After a week of frustrating conditions, the 2012 Fuerteventura Wave Classic draws to a close. With just one round of competition completed, the competitors made the most of the week and enjoyed every free sailing session on the water that they could.

The winning team is made up the UK’s very own Andrew Fawcett, along with Federico Infantino, Nicole Boronat and Yannick Anton.

The winners for 2012 - Andrew Fawcett, Federico Infantino, Nicole Boronat and Yannick Anton. Pic:ContinentSeven

While the event summary video is being put together, enjoy this video of the action from the one day of competition. Check out the riders scoring it at Majanicho.

The Conditions

Now in it’s fourth year, the Fuerteventura Wave Classic is renowned for delivering a huge range of conditions that can often err on the side of ‘extreme’. Last year, unfortunately, saw no final result or winning team. Pumping swell and howling winds are what everyone is hoping for and the WindGuru predicitions are for just that! WindGuru are supporting the FWC as an official partner and have set up a special forecast for the event which you can see HERE. The swell forecast isn’t huge, but the wind looks set to show up and deliver – so fingers crossed we will see some competition.

The special event forecast on WindGuru

The Riders

16 riders, 4 teams of 4 – simple! Representing the UK are Andrew Fawcett and expat Will Ward. Flying the flag for Fuerte-based board company Witchcraft, both sailors are very familiar with the breaks on Fuerte and will be a great addition to whatever team they end up in. The big names to keep an eye out for are recent Gaastra/Tabou signing Dario Ojeda, multiple ladies world champion Iballa Moreno as well as the Denel brothers and big wave charger Tom Hartmann.

The 16th place was empty until last week when Dutch sailor Amanda Beenen was selected to fill the final spot on the ladies team. Fresh from a winter of training in South Africa, Amanda is ready to charge.

Here is a round up of all the action at the 2011 event to get you ready for this year’s edition…

Best of luck to all of the riders and be sure to follow the event at their official website (fuertewaveclassic.com) and on Facebook.

The 2012 Fuerteventura Wave Classic kicks off in the Canaries on the 17th March – and there is a space available for one lucky lady sailor to join the world’s best. Maybe a UK sailor will be jetting off to compete alongside multiple world champion Iballa Moreno…

The FWC had this to say;

“The Fuerte Wave Classic 2012 organisation is looking for a girl to participate in the this years competition on Fuerte´s North Shore. Iballa Ruano Moreno, Fanny Aubet and Nicole Boronat are alreay on the entrylist. Due to a last minute change, there is a free spot for a female rider. Free accomodation, airport shuttle and much more is guaranteed. The FWC is mainly about windsurfing, but it would be necassary to have surfing or SUP knowledge and not being scared of bigger waves breaking over lava reefs.”

Think you’ve got what it takes? Send an email to the FWC team at fwcorga@gmail.com to express your interest.

Find out more about the Fuerte Wave Classic HERE.

Big Saturday at Puertito

After the skippers meeting at 8:30 in the hotel Oasis Duna, where most of the riders stay while the competition days, Orlando Lavandera, the FWC organiser announced:

“The racecommitee – Iballa Moreno, Dario Ojeda and Stephane Etienne made an early spotcheck together with myself  and decided that we will try to run an Expression Session at Puertito.”

The whole FWC crew and riders drove to Puertito, which is next to the old little harbour of Cotillo. The plan was to run an expression session at Puertito only and change later the spots to Entubadera. Massive big sets were breaking towards the rocky cliffs and 10 to 15 knots sideshore wind from the right were blowing at the scary spot. Most of the sailors were not sure if they should make it out into the almost double mast high waves in this light wind. One fault could destroy all the equipment within some seconds.

Local Stephane Etienne rigged his 5.0 directly at the spot and tried to make it out jumping in the white waters from the cliffs directly. But he failed and was soon back on the beach.

A few other sailors decided to try to enter the water a bay further northeast of Puertito. Will Ward from the UK, who lives on Fuerteventura was the first to start from there. He also failed and destroyed his Ezzy sail completely. French sailor Yannick Anton, who as well lives on Fuerteventura, was the next one, who tried it and he made it. Out there he made the most impressive wave rides of the whole event so far. with long bottom turns on the double mast high waves, which got bigger and bigger minute by minute. Yannick used a 5.0 m big sail while his session in one of the biggest swells of this winterseaon on Fuerteventura.

Thomas Traversa also tried to follow his fellow countryman Yannick Anton and had a hard fight for at least 40 minutes before he found a way to make it through the massive white water walls. Once Thomas was out he made the fault to sail too much downwind and not enough out on the open ocean. A huge wave caught him and finished his dreams to get turns done in the double mast high monsters. He made not one single turn in the end, but crashed his rigg completely! Broken mast, broken boom, completely destroyed sail. The jet ski rider, who made a great job at Puertito, saved Thomas and brought him back.

