After the mandatory riders meeting at 10:00 am, PKRA race director
Olaf Van Tol had to wait until about 11:00 am before finally announcing the
first possible start for the course racing event would be 11:30 am. However,
a mere fifteen minutes after the announcement, the wind subsided and the
competition went into another few hours of postponement. By 15:00h, the wind
finally gave enough strength to actually try for a race. Although the wind
was still considered very light, the mens race started off at approximately
15:30h but the guys had to tackle the course with double efforts as making
the starting line was a feat in itself since the light wind was straight
onshore.
About halfway through the mens race, race director Van Tol decided to
abandon the womens race due to the subsiding winds. However, since the men
were already halfway through their race, they were allowed to finish the
event although some of them who were not on large kites (16 m2 and up) found
themselves unable to finish the race. The others who were using small kites
decided not to finish as it will only prove futile to do so. In summary, it
was a day for the foil kites as Armin Harich (Flysurfer, Germany) finished
in 1st place with Sean Farley (North, Mexico) and Sami Gali (Best, Spain)
finishing in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.
The competition was officially called off at 17:30h when the wind went below
the PKRA standards. After the mandatory skippers meeting tomorrow at 8:00am,
the day will most likely start with the Boardercross competition to be
followed by the Freestyle double eliminations as the forecast seems
promising. It is very interesting to note that last year’s competition
here in Germany also had a 3-day straight of wind delay but the last two
days of the games proved to be the grand finale. It is almost sure that this
year’s event will also likely provide for a grand finale as the guys are
very much anxious to get in the water once again and compete for prestige
and over US$57,000 in prize money.
Be sure to tune-in to the official tv channel of the PKRA World Cup 2007 at
www.youtube.com/extremeelementstv. To keep yourself updated with
up-to-the-minute freestyle result as they happen on the waters, log on to
www.extremeelements.com and click the Live Results link. The Gard Kitesurf
World Cup 2007 is proudly sponsored by Gard, We Love Active Summer, TV
Today, Suzuki, Colgate, the St. Peter-Ording local government, Jever, Naish,
and Kitelife. For the official PKRA riders standings, point your browsers to
www.kiteworldtour.com.