The view back to 2010: Part 1 - FW

Alberto Menegatti has said that not only training helps him to achieve better results, but also at the end of the year he looks back and tries to see what has went wrong during the season and why. So I will try to do this and to share my thoughts with you.

So at first about FW:
The season started perfectly for me. First competition was VG spring tour which was held in very unstable and light wind conditions. I like such conditions very much because I can use up my weight and tactics. I finished 2nd and it is my best result so far in FW overall class.
Equipment: SB 162 + Severne Code Red 10,0

Second competition was Kaunas season opening that was held in very tough conditions, which are my point of weakness. But due to the fact that a lot of competitors were afraid of 10-12m/s wind I managed to complete the race in 5th position.
Equipment: SB 160(dad's) + Gaastra GTX 8,5




Then the Lithuanian Cup came. Traditionally it was held in Ventaine. The wind was quite strong and the water was choppy and so I finished 11th overall. To sum up I need to train more in high wind conditions.

Afterwards BC Lithuania took place in Ventaine, but I didn't participated because I had been ill at that moment.

Then we went to Salacgriva, Latvia to participate in Baltic Cup Latvia. I can say that there was a very bad place to organise such event. The sea bottom was covered with huge rocks and you could easily brake your fin by hitting them, luckily I got off cheap - with a few scratches on my fin. 3 heats were completed and I finished 27th overall - 10 positions better than the year before.. The main problem was fear to step into side foot straps, I used chicken strap instead. The solution of the problem - training in the sea where the big waves are.
Equipment: SB HWR and Severne CODE RED 10.0

Later New Vision Cup was held in Nida, but I was already on the way to Sardegna.

European Youth championship was one of the most important events for me last year. In Junior category I finished the first and in youth division I was 7th. The results are good, but they could be even better if I had managed to start OK in all heats. I felt lack of competition experience during this event.

Equipment: SB HWR, Severne CODE RED 10.0

In August me and my friend went to Allegro Deski Cup in Poland. This competition was probably the biggest disappointment of the year. During the training day, I have crashed my board, but I haven't noticed that until the next morning. I have unsuccessfully tried to repair it. So I borrowed a SB 158. But despite the fact that I was using a new board I have still made too much mistakes.

Baltic Cup Tallinn. The toughest competition of the year. Windsurfing in over 25knots conditions with 2meters high waves is challenging, FW in such conditions is insane. But we were doing this. I managed to finish 3 races of 4, but I was still happy that I have finished them at all. I won BC Tallin Junior and Youth categories, cause of nobody else were participating in races due to extreme conditions. And I won BC overall U17 class.
Equipment: SB HWR and Gaastra GTX 8.5

The last but not the least FW competition in 2010 was the 'Last thunder' competition which took place in Kaunas. The conditions were very unstable and light - lucky day for me. I used up my chance and completed the race in 3rd position.
Equipment: SB HWR Severne CODE RED 10.0

Conclusion
This FW season was good to me. In the beginning of it I have decided to train formula in high winds and that really helped me. Actually I trained formula windsurfing very much and you can see this in my results. I moved up from 12th position in 2009 into 6th position in 2010 in Lithuania overall year FW rankings.
That's about FW. Next article will be about Slalom.