Tag: Freestyle

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PWA | FUERTE – Summary

PWA Fuerteventura 2010 Summary
Yesterday we’ve had the closing ceremony from the PWA Fuerteventura freestyle World Cup. Again Fuerteventura was providing us with very windy conditions for almost the entire week. Thumbs up for the organizers who did a great making this event possible. The competition; for me this was a big disappointment and I definitely wasn’t performing my best during a number of reasons. Before the start of the competition I was already not in my best physical shape. Facing a strong flue before the event kicked off. The first two days of the competition went quite okay, getting kicked out the first round field terrible.

As always I was really keen working my way up in the elimination ladder during this contest. During the start of the second double elimination I had to sail against Italian pro rider Mattia Pedrani I-00.During this particular heat I over rotated my ponsch and hit my big toe again really hard. Mattia was sailing a very solid het and won the heat. Having a bad ranking in this Worldcup has big consequence for my overall ranking. Now dropped from the 5th. place to the 14th. place in the overall ranking. The good news: yesterday I’ve had taken an X-ray photo to make sure nothing was really broken. Fortunately no fractures! Big relief! Now I hope I’ll be back on the water in a couple of days. Learned a lot over here and got some more experience in the pocket for next years Worldcups in Fuerteventura. Now it’s time to focus for the upcoming PWA Worldcup in Sylt! Big congratulations to my friend Steven van Broeckhoven B-72 who became 3rd. after sailing really strong yesterday. Also Big congrats to Jose “Gollito” Estredo V-01 winning his fourth Overall title in Freestyle.

PWA Fuerteventura 2010 results
1. Jose “Gollito” Estredo V-01
2. Kiri Thode NB-6
3. Steven van Broeckhoven B-72
4. Tonky Frans NB-7
5. Taty Frans NB-9

PWA Overall results 2010
1. Jose “Gollito” Estredo V-01
2. Kiri Thode NB-6
3. Steven van Broeckhoven B-72
4. Tonky Frans NB-7
5. Nicolas Ackazyian F-400
14. Maarten van Ochten H-73

Photos: Jhon Carter PWA

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PWA

PWA | FUERTE – Day 3

PWA Fuerteventura 2010 Day 3
Today was a doomed day for me, first I was sailing a really bad heat defending my 9th place.The conditions where quite hard, every time when I wanted to executed my moves the wind picked up in force or there was no wind at all. Finally had a couple of crashes which I could discard, but my moves were simply not as clean as my opponent.Than we started the second single elimination, somehow I had tough seating again and went out against nr. 7 Dutch fellow Davy Scheffers H 311. Davy was sailing a really good heat, according to judges a top 5 heat. So congrats to him. For me that means I’m out the first round, I really hope we can start the new double elimination really soon and maybe a third double elimination. The forecast looks really good, strong wind conditions and hopefully also some waves. For now I’m going to concentrate for the double elimination in order to fight back!



Photos: Tom Brendt



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PWA

PWA | FUERTE – Day 1

PWA Fuerteventura 2010 Day 1
Today was the kick-off from the 3rd Freestyle PWA Worldcup tourstop. The wind came up quite late, but just after 4PM the first heats where finally running. I had quite a tough seeding against Wave World champion Philp Koster G44! When the heat started the wind was really gusty so I decided to go for a safe heat. I decided taking my JP Freestyle 98L pro and my Neilpryde Firefly 4.9. This was the right choice, on the outside I had quite a few power full double moves like; Airflaka into flaka, Ponch into Flaka, Shaka into flaka. I sailed a solid heat and advanced to the next round. If the forecast is good tomorrow we will go and finish the first single elimination and if the wind stays good, we most likely also starting of with double elimination. So more news tomorrow and I going to do my honest best to continue a good performance!

PWA Worldcup report:
The sailor of the day was tour regular and current top five ranked styler, Maarten Van Ochten (JP, NeilPryde, MFC) who would have been forgiven for feeling a little bit nervous going into his heat against the 2009 Pozo wave champion, Philip Koster (Starboard, NeilPryde, Dakine). All eyes had been on Koster during practise to see how he would perform in the discipline of freestyle, especially in the lighter winds which the contest was being held in. Koster looked like he had plenty of moves in the bag, but they were no match for the seasoned freestyle pro, Van Ochten who pulled off a more diverse range of technical moves in the six-minute heat. There’s no doubt Koster will fight back in the double, especially if the forecast comes to fruition.

