Day 9_Windsurfing lessons in La Saline...

We have had a super cool morning today, moving to the west side of St Pierre up to La Saline les Bains. There, a group of about 10 local kids were waiting for the riders to share their passion for windsurfing.

The local sailing club, Club Nautique de l'Ouest, and its very welcoming team, provided the windsurfing equipment for the kids and some canoes for the "teachers". A very nice time for all in the beautiful lagoon of La Saline, ideal place to learn the basics of windsurfing. Enjoy some pics here.

 

Local TV Reunion Premiere took advantage of this clinic to come and capture some images for tonight's report in their newsflash. Another good opportunity for the local channel to make a complete resume of the event which was, once again, very successful. Watch it at around 7pm here in la Reunion.

 

Tomorrow is gonna be a day "off" for the boys. Maybe it's gonna be the time to enjoy the treasures of La Reunion Island and cruise around before the closing ceremony planned @ 7pm at the Longboard Café in St Pierre.

Remember you can still vote for the "Worst Wipe Out" ! Click here and leave the number of your favourite one in the "comment" section before sunday 5pm.

Day 8_Sifferlen wins the "best jump session" in Ravine Blanche !

If the conditions were not really good in l’Etang Salé this morning, the RWC crew decided to move quickly to Ravine Blanche. There, it was still very windy with still some good 8 feet sets ! That was a perfect timing for the organization to launch the “Best Jump Session” with a 500 € prize money, in order to ensure another great show before the end of the contest  !

Serious conditions for big jumps today in Ravine ©rwc2011/Calvet

It’s from 2pm that the riders started to prepare their gear before entering the arena all together for the Super Session. One goal : launch a maximum of jumps on the liquid walls of Ravine Blanche ! The judges will select one and only one jump, the highest, the most radical and the most technical.

From 2.30pm, that was an explosive show ! If we have had during more than 6 days of intense sailing, more surf oriented action as in the waves of Ravine Blanche as in the waves of l’Etang Salé, this time the riders were sent on the water to offer a festival of big jumps. There, the level was so high that it was comparable to the World Cup’s!

Denel ripped hard this afternoon ! ©rwc2011/Calvet

In these conditions, 30 knots of wind and mast high ramps, that was a tricky battle between Denel and Sifferlen. If Denel scored with huge one handed backloops and perfectly landed double forwards, Sifferlen replied with a late high forward, backloops and air chachoo’s. But he also nailed an awesome dry late double forward ! Young german Jamaer was also on fire today and showed a very good potential with insane tweaked pushloops, pushloop forwards and very high late forwards !

Sifferlen wins with his late double forward ! ©rwc2011/Calvet

These 3 riders were emerging on the spot this afternoon. But finally, after the judges decision to count only ONE jump - the most radical – it’s Neo Caledonian Sifferlen who comes back home with the 500 € prize money offered by local sponsor “Ciel et Terre”, thanks to his huge late double forward.

The end of the day will end with a cool beach cleaning and BBQ party on the beach organized by local association “Reunion Windsurf”. Not much wind forecasted for tomorrow, so time to relax and party !

Jamaer, no fear with 3 pushloop into forward attempts! ©rwc2011/Calvet

Tomorrow, the riders will do a clinic with some kids around La Saline. They will teach the basics of windsurfing with the collaboration of local windsurf club CNO. The afternoon will be devoted to rest or discover the beauties of the Reunion island.

Afters 3 rounds, Steven Pichot’s team is still leading the ranking thanks to Sifferlen’s 3
times victories, and scores a nice 23 points, which is a nice advance ahead of the team of
Sylvain Bourlard (17 points) and Pierre Godet (14 points).




Our new video of the “Worst Wipe Outs” is now available ! So now YOU can VOTE for the
best of it, up to sunday 5^th 5pm on our website!

http://reunionwaveclassic2011.blogspot.com/2011/09/video-vote-for-reunion-wave-classic.html



Do not forget you can still watch from now the first video teaser here : http://reunionwaveclassic2011.blogspot.com/2011/08/1st-video-teaser.html


Find some news and photos of the day on our Facebook page, and a few action shots of the day available in the "photos" section of our website.


Video : vote for the RWC 2011 "Worst wipe out" !!!

Check this ! This is a video compilation of the best wipe outs we've seen on this 3rd edition of la "Reunion Wave Classic". As we are used to do on this event, we have add numbers on each wipe out.

We now invite you to vote for the best of it by leaving ONLY ONE favorite number right here underneath in the "comment" section of this post, before 5pm sunday 4th. Watch, enjoy, and choose !

The "Best wipe out winner" will then be crowned on sunday night during the closing ceremony at the Longboard café, 7pm.

Day 8_Check point of the day : l'Etang Salé...

