Under 13's Slalom Vice World Champion

The IFCA Prokids and Masters Slalom World Championships were held in Curacao between 19 and 24 April 2011.

We have just come home following the Awards Presentation tonight. It was a well organised event and we had a great time. The people of Curacao have been really welcoming and friendly.

Alex Halank (9 years old) represented Australia and has become the 2011 under 13s Vice World Champion!

Alex was the youngest competitor at the event. There were insufficient competitors in his age division (under 11s) so he competed in the higher age division and was up against 12 year old windsurfers. The standard was very high and the older kids were holding 5.8 metre sails (Alex's biggest sail is a 4.2 Severne Code Red).

Curacao is normally windy this time of year but unfortunately we ended up with very little for this event. Alex achieved 2nd place in light wind gusty conditions. The forecast for the final day was for 19-21 knots and Alex was looking forward to challenging the leader of the first heat on more equal grounds when he would presumably drop down to a similar sail size. He also wanted to win the title using his Carbon Art slalom board. But it was not to be, the forecasted wind never came and they were not able to hold any more racing today.

We were very proud of him though and it is a very good result considering the standard and that he had to compete against much larger/older competitors.

Brillant Alex, whats next Ledge to Lancelin race?? im heading across for a few weeks for it...cant wait.

Legendary result Alex