Bonaire PWA World Cup 2011 - Thode and Offringa

by PWA on 18 Jun 2011 Bonaire PWA World Cup 2011 was held on Lac Bay, Bonaire, during Sunday 12th to Thursday 16th June.

Event Summary: The picture perfect island of Bonaire delivered incredible conditions for the freestyle world cup, seeing Kiri Thode and Sarah-Quita Offringa triumphant after two eliminations.

Located in the southern Caribbean, Bonaire boasts crystal clear waters, consistent trade winds and a tranquil atmosphere. The PWA’s finest freestylers were welcomed with open arms onto the beautiful island for the third round of the men’s freestyle world tour, and the opening event in the women’s calendar.

Competition took place in the turquoise waters of Lac Bay, home spot to local legends; Kiri Thode (Starboard /Gaastra), Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic) and style master Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra). Lac Bay didn’t disappoint delivering five days of wind between 15-25 knots and scorching sun, allowing two eliminations to be completed and the new kings and queens of Bonaire to be crowned.

Once the formalities of registration were out the way and the skippers meeting completed, head judge Duncan Coombs wasted no time in releasing the 39 men and 8 women onto the water for a five day freestyle extravaganza.

Men’s Elimination one
Elimination one exploded into action from the word go, with the Bonaire trades blowing around 20 knots the sailors entered the battle arena on sails around 5.0m, completing the single elimination on the first afternoon of competition.

Lac Bay’s super flat water allowed a whole variety of aerial and sliding maneuvers to be performed and quickly saw event favorites Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra), Thode, Taty Frans and Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo take advantage of the conditions and work their way to the semi-finals.

In the final it came down to two local freestyle wizards Thode and Taty Frans to fight it out in front of their home fans. Both sailors went to town displaying a performance of huge culos, and konos. Thode managed to separate the two score sheets with an enormous Kabicutchi successfully securing his first victory of the competition.

Double Elimination
The double elimination took place on the second day of competition. An action packed day saw emotions running high, as the sailors fought their way through each round in an attempt to raise their place on the scoreboard.

Choco Frans (F2) flew though his heats quickly climbing from 17th to seventh, wowing the crowds with his perfect Ponchs in front of the judge’s tower. As did Davy Scheffers (Tabou / Gaastra), who managed to raise his position from ninth to fifth sailing expertly though 8 heats.

The final boiled down to a repeat performance of the previous day. Thode and Taty Frans unleashed every trick in their amour an attempt to gain the upper hand. This was the most exciting heat of the elimination as both sailors pushed the boundaries of freestyle further and further. The day ultimately went to Thode, who gained the favor of the judges with the magnitude of his maneuvers and finally sealed the deal with an astonishing spock-culo.

Women’s Elimination one
The female fleet made up of eight sailors got off to a flying start. Laure Treboux (Fanatic / North) looked dialed into the conditions from the very beginning steaming her way through her first and second heats taking down Mio Anayama (NeilPryde) and Yoli de Brendt (Fanatic / North) with her fully planing spock 540’s and grubby variations.

Treboux continued her reign of glory all the way to the winner’s final where she went on to face three times world freestyle champion Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic). Treboux reeled out her moves like clockwork whilst Offringa went for a high risk, power performance. This Swiss freestyle Queen looked to hold the advantage as Offringa fell frequently, but the high risk strategy came together in the closing seconds when she bagged herself a perfect kono and a bob, ensuring an early victory over Treboux.

Double Elimination
The double elimination final saw Treboux and Offringa take to the waters once again to fight for first place. Treboux looked to want the number one spot more than ever making sure her moves had that extra element of style. She then pulled out a perfect planning grubby diablo and a one handed e-slider, but once again Offringa managed to steal the show as she sailed behind Treboux and raised the game with every move, granting her second victory of the competition.

Men’s elimination two –Van Broeckhoven strikes back!
The second single elimination saw European freestyler Van Broeckhoven break down the barriers the Bonaire boys held over winner’s final and work his way to face Thode.

The final saw lighter winds plague the competition area, but it had minimal effect on both parties as they pumped their way into massive maneuvers. The sailors both chose to open the heat with perfect culos shortly followed by a succession of double moves. Van Broeckhoven pushed the level higher with a spock-culo but was quickly matched by Thode’s enormous air bob. The heat was incredibly close; Van Broeckhoven managed to snatch the victory by just half a point, leaving Thode to work out where he went wrong and a slightly enraged group of fans.
Double Elimination

The final day of competition provided the strongest winds of the week permitting the sailors to bring their biggest moves into the freestyle arena, in a final bid for all important competition places.

The men’s final boiled down to two mind-blowing heats between local favorite Thode and Van Broeckhoven. Having won the single elimination Van Broeckhoven held the advantage over Thode and had to be beaten twice to lose the second double.

