PWA/EFPT World Cup Podersdorf-Gollito is the Winner!

2008/05/04

Day Six, 04.05.08:

After several trials and long waiting periods the single elimination is finally completed and competition officially ends. Gollito made it and is crowned as the event winner, that´s just so cool!!!

Gollito “Really, really happy! My final was really good, I competed with Brawzinho. It was really physical with the light wind, but I got my best moves in, I’m just really happy!”

Entering day six of competition, the majority of the single elimination had already been completed, leaving only 6 heats to be run in order to declare an official event winner. Following the skippers meeting, the last of round three’s heats got underway in a steady force 4 breeze.

Andre Paskowski (Fanatic, North Sails) put up a stellar fight against his rival, Frenchman Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard, Gun Sails) but failed to provide an answer to Nicolas’s smooth repertoire that, including a super tech voquech diablo, granting Nicolas passage into the quarterfinals.

The first quarterfinal pitched Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra) against teammate, Kiri Thode (Starboard, Gaastra) and Taty Frans (Starboard, North Sails) against his teammate, Gollito Estredo (Fanatic, North Sails). The steady breeze allowed the riders to throw down their full arsenal of moves. Kiri unleashed his signature kono, but failed to take down an on form Tonky Frans, who was killing all his moves. Gollito took no prisoners as he ended Taty Frans’s campaign with a run including no handed flakas and a burner.

The second quarter final saw the exit of Ricardo Campello (JP, NeilPryde) to stable mate Spaniard Antxon Otaegui (JP, NeilPryde), and current world champion, Marcilio ‘Brawzinho’ Browne (Mistral, Gaastra) defeat Nicolas Akgazciyan to advance them into the semi final.

The semi final got off to a shaky start after it was cancelled within the first minute and re-run four hours later, only to be cancelled again. For two hours, the entire lake glassed off, making many believe the event would run out of time before the final two heats could be completed. Following a windless two hours, a line of dark clouds emerged on the far side of the lake, and a line of wind started to move towards the competition area. The riders scrambled to the water and minutes later the semi final started in a gusty 17 knot breeze.

Tonky Frans challenged Gollito in the top half of the draw and Antxon Otaegui battled it out with Brawzinho in the bottom half. Highlights of the heat included Gollito’s now trade mark no handed flaka and Brawzinho’s huge ponch in front of the judging area. Underdogs Antxon and Tonky gave all they had, sliding into regular stance chachos and flaka 720’s respectively, but failed to match the caliber of Brawzinho and Gollito.

After a quick break to collect the semi final results, the final got going in testing conditions. Gollito and Brawzinho went head to head in the winners final and Antxon and Tonky dueled in the losers final. Brawzinho wasted no time, laying down a mix of switch stance chachos, one handed bobs and a massive port tack ponch. His rival, Gollito, replied with an assortment of ponch combinations, more no handed flakas and starboard tack burner.

On the other side of the heat, Tonky threw down an aggressive array or Culos, flaka 720s and switch stance chachos. Antxon struggled to get to grips with the heat, crashing many moves that he was consistently making earlier in competition.
Following ten minutes of epic freestyle the horn blew, ending the heat, and signifying the end of the first stop on the freestyle tour. The crowd rushed to the main event stage to hear the final results announced. First place went to Gollito, second to Brawzinho, third to Tonky and forth to Antxon.

Brawzinho “ I’m pretty happy, I’ve been training a lot for waves in these last few months, so I was pretty anxious about how this event would go, especially when it comes down to light winds and cold conditions, but I’m pretty stoked!”

That concluded the day’s action and the 2008 PWA surf world cup in Podersdorf. The PWA’s next stop is in Korea for the first leg of the slalom 42 series starting on the 12th of May.

Big congrats Gollito, we are very proud!!!

Final Results:
1. Gollito ESTREDO (V-01) - Fanatic
2. Marcilio BROWNE (BRA-105)
3. Tonky FRANS (NB-7)
4. Antxon OTAEGUI (E-169)
5. Nicolas AGAZCIYAN (F-400)
5. Ricardo CAMPELLO (V-111)
5. Taty FRANS (NB-9)
5. Kiri THODE (NB-61)
9. Andreas OLANDERSSON (S-66) Fanatic
9. Andre PASKOWSKI (G-2) Fanatic

Also the Surf Opening, where visitors had the chance to test our latest Fanatic euipment at the event site, was a big success.
Click here for more pics

More info on the PWA event:
www.pwaworldtour.com

Day Five, 03.05.08:

Day five was poised to be the most exciting day of competition so far. A solid forecast for the whole day, and a steady force 4 breeze meant judges wasted no time getting the first of round two’s heats underway.

Steven van Broekhoven (F2, MauiSails) and Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra) drew the day’s first blood, defeating their underpowered rivals, Kevin Mevissen (RRD, NeilPryde) and Ruben Petrisie (Exocet, Loft Sails) to advance to round three.

Heat 10 saw the exit of the UK’s Andy ‘Bubble’ Chambers (JP, NeilPryde) to an on form Kiri Thode (Starboard, Gaastra) who took the opportunity to showcase his newly invented move, the kono, for the first time in competition. Also advancing in heat 10 was local boy Michael Sumereder (RRD, North Sails) who took down Italy’s Andrea Rosati (RRD, Neil Pryde, MFC).

