2015 PWA World Cup Tenerife – Exhilarating conclusion

by Chris Yates on 10 Aug 2015 The last day of the 2015 Tenerife PWA World Cup saw a grandstand finale as Super Sunday saw an exhilarating conclusion to the event. The wind continued to howl all night and was still gusting in excess of 40 knots first thing this morning, whilst solid sized waves continued to roll into El Cabezo.

Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne) was looking to defend his single elimination crown in order to secure a maiden victory, but Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / North / MFC) had other plans as he defeated the Australian twice to be crowned the champion and head to the top of the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) saw off the challenge of her sister - Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) - to make it two wins out of two for 2015 as she extends her lead at the top of the rankings.

Men’s

Double Elimination
Winners’ Final

Victor Fernandez defeated Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) in the first heat of the day to setup a final against Jaeger Stone. The Spaniard knew he’d have to defeat Stone twice if he wanted to take the title and it looked like he would have his work cutout as his opponent opened with a fully planing tweaked pushloop and a big one-handed, one-footed backloop. However, the impact from the tweaked pushloop cost Stone dearly as it turned out he’d snapped his board. Luckily, Köster, was on hand to quickly sail a new set of gear out to his teammate, but Stone then seemed a bit rattled and out of sync with the waves. Fernandez in the meantime landed a perfect double forward and a stylish one-foot backloop, whilst linking together a couple of solid waves to force a super final.

Super Final

The Super Final was extended to 18 minutes with two waves and two jumps to count as in the final conditions looked to be deteriorating slightly. However, the conditions picked up again to provide a scintillating conclusion to the men’s main draw. Stone looked to be back in the groove as he wracked up two waves in the excellent range to slightly outscore Fernandez in the waves department. Stones’ best effort included a now trademark, gouging taka, which he backed up with a couple of vert snaps. However, Fernandez swung the momentum in his favour with another perfect double forward and a massive tabletop forward. The Spaniard also produced a couple of brilliant waves with full rail turns and takas right in the critical section. Stone tried to respond with a double forward effort, but couldn’t stop Fernandez from stealing the event title from his grasp.

Women’s
Double Elimination

Iballa Moreno saw off a stern challenge from Amanda Beenen (99NoveNove / Point-7) in Heat 34 to set up a rematch with Daida in the winners’ final. Iballa had looked in terrific form in the heat prior as she posted a score of just over 30 points having landed a huge pushloop and a sick frontside aerial with several fluid turns. In the final, Iballa, again looked in terrific form on the wave as she combined full gouging rail turns with vertical snaps to earn two solid wave scores of 8.88 points and 6.12 points. Daida, meanwhile, was her usual dominant force in the air as she landed a huge, fully tweaked, tabletop forward before adding a stylish backloop. So with four minutes to go Iballa led the waves, whilst Daida led the jumps. However, at this stage Iballa was missing her second jump and only needed a score of 4.94 or more to force the tie into a super final. The reigning world champion desperately hunted for a ramp, but when she did she couldn’t quite stick her backloop or massive stalled forward effort as Daida maintained her unbeaten record to extend her lead at the top.

Amanda Beenen was in determined move today and it paid off at she defended her top three place against Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) in the battle for third and fourth. On the way to doing so Beenen boosted a huge forward to earn her first finish on the podium, whilst also pushing Iballa Moreno all the way as she tried to progress into second place. The twenty-eight year old went for broke as she landed a sick tabletop forward, but unfortunately Iballa was in an unstoppable mood at that point.

Result Men’s Double Elimination

First Victor Fernández (Fanatic / North / MFC)
Second Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne)
Third Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
Fourth Ricardo Campello (Patrik / Point-7 / MFC)
Fifth Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD)
Sixth Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins / SWOX)
Seventh Thomas Traversa F3 (Tabou / GA Sails)
Seventh Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing / MFC)
Ninth Adam Lewis (Fanatic / North)
Ninth Florian Jung (RRD / Gun Sails)
Ninth Camille Juban (Quatro / Avanti)
Ninth Dany Bruch (Starboard / Challenger Sails / AL360)

Result Women’s Double Elimination

First Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
Second Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
Third Amanda Beenen (99NoveNove / Point-7)
Fourth Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)
Fifth Steffi Wahl (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg)
Sixth Greta Benvenuti (Patrik / Point-7 / AL360)
Seventh Alice Arutkin (Fanatic / North)
Seventh Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Mystic)