Dan Ellis at Slalom Euros

Dan Ellis flies the flag at the Jim beam European Slalom Championships kicking off today in Alacaty Turkey. Armed with Fanatic Falcon's and Naish Stealth's he will be fighting for the €15,000 prize fund and to add the European Title to his 2005 Asian title.

To prepare for the event Dan has been training with Fanatic team mate Arnon Dagan (ISR 1 Fanatic, Neil Pryde, Red Bull, No Fear, Deboichet) who is also previous vice slalom world champion. They arrived in Alacaty a couple of days ago to find perfect flat water slalom conditions. For the Championship you can use 2 boards and 4 sails and over the past 2 days they have been going through their quivers to find the perfect combinations to cover the 11-30 knot predicted winds.

Up against them are some of the best slalom racers in the world including Dan's Naish team mate and the fastest windsurfer on earth, Finian Maynard (KV-11, F2, Naish Sails). The Italian Champion Andrea Cucchi (ITA-1, Starboard, Neil Pryde). Ben van der Steen (NED-57, Exocet, Neil Pryde) and Sam Island (Starboard Neil Pryde) from Canada.

Running alongside the windsurfing and making up the Surf'n'Sound sport and music festival Alacaty Beach club are hosting a whole week of activities, with music, Motor X, skate BMX shows and a whole host of other stuff going on. Dan will be keeping us updated over the next few days so tune back in to get the latest and go to the Live webcast on Euro-cup.org