PWA Sylt World Cup - Epic competition unfolds on day 2

by Chris Yates on 1 Oct 2012 The second day of the 2012 PWA Sylt World Cup saw great conditions as more wind and big, powerful, hollow waves hit the shores of Sylt. Over the course of the day, the conditions continued to improve as some epic action unfolded on the water.

After six and a half hours of competition, and several sets of sacrificed equipment, the top four of the women’s wave single elimination was decided and consisted of Iballa Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne), Daida Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne), Karin Jaggi (Patrik / Severne) and Laure Treboux (Fanatic / North), whilst the single elimination of the men’s wave was completed and Philip Köster (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) reigned victorious as he managed to defeat Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / North) to restore parity by putting himself back at the top of the event ranking after Denmark.

The familiar line up of Philip Köster versus Victor Fernandez was restored in the winners’ final. Both sailors opened up the final with double forwards, Fernandez’s was the higher of the two but Köster’s was more upright, which left the scores on even par. The world champion then took control of the tie as he found a pitching section to throw a radical frontside wave 360.

The battle between the two sailors continued as the Spaniard landed an absolutely superb one handed, one footed, backloop, however Köster was able to respond with an even better version of the same trick to once again edge ahead.

As the heat headed into its final minutes the wonder kid threw another fantastic frontside wave 360, which happened to be just in front of Fernandez and the 2010 world champion dually responded by throwing a superb backside 360, however it wasn’t enough for him, as the man of the moment continued to grab the headlines by securing another victory. Köster may not have been at his absolute best for the entirety of today, but he did show once more his incredible competition sailing qualities, whereby he can pull any trick out of his never ending armor to overcome any obstacle (sailor) in his way.

In the battle for third and fourth, Ricardo Campello (JP / NeilPryde / MFC) was able to defeat an on fire Alex Mussolini (Tabou / Gaastra). Campello showed exactly why he is considered one of the most radical jumpers in the world throughout the day, and in losers’ final he landed an immaculate double forward and a wet, stalled, one handed, one footed forward loop as he left nothing on the line. Mussolini linked together a couple of good waves, which included a super smooth taka, but he hadn’t done enough to defeat Campello.

As previously mentioned Alex Mussolini (Tabou / Gaastra) was one of the standout sailors of the day. The Spaniard achieved perfect tens for two of his waves, the first of which occurred in the third round against Leon Jamaer (Fanatic / North). Mussolini found himself below a huge hollow section and he launched into monumental frontside wave 360, which saw him fly at least a couple of feet above the lip of the wave. As he landed, the crowd on the beach erupted into rapturous applause as they showed their appreciation for one of, if not the, move of the day. Mussolini then replicated the perfect ten in the very next round against his teammate Thomas Traversa (Tabou / Gaastra), with another exceptional frontside wave 360 as he demonstrated that he really is the master of the move.

The opening round of the third round witnessed one of the closest rounds for a long time, and certainly the closest of the competition. Kenneth Danielsen (Simmer) was faced against Ricardo Campello in heat seventeen, and the man from Denmark held the lead until the very last seconds of the contest. Danielsen showed off his powerful and fluid wave riding, only to have the victory snatched from under his nose by a Brazilian who didn’t know when he was beat. Campello picked up his final wave of the heat and after a couple of turns he clinched the victory by the narrowest of margins, 0.01 points, with a clean taka to leave Danielsen desperately unlucky.

Several other sailors also impressed in the single elimination including Albert Pijoan (Starboard / Severne), who negotiated his way through the opening two rounds, as he knocked out Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne / Mystic), and more impressively he claimed the scalp of Marcilio ‘Brawzinho’ Browne (Goya Windsurfing / MFC), before Dario Ojeda (Tabou / Gaastra / MFC) halted his progress. The man on the mic, Ben Proffitt (Simmer), was also a man in form today, specifically on the wave. Proffitt managed to come out on top in the all English affair against Phil Horrocks (Tabou / Gaastra), whilst the Brit also pushed Philip Köster all the in heat twenty, however, crucially he was missing a couple of big jumps to back up his super riding and the world champion escaped unscathed.

The quarter finals saw Karin Jaggi, Daida Ruano Moreno, Laure Treboux and Iballa Ruano Moreno advance into the semi-finals. As heat twenty-three progressed it seriously looked as though there was a major upset on the cards, as the legendary Moreno twins found themselves in trouble until the dying moments of their heats against the Swiss gems of Jaggi and Treboux respectively. Unlucky lighting struck twice for Iballa as she first suffered a broken mast, but thanks to help from Steffi Wahl (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg) she was swiftly back on the water. However disaster soon struck again as the current leader of the world tour encountered more problems with her boom.

It seemed that the universe was against her today, but she managed to compose herself in the final minutes to put together a couple of good waves to swing the heat in her favour and book her place in the winners’ final. Likewise, her incredible twin Daida, also showed the same battling qualities to come back from the death against Jaggi to set up another all Moreno winners’ final.

With the quickly fading light the decision was made to complete the women’s winners’ and losers’ final tomorrow. This means that for the third day in a row the skippers meeting for the wave and freestyle fleets will take place at 9am with the action commencing from 09:30, whilst the slalom sailors will have their skippers meeting at 10am with the view to starting from 10:30.

Results After the Single Elimination - Men’s Wave:

1st Philip Köster (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / North)
3rd Ricardo Campello (JP / NeilPryde / MFC)
4th Alex Mussolini (Tabou / Gaastra)
5th Thomas Traversa (Tabou / Gaastra)
5th Kauli Seadi (JP / NeilPryde)
5th Dario Ojeda (Tabou / Gaastra / MFC)
5th Dany Bruch (Starboard / Severne / PWA World Tour Windsurf World Cup website