GKA Mauritius Finals – The trials begin and the first hearts break

Filippe Fereira – GKA Kite-Surf World Tour Ydwer van der Heide

Thorben – GKA Kite-Surf World Tour © Ydwer van der Heide

The results of round one of the trials panned out like this (the winners advanced straight to round three):

Heat 1
Phillipe Alengrin (REU) - 1
Pedro Matos (BRA) - 2

Heat 2
Sebastian Ribeiro (BRA) - 1
Gabriel Peixoto (BRA) - 2

Heat 3
Hamid Bouceta (MAR)- 1
Antony Jacoby (REU) - 2
Raomi Lemos (BRA) - 3

Heat 4
Filipe Ferreira (BRA) - 1
Steffano Maffezzoni (ITA) - 2

Heat 5
Tanio Barreto (BRA) - 1
Stephan Romain (REU) - 2
Marlon Jacoby (REU) - 3

Heat 6
Willow-Rivers Tonkin (MRU) - 1
Theo Demanez (MAF) - 2

Heat 7
Andrea Caratide (ITA) - 1
Marcelo Paraiso (BRA) - 2
Douglas Juliani (BRA) - 3

Heat 8
Taylor Holl DEU (ZAR) - 1
Djo Silva (CV) - 2

Heat 9
Jeremy Chan (MRU) - 1
Roderick Piljs (NL) - 2
Nans Laviolette (MRU)- 3

Heat 10
Thorben Jasper (DE) 1
Teiti Teva (REU)- 2

Heat 11
Kevin Langeree (NL) - 1
Joshua Emanuel (ZAR) - 2
Francois Blanchard (REU) - 3

Heat 12
James Carew (AUS) - 1
Pablo Navarro (ESP) - 2

Heat 13
Brandon Labonne (MRU) - 1
Sebastien Schmitt (FRA) - 2
Victor Adamo (BRA) - 3

Heat 14
Dimitry Evseev (RUS) - 1
Nicola Abadjiev BGR) - 2

Heat 15
Joao Enrique Ferreira (BRA) - 1
Eloy Derze (URY) - 2
Fabricio Negri (BRA) - 3

Heat 16
Oswald Smith (ZAR) - 1
Luis Brito (CV) - 2

D'Jo Silva – GKA Kite-Surf World Tour © Ydwer van der Heide

The second and third placed finishers had to tussle it out again in round two, and from here on the trials event became sudden death. Lose and you're out - unless you were fortunate enough to have a 'bye':

Heat 17A (bye)
R. Piljs

Heat 17B (bye)
T. Teva

Heat 18A (bye)
J. Emanuel

Heat 18B
R. Lemos - 1P. Navarro - 2 (out)

Heat 19A (bye)
S. Schmitt

Heat 19B
N. Abadjiev - 1
M. Jacoby - 2 (out)

Heat 20A (bye)
E. Derze

Heat 20B
L. Brito - 1
D. Juliani - 2 (out)

Heat 21A (bye)
P. Matos

Heat 21B
G. Peixoto - 1
N. Laviolette - 2 (out)

Heat 22A (bye)
A. Jacoby

Heat 22B
S. Maffezzoni - 1
F. Blanchard - 2 (out)

Heat 23A (bye)
S. Romain

Heat 23B
T. Demanez - 1
J. Adamo - 2 (out)

Heat 24A (bye)
M. Paraiso

Heat 24B
Djo Silva - 1
F. Negri - 2 (out)

There were some super clean faces to be picked! – GKA Kite-Surf World Tour © Ydwer van der Heide

So, some challenging heats this afternoon in round two as the first riders were eliminated from the trials and out of the event. The wind dropped briefly after a rain shower before coming back in full force right through until sunset when the competition drew to a close for the day, halfway through round three after heat 29B.

Local Jeremy Chan beat Airton Cozzolino last year, but came unstuck against Pedro Matos in round three – GKA Kite-Surf World Tour © Ydwer van der Heide

Here are the results up to that point in round three so far:

Heat 25A
P. Allengrin - 1
R. Pijls - 2 (Out)

Heat 25B
S. Ribeiro - 1
T. Teva - 2 (Out)

Heat 26A
J. Emanuel - 1
H. Bouceta - 2 (Out)

Heat 26B
F. Fereira - 1
R. Lemos - 2 (Out)

Heat 27B
W. River-Tonkin - 1
N. Abadjiev - 2 (Out)

Heat 28A
A. Caratide - 1
E Derze - 2 (Out)

Heat 28B
T. Holl - 1
L. Brito - 2 (Out)

Heat 29A
P. Matos - 1
J. Chan - 2 (Out)

Heat 29B
T. Jasper - 1
G. Peixoto -2 (Out)

Kevin Langeree's up first on Friday – GKA Kite-Surf World Tour © Ydwer van der Heide

And the remaining heats coming up in round three:

Heat 30A
K. Langeree V A. Jacoby

Heat 30B
J. Carew V S. Maff

Heat 31A
B. Labonne V S. Roman

Heat 31B
D Evseev V T. Demanez

Heat 32A
J. Ferreira V M. Paraiso

Heat 32B
O. Smith V D'Jo Silva

There are seven heats left to complete the trials, which will take us up to the end of round five, at which point we will have the top eight riders who will progress to the main event, taking a ranking from their scores in round four.

Kevin and Oswald Smith at the morning's briefing. Look out for South African Ozzie progressing - he took the highest wave score, showing just how much practice he's been putting in here the last month! – GKA Kite-Surf World Tour © Ydwer van der Heide

The forecast looks good again tomorrow for the third day of this 10 day contest period. Riders' briefing is at 9am tomorrow morning with a 9.30 first possible start for the remaining trials heats. After that it's straight into the main event when the eight riders who've qualified from the trials will face the 12 pre-qualified riders and eight local wildcards in round one!