PWA Sylt World Cup - Iballa Ruano Moreno secures victory

by Chris Yates on 2 Oct 2012 On Monday, day three of the 2012 PWA Sylt World Cup, the freestyle and wave sailors hit the water as the action on the water continued for a third day in a row. The morning saw relatively flat water and cross-shore winds, which transformed Sylt into a freestyle arena as the double elimination began.

After three hours of freestyle, the fleet has been narrowed down to the top eight men in the world, at this point the decision was made to change disciplines as the waves continued to grow in size enabling the completion of the women’s wave single elimination and the start of the men’s double elimination. The real news of today though belongs to Iballa Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne), who secured the 2012 PWA Wave World Championship title and also won the women’s single elimination.<

The winners’ final saw very different conditions to the previous two events in Pozo and Tenerife, as side shore winds and waves in the waist to chest high region blessed the shores of Sylt. Head judge, Duncan Coombs, made the decision to run a fifteen-minute heat with two waves and no jumps to count, meaning that the final was a pure wave riding contest. Iballa took an early lead as she combined a nice backside hit with a couple of vertical snappy top turns and she was able to maintain her lead, despite spending several minutes outside of the competition area. Daida (Starboard / Severne) also scored a couple of good waves, but she didn’t have the same fluidity and verticalness in her turns to overturn the deficit.

Words from the new world champion, Iballa Moreno: 'The conditions were really tricky with the current, thankfully I managed to get one or two good waves and this was enough to give me the victory. Of course I’m delighted.'

The losers’ final marked a massive moment for Laure Treboux (Fanatic / North), as the Swiss styler defeated her fellow countryman, Karin Jaggi (Patrik / Severne), for the first time. The victory saw her claim the remaining place on the podium and Treboux will now look to defend her position in the double elimination.

The opening round of the double elimination saw an incredibly close heat between Andy Chambers (JP / NeilPryde) and Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne / Mystic). The Frenchman was leading the heat until the last couple of minutes until Chambers picked up a great wave, and delivered several powerful turns to steal the victory by just 0.01 points. The biggest shock of the first round involved Jamie Hancock (Tabou / Gaastra) and Maciek Rutkowski (Patrik / Loft / Maui Ultra Fins). The Pole is more known for his slalom sailing but today he was able to defeat a regular on the PWA wave tour with an accomplished display.

Only two rounds of the second round were completed before the wind and the waves began to deteriorate. Phil Horrocks (Tabou / Gaastra) showed off his excellent wave selection and then execution, as the Brit times several frontside smacks to perfect to defeat Jules Denel (Exocet), whilst Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing / MFC) was able to knock out Antoine Martin (JP / NeilPryde). The final heat of the day saw two more Brits book their place in round three as John Skye (RRD / Mystic / MFC) saw off the challenge of Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) dispatched of Kevin Mevissen (Quatro / Goya Windsurfing).

The first round of the double elimination went according to the form book and all of the sailors that expected to progress did, as did much of the second. The main talking point occurred in heat thirty-seven as Max Matissek (Fanatic / North) sailed against Tony Mottus (JP / NeilPryde). The two sailors endured an extremely close heat and the result came down to a 2:1 decision in the favor of Matissek. The closest heat in the freestyle though occurred in the next round as Andy Chambers took on Maarten Van Ochten (JP / NeilPryde / MFC). The pair landed some massive moves, including an outstanding air chachoo from Van Ochten, and by the end of the heat the scoring was tied. This meant that by way of a tie break Van Ochten progressed into heat forty-five, where he would face Phil Soltysiak (Starboard / Sailworks). The Canadian proved too much for Van Ochten on this occasion as Soltysiak marched into the top eight.

Heat forty-four saw Youp Schmit (JP / NeilPryde) advance passed an out of sorts Anthony Ruenes (Tabou / Gaastra), whilst the Bonairean clash between, Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) and Bjorn Saragoza (Starboard / Hot Sails Maui) saw Taty Frans come out on top.

As already mentioned in heat forty-five Phil Soltysiak was able to dispatch of Maarten Van Ochten, meanwhile, the B-side of the heat saw Dieter Van der Eyken (Starboard / Severne) continue his hugely impressive form as the Belgium brought an end to Davy Scheffers’ (Tabou / Gaastra) double elimination.

Dieter Van der Eyken sailed an incredible heat against Mattia Fabrizi (Fanatic / North) in heat forty-one. The Belgium maestro put together a spectacular repertoire of tricks ranging from burners on both tacks to kabikuchis. Van der Eyken even tried a regular kono into forward loop as he excelled in this morning conditions, he wasn’t able to land it, but it also didn’t look a million miles away.

Tomorrow sees lighter winds being forecast than in the opening three days of the event, this means that the slalom sailors may now gain the opportunity to steal the limelight having been beach bound thus far. Once again the skippers meeting for the wave and freestyle fleets has been called for 9am with the first possible start at 09:30. The skippers meeting for the slalom will take place at 10am with the action commencing from 10:30, if conditions allow.

Results of the Single Elimination - Women’s Wave:

1st Iballa Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne)
2nd Daida Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne)
3rd Laure Treboux (Fanatic / North)
4th Karin Jaggi (Patrik / PWA World Tour Windsurf World Cup website