Course Racing
The mandatory riders meeting was held at 9:00 am and the first course racing
event of the leg got started half an hour later. The course racers started
out on their 14’s and 12’s because of light to moderate wind conditions
with the second race experiencing more wind. Sami Gali (Best, Spain) won
both races and is continuing to give the other top-ranked racers a run for
their money. The Spanish racer got a lucky break at the second race where he
looked like he was coming in 3rd right before Sean Farley (North, Mexico)
and Ken Winner (North, US) got tangled at the windward mark just before the
run to the finish. Bruno Sroka (Takoon, France) managed to come in 3rd and
5th in the first and second race respectively, a slightly poor performance
compared to his feat at Fuerteventura.
Kristin Boese (Best, Germany) beat Spanish racer and teammate Gina Esteva in
the second race after a switch to a twin tip. After close racing the first
lap, Esteva got to the upwind mark first yet again but this time, missing
the layline several times because of strong current which played havoc with
picking the laylines and gave the racers quite an effort to get through,
both for the men and women.
Just after the second race was concluded at 11:00 am, the rain decided to
make its presence known with strong periods of downpours. The mens freestyle
trials kicked off at about 12:00 pm but at one point during the freestyle,
the race director postponed a heat to let a passing monsoon move through
since visibility was down to zero. The wind peaked just after the rain and
started to calm for the rest of the freestyle event . By the time the
freestyle started, the competitors had already rigged down to their 9’s
then down to their 7’s but still overpowered with the cold strong wind.
Course Racing Standings:
Men:
1st - Sami Gali (Best, Spain) – 2.8 Points
2nd - Sky Solbach (North, US) – 9 Points
3rd – Ken Winner (North, US) – 14 Points
Women:
1st – Gina Esteva (Best, Spain) – 4.4 Points
2nd – Steph Bridge (North, UK) – 8.7 Points
3rd – Kristin Boese (Best, Germany) – 8.7 Points
Men’s Freestyle
Germany’s Jan Schiegnitz (Liquid Force), Bas Koole (Best Netherlands), and
Belgium’s Leander Vyvey (JN Kites) and Christophe Tack (Slingshot) had to
ride their heats and qualify, but one rider was lucky as his opponent
withdrew.
The Freestyle main event started at 14:30h with Julian Hosp (Rodwy, Austria)
getting a taste of the leg’s first defeat in heat #1b courtesy of the
Italian stallion Alberto Rondina (Cabrinha). Although Hosp landed a mobe
blind judge, mobe and slim, he lacked trick variation and was a little down
at technical difficulty. Ruben Lenten (Slingshot, Netherlands) swept Spanish
rider Alex Pastor (Naish) in the third heat with powered moves and stomping
all his landings clean. Better luck next time for Pastor who will surely be
getting his revenge in the doubles.
German champion Mario Rodwald (Carved) and a St. Peter-Ording local bowed
down to a motivated and determined Kevin Langeree (Naish, Netherlands) in
the 4th heat. Freshly hot off from two consecutive wins, the Dutch rider is
ready to make a move to tour leader and has his eyes on unseating current
world champ Aaron Hadlow. Meanwhile, Mallory De La Villemarque (North,
France) was in shock after an early loss and loosing to German rider
Sebastian Bubmann (Flysurfer) with a foil kite. The French kiteboarder
struggled to land his moves while Bubmann threw down some big kiteloops, a
slim, blind judge and a 313.
Heat #5b proved to be a crowd pleaser once again courtesy of Paul
“cannonball” Caswell (Cabrinha, US) but in a 3-0 judges decision, Randy
Heremann (F-One, Netherlands) took out the pre-seeded rider. With an
excellent tuck and ball-busting explosion, Caswell livened up the crowd and
got them cheering. The Germans are not an easy crowd to please and against
the trend of “German humor – it’s no laughing matter”, Caswell got
them to ever so slightly crack a smile.
