2013 PWA SYLT WORLD CUP WRAP UP

Kiri Thode and Antoine Albeau crowned the champions of the world

sThe 2013 GP Joule PWA Sylt World Cup proved to be a huge success once more as Sylt delivered five days of wind, which saw the men’s freestyle double elimination – dedicated to André Paskowski – completed, whilst five eliminations in the men’s slalom were also finished. The past ten days will remain in the memory of Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra) for the rest of his life, after the Bonairean finally realized his dream of becoming the PWA Freestyle World Champion, having come so close on many occasions before. Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) produced another fantastic display to not only claim the event victory, but also the 2013 PWA Slalom World Championship – back-to-back world titles for the Frenchman.
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ANGULO MOVES INTO FIRST AT THE PWA SYLT WORLD CUP

Day 5: The perfect day for Angulo as he storms to the top of the event rankings

The fifth day of the GP Joule PWA Sylt World Cup saw the wind return as a further two slalom eliminations were completed in chilly, but beautiful weather. The offshore winds made for tricky racing in 7-15 knots of breeze, but there were still some exhilarating battles over the course of the day. Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun Sails) continued his fantastic form this week as the secured another bullet and a second place to move to the top of the event rankings, whilst Alberto Menegatti (Starboard / Point-7) hit back in race four with his first race victory of the event.

Men’s Slalom

Elimination Three

Winners’ Final

Josh Angulo timed his start to perfection in the opening winners’ final of the day as he crossed the start line in first place. Angulo then built on his brilliant start as he held the lead ahead of Alberto Menegatti, Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde) and Kasper Larsen (Starboard / Loft Sails), whilst Cedric Bordes (Tabou / Gaastra) and Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) collided with each other, but both sailors did well to stay upright. Over the remainder of the course Angulo showed blistering speed and perfect gybes – which he pumped out of – to storm to his second victory of the week. Behind him Quentel once again demonstrated that he is one of the quickest sailors on the tour as he fought his way into second place, with Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Dagan completing the top four, leaving Menegatti to settle for fifth place.

Elsewhere in race three there were several upsets in the opening round – the first of which came in heat three as Jordy Vonk (Patrik / Loft Sails) – who was ninth at the beginning of the day – narrowly missed out on a place in the quarterfinals after finishing in fifth place, whilst Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne) was also knocked out. Heat four was eventually completed at the fifth attempt – after a combination of a false start and the wind dropping on several occasions – but in the end Finian Maynard (RRD / Avanti) and Ludovic Jossin (Patrik / Loft Sails) both took earlier than planned exits, whilst Chris Pressler (Starboard / Severne) did well to clinch the final qualifying place. The drama wasn’t finished there either as Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) also failed to escape from heat five, before Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Chris Benz / Dunkerbeck Eyewear) was disqualified for sailing in the wrong heat – heat seven when he was supposed to be in heat eight.

Further drama ensued in the opening semifinal as Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde) crashed into Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Loft Sails) on the exit of the third gybe – at the time both sailors were qualifying for a place in the winners’ final, but neither qualified after the collision – instead Julien Quentel and Peter Volwater (Fanatic / Avanti) benefitted as they finished in third and fourth place respectively.

Elimination Four

Winners’ Final

Josh Angulo made another blistering start to the second winners’ final of the day as he once again crossed the line in first place, however this time around he couldn’t quite hold his lead into the first mark as Alberto Menegatti came flying down the opening reach to take the lead ahead of Angulo, Steven Allen and Antoine Albeau. With clean wind and acres of clear water ahead of him, Menegatti extended his lead over the chasing pack to claim his first victory of the week, which moves him up to fourth place overall for the event. In the meantime Angulo cemented his place at the top of the rankings after finishing in second place with Albeau and Julien Quentel finishing third and fourth respectively.

