Sean O'Brien's Euopean Tour

Euro-Cup, Sylt/Westerland (Germany): 36th Men

Dutch Nationals, Harlem (Holland): 2nd Espoir, 10th Men

Euro-Cup, Miedzyzdroje (Poland): 44th Men

Polish Nationals, Jurata (Poland): 37th Men

Flew into Holland a few days before the EC in Sylt and stayed a couple of
days with a good friend of mine in Holland, before trekking to Germany. We
were only allowed to register two sails in Sylt so I put up 12.5, 11.0 as
they weren't gonna race formula in over 20kts (didn't want a re-run of last
years worlds were half the fleet got wiped out racing in 30kts with 3m
seas!). We did a couple of races on the first day; I had a few troubles
tryna get good starts with 60 boards on the startline but I managed to get a
23rd and a 27th in two of the races. The forecast for the rest of the week
was 25-35kts and rain, rain rain (did I mention rain?). As I was staying in
a tent the weather was too brutal to endure so me and my mate left Sylt for
Holland at the end of the second day after watching the wave comp (which was
very cool!).

Next I did the Dutch Nationals in Harlem (near Amsterdam) which was a very
large event - windsurfing, kitesurfing, volleyball, bmx/skateboarding, live
bands on the beach etc... This was probably the best event I had as there
were only 30 competitors and it was easier to get a good start. I got on the
podium - 2nd espoir, and I think I was about 10th overall. The dutch fleet
is pretty fast, next to Poland they have the biggest number of guys on the
euro-cup tour.

Next was the two events in Poland. Poland is by far the craziest country in
the world! The roads are totally the worst in Europe - potholes, different
compounds every 50m and a bizarre overtaking rule that nearly spells death
everytime a car passes you, not to mention people riding bicycles on the
highway as cars zoom past at 130km/h! It was extremely cheap in Poland so I
could afford to stay in cool apartments complete with tv's (as we had a
Playstation2 with us for the non-windy days). The girls on that side of the
planet were 'uber-hot' and plentiful, most of them were super keen as some
had travelled from the far reaches of Poland just to attend the famed
windsurfing beach parties - sweet! Windsurfers are GODS in Poland. You can
walk into a supermarket and by a can of soup with Wojtek's head on it! I
signed plenty of autographs for little kiddies on the beach and had my photo
taken with many over-enthusiastic spectators. The beach parties were
unbelievable, even though it never really got dark there (sun went down at
11pm, then twilight till 3am when the sun came up again). We even got free
entry to all the clubs when we told the bouncers we were here for the
windsurfing event - crazy!

I finished 44th at the EC in Miedzyzdroje and 37th at the Polish Nationals
in Jurata. Everyone is super fast in Europe, even the guys coming last. They
ran really short races (15mins) so I found it difficult to catch up any
ground as my starts were pretty poor in big fleets. I'll definitely make
every effort to go over again next year, despite the difficulty of training
in the off-season in Australia (there is no wind in Brisbane in Winter),
just hanging on the beach with the pros and the other sailors is pretty ace,
and you learn so much even before you get on the water.

cya guys in September, I'm coming down to win this year :P

Regards,

Sean O'Brien