Another notable performance but on the down side was seen in heat #7a
courtesy of Rocky Chatwell (Crazyfly, US) who went down against Germany’s
Silvester Ruckdaschel (F-One) in a run of bad form. Chatwell struggled to
land his moves in the slightly gusty cross to cross-offshore wind like De La
Villemarque did. Ruckdashel however, managed to land a 313, pete rose, and
slimchance to run away with the win. In the same heat, Austria’s Michael
Schitzhofer (Naish) took out “coolmeister” Koole, while in the ensuing
heat, Sweden’s Mikael Blomvall (JN-Kites) who was back on form after a
couple of poor showings defeated German and Naish rider Rick Jensen to set
up a bout with Hadlow. Rui Meira (Naish, Portugal) on the other hand, ended
Rondina’s chance for the podium in a 2-1 judges decision in heat #9a.
Langeree continued his charge in heat #10b by easily taking out newbie Marc
Jacobs (North, New Zealand). A recent North team inductee, Jacobs has plenty
to learn about the ‘big times’ but has the skills coming in to take down
big names with the right focus and training. Langeree meanwhile, filled the
judges sheets with solid, powered moves while Jacobs went for the big
scoring tricks and extra difficulty but failed to get a few tricks under his
belt.
In heat #11b Cesar Portas (North, Spain) ended Russian Petr Tyushkevich’s
bid for the top spot. While neither rider landed anything super technical,
they both had good level tricks but Portas had more variation which proved
to be the winning edge in this heat. In the next heat, Ruckdaschel also
ended Schitzhofer’s run with more power and lower kite angle but both
riders landed some very good moves. Ruckdaschel landed a mobe, hasselhoff,
313 and slim against the Naish rider’s slim, 313 and a mobe 5 but with
higher kite angle. Meanwhile, Aaron Hadlow (Flexifoil, UK) took to the
waters and managed to stomp enough powered and technical tricks to take out
Blomvall. The young British lad landed a massive 313, slim, mobe, switched
back to blind airpass, and a blind judge with aerial handle pass against
Blomvall’s not quite as powered slim, mobe, blind judge with aerial handle
pass and KGB.
In the 13th heat, opening up the quarter finals were Alvaro Onieva (Best
Spain) against Portugal’s Rui Meira (Niash). Onieva blasted out of the
gates with a mobe and front mobe. Meira looked a little rattled by the cold,
missing a few early moves and struggling to regain determination, missing
several landings and on dropping the bar in a bar-pass move, he threw his
hands up in dismay. In contrast, Onieva was a man on a mission with a fiery
eye after several previous good performances. He landed a big 313, mobe to
wrapped, front mobe, a backside 360 off the small chop rolling in and a
slim, easily taking the win and moving into the semi-final.
In the second set of the 13th heat, Langeree barely took down Lenten with a
close 2-1 decision. In another sheet filling heat, Langeree and Lenten went
trick for trick watching each other on the course. Langeree has come on
leaps and bounds this year, riding with his kite lower and more and more
power while Lenten has relied on his powered style over technical
difficulties but that one factor was the one missing today against his match
with Langeree.
The first stretch of the semi-final round was an all or nothing battle
between Langeree and Onieva who both gave their best performances in an
awesome display of kiteboarding mastery. The clincher for Langeree was a
smoother style and riding flair plus performing tricks with more speed and
power. Although Onieva put up a great fight, the battle proved to be
Langeree’s heat and perhaps Langeree’s day, landing a huge KGB, front
mobe, 313, blind judge with aerial handle pass, mobe 5, late pass mobe,
switched back to blind airpass and buttchecking a heelside backroll with a
frontside 7 passing the bar in the air and a front mobe 5. In fairness,
Onieva tried his best with a mobe, slim, mobe to wrapped, front mobe, big
kiteloop handle pass, and a switched. The second match of the semis was a
giveaway with Hadlow providing more superior with more technically difficult
and powered moves against Portas.