10.00am: decision has been taken this morning to move to l'Etang Salé  and see how it goes. If the wind does not come in, then we'll move to Ravine Blanche from around 12.00pm for some hardcore action in strong wind. Stay tuned, as soon as we are in l'Etang Salé we'll keep you updated via our Facebook page.

New article in the local newspaper JIR...

A new article, featuring Colin Sifferlen. The New Caledonian ripper actually deserves it as he won by 3 times in 3 heats ! Thanks to his victories, his team is actually leading the team ranking

Once again the local TV showed up on the "Reunion Wave Classic" event and came back today for another report and interviews in l'Etang Salé. Check out this clip (french language) shot in low quality (better than nothing !)

Day 7_Another explosive round in Etang Salé !

A too violent wind and messy waves in Ravine Blanche oriented again the riders on the beach of l’Etang Salé this morning. Once on the spot, a perfect alchimy allowed the organization to launch a new round in technical down the line conditions!

Heat #1 : New Cal’ ripper Sifferlen on fire!

At noon, the wind was blowing at a good 30/35 knots outside in the bay. With 8 to 10 feet hollow waves very technical to ride, the timing had an important part in the sailing today. As he had a perfect timing, an excellent wave choice, very high and smooth aerials perfectly landed in the pocket of the wave, Sifferlen wins ahead of Jules Denel who showed an excellent potential with power turns and a good wave work. Unlucky again, Leon Jamaer rips his sail 10mn before the end of the heat.



Sifferlen, efficient in style in these down the line conditions ©rwc2011/Calvet

Heat #2 : a locals’ affair.

As the teams were drawn this morning, it was a big surprise to find the 3 local captains in the same heat. With an excellent wave choice, as great wave work and perfectly landed big airs, Pierre Godet took the honours of this heat, showing he has the perfect control in any conditions. Actual leader in the teams ranking, Steven Pichot will then go for it, launching 2 big aerials he unfortunately did not land. He ended in 2nd ahead of Sylvain Bourlard who could not find the best waves in this heat.

Godet proved today he is still the best local ripper ©rwc2011/Calvet

Heat #3 : Taboulet’s revenge.

Facing the Austrian Tom Hartmann who could not really find the right timing in these conditions, this heat saw a duel between Julien ‘Wesh’ Taboulet and Camille Juban. Already beaten twice by Juban in the first 2 rounds, Wesh wanted to have his revenge this time. From the start, he nails an awesome aerial on a hollow section and will then fight with power style, charging hard on the biggest sets he could find. He wins ahead of Juban who was slightly below his usual level. Do not mess with “Wesh” !

Wesh took his revenge on Juban with big fat aerials ! ©rwc2011/Calvet

4th round cancelled
...
Around 3.30pm, after a small break and some interviews with local TV Réunion Première that was doing a report, the wind was still blowing. Waves were still in the place, up to 8 feet. The organization decided to launch another 4th round but unfortunately, the wind dropped down after 15mn. The heat is cancelled. The organization waited for about 20mn before the wind finally came back, but it was already too late to launch 3 more heats in a row. Over for this 7th day of competition.


Tomorrow, strong wind is still forecasted. The organization will adapt the program to the conditions, after an early check of the spots. In any case, the riders and locals will meet at 4.30pm in Ravine Blanche for the “beach cleaning” and beach party/BBQ organized by local association “Windsurf Réunion”.

After 3 rounds, Steven Pichot’s team is still leading the ranking thanks to Sifferlen’s 3 times victories, and scores a nice 23 points, which is a nice advance ahead of the team of Sylvain Bourlard (17 points) and Pierre Godet (14 points). But it’s not over yet !


Do not forget you can still watch from now the first video teaser here : http://reunionwaveclassic2011.blogspot.com/2011/08/1st-video-teaser.html


Find some news and photos of the day on our Facebook page, and later in the evening a few action shots of the day available in the "photos" section of our website.

Day 7_Etang Salé or ???

Day 7_9.50: morning briefing is done. It's really windy again here in St Pierre. The swell is pumping outside and we all move to l'Etang Salé right now to check the spot and see if we can launch a 3rd round.... Let's meet up there in around 30mn. Follow then the news on our FB page !

Why do not we upload all our daily pictures?

Do not think that our photographer is selfish ;-) ! ©Open Ocean Media

Yes, it's true, we keep the best shots of our photographer for the specialized magazines because that's the way (we think) it is if we want to take advantage of an important coverage worldwide ! ALL our photos are free for those mags.

For sure, we would like to spread our daily pictures through the internet, but if we do that we're not sure to get that much pages and reports in the best mags. For our sponsors, partners and also for the riders, the printed articles in these magazines are very important, sometimes more than the internet feedback.