Heat 11 was the first victim of the fickle wind, which forced the heat to be abandoned. The re-run, which happened three hours later, was completed in light, gusty conditions. Taty Frans (Starboard, North) showed class, executing silky smooth eslider 540’s and Flaka Diablos to win his half of the heat and advance alongside Russian Egor Popretinskiy (JP, NeilPryde).

The marginal conditions continued to plague competition and heat 14 was stopped minutes into the action and postponed until all the other second round heats had been completed. In the meantime, Andre Paskowski (Fanatic, North Sails) and Frenchman Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard, Gun) played host to arguably the finest action of the round. Both sailors were nailing super smooth flaka diablos and one handed switch stance chachoos, meters from the judges and ecstatic local crowd.

By the time heat 16 of round two has started, the wind was so marginal that competitors were having to pump to make the majority of their moves. It was always going to be a tall order for Tina Slabe (F2, Naish) and Max Matissek (Fanatic, North Sails) to defeat their more experienced rivals Cheo Diaz (RRD, Simmer) and Marcilio Browne (Mistral, Gaastra), especially given the conditions. Ultimately, the seasoned riders’ Diaz and Browne used their considerable competition knowledge to dispatch Slabe and Matissek relatively convincingly.

Following the successful completion of all the second round heats, round three got underway without a pause. Thus far, all the big names had advanced without upset.

Starting proceedings were Belgium’s Steven van Broekhoven (F2, MauiSails) against Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra), and local Michael Sumereder (RRD, North Sails) taking on Kiri Thode (Starboard, Gaastra). Underdogs van Broekhoven and Sumereder showed they’re a force to be reckoned with, but unfortunately couldn’t match Fran’s awesome clew first ponches or Thode’s flawless repertoire of explosive moves. Frans and Thode advanced.

Next up, Russian Egor Popretinskiy and local favorite Michael Roßmeier (Exocet, The Loft) took on Taty Frans and Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic, North Sails, MFC) respectively. Taty pieced together a judge pleasing mix of ponches, flaka diablos and chachoos in the dropping wind, to defeat the Russian. It could be argued that Roßmeier would have advanced had he been up against most other competitors, showing both depth and diversity in his routine. He was however, pitched against an on form Gollito who had no intension of being knocked out at this stage in the elimination. A no handed flaka Diablo within touching distance of the crowd sealed Roßmeier’s fate, advancing Gollito to the next round.

The final heat of the day was run in testing, marginal conditions. Antxon Otaegui (JP, NeilPryde) took on Normen Günzlein (JP, NeilPryde) and Andreas Olandersson (Fanatic, Simmer, MFC) battled it out with 3 times freestyle world champion Ricardo Campello (JP, NeilPryde). When competition got underway, Olandersson just couldn’t compete with the magnitude of Campello’s arsenal of tricks and on the final horn of the day, came out the lesser man. On the other side of the heat, Günzlein and Otaegui had an extremely close heat. Both sailors were obviously frustrated with light winds, but the judge’s ultimately rewarded Otaegui’s more tactical sailing with the victory.

Day Four - 02.05.08:

Another windy morning, and a promising forecast had everyone excited about the prospect of competition. Following the 8.00am skippers meeting, heat nine was scheduled to start at 8.30am.

There was a sense of déjà vu when, just as the previous day, the wind backed off within minutes of the heat getting started. The riders of heat nine one again had to leave the water without a result.

Sadly, the afternoon remained sunny and windless. The Brazilian contingent used the time to stage a beach side football game, and Danilo ‘Chico’ Da Silva performed another of his, now notorious, capoeira routines on the main event stage.

Day Three - 01.05.08:

A promising start to day 3 of competition turned into a frustrating wait as the wind refused to stick around.

Day three of competition welcomed competitors with overcast skies and a solid 15-20 knot onshore wind. While the riders met for the 9.00am skippers meeting, a sizable crowd congregated along the shores of Lake Neusiedler in preparation for the start of heat nine.

As if by clockwork, the end of the skippers meeting coincided with the wind dropping to virtually nothing. A frustrating hour commenced, as the wind blew for literally minutes at a time and then died back to a couple of knots.

At 11 o’clock the wind returned to a steady force 4-5, and the judges announced that heat nine would run at 11.30am. In the meantime, the world’s top freestylers treated the growing crowd to an awesome display of the latest moves literally meters from the beach, as they warned up for their heats. Sadly the spectacle was short lived and as competition time approached, the wind backed off once again, forcing the heat to be abandoned before it had even started.

Most competitors spent the afternoon lounging on the sofas in the main event tent, waiting for the wind to arrive. Some used the time out to spruce up their equipment pit tents, which get judged later in the week on their general look. The best ‘pit’ scoops 1500 euros to be split between its riders.

When it looked like the day’s competition was going to be declared over, the wind one again started to blow. Within minutes the sailors where on the water getting to grips with the marginal conditions. For the second time, heat nine was announced to be going ahead and the riders were given their notice. All to familiarly, the wind dropped shortly after it kicked in and showed no signs of building again. The day’s competition was declared over at 6.15pm with no second round heats completed.