Albert Ferroni, who is relatively unkown in the international windsurfing scene, started at the neighbouring beach of Cotillo and sailed upwind to Puertito. Albert used his old Simmer 5,3 and a custom waveboard. The local, who lives next to Cotillo and who was in the winning team in 2010, convinced with impressive waveselection and nice big waveriding style. In the end of his session- he were looking for a really big final ride – a monster set surprised Albert. He could not get enough speed and the monster caught him from the back. Luckily the jetski rider was still on the water, picked him up and brought him back into the old harbour of Cotillo. He lost all his gear and had some broken parts in the end. Together with Yannick Anton he was the most impressive sailor of today.

After the big spectacle at Puertito the whole FWC crew and riders drove to the Flag Beach, where a super session at the break of Entubadera got started at 16.00. Relatively steady wind from northern direction blew and many riders could plan. Almost all competitors were out and tried to show their best waveriding. We saw very good action from Daida Moreno, Nayra Alonso, Aleix Sanllehy, Alex Mussolinei, Dario Ojeda and Björn Dunkerbeck. Several riders broke their masts like Mikey Cancy, Shannon Bohny or Eleazar Alonso.

The plan for  tomorrow, the sixth day of the competition, is to start the competition in the morning at Entubadera!

More at www.fuertewaveclassic.com

Mikey Clancy 'at home' training in Ireland

Irish windsurfer Mikey Clancy (IR 253) will compete in the Fuerteventura Wave Classic against some of the world’s top windsurfers from the 8th to the 18th of Feb. Mikey, who suffered a serious ankle injury in 2009, is delighted to be competing again after been ranked 25th in the world. The 20 year-old DIT student progress can be followed on www.fuertewaveclassic.com and Mikey’s own website mikeyclancy.com

Welcome to the Fuerte Wave Classic 2010. Once again, 1-12 March 2010, some of the best windsurfing waveriders in the world will be back on the north shore of Fuerteventura to take part in the second edition of the Fuerteventura Wave Classic (FWC). This innovative contest will see four teams of windsurfers competing against each other in the best conditions possible, impressing the public with their amazing moves.

FBC are proud to announce the official list of pro riders:

• Jean Baptiste CASTE / France

• Thomas TRAVERSA / France

• Dario OJEDA / Spain

• Jonas CEBALLOS / Spain

• Antony RUENES / France

• Alex MUSSOLINI / Spain

• Jules DENEL / France

• Dani BRUCH / Germany

• Adam LEWIS / England

• Martin TEN HOEVE / Netherlands

• Patrick VIGOUROUX / France

• Fabrice BEAUX / France

These exceptional riders will be on the water together with radical local rider Stephan Etienne and three more local guests (who are yet to be confirmed), ready to give us all a great windsurfing show!

How does it work?

The riders will put their names into a hat on Monday 1 March to draw the names for the four teams of 2010. Then it’s off, from Tuesday onwards to look for the best spots of the day with our mobile structure. Between the riders and local organisers we will check the best conditions, then the riders (one from each team) will go into the water in heats of 30 minutes so they have time to fully express their talent. We will use a new method of judging, tried and tested last year during the first edition; riders from other heats will be the judges and the riders will choose amongst themselves the most extreme rider and winning team at the end of the event.

What can you expect from this edition?

Majanicho, La Caleta, Puertito and other great spots will be on fire. There’s professional rescue crew with jet-skis so the riders can express their talent in safety. A camera and a photographer are waiting to bring you incredible radical images. A live ticker will also be activated so that you can follow live action from home. Overall, an innovative competition concept for riders and spectators alike.

We would like to clarify that the Fuerte Wave Classic is an independent event, organised by the 7th-wave centre Fuerteventura, based on an original idea from JB Caste and Thomas Traversa, which focuses on the promotion of the sport of windsurfing, the island of Fuerteventura and the riders. We don’t aim to present any competition to the PWA and we are not part of the World Classic Tour or World Classic Invitational. We simply are the Fuerte Wave Classic, a promotional event focusing the spotlight on fair-play, friendship and performance.

We also want to thank all the riders for their emails and express that we would have loved to invite all riders that contacted us, but unfortunately is not possible so we had to make a selection. We would also like to thank all the riders that are coming to participate in this windsurfing ‘party’ and our sponsors, who, in difficult times, have shown their support and belief in this project.

We look forward to seeing you all and to being able to present you a great windsurfing event through impressive images.

Keep watching this spot and our blog www.fuertewaveclassic.com for more news and some surprises!

CONTACT: Marion Raïsi / FWC Team / fwcorga@gmail.com