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2008 Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam - 2008/07/04 20:33
The 2008 Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam – Registration Day
03.07.08 -
The wait is almost over, as windsurfing’s elite wave, slalom, and freestyle fleets register for the forthcoming nine days of high-wind, multi discipline competition.
Greeted by turbo charged trade winds and pumping swell, registration day gave a taste of things to come over the next nine days. Seizing the opportunity to practice in the classic Pozo conditions, the competitors hit the water to familiarize themselves with this truly unique location before registration commenced.
Also prior registration, the trials stage of the wave event fired into action. The trials allow newcomers to the professional circuit, locals, and unranked sailors a chance to compete for ‘wild cards’, which grant entry into the main wave event. Four wild cards were up for grabs in the registration day trials, and no surprises, three out of the four were awarded to Pozo locals, who always pose a major threat to PWA regulars when the main event begins.
Following the trials, the day’s formalities commenced, which included registration and a huge group photo of all the athletes present. As always, the turn out for this event has been monumental, with 39 competitors in the men’s slalom fleet, 48 in the men’s wave (the maximum possible), 11 in the women’s freestyle, and 15 in the women’s wave fleet.
Head wave judge Duncan Combs has announced that, weather permitting, first on tomorrow’s bill will be the men’s and women’s wave single elimination. Here’s a quick look at the key players to keep an eye on.
Waves: The Moves and Shakers
Men’s Favorites
Victor Fernandez (Fanatic, Simmer Style, MFC): The 2007 runner up has won in Pozo the last two years and will have no intention of stopping his winning streak this year, as he eyes up the 2008 overall title.
Kauli Seadi (JP, NeilPryde, Mormaii): The 2007 World Champion & current tour leader has all the moves and is dangerously consistent. Ramps or riding, Seadi will rip.
Julien Taboulet (F2, Naish): The crazy French man has style in bucket loads and loves going big. A third place finish in Pozo last year will only have hungered him more for victory.
Nik Baker (Mistral, North Sails): Baker may not have the latest aerial moves, but compensates with years of experience, super slick wave riding and he’s sailed this spot enough to know all its quirks.
Dangerous Locals
Jonas Ceballos (Fanatic, Simmer Style, MFC): Renowned for going massive and an expert rider in the unique Pozo surf.
Vidar Jensen (North Sails): Dialed into his home patch & has a stalled one handed double forward in his artillery.
Dario Ojeda (Quatro, MFC): Finished fifth last year. He’s afraid of nothing and on top form at the moment.
Marcos Perez (Exocet, Gun Sails): Gran Canaria born and bred. Stylish smooth and sails a tactical heat with confidence.
Phillip Köster (F2, NeilPryde): He’s young, a Pozo local, and if the practice session is anything to go by, dangerously talented.
Women’s Favorites
Iballa Moreno (North Sails): The 2007 Wave World Champion. Stylish, smooth and a real favorite if the surf’s good.
Daida Moreno (North Sails): She’s practically unbeatable if the ramps are good, nailing double forwards, pushloop tabletops and more.
Nayra Alonso (Fanatic / Severne): Back from injury, this Gran Canaria local knows the place like the back of her hand. Good in the air and the waves, she’s ultra competitive and hungry for victory.
Junko Nagoshi (F2, Simmer Style, Dakine): Nagoshi’s been putting the hours in training and is consistently knocking on the podium’s door.
© PWA / Andrew Buchanan
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Re:2008 Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam - 2008/07/04 20:37
Aussie Scott McKercher warming up.
Pic - PWA/John Carter
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Re:2008 Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam - 2008/07/05 17:58
The 2008 Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam – Day One
04.07.08 -
One day down, and the men’s and women’s wave single elimination is complete. The action packed day culminated with Victor Fernandez and Daida Moreno taking top honours in their respective fleets, leaving only the double elimination left to settle the scores.
Turning up the heat from the word go, the fist rounds of competition exploded into action. Danny Bruch (F2, Gaastra) started as he intended to go on, knocking out Aleix Sanllehy (F2, North Sails) in round one, then experienced rival Kevin Pritchard (Starboard, Gaastra, Dakine, MFC) in round two.
Local, Marcos Perez (Exocet, Gun Sails) looked dangerous from the outset, fully utilizing his wealth of sailing experience in Pozo to string fluid and powerful turns together on the unpredictable waves. His downfall came when he met Marcilio Browne (Mistral, Gaastra) in the second round.
Levi Siver (Quatro, NeilPryde, Dakine, MFC) took an early exit at the hands of local wonder kid Philip Köster (F2, Neil Pryde), who proved he’s a talent not to underestimate as he continued to cause upset in subsequent rounds.
John Skye (RRD, Naish Sails) and Klaas Voget (Fanatic, NeilPryde, MFC) entertained one of the closest second rounds heats. Both sailors launched into towering one handed rotations, but Voget would ultimately steal the victory.
