After the course racing, the competition went on to the men’s trials then the drawing of the competition ladder. One notable stand out from the trials was tour newcomer and recent North Young Blood camp winner Marc Jacobs (New Zealand) who had an awesome heat and secured a place in the main event.
The wind gradually increased phase as the men’s freestyle event got under way under choppy water at exactly 1:30 pm which made for some challenging conditions. First up were young rider Madison Van Heurck (Naish, USVI) and Gleb Ogar (North, Russia) in heat #1. Ogar won with a blind judge and slim claiming the heat over a frazzled Van Heurck who struggled to land his moves in the gusty winds and chops. In the same heat, rookie Marc Jacobs (North, New Zealand) defeated Carved rider Philipp Brueckmann (Germany) with a blind judge with aerial handlepass, s-bend to blind with airpass, 313, kiteloop handlepass, slim and mobe. Jacobs displayed more technical difficulties, variety and power to pass on to the next heat. His opponent, Brueckmann landed a slim, mobe, blind judge with aerial handlepass and kiteloop handlepass. In heat #2, Alvaro Onieva (Best, Spain) who missed the Portugal round defeated another North rider Pedro Bueno (Brazil) who seemed to have ran out of “bueno�� in this heat while Boris Ogar (Ripcurl, Russia) won his heat against yet another North rider, Tom Court (United Kingdom) before eventually bowing down to ace kitesurfer Onieva in their battle in heat #9.
Meanwhile, Rui Meira (Naish, Portugal) won his first battle of the day against Swede Mikael Blomvall (JN Kites) in heat #3. On a borrowed board, Blomvall had trouble stomping his moves while Meira blew up and stomped several powered moves, including a blind judge with aerial handlepass, front mobe, mobe, kiteloop handlepass and KGB. Likewise, British Lewis Crathern crushed his opponent Brazilian Reno Romeu as Romeu joined his other North teammates in an odd loosing streak. With the kite almost on the water, Crathern landed a slim, raley to blind and a big kiteloop handlepass. Romeu went for several moves stomping a slim and blind judge but crashed several moves searching for that extra power.
In the fourth heat, current PKRA world number 2 Kevin Langeree (Naish, Netherlands) yet again displaying his awesome kiteboarding talent defeated British Ali Barrett (Turbulence). South African Tie Niehaus also had his share of win for the day by edging Airush rider Rolf Van Der Vlught (Netherlands) in their battle in the same heat.
The next match up paired Cesar Portas (Spain, North) against Advance Kite rider Tijn Van Esch (Netherlands). Van Esch was no match against the supremacy of Portas in the water as the Spanish rider showed the young Dutch rider what it takes to be one of the top PKRA riders. At the same time, Michael Schitzhofer (Naish, Austria) defeated Jo Ciastula (Airush, Spain) in their match in the same heat. Ciastula’s return was short-lived courtesy of Schitzhofer who rode in blazing style, landing a regular and switch slim, mobe, kiteloop handlepass, blind judge, 313, and hasselhoff against Ciastula’s slim and blind judge. Mallory De La Villemarque (North, France) defeated Austrian Julien Hosp (O’Neill) in their match in heat #6. De La Villemarque rode strong with several technical and powered moves landing a regular and switch hasselhoff, slim, mobe, kiteloop-backloop and KGB. Hosp on the other hand, nailed a regular and switch mobe, a blind judge with aerial handlepass and slim
but was not able to match the technical difficulty level and variety of his opponent’s moves. Alex Pastor (Naish, Spain) added one more North rider on the loser’s list in the person of Victor Adamo (Brazil) defeating him in the same heat.
