Defi Wind | Gruissan 2010
15 May 2010
Day One at Gruissan, Defi Wind!
James Dinnis arrived in Marseille after a bruising trip from New Plymouth, New Zealand – Auckland – LA (via Venice beach??) – Munich then on to Marseille. Like any good travel story this one had its dramas from the start. The Premium Air New Zealand check-in was the site of the last minute repacking of 217kg of gear all destined for a one way trip to France. As always the Air NZ guys were rockstars. 36 hours later Team Carbon Art arrived in France to be met by team rider Vincent only to find none of the gear had arrived...
Long story short one van left from Paris a few hours later for a 10 hour drive to Gruissan and another came over from Germany. With a few hours to spare it all arrived in time for the start of Day One.
Day One was mainly about the set up with a briefing at 1pm and a race at 3pm. Unlike last year there’s a real buzz in the air in anticipation of some serious wind. It’s been two years that the event hasn’t happened and getting to race was the main objective of many of the participants. Carbon Art is still a growing brand in France but the buzz is definitely growing and some of the gear we left hear last year came with some fantastic feedback.
It was also great to see some of the old friends from last year and hear some of their stories. There’s nothing like being on the shop floor and hearing what people think – both good and not so. Dramas galore on the water once the racing started. James only just made the start line having forgotten to don his event vest and managed get involved in some board-on-board collision action but his board came out on top.
See Anton’s sessions here and here for the real dirt on the race.
A quiet beer and dinner in town for the team – some of the rarest steaks we’ve ever seen, a red wine from Chardonnay (??) and then an earlyish night in anticipation of another great day.
Would you like to comment, then please create a topic on the forum, or reply to one already in discussion. Thank you.
Powered by eZ Publish. Website design and development by Quiqcorp Limited.
Language:
