing, than driving to his house, sitting in his garage taking the final decisions, to how to change the new protos till mid night, and than driving the same night 600km back to Garda. Tiring, motivating and fun…when you see this kind of results it all pays off the red bulls to keep awake on the road!
Andrea Cucchi, ITA-1[/mk_blockquote]
Now the Black Team with Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, Maciek Rutkowski, Jordy Vonk, Kurosh Kiani, Pascal Toselli, Bora Kozunoglu, Poyraz Akai, Ertugrul Icingir, Andrea Cucchi, Lena Erdil, Esther de Geus, will all meet again in the next PWA evet in Alacati. For the moment let’s enjoy the PWA wave in Tenerife with our wave Black Team with Ricardo Campello, Martin Ten Hoeve, Amanda Beenen and Greta Benvenuti. The forecast looks good towards the end of the weekend, let’s cross fingers!
