Classement La Reunion Wave Classic 2010 après 3 manches : 1/ Team 2 (Pierre Godet, Julien Taboulet, Fabrice Beaux), 2/ Team 4 (Nicolas Zabala, Camille Juban, Jamie Hancock), 3/ Team 3 (Steven Pichot, Thomas Traversa, Zane Schweitzer), 4/ Team 1 (Loïc Frappat, Francisco Porcella, Jean-Baptiste Caste)

(texte : windsurfjournal.com)

Les baleines font le show sur la RWC

Saint Pierre, Ravine-Blanche, les windsurfer de la RWC ont navigué pendant une demi-heure aux côtés de deux baleines. Des scènes rares, donc inoubliables.



Un ballet de baleines. Tel est le spectacle qui s’est offert aux yeux écarquillés des windsurfers, jeudi matin, à Ravine-Blanche. Alors que les stars de la discipline tiraient les premiers bords de la Reunion Wave Classic 2010, ce sont bien les baleines qui sont devenues les vedettes de la matinée. D’autant qu’elles ne se sont pas contentées de faire de la figuration : elles ont assuré le spectacle pendant près d'une bonne demi-heure ”.



Sylvain Bourlard, windsurfeur qui venait tout juste de sortir de l’eau lorsque le spectacle a commencé et a donc eu le temps de saisir son appareil photos. “Nous avons vu un premier saut, puis un deuxième, qui provenait d’une autre baleine. Franchement, je ne saurais vous dire s’il s’agissait de deux baleines adultes ou d’une maman avec son baleineau, incapable aussi de déterminer la race exacte de l’animal, mais c’était fantastique”.

“Exceptionnel”

En windsurf ou en kite, les fans se sont approchés à quelques mètres des cétacés, effarés : “A plusieurs reprises, les baleines maintenaient leurs queues hors de l’eau, droite, pendant un long moment, puis battaient l’eau. Peut-être la maman voulait-elle protéger son baleineau de quelque chose, en tout cas c’était véritablement impressionnant”. Sylvain admet qu’il est “assez fréquent de croiser des baleines, en planche à voile, à Ravine-Blanche ou à Saint-Leu” mais avoue que cette séance matinale n’avait rien de classique : “Il est exceptionnel de rester aussi longtemps au contact des baleines” .

(texte Journal de l'Ile de la Réunion)

Merci et encore bravo Sylvain !

RWC 2010 Day 4 An epic “jump super session” in Ravine Blanche…

D'autres photos dans la soirée !

RWC 2010 Day 4 An epic “jump super session” in Ravine Blanche…

Hello, good morning to all. Hope you are all fine on this sunday and that you enjoy your day. We, at the “Wave Classic”, had a great party yesterday night at Ravine Blanche after a cool Beach Cleaning organized by the association Bleu Ocean. Today, it’s windy like hell and, as there’s not much waves in Etang Salé this time, we gonna move to Ravine Blanche. The program is to make the show for a large audience. As the tide is too low right now, no hurry, we’ll be there around 11.30… Come and join us on the beach and be prepared for another day of grezt action!!!

Thomas Traversa, the initiator of the “Wave Classic” concept, is out on the water with Zane Schweitzer. He’s on 4.5, which is pretty unusual fr the guy as he’s used to sail with very small sail sizes. Let’s say that he’s well powered with it and way enough to nail some huge backloops! Zane is doing is best to keep his sail closed in his bottom turns, in order to make some images for the local TV. Riders are preparing their gear, we will launch a super session with all the boys on the water. They will have to go big, with 1 jump and 1 aerial that count. We will then suggest a final result at the end of the day for the best jump and the best aerial of the day.
A scaffolding has been raised on the reef in order to offer a better angle for the photos and videos. Wesh is about to go with 4.4, Steven just went out with 4.0, and JB has prepared a 4.2. Waves are getting bigger right now.

