The voting is now open for the AWSI Windsurfer of the year. Head over to Windsport Magazine to watch the videos and vote for your favorite riders. The contenders are Levi Siver, Kai Lenny, Phil Soltysiak, Bernd Roediger, Fiona Wylde, Tyson Poor, Bryan Metcalf Perez, Marcillio Browne, and Camille Juban.
The 2013 Naish sail rage and new website is now live! You can check out the full sail range at naishsails.com/2013
Starboard has released 84 new models including the wave,freestyle, slalom, speed and freerace boards, plus a new interesting concept for the entry level, the Inflatable WindSUPs. Also check out the new Starboard website which launched today.
WEYMOUTH, England – If this truly was the end of windsurfing in the Olympics, it was definitely memorable.
Dorian Van Rijsselberge of the Netherlands exuberantly validated the men’s gold medal he had clinched days earlier, and Marina Alabau of Spain skimmed across the waves to win the women’s regatta Tuesday.
Windsurfing was removed from the lineup for the 2016 Rio Olympics in a vote in May, replaced by kiteboarding. The International RS:X Class Association filed a legal challenge last week against the International Sailing Federation. So to do your bit head over to change.org and sign the petition, it takes two minutes and could secure the Olympic dreams for many across the world.
Alabau got a regal send-off from her fellow Spanish sailors after coming ashore. As she stood on her board, they hoisted it on their shoulders and paraded her through the boat park. She held a bottle of Spanish sparkling wine in her left hand and waved the Spanish flag with her right. “It was the best of the week, for sure,” she said.
“Yeah, I think this was a mistake,” she said about windsurfing getting blown out of the games. “I think it will come back. This is my hope and this is what I think will be the right thing. I know how to kite and I will kite if they don’t give me another chance, but I love windsurfing.”
Van Rijsselberge agreed. “Of course it’s a sad thing,” he said. “Look at all the people here. Everyone is enjoying themselves. They come off the water with smiles on their faces.”
His gold medal already guaranteed, all Van Rijsselberge had to do was stay on his board and finish the final race.
He did much more than that, winning the medals race to clinch his gold in style.
After winning the race, the 6-foot-3 Van Rijsselberge climbed on top of the console on his coach’s boat and, hanging onto the pole that supports the weather vane, flashed the “hang loose” sign with his right hand. A large Dutch flag flew from the boat.
The Dutchman, who shaved his head just before the games began, said he wanted to do well in the final race.
“It was already in the pocket, but finishing it up like this and seeing everyone on the Nothe Course and them outroaring the British a little bit was a good thing for me, so why not?” he said. “I want to have a good feeling and I want to wrap it up nicely. It’s the medals race and you’ve got to race it. It’s the most important race, pretty much.”
Van Rijsselberge won six of the first nine races. His lead was so big that he sat out the 10th race.
Nick Dempsey of Britain took the silver and Poland’s Przemyslaw Miarczynski got the bronze.
With the race close to shore, Dempsey hopped off his board and greeted friends and family watching from Nothe Fort.
Alabau came into the medals race with a 14-point lead and preserved it by finishing first.
Tuuli Petaja of Finland jumped from third place overall to take the silver medal, thanks to a fourth-place finish in the medals race. Poland’s Zofia Noceti-Klepacka jumped from fifth overall to take the bronze.
The 2012 Quatro Desert Showdown has come to an end. The final came down to action packed match between Levi Siver, Camille Juban, Morgan Noireaux and Bernd Roediger. Noireaux and Roediger sailed well, but the two riders who used their wave knowledge to get the best waves were Siver and Juban. When the final horn sounded debates began on the beach as to who won? What would the judges decide? The winner was announced that night behind the bar at the SoloSports camp… Levi Siver! With conditions dwindling slightly on the final day and only enough time to get through a few rounds of the pro double elimination, the final result of the single elimination was upheld giving Siver his third AWT title of the season!
The week hosted by SoloSports Adventure Holidays in Punta San Carlos, Baja, Mexico. THE AWT would like to thank everyone—hosts, sponsors, competitors, staff, and organizer Sam Bittner—for making this event almost twice as big as it was last year.
The next AWT event is the Pacasmayo Classic, in Peru taking place from Aug 17-26. Continue reading for the full results…
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Aruba Hi-Winds 2012 has come to an end. After six days of races with good wind conditions, all categories in the windsurfing discipline have completed 15 slalom races and 4 long distance races. The overall winners in their respective categories are: in the Pro/Men Diony Guadagnino (VEN) who just ended ahead of Josh Angulo with 0.1 point in slalom. Miguel Bruggeman (VEN) in the Juniors, Carolina Comino (VEN) in the Women and Hender Acosta (VEN) in Sports class. In Grandmasters Ricardo Albisu (ARG), in Masters Nathaniel McFarlane (ARU), in Big Kids Mark Tjon (ARU). For more information about winners and standings, please check out the Results page.