 

Photos: John Carter PWA

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PWA

PWA | LANZAROTE – Final

Maarten van Ochten
Maarten van Ochten

PWA  Lanzarote 2010 final Day
Allready my last report for this Worldcup competition. Today we started of with strong winds good for a powerfull warmingup with my Neilpryde 5,3 Firefly and my JP Freestyle Australia 98 Pro.Just when the wind kicked in the crew decided to fininsh of the single elimination. As we still needed to finish the winners and losers final for both men and women.The wind kept building and so did the waves too. I was excited and prepared for action as I had made loads of progression in jumps during the winter-/ spring. The moment that we just started to run the double, the wind was still playing games, which kept whole competition on hold.


After a break from about two hours, the wind improved and fortunately we could go on with the double elimination! Luckily we finished a couple of rounds in the double elimination. Event summary; like most riders, I would have never thought Lanzarote providing low wind conditions. Last year we’ve been experiencing loads of waves and strong winds. I was quite surprised and so did all the other riders too. Most of us were not expecting light winds and choppy waters, but rather big waves and strong winds. Though I’m glad we got a result which counts,  finishing on a 9th. place for the PWA Lanzarote Freetstyle 2010. Needless to say I’m very stoked hitting the top 5 overall in the World. Dreams do come true.


PWA Freestyle overall result after two events:

    1. Jose Gollitio Estredo V-01/ Venezuela
    2. Kiri Thode NB 61/ Bonaire
    3. Steven van Broeckhoven B 72/ Belgium
    4. Tonky Frans NB 7/ Bonaire
    5. Maarten van Ochten H73/ Holland

Photos: Andras Marton

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PWA

PWA | LANZAROTE – Day 3

PWA Lanzarote 2010 Day 3
Today the weather started off really cloudy. Right after the skippers meeting around 10AM the wind was still kind of light and never picked up. Until 5:30PM, fortunately this allowed us watching the soccer match Brasil VS Holland. Holland was only represented by a hand full of riders. Most of the crowd were a supporting the Brazilian riders. Watching the match, covered in orange flags exciting experience.To sum it up, it was kind of a thrill, especially when Holland took the victory. This was a mind blowing experience for let’s say 90% of the audience who were cheering for Brasil!


After the great match was finished and a lot tear drops later, the wind started to fill in. The PWA crew decided to start off immediately finishing of the first single elimination for the men and women. In the end after lot’s of re sailing it was enough to finish one heat. For now we still have to finish the single elimination for both men and women. The wind forecast doesn’t look really good for tomorrow (loads of cloud cover and north westerly winds). Let’s see if we atleast can get an result for both men and women.



Photos: John Carter PWA

 

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PWA

PWA | LANZAROTE – Day 1 & 2

PWA Lanzarote 2010 Day 1
Registration started at 10AM in the morning. Right when I was preparing my sails with the event stickers, the wind started  picking up lot. This gave me the opportunity for a nice warm-up session for 5,3. The forecast was really looking promising for the start of second PWA freestyle event. Unfortunately at 2PM when the first start was planned the wind already start dropping a lot. Insufficient enough for an official contest. Though a lot of riders went out giving the audience a nice show.

PWA Lanzarote 2010 Day 2
Skippersmeeting was planned at 9AM. When arriving at the event-scene the wind was still kind of light, luckily right after the lunchbreak things changed! Unexpected at 2PM the wind started to pick up a lot and finally we could start off!! My first opponent today was, Danilo Menezes da Silva BRA 83 from Brasil. After a nice warm up session the wind was good enough for my 98L JP freestyle Pro and my Neilpryde Firefly 5,3, just when the heat started the wind started of to be quit funny again. Because the wind wasn’t that solid I decided to go for really save heat, starting off whit a one handed Funnel, followed by Ponsch and a switch stance Chachoo, Shaka, small Airflaka etc… Danilo Menezes da Silva BRA 83, was also sailing quit strong, but in the end a won the heat.

Up to the next round. Now I had to face my friend, European Champion and currently Nr. 2 of the World Steven van Broeckhoven B-72. I knew I had to sail a great heat, to be able to beat him. My tactic this time, was starting of from a different direction, with a chance finding a solid ramp, to do a Airchachoo, which is a high scoring move. Unfortunately for me the wind started to drop a lot and I didn’t even come up to planning speed. Steven at that time was allready trowing a great show on the way in. In the end I didn’t sail a good heat whit a quite a lot of unnessary crashes. Steven took the victory and I was pissed of on about my peformance. For now I am positioned at 9th. place and I try to focus on the double elimination if the wind is efficient enough tomorrow. So hope you all wish me a lot of luck and I will do my honest best to perform the best I can! More news tomorrow.

Photos: John Carter PWA