It was a time when we were used to post online about 20 shots per day with super cool action from the riders. But we have noticed that afterwards, it was difficult to propose the same shots to the magazines 1 month after it's been seen by everybody on the web, even if all our pictures were for free. So we apologize for the fact that we do not upload that much photos this year, as on Facebook as on our blog. For us, this is a way to perpetuate this event in La Reunion.

For your information, the RWC took advantage of a great coverage since the 1st edition (have a look here for the 2010 edition !):

- 115 dedicated pages in the specialized magazines

- 3 magazines covers

- 150 reports on the web

- 25 articles in the local press

- 30mn of TV broadcast

Thanks to this coverage, we can still convince new sponsors and make the event happen again from year to year. So we hope we can still keep it like this ! Thanks for your understanding and watch our 1st video teaser and the next ones (coming soon) to enjoy the riders' actions.

Also, you can check the galleries of local amateur photographers :

- Aurore Cocqueel

- David Dunogué

- Eric Gentelet

- Charly Bell

- David Besson

- Bruno Mari

Day 6_Big air festival in Etang Salé !

The riders of “La Reunion Wave Classic” met again in l’Etang Salé this morning as, according to the forecast, this would be the place to ride this day. If around 11am conditions were not that good with closing out big sections and not much wind in the inside, the uprising tide predicted improving conditions later in the day. At around 1pm, +10 feet waves started to set up and the wind came back in, allowing the riders to charge hard during a free session launched right in front of the photographer and the cameraman located on a boat !

Local organizer, Pierre Godet, and the riders decided not to launch any official round today as they all prefered to focus on the images. The aim of this free session was to push the limits of waveriding to the max : pure down the line surfing, working the wave as much as possible before to hit the lip and launch a big air or another sick move on the nasty bowl !

After a 1h warm up, all the sailors hit the water again as they saw the boat setting up in the channel located on the right side of the waves. From this point of view, the photographer and the cameraman had a perfect time to shoot the boys charging hard and ripping on fat sections rising up to 12 feet ! The photographer also jumped into the water to do some watershots.

From there, the show started. The wind kicked in again and the waves started to break in a better way, offering some tight and glassy sections. Even though it was tough to ride as a very good timing was required to hit the lip, the pros and locals went off, tearing screams and applause of the public that gathered on the beach of Etang Salé. The show was definitely firing today with a non-stop festival of big aerials on as beautiful as cruel waves, delivering sometimes some insane wipeouts where nobody got hurt, fortunately.

At around 3.30pm, after a well deserved break, the organization and the riders decided not to launch any official round as they were not sure to complete it due to the late time. But it looks like tomorrow will be another crazy day as the swell forecast predicts bigger waves with a 16 sec period, and still moderate trade winds ! Just need to know if the angle of the wind will send the riders to an even more “massive“ Etang Salé or to a “super hardcore” Ravine Blanche !

Sifferlen was certainly the most impressive rider of the day ! ©rwc2011/Calvet

Great sets coming in l'Etang Salé ©rwc2011/Calvet

Day 6_Looks good around l'Etang Salé !

Day 6: It looks good at l'Etang Salé, so we are on the way to move there. See you on the spot for another great session!
Follow the rest of the action on our facebook page.

Day 5_ 2 rounds on 2 different spots !

Incredible day of intense action today for the riders of the 3rd edition of “La Reunion Wave Classic” : 2 official rounds have been completed on 2 different spots ! The forecast was not wrong when announcing bigger waves and stronger wind.

Round 1 – Etang Salé : surf, surf and only surf !

That’s on the spot of Etang Salé the riders meet this morning. 15 to 20 knots side offshore wind, 6 to 8 feet perfect barrels, in 15mn, everything was set up and the organization could launch the first heats of this 1st round. 2 best waves count, surf only. Local sailor Steven Pichot, new caledonian Colin Sifferlen and Guadeloupean Camille Juban took the honours on this first round. Pichot with a good wave choice and great turns, Sifferlean with clean airs over the section and Juban with a 360 attempt and a high goyter behind the wave in the last minutes of his heat. Youg german Leon Jamaer did not have luck as he ripped his sail in the middle of his heat. Around 3pm, the 1st round was completed but as the conditions were not really improving, the organization decide to move to Ravine Blanche for another 2nd round in more radical conditions…

L'Etang Salé for perfect down the line action ! ©Open Ocean Media

Round 2 – Ravine Blanche : stronger, radical and extreme !

And that was a good choice to move because as the riders arrived on the spot, they could see that it will be another story than riding the cool tubes of Etang Salé ! 30 knots of wind and mast high hollow waves ready to crunch the gear… Wow ! No time to loose. 15mn later, everything was set up again and the first heat was launched at around 4pm. And that was extreme from the start with epic action, extreme and radical show as we like it on the “Reunion Wave Classic” events since its creation ! This time, the riders decided to add one jump to the judgements but still, with 2 best waves to surf to get points. Facing the raging elements in this 2nd round, these are again Sifferlen and Juban who provided a good show with a perfect wave choice and great moves pushed to the max. This time, local sailor Sylvain Bourlard got first in his heat against Steven Pichot who won this morning in Etang Salé. No chance this time for Pierre Godet and Julien Taboulet who both broke their mast from the start as they were again fighting in the same heat !