Morning super session
Broken stuff, some wounded and 1 rescue …
Quietly, the riders prepared their smallest sails, from 4.2 to to 3.7. Interviewed and filmed by local TV RFO, Zane Schweitzer, the youngest rider in the group (16 years) hits the water first with a sail of 4.2. Unfortunately, he has not anticipated that the local trade winds are relatively strong here, and had not brought a smaller size. Zane was so completely overpowered once launched in the hollow waves! Result, ihe will end his session early with a nice foot sprain after a bad fall! A good month off for the U.S.. It is around noon that the other riders enter the arena one after the other. The launch is not easy in Ravine Blanche, you must jump from the rocks. Fortunately this year there are far fewer sea urchins than last year!!! 5 minutes later, a jump festival starts. It rotates in all directions and the riders go right on the crest of waves, sometimes blown by the gusty wind, which pull their equipment at heights sometimes exceeding 10m. Back on the beach, Traversa, after he completely ripped his rig, even confessed to a journalist: “It is very good on the water, but it is dangerous!“. Even the heavier guys will struggle to challenge the powerful waves. Yet familiar to the spot and strong winds, Zabala will pay the price and will handle his boom in the face. Good for emergencies. Taboulet breaks his mast, going too late on a large section. Good for a swim. The wind picks up… Under the violence of the elements, some riders do not even go sailing. Around 13:30, almost all the sailors return to the beach, leached. Only remain in the water Godet and Juban with his 3.7. Launching a big backloop, Camille breaks his mast and is good for a long drift which brings him in front of the cliffs, downwind of the spot. For safety reasons, the organization decides to stop here this first “super session”. Coming back to the spot, Juban learns he is the winner of this super session.

Afternoon super session
Short but super good!
The wind continues to blow hard. The waves are still there, sometimes showing up to 3m. Only 4 riders have volunteered to go again facing the elements and do the show for a large audience and in front of the camera of local TV channel Antenne Reunion. 30min of heat will be enough. Same format as this morning, launching the biggest jumps. The best wins. Camille Juban, Pierre Godet, Steven Julien Pichot and Taboulet hit the water with their smaller equipment. The wind is sideshore and the waves show perfect vertical ramps. Action! It’s starts immediately with a big tweaked pushloop from Juban, followed by a very high late backloop, while Godet sends a huge jump over 10m and Pichot crashes when launching a double forward loop! Show continues with an on form Taboulet who sends a huge backloop and a high jump to over 8m. Godet answers with the same move and tries a high one hand backloop, but not landed. Pichot goes big and catch great ramps, he will go by 2 times in simple jump at an altitude where the oxygen is running out. The public and judges are stoked and just shout and whistle, like during this magnificent action where Taboulet Juban and meets every two to jump on the same wave, both going into a massive late backloop at more than 5m high! The crowd goes wild! Brendan Pyatt, umi pictures cameraman and photographer Gilles Calvet do not lose a thing. It is really too good. The judges, just a few people selected from the local audience, even decide to add 10 minutes to this great session. On their return to the shore, the riders are applauded by the public. What an atmosphere, what a day! A few minutes later, the judges deliberate and give the ranking: 1/Juban, 2/Pichot, and 3/Godet 4/Taboulet.

We wanted some jumps on this event, it is now done! The day lent itself ideally to this and it would have been dangerous and difficult to run some heats in these conditions definitely very hardcore. Windsurfing can be radical and offer images that make you dream. If in the previous days, the riders have only surf the waves, this time they used them as springboards to offer a different show, much more air. Certainly, this “Reunion Wave Classic” is complete!

Tomorrow Monday, the wind is still forecasted. It should blow less strong and the waves are expected to decline slightly. Enough to launch a 4th round maybe. The spot remains to be defined. It will be chosen around 10am tomorrow morning and posted on our website.

RWC 2010 Day 3 Another great day in Etang Salé…

Visited Spot : Etang Salé
Conditions : 1m to 2m glassy waves, wind 15-20 knots offshore
Number of completed heats : 3

A good wind still oriented to east-south east directed again the organizing team and the riders of the “2010 Reunion Wave Classic” to the spot of Etang Salé. The waves were still showing a great height of 2m in the best series with a perfectly oriented wind!

This time it’s a little earlier, around noon, that the riders and the staff have launched the first heat. 30 minutes, the 2 best surfs are taken into account, as yesterday. The audience is there to watch the show. The information was relayed through a 3G key supplied by Orange, to relay the action via Internet, live from the beach!