In the Freestyle Kiri Thode (BON) won in King-of-the-Huts, Ethan Westera (ARU) in the Prince-of-the-Huts and Steven Max(ARU) in Kid-of-the-Huts.
At Boca Grandi meanwhile, kiters have been busy with their Freestyle competition as well; after the three days of jumping, the winners are: Sergio Coello (VEN) in Pro/Open, Hernan Arends (VEN) in Men and Janka Madrzykowska (SVK) in Women.
During the weekend, Long Distance Races were held for both windsurfers and kiters. Overall winners in long distance are Josh Angulo in windsurfing and in kiting Hernan Arends in Men and Nicole v/d Velden in Women.
The evenings were filled with live music performances by bands like Honeypot, Mystical Connection, Datapanik and Orange Grove.
At the Awards Ceremony at Paseo Herencia, awards were given out, nice prizes were raffled and there was the first showing of the traditional Event Film,which can be seen on the Home page of this website.
Finally some figures: there are a total of 78 participants in windsurfing, 55 in kiting. There were 23 non-sailing participants who registered to share meals and parties. The total registrations amounted to 156, a figure comparable to that of last year.
Organizers are already planning ahead to the next Aruba Hi-Winds which will be held in the first week of July 2013.
The PWA Fuerteventura wrapped up yesterday as the freestyle double elimination was completed. Winds were questionable at best for a large part of the event, but howling winds returned on the last day, allowing the best freestylers in the world to show off there skills. Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / North) had won his second successive event of the year, as he continued his perfect start to the season in his quest for a fifth world championship title. Whilst Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins / Chris Benz) stomped her authority over the women’s fleet by winning the opening female freestyle event of the year in convincing fashion.
The final day of the slalom looked as though we would see another day of classic Fuerteventura conditions, as the morning started in much the same fashion as yesterday. However after an eleven O’clock start, which allowed three heats to be completed, the wind unexpectedly disappeared. On several occasions the wind did threaten to return but it was never for a prolonged period meaning that the sailors endured a frustrating day on standby with no more heats being completed. Shortly before 4pm the sailors were released for the final time, which means that Finian Maynard (RRD / Avanti) is crowned the King of Fuerteventura after a simply brilliant performance yesterday. Maynard won two eliminations and finished third in the other yesterday to claim his place at the top of the podium ahead of Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard / Loft / Mystic / Different) and Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde). The event site was still surrounded by a vibrant atmosphere as the crowds poured into the event tent to see the closing ceremony of the men’s slalom, as well as the live music and dancing.
Read the full report on the PWA Website Here, with a brief interview with Finian Maynard.
The Freestyle portion of the event begins today with the guys scheduled to hit the water first followed by the girls. Check Back here for all the action later.
Day 5 is currently on stand by as Slalom competitors play wait for the wind. Well wrap up the action to this point which so far has only seen two days of sailing.
The 2012 PWA Tenerife World Cup saw the completion of the event as epic conditions had allowed for double elimination to be completed by the early afternoon. In the end Philip Köster (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) defended his single elimination victory to be crowned the overall champion of Tenerife, after a mind blowing jumping display. Meanwhile, Iballa Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne), dug deep to come back and beat her sister, Daida Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne) and in doing so she ensured she kept her perfect start to the season intact.
Continue reading for more including the video from day 4 and quotes from the winners.
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The Fanatic Wave and Freestyle boards of the first 2013 Product Launching Cycle are now online, they include Quad TE, TriWave, FreeWave/TE/TeXtreme and Skate/TE!
After the jump shaper Sebastian Wenzel explains the features of each new board.
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These fearless competitors are preparing to go head to head in 3 global missions. They emerged as top 10 in the public online voting, after having been shortlisted by the expert jury headed by Robby Naish. Expect them to deliver insane performances in a fierce competition like no other. Starting August 1st, the chase is on! – Red Bull Storm Chase
The 10 riders are: (in no particular order)
Find out more at RedBullStormChase.com
With 3 days complete, The Single elimination is complete. Philip Köster and Daida Moreno emerged on top, to win the Single Elimination of the 2012 PWA Wave Worldcup on Tenerife. A strong forecast materialized and great heats took place with amazing waverides, massive jumps and some hardcore crashes. The level of competition rose as 40-50 knot trade winds and mast high waves came through!
Men’s Single Elimination Winners Final
The men’s winners’ final saw Philip Köster recommence his battle with Victor Fernandez and the two sailors put on a phenomenal show for the crowds as they pushed each other to the limit, both physically and mentally. By the end of the duel though it was the eighteen year old who came out on top after an awe-inspiring display. Köster wasted no time at all and as the green flag was raised the wonderkid launched into one of his ankle-dry double forwards to instantly put the pressure on Fernandez. The Spaniard responded with a monster stalled forward, quickly followed by a double forward of his own to even things up. However Köster’s wave riding was on a different planet. For a single wave ride he scored a maximum twelve points as he delivered an absolutely colossal wave 360, which led straight into a perfect bottom turn before unwinding into a ridiculous double taka. After this Köster set about raising the bar even higher as came ever so close to a no-handed goiter and went in search of a ramp for a triple loop. Unfortunately for him, and us, the perfect ramp didn’t arrive on this occasion. Fernandez did everything in his power to stop Köster as he landed spectacular one-handed goiters and a monumental one-handed frontside aerial of his own, but it wasn’t enough against a seemingly invincible Köster.
