Andre Paskowski puts his new Fanatic kit through its paces at Jeri. Pic: Axel Reese

New Signings – January’s typical transfer flurry kicks off…

The beginning of the year never fails to throw up interesting activity as riders change brands and top manufacturers acquire new talent.

Here’s a round up of the hottest news so far:

Fanatic have bolstered their strong freestyle team by signing German Freestyle talent Andre Paskowski from F2, and Swiss lady Laure Treboux who’s left Naish.

Fanatic Brand Manager Craig Gertenbach stated that ‘With Laure onboard, our girls team with Nayra Alonso and Yoli De Brendt is stronger than ever…Andre is one of the world’s best Freestylers and a close friend and training partner with our 2007 PWA Freestyle Vice Champ Gollito Estredo.

‘At the moment the two of them are training together in El Yaque and are planning lots of new projects together. Laure and Andre, both fit really perfectly into our team and show the youthful enthusiasm for windsurfing that our sport thrives upon’

Andre Paskowski commented that ‘At Fanatic the atmosphere between riders and management is very good. They’re famous for their young team, plus of course excellent wave and freestyle boards, so all in all I thought I would fit perfectly into the set-up.’

An excited Laure Treboux, who finished 3rd overall in Freestyle in 2007, has been training hard in Western Australia during the off-season. She said ‘Fanatic simply make awesome boards, and have a great image and a young dynamic team that I’m really proud to be part of.’

Rumour has it Andre will be trying his hand at some PWA Slalom events too this coming season and that Laure will also be entering the Women’s wave tour in 2008.

Laure, 24, has also signed onto North sails after a successful few seasons using Naish rigs. Alexander Hasch, the North Sails Marketing Manager spoke positively about the deal, which is a great sign of the growing importance of the women’s sport.

‘We are truly excited to have such a world-class sailor on our team. Laure’s a good character and shows a lot of potential in waves too, plus of course she’s definitely a hot candidate for the freestyle world title too.’

Douglas Diaz (North) and Remko de Weerd (Gaastra) will be leaving the Fanatic team.

You can also view Laure and Andre’s profiles at the North and Fanatic websites.

Laure enjoying her
new toys in WA

All smiles for Laure

Andre gets to grip with the new Skate
Pics courtesy Axel Reese

A fresh start in 2008 for Andre
Pics courtesy Axel Reese

Other whispers indicate that Ben Van Der Steen (Exocet) has left Naish sails and will ride with Simmer sails on the 2008 Slalom and wave circuits.

Simmer have also sealed a deal with promising youngster and freestyle specialist Edvan Souza of Brazil.

Quatro boss Keith Teboul has left the Simmer Style camp after many years of quality wave sailing service.

MauiSails also report that Kevin Pritchard (Starboard) has left the company. (SEE: http://www.boards.co.uk/main/article.asp?a=2542 for full story)
We’ll bring you more news on the latest deals as we hear about them.