Ravine Blanche and its radical conditions ! ©Open Ocean Media

Afters these 2 rounds, it’s time to score the points that each riders brought to their respective teams and it’s actually Steven Pichot’s team that leads the team ranking. But it’s not over yet as we expect for tomorrow more extreme conditions around l’Etang Salé with bigger waves ! Stay tuned !

Do not forget you can still watch from now the first video teaser of the third edition in our "videos" section.

Find all the results, some news and photos of the day later on our Facebook page, and a few action shots in the "photos" section of our website.

Day 5_check @ l'Etang Salé...

We're about to leave St Pierre to move to l'Etang Salé. The infos we have from there are that it's windy and some waves are already breaking. We will be on the spot in about 1h or less.
Then check our facebook page to know what's going on and where we are during the day.

Day 4_"Day off"...

As predicted by the forecast, the cloud cover was important today on the southern island of la Reunion. It even has rained on St Pierre this morning.

Around 10 am, the riders went to Etang Salé where, according to the 1st informations, there would be sun, some wind and some waves. Unfortunately, the clouds still extended up to this beautiful black sand beach where we also had some rainshowers. Not enough wind to "ride" the waves but enough waves to surf, simply. The riders will agree for a break after three days of intense sailing in the waves of Ravine Blanche.

Lunch was then taken on a beach located a little further in the south, previously unexplored in the previous editions of the “Reunion Wave Classic". The wind was skicking in, but the waves were too small. After a last hope by returning to the spot of Ravine Blanche, the riders finally went back to surf to Etang Salé, just to relax before going back on the water to face the waves and the wind announced tomorrow and especially on Wednesday.

Cool spot ! But too small waves... ©Open Ocean Media

1st video teaser !

Enjoy our first video teaser produced by Steph Fournet and Leena... We hope you enjoy the first production.

Day 4_Rainy day, but...

9.45: it's raining this morning in St Pierre ! Not really windy so far but it's sunny around l'Etang Salé. Come back later but this time on our Facebook page for updated news, around 11. ;-)
The 1st video trailer is on the way and will be put online today. Stay tuned!

Friday Sept 2nd, Beach cleaning & Beach Party !

The association Reunion Windsurf organizes a beach cleaning in Ravine Blanche next friday September 2nd, from 4.30pm. Join the Facebook page of the event to confirm if you wanna join or not in order to know how many people will then take part to the planned BBQ and meal (10 €/pers).

Steven Pichot and his band will be there again to bring the beach on fire, playing live as they did on the past editions of the RWC !

The ocean does not belong to us, we belong to the ocean. We need to respect it. So we hope to see you numerous for help !

A first report on local TV...

That was broadcasted on Télé Kréol 2 days ago in the evening...

Another report in the local press...

Seen in today's local newspaper "Le Quotidien"...

Day 3_Another try in Ravine Blanche !

It started pretty good today in Ravine Blanche where the wind and waves were finally much more better than yesterday : perfect mast high glassy barrels with a moderate side shore wind ! So it did not took long to the riders to jump into the water to enjoy these top conditions for a short warm up before a first possible start planned at 1pm.



Unfortunately, the wind decided to play with the nerves of the sailors as it dropped down right after the 2nd call at around 2pm. Not enough to launch a first official round today, so the organization decided to send the boys on the water again in the afternoon for another free session, also because there was a massive crowd that gathered on the beach to watch the show on this sunday.

Some riders could take the best out of these tricky conditions as there were still some nice sets to score. A good timing was required not to break any gear and this is what Jules Denel (ripped sail and broken mast) and local rider Sylvain Bourlard (destroyed sail) has learned today ! Pierre Godet and Steven Pichot went out again at the end of the the afternoon to score some more sets despite a very light wind.



Well, that was not the best day since the start of the event so far, but the forecast is still looking really good from tuesday with big swell and strong wind. No need to stress about tomorrow so, as this monday should see another day without much wind.



Find some news and photos of the day on our Facebook page, and few action shots in the "photos" section of our website.

The local beach of Ravine today... ©rwc2011/Calvet

Sylvain Bourlard, before he destroyed his sail ! ©rwc2011/Calvet

 

Day 3_Looks like it's gonna be another day in Ravine Blanche...

9h51 : Briefing is on the way but it looks like the action happen in Ravine Blanche again today. Stay tuned via our facebook page from now on to know what's going on...