The ION Naval force fought very well this season on various battlefields. The weapons they used were very special ones: Style, technique, speed and a little luck from time to time. Usually the ION international team made a clean sweep and walked away leaving the others defeated…

Of course it wasn’t a war and the weapons aren’t very harmful. But throughout history, humans always competed, to find out who was the best among them.

So do the windsurfers and kiterboarders.
ION windsurfing will be the first object of our little 2009 contest summary.
The first names I connect with ION and windsurfing are Gollito Estredo and Marcilio Browne. Both of them competed in the PWA Freestyle World Cup. At the beginning of the season it was clear that there will be a fierce battle between the two best freestylers. In 2007 it was Marcilio who won over Gollito with a glimpse, so Gollito was willing to do whatever whatever there was to win the 2008 Freestyle World Cup. With Gollito and Macrcilio competing fiercely against each other there was no room for anyone else. The last PWA Tour stop brought the decision. As you might have read it was Gollito, who secured the PWA Feestyle Crown.
Sure as hell Freestyle wasn’t the only discipline, where the ION Windsurf team walked away with good results. We couldn’t snatch another title, but nevertheless ION riders pushed their limits and climbed up a few steps on the ladder. Take wave rider Klaas Voget. He finished 17th in the 2007 overall ranking. This year Klaas showed what he was really made of and pused his own limit a long way further, finishing 6th in the overall ranking.

Our Slalom expert Cyril Moussilmani did a little better this year as well. He managed to go a little faster and took home 5th place in the overall ranking.

The ION kitesurfing team had an excellent season as well. Spanish freestyle rider Ceasr Portas managed to ride consistently through the whole season, which brought him a 8th place in the overall PKRA ranking. The freestyle tour was a bit of a problem for the ION team, since there was no one, who was able to put Aaron and Kevin to a tough test. In 2009 young German talent Mario Rodwald will challenge the established PKRA riders. With incredible style he rode six out of the ten tour stops in 08 and ended up 17th. Pretty good result, if you consider, that he only had 6 chances to score points.

In the women’s Freestyle world cup Elena Pitoulis did a good job and finished 7th.
Considering podium places and overall standings the wave rippers and the course racers deserve some credit. Sky Solbach, course racer and wave ripper in one person scored a few podium places in 08. His 5th place at the PKRA Wave Masters in Chile was definitely one of the best results.

The PKRA course racing tour was one of the highlights for ION this year. Charles Deleau showed his excellent racing skills at every tour stop. In the end he went away with the crown aka first place in the PKRA ranking. Sean Fearly from Mexico finished 2nd and German speed pioneer Dirk Hanel was happy to score 4th.

As everyone likes to go really fast it is no wonder that kitesurfers began to search for the ultimate speed rush. Alexandre Caizergues showed that there is no need for monstrous engines with limitesless horsepower and fuel consumption to reach high speeds.
Alex set a new record for wind powered vehicles on the water. He managed to break through the 50 knots barrier.

Last but not least the wakeboarders deserve to be mentioned as well. The ION cable division consists of Rene Conrad, Daniel Wehmann, Benny Sae-Chong, Sandro Reinhardt, Sebastian Thums, Patrick Schmidt, Hermann Paulitsch, Stefan Lebwohl and Vanessa Pfaff.
Since there is no real international wakeboard cup series the wakeboarders compete in European cup series hosted by the ECWT.
Rene Conrad took home a few podium places including a first place at the ECWT stop in Belgrad. In the End he got the crown in the overall European ranking. Daniel Wehmann is the new German Cable wakeboard Champion. German Wakeskater Sandro Reinhardt started in the Austrain wake cup and showed the Austrians that Germans can pull kickflips as well. He won two tour stops and finished third in the end.
2008 was a very successful year for the ION team. We hope that there will be even more to write about in 09.