The look back to 2011: Part 2

In the last post I've overviewed my FW sailing results. In this post I will talk a bit about Slalom and also compare my results to my pre-season forecasts.

The last season I concentrated on FW rather than on slalom. I've participated just in 4 local Slalom and 1 international competitions and I didn't spend much time training on it either. Nevertheless, I showed pretty good results, especially in light wind.

In the beginning of the season at VG Spring tour II we had light wind conditions and if you wanted to show good results you had to use a very big sail and board (9,7/121 or 8,4/117 like the first and second place winners did) or to pump as it was the race of your life (like I did after each jibe). Precise starting was very important too. I finished in 3rd place and I was very happy about it.

After one or two month we had a great competition in Nida, we had raced FW, Slalom and 1hour Slalom. In Slalom I was 5th - I got one OCS and I was arriving too early for every start - so it could have been better. But in one hour Slalom I was going super fast all the time. I was in Top 3 from the start to the finish. Just 2 guys managed to overtake me, thus I finished 3rd.The wind was blowing at about 7-9m/s and I am proud of my result at these condition.

The next step up on Slalom board was in Croatia, where I was totally concentrated on FW and Slalom was just for fun. Surprisingly in one elimination I got into finals and managed to finish in 5th place.

And the last SL competition was Lithuanian championship in Ventaine, which greeted us with very strong winds. Unfortunately I wasn't as fast as old, big daddies and finished in a shameful 9th place.

All in all, I am standing in 6th place in Overall Lithuanian rankings and that's what my goal for the season was.  I rate this slalom season  - average.

What about pre-season Formula goals? They were:

1. TOP 5 overall ranking Lithuania
2. European championship 40-60th
3. Baltic cup overall 15-25th

My results:

1. Ranked Nr. 4 in Lithuania. 
• Even though I think that I should be 3rd, because Bures.lt team didn't took into account Kaunas season closing competition in which I was 2nd.
2. 47th in European championship. 

• At the beginning of the championship I though that I could be in TOP 30, unfortunately the conditions became very rough = not for me. I ended up being in the position that I forecasted myself in the beginning of the season.

1. Baltic cup overall 9th.

• I am very proud of this result, because I made a huge improvement from last year when I was around 21st place. In two out of three stages the winds were very strong - these conditions were not my strong side, anyway I in both of them I managed to finish in 14th place.

In conclusion I can proudly say that this FW season was one of the best in my windsurfing career, I have overbeared most of my goals and collected a lot of prizes.