Ruben Lenten (Slingshot, Netherlands) and Rui Meira (Naish, Portugal) were the first to test the winds going head to head in heat #9a. There would have been only one rider in the event who had his prayers answered with the strong winds, and that would have been Lenten, winning against Meira with more height and power in his moves, most notable of which is his unbelievable kiteloops. Level with his kite 10-meters up, Lenten glided in the landings and looped the kite one more time just to be sure he had speed
to ride away. In the same heat, Alvaro Onieva (Best, Spain) and Julian Hosp (Carved, Austria) both struggled in the strong winds but eventually, Onieva won with more technical moves including a blind judge and hasselhoff.
In the 10th heat, Spanish rider and crowd favourite Cesar Portas (North) went up against Reno Romeu (North, Brazil) in a closely contested battle. Portas landed a solid kiteloop/backloop, slim and blind judge beating Romeu’s slim, back to blind air pass and mobe. The score was even until the dying seconds of the game when Portas stomped a huge and powered mobe 5, winning the heat with more power. Meanwhile, Youri Zoon (Slingshot, Netherlands) chose not compete enabling Nick Jacobson to get another easy win and move into the third round.
Heat #11 saw local resident Mallory de la Villemarque (North, France) defeat German kitesurfer Phillipp Brueckman (Carved). Having the advantage of familiarity with Valdevaqueros beach, De La Villemarque stomped several powered and technical moves to beat the Carved rider. A slim, mobe and blind judge was enough to overpower Brueckman’s raley to blind and mobe. The
same heat also saw a smoking Kevin Langeree (Naish, Netherlands) shatter the performance of Joe Ciastula (Airush, Spain) with some of the biggest air tricks of the day following them up with a back to blind air pass, mobe 5, 313 and hasselhoff. Langeree won the heat with more height and technical moves against Ciastula’s solid rolls and grabs.
In the 12th heat, flyweight Madison Van Heurck (Naish, USVI) had some serious troubles keeping the board on the water at first. Luckily for this young rider, Rocky Chatwell (Crazyfly, US) had some line tangle issues and came late into the competition area where he also struggled to stay up with the strong winds and keep constant speed to load up for a trick. Van Heurck landed a few grabbed front rolls and some small jumps which were enough to win the round. In the second round of the same heat, current world number one Aaron Hadlow (Flexifoil, UK) defeated Mikael Blomvall (JN-Kites, Sweden) with a massive kiteloop in the start of the heat. He then continued to stomp several bar pass moves such as blind judge, back to blind air pass, mobe, front side 360 and to seal the win (and probably sending a message to Lenten), he landed a huge hooked to unhooked kiteloop/backloop 360. Blomvall
on the other hand, struggled on his 5-meter kite and only landed a sent handle pass and kiteloop.
Not to be outdone by the world champ as he has everyone’s numbers when it comes to riding in strong wind, Lenten put on a show that really had to be seen to be believed. In building wind conditions, he landed some of the biggest kiteloops ever winning over Onieva.
In the women’s single eliminations, Karolina Winkowska (Naish, Poland) struggled to keep the board down and edging but managed to land a few airs and grabs against her opponent Kari Schivebaag (Ozone, Norway) who landed several back and front rolls and some transitions to take the win. Meanwhile in the 5th heat, Gisela Pulido (Slingshot, Spain) went head to head with
Polish rider Wiktoria Boszko landing a few big airs with grabs, a kiteloop and some back and front rolls winning the heat with more height and power. Boszko landed a front roll and some hooked in front- and back to blind but she struggled to maintain power on a small kite plus high kite angle.
In the sixth and second last heat of the day, North girls Ania Grzelinska (Poland) and Angela Peral (Spain) had a nice match with Grzelinska winning with more power, variety and guts. She went for a few unhooked raleys and krypts, a few back and front rolls and in the last minute, a butt-checked but very powered and big kiteloop. Peral managed a back roll, raley and went for it at the end with a sent handle pass but lost the bar and crashed heavily. In the last heat of the day, Bruna Kajiya (Best, Brazil) defeated Jo Wilson (Nais, UK) with more powered riding. Wilson was slightly more technical with a back to toeside to surface pass but Kajiya was more powered in her tricks overall which gave her the advantage and the chance to move to the next round with Schivebaag.
Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is set for 10:00 am with first possible start at 10:30 am for the conclusion of the single eliminations round and the possible start of the double eliminations round.

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Paul Caswell