Meanwhile, settling for the third podium position, Onieva landed a huge 313,
mobe 5, switched KGB, blind judge with aerial handle pass, s-bend to blind
with aerial handle pass and front mobe to beat Portas’ mobe 5, blind judge
with aerial handle pass and backside 360. Portas decided to use a smaller
kite, in the fluctuating winds, so he was underpowered while Onieva kept
using the same kite. A wise move as it turned out, even though the rain
poured down, the wind strength stayed the same so Onieva was more equipped
to rip up the heat.
In the men’s final round, the more focused and determined rider on tour,
Langeree has been nipping at the heels of Hadlow. Portugal and Fuerteventura
proved to be game boosters for Langeree which has given him the edge and he
is now more comfortable in the finals and not always playing catch up but
taking control. Filling the judges sheet with 16 technically difficult and
powered moves including a huge 313 and blind judge with aerial handle pass,
KGB, front mobe, late pass mobe, slim, switched KGB and mobe 5, Langeree did
not give in once and would not die wondering if he didn’t give it his best
– hence, winning the singles event. Still performing well with natural
talent and a little extra hardwork, Hadlow must now also bring the mental
side of the sport back into play and regain focus, as Langeree is proving to
be a strong and dangerous opponent. Hadlow landed a mobe, non-inverted slim
kiteloop 540, non-inverted slim front mobe and a blind judge with aerial
handle pass to settle for second.
Women’s Freestyle
In the first heat, former world champ and Germany’s Kristin Boese (Best)
went up against Jalou Langeree (Naish, Netherlands) and claiming the win
even though Langeree gave a great effort. In the 2nd heat, Pauline Boussard
(F-One, France) lost to another German rider Nina Schumacher (Naish) with a
big kiteloop and huge jumps. In the 4th heat, British racer and freestyler
Steph Bridge (North) took out German women champ Sabrina Lutz with a few
huge kiteloops and surface passes.
In the second round, Boese’s experience pays off with a win over Karolina
Winkowska (Naish, Poland). Boese went to her usual bag of tricks including a
raley to blind, front to blind and indy tantrum winning the heat over
Winkowska’s blind judge and 313 moves who came unstuck on most attempts.
In the 6th heat, a battle of the North ladies ensued with Ania Grzelinska
(Poland) winning against Spain’s Angela Peral with a raley to blind, back
to blind and kiteloop. Likewise in heat #7a, new school meets old school
with Best kiteboarders Bruna Kajiya (Brazil) against Boese with the 20-year
old Brazilian winning with powered blind judge airpasses. The same story
went between Gisela Pulido (Slingshot, Spain) and Grzelinska in the second
set of the same heat. A series of air pass moves, slim, blind judge and mobe
sealed the win for the young Spanish champ.
In the women’s freestyle final round and the battle for third spot,
Grzelinska barely made it to the podium in a close heat but 4-1 judge’s
decision against Boese. A raley to blind, big kiteloop-frontloop and a back
to blind in the dying seconds were the winning combination that secured her
the number 3 spot. Boese on the other hand, landed a front to blind and pop
to blind but did not display enough riding power as that of Grzelinska.
After winning two straight heats, Kajiya’s luck finally ran out, snapping
her bar at the end of the semi-final. After quickly rigging up a new one she
immediately stomped a big blind judge in the opening minute and a sweet
raley to blind but crashed her non-inverted slim and s-bend to blind with
air pass attempts and had to settle for second. Pulido landed a slim, handle
pass, 313, blind judge and front mobe to take the win in a 5-0 call.
Congratulations to Kevin Langeree and Gisela Pulido. The mandatory riders
meeting tomorrow is at 10:00 in the morning with a first possible start at
10:30.
Freestyle Single Elimination Results:
Men:
1st – Kevin Langeree (Naish, Netherlands)
2nd – Aaron Hadlow (Flexifoil, UK)
3rd – Alvaro Onieva (Best, Spain)
Women:
1st – Gisela Pulido (Slingshot, Spain)
2nd – Bruna Kajiya (Best, Brazil)
3rd – Ania Grzelinska (North, Poland)
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