PWA Fuerteventura Grand Slam day 6 - Freestylers unleashed
by PWA on 27 Jul 2012
Gollito in control - PWA Sotavento Fuerteventura World Cup 2012 John Carter / PWA
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PWA Fuerteventura Grand Slam day 6 and the world’s best freestylers took centre stage for their first day of competition. It wasn’t until just before five O’clock that they were unleashed onto the water, having spent the majority of the day on standby.
Once the wind arrived the judges and the crowd were treated to a couple of hours of explosive freestyle as the contortionists of the freestyle world launched into their finest tricks. By the end of the evening two complete rounds of the men’s single elimination were completed.
Men’s Single Elimination
The opening round of the contest saw an extremely close encounter in the first heat of the day between Loic Spicher (JP / NeilPryde / MFC) and Antoine Albert (Tabou / Gaastra). In the end Spicher won the heat by way of a 2:1 decision in his favor, with Spicher’s greater diversity proving to be the key as he advanced into the second round. The other side of the heat saw Jacopo Testa (RRD) dispatch of Andraz Zan (F2 / Different) after the Italian sailed a terrific heat. On his way to victory Testa landed a sick double spock and a big kono.
Elsewhere in the first round seventeen-year-old Rafael De Windt (Starboard / Hot Sails Maui) produced a fine performance to knock out Adam Sims (Patrik). The B-side of heat three saw Deivis Paternina Teran (Hot Sails Maui) produce a brilliant array of tricks as he managed to defeat Paul Zeper (Patrik / Hot Sails Maui). The performance of the first round came from the young Dutchman, Rick Jendrusch (F2 / Severne / Mystic), who landed a sick culo to open his heat before going on to deliver huge shaka and a radical kono. This proved too much for the talented Adrian Beholz (Fanatic / Sailloft Hamburg / Maui Ultra Fins) as Jendrusch marched into the next round.
The first heat of the second round, heat nine, saw the Dutchmen safely advance. Firstly Youp Schmit (JP / NeilPryde) proved too much to handle for Loic Spicher, before Davy Scheffers (Tabou / Gaastra) narrowly edged a close battle with Jacopo Testa. Scheffers didn’t begin his heat in the perfect manner as he dropped a number of his early moves. However he maintained his composure and by the end of the heat the radical maestro had landed a sick culo and a super fast burner to end the hopes of Testa.
The number three seed Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra) featured in heat ten and the man from Bonaire had no problems advancing into the third round, despite a fine performance from Mattia Fabrizi (Fanatic / North). Thode effortlessly rotated through incredible spock-culos and massive double air funnels as he delivered the best performance of the competition so far. Meanwhile Russian Yegor Popretinskiy (JP / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) used his wealth of experience to book his place in the next round after defeating Edvan De Souza Pedro (RRD / Simmer).
Phil Soltysiak (Starboard / Sailworks) looked in terrific form in heat eleven as he navigated his way past Rafael De Windt. The Canadian landed anything from e-sliders to big powerful culos as he delivered a truly accomplished performance. The battle of the Hot Sails Maui teammates saw Bjorn Saragoza (Starboard / Hot Sails Maui) come out on top against Deivis Paternina Teran with an efficient display.
Heat twelve involved the four times freestyle World Champion Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / North) and he looked in formidable form as he demonstrated a devastating repertoire of stunts, including a shaka-flaka and a monstrous culo. Unfortunately for Andy Lachauer (JP / NeilPryde) this meant the end of his single elimination. Whilst Julien Mas (Patrik / Hot Sails Maui) advanced against Nicola Spadea (Starboard / Gun Sails).
Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard / Point-7 / Maui Ultra Fins) and Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra) were both able to dispatch of their opposite numbers in heat thirteen to book their places in round three. Frans in particular was sailing on a different level as he rotated his way through explosive burner 900s and a super fast skopu to name just a few. Bryan Metcalf-Perez (JP / NeilPryde) and Adam Gavriel (Patrik / Simmer) will now have to wait until the double elimination to seek revenge.
Heat fourteen witnessed Christopher Kalk (Fanatic / Gaastra / Maui Ultra Fins) take down Tilo Eber (JP / NeilPryde) with a terrific display, whilst Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) was in irresistible form just like his brother Tonky. Taty showed off his unique style again as he landed amazing planing culos and konos as well as a super technical clew-first flaka, to leave Amado Vrieswijk (Starboard / Severne) with no chance on this occasion.
The penultimate heat of the day, heat fifteen, saw Dieter Van Der Eyken (Starboard / Severne) produce a confident display as he managed to navigate his way past a potentially dangerous opponent in Maarten Van Ochten (JP / NeilPryde / MFC). Van Ochten landed a stylish shuvit spock and even attempted the only air chachoo of the day, but it wasn’t enough as Van Der Eyken reigned victorious. Anthony Ruenes (Tabou / Gaastra) quite literally flew his way past Tony Mottus (JP / NeilPryde) as the Frenchmen let loose with a plethora of air moves.
The final heat of the day saw the reigning World Champion, Steven Van Broeckhoven (JP / NeilPryde / Different) hit the water for the first time and the Belgium secured his place in the next round with relative ease. Meanwhile the B-side of the heat saw an all English affair between Andy ‘Bubble’ Chambers (JP / NeilPryde) and Max Rowe (Fanatic / North). This was the first time that the pair had met on the PWA World Tour since Rowe’s debut in 2010, and on this occasion it was Chambers who would be celebrating. The score sheets were extremely close at the end of the heat, but Chambers had shown the greater diversity throughout the heat to progress.
The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 10:30am.
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