Women’s Single Elimination Winners’ Final
Another winners’ final, another Moreno matchup, as the twins, Daida Ruano Moreno and Iballa Ruano Moreno continued to dominate the women’s fleet. Daida was hungrier than ever to come out on top, having relinquished her Pozo crown for the first time in thirteen years last week, and that’s exactly what she managed to do. She will now be hoping she can defend her victory in the double elimination. Daida looked a dominant force in the air as she landed an amazing one-handed backloop and a big stalled forward. Iballa on the other hand made the better of the waves and she delivered some delicious wave riding to leave the heat extremely close by the end, however it was soon revealed that Daida had claimed the victory and she looked visibly delighted with the outcome.
Double Elimination
After the single elimination finished, they began the double elimination.
Adam Lewis (Patrik / Point-7) put all of his local knowledge to the perfect use today, the Englishman charged his way back from the first round to book his place in the top sixteen, after winning three consecutive heats. Lewis first took down Pablo Ramirez (Goya Windsurfing/ MFC) followed by Albert Pijoan (Starboard / Severne) and Kenneth Danielsen (F2 / Simmer). Lewis’ radical wave riding and massive backloops proved to be a big hit with the judges, and he’ll now hope to pick up where he left from tomorrow when he faces Alessio Stillrich (Fanatic / North / AL360).
Lewis wasn’t the only sailor to gain momentum from the first round; Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing / MFC), John Skye (RRD / Mystic / MFC) and the aforementioned Stillrich all clawed their way back through the double elimination to also book their places in the top sixteen. Brawzinho impressed today with a number of ankle-dry double forwards and he’ll be hoping to continue his charge into the top five come the end of tomorrow. John Skye produced a brilliant performance to dispatch of his fellow countryman Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins). Skye landed a beautiful one-handed backloop and looked super consistent and fluid on the wave to advance. Meanwhile, Stillrich, nailed more of his now, almost trademark super tweaked pushloops to demolish the opponents put before him.
The closest heat of the day was between Klaas Voget (Fanatic / Simmer / MFC) and Jamie Hancock (Tabou / Gaastra) in heat thirty nine. Both men landed superb pushloops and they were almost inseparable in the wave riding department. Voget launched in to a brilliant backside air only to be matched by Hancock, who threw a super vertical turn and a taka. As the score sheets were tallied up there was just half a point in it, overall Voget just managed to edge it and he now goes on to face Marcilio Browne in his next heat.
Ben Proffitt (Simmer) managed to defeat Ross Williams (Tabou / Gaastra) in the other all English affair. On his way to victory the Brit landed a super tweaked pushloop before launching into a radical wave 360 and a slick taka. Although Williams was able to land a couple of wave 360s, it wasn’t adequate on this occasion.
Dario Ojeda (Tabou / Gaastra / MFC) sneaked past Jules Denel (Exocet) by the narrowest of margins, his double forward proved to be vital in clinching the tie and Ojeda will now face Martin Ten Hoeve (Goya Windsurfing / Point-7), after the Dutchman navigated his way past Michael Kleingarn (Fanatic / Gaastra).
Result after the Single Elimination
Men:
Women
First off, I would like to thank everyone who is enjoying the page, we’ve seen a steady incline in traffic over the last few weeks. I’m still working hard on a new layout with many new exciting features, and tons of useful info!
However as I’m in Icaraizhino, Brazil for the next 6 months teaching windsurfing, you may see a slight decline in posts, hopefully I will be able to keep up, but have already slipped behind on coverage of the PWA Teneriefe event as I was in airports and planes. If anyone wants to contribute hit me up!
Lawrence ‘Wind Dude‘ Stewart
PREPARE YOURSELF FOR MORE EXPLOSIVE ACTION AS THE WAVE SAILORS HEAD TO TENERIFE – PWA World Tour
From July 12th to the 18th July wave fleet will once again take centre stage as they return to the stunning shores of El Médano, Tenerife, for the second successive year. El Médano is situated on the South East coast of Tenerife, blessed with regular trade winds and pumping waves year round, that make it a windsurfing paradise. The week ahead is guaranteed to be packed with unbelievable action, as the elite of the wave sailing world take full advantage of the world class conditions.
Up for grabs is a €50,000 prize purse, as the pros battle it for World Tour Points and money. After the awesome action in Pozo we can expect more as the conditions are already looking awesome for the event.
Read more at PWAworldtour.com, and find out who you should be watching, and once again there will begin coverage of the entire event! Also dont forget to check back here for coverage of the event.
The event website is available at http://tenerife-pwa.com/