Thode was hungry for a final victory and sailed the first final like a true champion pulling a series of mind-boggling combination moves. Van Broeckhoven replied with his trademark style throwing huge culos and a flaka ponch. However a crash early on in the heat saw him reeling in shock, and unable to focus throughout the remainder of the final, leaving Thode to secure a significant lead and claim an early victory.

Motivated by his home fans and with event title already secured, Thode went on to earn his crown as King of the Lac Bay pulling a gravity defying kabicutchi and an unbelievable grubby ponch. Van Broeckhoven fought tooth and nail to hold his ground, but with his homes fans’ cheering his every move Thode was on an unstoppable roll and finished the event with an undisputed victory.

Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra): 'I am ecstatic to have won on my home spot, it was an amazing event and the wind was perfect. A lot of the others competitors can do all the moves move here, I was really pushing myself to show everyone what I can do and I am extremely happy with my sailing. I am really excited for the next event in Aruba.'

Women’s Elimination two
A difficult day for the ladies saw their heats being re-run several times as the wind refused to play ball. Anayama delivered a seriously impressive display of powerful moves, from fully planning grubbys to smooth spock 540’s but it wasn’t enough to defeat the all mighty Venezuelan De Brendt.

In the semi-finals Treboux and De Brendt blitzed through their heat making the best use of every gust. Treboux displayed a perfect one-handed e-slider and a flaka, providing her with the advantage and enough points to make it into the winners final.

For the third consecutive day it came down to arch rivals Offringa and Treboux to out-style each other first place. Treboux chose to work her way down the whole competition area quickly in order to maintain speed and rack up her moves, whereas Offringa played it more cautiously. She maintained her ground upwind and performed her moves directly in front of the judge’s tower. Despite Treboux’s spectacular performance Offringa’s diverse range of maneuvers proved, once again to be too much to contend with.

Double Elimination
Bonaire witnessed one of the finest women’s finals of all time. Offringa and Treboux took to the water for the fourth time this week. With one more opportunity to break Offringa’s stronghold on Lac Bay and the top spot, Treboux pulled out all the stops. On recognizing Treboux’s effort Offringa decided it was time to reveal her big moves. The end result was a spectacular show and a final to remember as both women unleashed everything they had for the cheering crowds. Despite Treboux’s fighting every inch of the way, Offringa squeezed past Treboux with her incredible moves and took her fourth final win at this event and the title of event winner.

Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic):'I was quite nervous for this event and on the first day I didn’t sail as well as I wanted but I still managed to win. Slowly it got better even though the wind was light. Today was the cherry on top of the cake because the wind was really strong. In the final I was powered up on my 5.2 sailing against Laura; usually we have a really good time when we are sailing. I think it was my best heat ever I landed a double spock, a kono, an air funnel and a funnel diablo. I was really happy, I saw that Laure was sailing really well and that motivated me even more so, I think this was one of the best women’s finals ever. I am really excited for Aruba, the forecast looks great.'

Results
Men’s Fleet
1st Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra)
2nd Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra)
3rd Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic)
4th Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / North)
5th Davy Scheffers (Tabou / Gaastra)
6th Dieter Van Der Eyken (Starboard / Severne)
7th Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra)
8th Choco Frans (F2)
8th Bjorn Saragoza (Starboard / Hot Sails)
8th Philip Soltysiak (Starboard / Dakine)

Women’s Fleet
1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra/ Mystic)
2nd Laure Treboux (Fanatic / North)
3rd Yolanda De Brendt (Fanatic / North)
4th Arianne Aukes (RRD / Simmer / Dakine)
5th Xenia Kessler (JP / MauiSails)
6th Mio Anayama (NeilPryde)
7th Daniela Simal
8th Maxime Van Gent

Current overall standings
Men (After 3 events)
1st Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra)
2nd Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / North)
3rd Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic)
4th Davy Scheffers (Tabou / Gaastra)
5th Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra)
6th Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra)
7th Philip Soltysiak (Starboard / Dakine)
8th Dieter Van Der Eyken (Starboard / Severne)
9th Anthony Ruenes (Tabou / Simmer)
10th Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard / Gun)

Women (After 1 event)
1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard /Gaastra /Mystic)
2nd Laure Treboux (Fanatic / North)
3rd Yolanda De Brendt (Fanatic / North)
4th Arrianne Aukes (RRD /Simmer)
5th Xenia Kessler (JP /MauiSails)
6th Mio Anayama (NeilPryde)
7th Daniela Simal
8th Maxime Van Gent

The PWA crew will now make the short trip over to the dazzling island of Aruba for round four of the freestyle and slalom world cup taking place on 19th-26th June. PWA Bonaire PWA World Tour website