The battle of the Dutch aces followed next in heat #7 where Ruben Lenten (Slingshot) went one-on-one with Randy Hereman (F-One) in a closely contested heat but emerged the winner in the end. American rider Rocky Chatwell (Crazyfly, US) bowed down to the riding superiority of Italian stallion Alberto Rondina (Cabrinha) even after having just two days rest fresh from the Portugal event. Rondina landed a regular and switch blind judge, slim, back to blind airpass, kiteloop-backloop against Chatwell’s sweet front mobe who had trouble in the gusty conditions. In the 8th heat of the day, current world champion Aaron Hadlow (Flexifoil, UK) had an easy win over Silvester Ruckdaschel (F-One, Germany). Hadlow was on fire with the high tide, boosting several moves near the judges tower and flew down the beach to stomp his landing, including a blind judge with aerial handlepass, kiteloop handlepass, back to blind airpass, slim and 313. Ruckdaschel meanwhile, landed a KGB, 313 and back to blind airpass but did not surpass Hadlow’s technical difficulties and variety. Meanwhile, tour veteran Paul Caswell (Cabrinha, US) was defeated by Petr Tyushkevich (Cabrinha, Russian Federation) in the same heat. Injured in Venezuela after a bad landing, Tyushkevich has been off the water for several months letting his ankle heal. After a month in Mauritius training up, he is back with a vengeance, landing a 313, blind judge, back to blind airpass, mobe and slim.
Heat #9 saw the two Ogars loose to different opponents with Gleb being defeated by Jacobs and Onieva defeating Boris with some sick moves including a huge mobe, L5 and blind judge with aerial handlepass and front mobe but hurt his shoulder in a big crash trying a slim but managed enough to take the win. Meira continued his winning streak by defeating Crathern in heat #10 landing more powered and technical moves including a mobe 5, back to blind airpass, 313, s-bend to blind airpass and front mobe. Crathern landed a powered blind judge with aerial handlepass and kiteloop but wasn’t enough to take the win. Langeree stopped Niehaus also in the same heat while Portas battled it out against Schitzhofer in a closely contested heat but eventually ended up in a 3-0 decision. Portas took the win with more powered riding, landing a big blind judge with aerial handlepass, slim, back to blind airpass with super low kite angle, a mobe and front mobe. Schitzhofer’s blind judge, regular and switch slim, front mobe, mobe and 313 were not enough to move him pass Portas. Pastor narrowly defeated De La Villemarque in the same heat with a 2-1 decision. He landed a mobe 7, a massive slim and front mobe and a big kiteloop-backloop against De La Villemarque’s slim, regular and switch mobe and blind judge. In the last heats of the day, Lenten and Hadlow both had easy wins against their opponents with Lenten landing some massive and powered moves against Rondina while Hadlow landed some powered moves without a sweat to beat Tyushkevich who struggled to match the height and speed of Hadlow’s moves.
In the women’s division, Karolina Winkowska (Naish, Poland) grabbed an early win against Greek rider Elena Pitoulis in the first heat. Jo Wilson also joined the band by winning against Spanish rider Laura Fernandez Dominguez (Cabrinha) in the same heat with some powered riding. A downloop-frontloop and sent handlepass was enough to take the win. Bruna Kajiya (Best, Brazil) defeated Johara Sykes-Davies (Flexifoil, UK) in an easy battle in the second heat. In the same heat, Jalou Langeree (Naish, Netherlands) proved no match against North rider Wiktoria Boszko (Poland) who won with more technical riding. A raley to wrapped and downloop raley was enough to take the win. In third heat, Ania Grzelinska won her match against Susi Mai (Cabrinha, Germany) with more technical difficulties and power but only after a re-run because of a tight battle resulting in a tie in the first run. Grzelinska won via a raley to blind, a big kiteloop raley, raley to wrapped and downloop raley over Mai’s raley to blind and front to blind. Angela Peral (North, Spain) got the better of Steph Bridge (North, UK) in their match in the same heat with an easy win. Pauline Boussard (F-One, France) took a win against Kari Schivebaag (Ozone, Norway) with more variety in the last heat of the day for the women.
The competition wrapped up at exactly 6:30 pm. Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is set at 10 am with first possible start at 10:30am.
The PKRA 2007 World Rankings can be viewed at www.kiteworldtour.com. For up-to-the-minute live results and travel information, logon to www.extremeelements.com. Fresh, HD-quality videos and highlights of the Fuerteventura PKRA Kiteboarding Grand Slam 2007 are available via YouTube at www.youtube.com/extremeelementstv.
or more information please visit or contact:
http://www.kiteworldtour.com
Paul Caswell
Media@pkra.info