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Presented by North Sails
Headline Robby Seeger is the King of the Lake 1998!
20 June 1998, "King of the Lake" day: All morning thousands of
spectators are taking the free shuttle buses and boats to see one of most spectacular
windsurf events of the year. The Red Bull King of the Lake brings a new swing back into
the windsurfing world and has led to a revival of flat water manoeuvres - Soul Surfing.
The combination of sport, excitement, music, party all mixed at a stunning location like
Hotel Pier this year has definitely convinced competitors, thousands of spectators, many
journalists and TV crews from all over the world. Precisely at 12:00 h the first of the last 4 heats in the single elimination is started. Björn Dunkerbeck, Jason Polakow, Lars Pedersen and Alex Humpel show their best in the 10 min heat. Unfortunately Dunkerbeck is late and misses at least 4 minutes of his heat – 4th place in the end. Alex Humpel and Jason Polakow in the end show the most impressive manoeuvres and move on to the next round. Robby Naish, Ossi Krupitz, Jason Stone and Jesse Dossi are next. Robby starts off with his “Gizz” and headdip. Stone obviously likes the cheering crowd and does a Willy Skipper so close to the spectators that he actually touches the wall of the pier. Naish shows the air jibe Volcano and the crowd goes off. Naish wind the heat and moves on. Nik Baker, Alex Humpel and Josh Stone compete in the next heat, the semi-finals. The wind is great and we see many Spin Lopps, Willy Skipper, Slides and sail pirouettes. Again Stone plays with the crowd and touches the wall of the pier. In the end the Jury judges Baker to win this heat and move on to the finals. The high-light of the day is the grande finals. Who is going to be crowned tonight at the Party? Robby Naish? Robby Seeger? Jason Polakow? Nik Baker? The music is blasting full volume as all four of them are going off. Soon it becomes clear that the heat is between the two Robbys: Seeger and Naish. Naish does two perfect Air Jibe Volcanos but Seeger is attacking: Backloop Clew first – on flat water! And another one! Perfect Willy Skippers, Spin Loops, Inside-The-Boom, you name it. Everything is perfectly executed. The five Judges discuss for at least ten minutes – a tough decision. In the end Robby Seeger wins this heat. But he is not yet the King of the Lake!
Now it is getting really exciting and you can feel the suspense. Craning necks, clapping to the beat, thousands of people wait for the Jury to announce the Super-Final: Josh Stone is challenging Seeger! Stone is much lighter than the muscular Seeger. Can he use his advantage in the lighter winds? We'll see. Robby loses his first Willy Skipper... nerves? No. Both fight like hell! Robby jumps onto the Red Bull buoy, 15 seconds later Josh shows the same stunt. Both get really close to the walls of the pier and the crowd goes off! Then Robby shows a new trick, a clew first jump tack and right after a really spectacular 360 aerial. Finally the results are announced: Robby Seeger is the new King of the Lake 1998! Final Results Red Bull King of the Lake 1998 Preliminary Final Results: 1 Seeger Robby RRD, Simmer Style 2 Stone Josh F2, Neil Pryde 3 Naish Robby Mistral, Naish Sails 4 Polakow Jason JP, Neil Pryde 5 Dunkerbeck Björn F2, Neil Pryde 6 Wolf Andy F2, Neil Pryde 7 Baker Nik Gaastra, Toyota 8 Humpel Alex JP, Neil Pryde 9 Krupitz Ossi F2, Arrows 10 Garcia Antonio F2, Neil Pryde 10 Petersen Lars Mistral, Neil Pryde 10 Dossi Jesse Mistral, North Sails 13 Holmberg Mathias Mistral, North Sails 13 Perez Marcos Mistral, North Sails 13 Niedner Fred Mistral, North Sails 13 Paul Roger 17 Wiefling Wolfgang F2, Neil Pryde 17 Siver Levi Hi-Tech, Neil Pryde 19 Migliorini Paolo JP, Arrows 19 Ordonez Sean Quattro, North Sails 19 Rosati Andrea RRD, Neil Pryde 19 Jensen Vidar Drops, North Sails 19 Schweiger Michael Mistral, Neil Pryde 19 Gusella Maurizio Quicksilver 25 Schichor Pascal 25 Scotto Valter QS Sails 25 Graupp Michael Mistral, North Sails 25 Joly Pascal Fanatic, ART 25 Chismar Steve Surf Magazine 25 Keller Markus Mistral, North Sails 31 Lewisch Frank Starboard, Gaastra 31 Grünberger Guido 31 Guenaoui Murad 31 Wohlschläger Markus 31 Kandlhofer Sandy Neil Pryde 31 Biondani Paolo RRD, Sailworks 37 Comerlati Alessandro F2, Neil Pryde 37 Stone Jason Tiga, Neil Pryde 37 Silgoner Michael 37 deZwart Bart F2, North Sails 37 Steffan Beat Bull Sails 37 Vogt Peter North Sails 43 Hopf Aaaron 43 Hetzmannseder Markus 43 Briscoli Alex Mistral, Naish Sails 43 Guthweniger Uli 43 Garsperini Raimondo Hot Sails, Margi 43 Robert Sand JP, North Sails
The RED BULL King of the Lake is supported by: Red Bull North Sails Mistral Surfers Magazin MB ProCenter The Wave |
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The wind keeps on blowing and
the double-elimination runs well. Many great windsurfers have still the chance to throw
Robby Seeger off the throne! In the quarter-finals of the double-elimination Nik Baker,
Josh Stone, Björn Dunkerbeck and the young German Andy Wolf give it a go! Björn shows
high spin loops, one-handed body drags but the wind dies down a little and in the end Josh
Stone’s stylish sailing and Björn move on to the semi finals where they
meet Robby Naish and Jason Polakow. High-speed manoeuvres become more and more difficult.
The participants switch over to stylish pirouettes and board tricks. Hey this is Freestyle
after all! And there you go again: Naish does a Volcano, Björn a one-handed body drag.
Polakow a Willy Skipper into a 360 and Stone a duck-jibe into 360 reversed.