Just as in race three there were further upsets in the first round of elimination four – firstly Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) failed to qualify from heat one. The Frenchman entered the first gybe in the lead, but after struggling to get back onto the place he ended up finishing in seventh place. Jordy Vonk, meanwhile, suffered his second first round exit of the day in heat two, whilst Ross Williams (Tabou / Gaastra) was also knocked out in heat three after catapulting and finishing in fifth place. Jimmy Diaz (Starboard / North) was the final upset in the opening round as he finished heat eight in sixth place.

The forecast for tomorrow is predicting strong winds, with gusts of up to 29 knots being predicted. With this in mind it looks as though the freestyle sailors will take center stage for the first time this week, depending how the conditions materialize, whilst there is still the potential for some high wind slalom as well. The skippers’ meeting for the freestyle and slalom fleets will be held at 10am with the action commencing at 10:30am, whilst the wave sailors will meet at 1pm. Don’t miss any of the explosive and radical action by tuning into the PWA livestream at www.pwaworldtour.com.

Results After Four Eliminations – Men’s Slalom

1st Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun Sails)

2nd Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde)

3rd Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)

4th Alberto Menegatti (Starboard / Point-7)

5th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne)

6th Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne)

7th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Loft Sails)

8th Micah Buzianis (JP / MauiSails)

9th Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Loft Sails / Mystic)

10th Matteo Iachino (F2 / Challenger / AL360)

PWA to Return to Hookipa

Press Release from the American windsurfing Tour

The right stuff for radical action at Hookipa!

The AWT is proud to announce the confirmation of the PWAs involvement in the 2013 JP Aloha Classic. For the first time in 7 years, the PWA World Tour will be back on Maui to put the world best windsurfers against some of the world’s best conditions. Taking off where it left off in 2006, the Aloha Classic will once again be supported by JP Australia, highlighting the unbreakable bond between the JP name and the world famous surf of Ho’okipa Beach Park.

Martin Brandner – Brand Manager, JP Australia

Our Slogan The Right Stuff for Radical Action matches perfectly with the image of Ho’okipa as one of the most radical wave spots on this planet. We did not have a PWA event on Maui since we sponsored the last Aloha Classic in 2006. So we at JP finally decided that it is time again that we step up and become the title sponsor and bring the best wave sailors back to Maui for a PWA competition. We are very proud that we can help to make this finally happening and we look forward to see the best and most radical wave riders perform in the prestigious Aloha Classic. Jason Polakow who was the first non-Hawaiian ever win in Ho’okipa will unfortunately not be able to compete as he has other commitments in an event on Mauritius but he will be attending the opening ceremony of the event and he will keep his fingers crossed for his JP team mates.

Building on the success of the AWT Makani Classic during 2011 and 2012, the JP Aloha Classic will bring together the burgeoning American Windsurfing Tour and the PWA World Tour for the first time. The PWA and AWT have been working tirelessly throughout the last 12 months to make this event a reality and the stage is now set for what promises to be a showdown on a titanic scale.

Sam Bittner – AWT Tour Director

Since we began the Makani Classic at Hookipa 2 years ago, our goal has been to build a bigger and better event which will bring more top level athletes to the event. The addition of the PWA to the line-up will add another level to an already great competition and we are happy to see the contest continue to develop.

Richard Page – PWA Tour Manager

Its great news for the tour and for the sport that we will finally be going back to Ho’okipa after 7 years and its fitting that we will be doing it with JP who have once again stepped up to cement their relationship with wave sailing at the highest level. We are grateful to Sam Bittner at the AWT for her support and efforts in building the foundations of the event through the Makani Classic and we are confident that this will be the start of strong future for PWA events on Maui.

The windsurfing world will finally get the match up they have been looking for as the Hookipa specialists and AWT regulars take on the best of the rest of the world. Legends in the sport such as Levi Siver and Josh Stone will throw down with tour regulars like Victor Fernandez, Ricardo Campello and, of course, current PWA Wave World Champion, the goliath that is Philip Koster, to finally decide who is the master on Maui.

The action will take place between the 24th October and 6th November. More information will be released over the next few days.