PWA Colgate World Cup Sylt

2009/09/30

PWA Colgate World Cup, Sylt – Day 4, 29.09.09:
After four full eliminations of high-octane slalom, Antoine Albeau leads the fleet and proves to the crowds on Brandenberger Strand that he’s the World’s number one racer.

The action in Sylt was at full throttle, creating an amazing spectacle for the huge crowds lining the shore.

Source: PWA, more info:
www.pwaworldtour.com
www.worldcupsylt.de

PWA Colgate World Cup, Sylt – Day 3, 28.09.09:
The forecast was calling for plenty of wind from sunrise to sunset, so head judge Duncan Coombs made the call to meet for a 07:00 skipper’s briefing. Unfortunately for the wave sailors, the swell had failed to build, giving the freestylers a chance to wow the crowds. Both the competitors and spectators were not disappointed as both a single and double elimination of freestyle were completed.
With the difficult freestyle conditions that the sailors were up against, the higher ranked competitors played it fairly safe in the first round to ensure they made the cut and advanced through. There was still plenty of action on the water, with huge shaka’s and stylish esliders from the World’s best, pleasing the huge number of spectators on the beach.
Highlight’s form the second round included the battle between 2008 Freestyle World Champion Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic, North) and light wind freestyle master Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2, MauiSails). Both of these guys were fully going for it and landing numerous combination moves and big power moves. It could have well been the World Championship final, but it was only the second round. Estredo dug deep and nailed a few more stylish moves to take the win and move into the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinals were very tight in both halves of the draw with difficult decisions being made by the judges. Taty Frans (Starboard, MauiSails) sailed an extremely impressive heat to take down the current World Champion Estredo. And his brother Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra) sailed an equally impressive heat to take the scalp of 2007 Freestyle World Champion, Marcilio Browne (Fanatic, North, MFC). On the other side of the draw, Kiri Thode’s (Starboard, Gaastra) technical superiority helped him get ahead of Four Dimension’s director, Andre Paskowski (Fanatic, North). And Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard, Gun) took down the young Russian, Popretinskiy.
The wind continued to blow allowing a full double elimination to run. Traversa was punishing his victims from the off, and marching his way through until he met Estredo, who quickly stopped him. On the other side of the draw, Van Broeckhoven was flying through his heats, seeing off top freestylers such as Quincy Offringa (Starboard, Severne), and Paskowski, but during his final heat, he failed to complete a final move on starboard tack, and in a split decision from the judges, Popretinskiy advanced instead.
Estredo quickly took down Popretinskiy, and then met Akgazciyan. This was one of the closest heats of the contest and Akgazciyan sailed an absolute blinder, but couldn’t quite match the 2008 World Champion, Estredo.
Estredo had sailed numerous heats by the time he met Tonky Frans, and this was clear to see. A fresh faced and super excited Tonky hit the water with a smile on his face, and Estredo didn’t manage to steal it from him! They both landed their full quota of moves, but Tonky stole the show and stopped Estredo from advancing any further.
In the final was a Thode versus Frans showdown for the double elimination crown. At first Frans failed to land the stylish moves he was nailing so easily in the previous heat, but luckily for him Thode had fallen a few times too. In the last few minutes the sailors went into overdrive and were landing three tricks per run, creating an amazing spectacle for those gathered on the beach. It was a close call for the judges to make, but in the end, Taty Frans had done enough to secure the double elimination victory.

Freestyle results:
1st: Taty Frans (Starboard, MauiSails)
2nd: Kiri Thode (Starboard, Gaastra)
3rd: Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra)
4th: Jose 'Gollito' Estredo (Fanatic, North)
5th: Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard, Gun)

The action in Sylt was at full throttle for much of the day, making up for the past two days of waiting for wind.

PWA Colgate World Cup, Sylt – Day 2, 27.09.09:
Unfortunately, with the light and unpredictable winds, the slalom sailors were held on standby for much of the day. The occasional gust tempted a few of the competitors out including Ross Williams (Tabou, Gaastra), Finian Maynard (RRD, NeilPryde), Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne) and Robby Swift (JP, NeilPryde). But it was extremely patchy and even with their 9.3’s up they occasionally dropped off the plane. During the afternoon, the sun shone on Sylt’s golden sands but the wind didn’t play ball.

Race director Juan Antonio Aragon made every effort to get the racing underway today, but the wind was far too gusty to hold any heats.

In the meantime we had again big action at the Fanatic/North Sails tent with autograh sessions, lucky draw & co:-)

PWA Colgate World Cup, Sylt – Day 1, 26.09.09:
Light winds prevent any competition from taking place on day one, but everyone remains hopeful due to the current forecast.

The race committee put every effort into getting the competitors off the beach and in front of the huge crowds, with the course set from the word go. Unfortunately the promising early morning breeze failed to materialize into anything strong enough for wave, freestyle or even slalom competition today.

Many of the competitors spent their time glued to the forecast for the week ahead, and awaiting further information at the event site.

At the Fanatic/North tent there was a lot of action happening and people gathered by to win some T-Shirts and get some autographs from our riders.

Also the premiere for the 4 Diemensions movie last night was a big success, people were stoked! Thanx a lot again to Andre for all his efforts!!!

Preview:
From September 27th – October 05th the Windsurf World Elite will fight for the 2009 titles in all three PWA disciplines; Wave, Freestyle and Slalom.

Massive crowds barely sum up what can be expected at Sylt. In 2008 almost 200,000 fans turned up to watch the action!
Fanatic will also be present again with a tent at the Pit Stop Lane to present the latest 2010 boards and handing out brochures, DVDs and of course autograph posters from all our riders.
Of course, all our Fanatic riders like Victor Fernandez, Gollito Estredo, Marcilio Browne, Klaas Voget, Jonas Ceballos, Nayra Alonso, etc. will be present there as well, so don´t miss the chance to meet them in person!

Andre Paskowski´s brand new movie 4 Dimension movie will be presented in the North Sails tent next to Fanatic, in the Fanatic tent you can watch Addicted to Ride 5 – another reason to come to Sylt! See you there!!!