The latter stages
As the 48 man fleet continued to narrow, more and more big names dropped from the elimination. Alex Mussolini (RRD, NeilPryde) fell victim to Köster’s seemingly unstoppable run, and Julien Taboulet (F2, Naish) departed courtesy of Browne’s impressive freestyle-wave fusion.
Local favorite Dario Ojeda (Quatro, MFC) was stopped in his tracks by the super smooth wave riding of Josh Angulo (MauiSails, Dakine), and Bruch continued to dominate the airwaves with his gravity defying aerial rotations, defeating Scott McKercher (Starboard, Severne).
Entering the quarters, crowds were treated to arguably the heat of the day, when underdog Köster took on the might of competition favorite Victor Fernandez (Fanatic, Simmer Style, MFC). Fernandez may well have thought he’d done enough when he landed a perfect double forward, only for Köster to hammer straight back at him with a tweaked pushloop into forward loop. The scene was set, and the pair went off the scale with their jumps. Eventually Fernandez took the victory, but Köster had showed just what he’s capable of.
The 2007 world champion and current tour leader Kauli Seadi (JP, NeilPryde, Mormaii) was caught sleeping by highflier Bruch. Seadi didn’t go down without a fight and carved into devastating wave rides, but his downfall came in the air, where he failed to match both Bruch’s power and height. Bruch advanced, gaining a huge moral and confidence boost with the victory.
Also departing in the quarter finals was Browne, who was beaten by team mate and mentor Nik Baker (Mistral, North Sails), and Angulo, who fell at the hands of double looping maestro Campello. Campello’s so confident with his doubles that sponsors JP and NeilPryde have offered him a $10,000 bonus if he can land the first ever triple forward loop, and catch it on camera.
The semi finals were a fierce affair. Campello sized up Fernandez, and Baker took on Bruch. Kick starting the heat, the sailors left the beach and launched into three practically simultaneous forward loops. Gaining momentum from here, battle of the double loops commenced between Campello and Fernandez. Choosing the better ramps, Fernandez started to edge ahead, and super slick wave riding would finally condemn Campello to the losers final along with Baker, who was unlucky with his timing, and rarely found ramps to notch up his jump scores. Bruch on the other hand continued to fly higher than ever.
The final got off to a slow start as the waves just refused to show up. When they finally arrived, Fernandez executed a perfect double loop and some super technical wave riding. Bruch replied with a soaring one handed, one footed backloop and some aggressive riding of his own. It was a close tussle, but Fernandez delivered a more polished, and technically higher scoring repertoire to take first place ahead of Bruch.
In the losers final, Baker one again struggled to find ramps, opening the door for Campello to loop to victory, throwing in a shovit air spock for good measure.
The Women's Fleet
The fifteen strong women’s elimination followed a marginally more predictable path. Karin Jaggi (F2, North Sails) pieced together a solid quarter final heat to advance ahead of Silvia Alba Orozco (MFC), and Laure Treboux (Fanatic, North Sails) met her match when she faced Iballa Moreno (North Sails).
In the bottom half of the draw, Nayra Alonso (Fanatic, Severne) had to deliver a stellar performance to defeat Japan’s Junko Nagoshi (Simmer Sails, Dakine) and Daida Moreno (North Sails) unleashed tabletop forward perfection to fend off her rival Evi Tsape (Fanatic, NeilPryde).
The semi final saw some solid wave riding from Alonso, who picked up the set waves on the outside and slashed her way down them, right to the inside. Jaggi also produced moments of genius in her riding, but ultimately couldn’t reply to the Iballa Moreno’s dialed artillery of aerial acrobatics. Alonso’s fate was a similar one, entering the losers final after some devastating loops from Daida Moreno.
The final, Moreno vs., Moreno would boil down to wave riding, as the siblings seemed to match each other move for move in the air. Daida’s tactics paid off, as she meticulously alternated jumps with rides, where as Iballa left the riding section of her score sheet empty until it was too late to summon a ride of sufficient magnitude to topple Daida. Daida took the victory, with Iballa claiming second.
In the losers final, Jaggi’s more tweaked, higher table tops and smooth wave rides added to a score that Alonso struggled to match, despite getting some nice rides in herself. Jaggi took third and Alonso fourth.
That concludes day one of competition. Tomorrow, the wave fleet have their skippers meeting at 10am, and the race fleet have their skippers meeting at 11am. Be sure to tune into pwaworldtour.com to follow the next chapter of the 2008 Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam.
PWA / Andrew Buchanan
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Re:2008 Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam - 2008/07/05 18:05
Gramps, up close and personal.
Pic - PWA/John Carter
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Re:2008 Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam - 2008/07/05 18:06
Ricardo Campello going off!!!
Pic - PWA/John Carter
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Re:2008 Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam - 2008/07/05 18:07
Vidar Jensen - Crazy Pete
Pic - PWA/John Carter
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