Kite Racing World Championships, Sylt

by IKA on 1 Jul 2011 IKA Kite Racing World Championships are being raced in Sylt Germany.

Day 3.

It was as windy as it could get at the Kite Racing World Championships. Not only the racers were about to be tested, the freestylers entered the scene as well as the Kitesurf Tour Europe 2011 kicked off with side-onshore winds at 20+ knots.

The riders were struggling with the tough conditions. It was not the wind, but rather the waves that made the landing difficult for the top Europeans. In the semis, Dutch Jerrie Van de Kop faced German champion Mario Rodwald. Just minutes before the end, Jerrie dropped his kite unable to relaunch. Suddenly Roy, Mario's dad, went straight to Jerrie handing him over Mario's substitue bigger kite - a great gesture of fair play and sportsmanship! In the end, Mario in a close decision proceeded into the final facing Tijn van Esch from the Netherlands who defeated Seb Garat in the semis. A great show at the beach of Sylt made the crowd cheer for the riders and in the end local rider Mario Rodwald took the win in the single elimination defeating Dutch rider Tijn van Esch. In the women's competition, Polish rider Michalina Laskowska won the final against Ines Correia from Portugal.

In the afternoon, the racers went out for three races in strong winds and two-three metre waves - not really easy conditions to handle with a race board. Nevertheless, the picture on the water did not change from yesterday. The US-team races in another league with only a few Europeans who can follow the speed of John Heineken, Andy Koch and Sky Solbach. Julien Kerneur is such an exception. The Frenchman is the hope for the Europeans to get to the podium in the overall ranking - a tough goal to achieve fighting the competition from the United States.

In the women's races it looks like a close fight between Steph Bridge and Katja Roose. During the first day here in Sylt, Steph was weaker than Katja and Katja managed to win the first races. However, yesterday and today, Steph shows a better performance in stronger winds and bigger waves leaving Katja at second place. Nayara Licariao took third place in almost every race.

Tonight, the poker night with 14 riders and 6 locals will show, who is the leader on the table.

For tomorrow, the double elimination starts at 9.30am, races will start around 2pm. The weather forecast looks like it is gonna be another great day here at the Course Racing World Championships and Kitesurf Tour Europe.

Results Men after 8 races:

1. John Heineken (USA) 4.2 points
2. Adam Koch (USA) 9.4 points
3. Brayn Lake (USA) 21 points
4. Julien Kerneur (FRA) 21 points
5. Syk Solbach (USA) 22 points

Results Women after 8 races:

1. Steph Bridge (GBR) 5.5 points
2. Katja Roose (NED) 10.4 points
3. Nayara Licariao (BRA) 15 points
4. Caroline Adrien (FRA) 22 points
5. Melissa Gil (USA) 25 points

Day 2

The day kicked off with bright sunshine and light offshore winds, and that's how it was almost all day. The forecasts called for turning winds till the late afternoon which made it impossible for the race committee to set a course, and also taking into consideration not to send the fleet out in fluky, shifty offshore conditions.

Around noon the wind started turing but also to completely die down, and it took another couple of hours until it came back up. Around 5 pm there were first signs of wind on the horizon, and suddenly at 5:30pm the wind switched on, turned to west and had 17-20 knots in strength.

The race committee set a windward leward course with the start line close to the beach and headed out for a 18:30 start, and the fleet went off in water conditions that became more nasty from minute to minute. Breaking waves all over the course made it a mission to sail the course properly.

Johnny Heineken (USA, Mikes Lab, Ozone) proved to be the best one again, but this time the margin was way smaller to beat Julien Kerneur (FRA, RRD, Takoon) in second and Adam Koch (USA, Mikes Lab, Ozone) in third.

In the womens fleet it was Steph Bridge (GBR, North) winning this round ahead of Katja Roose (NED, Airush) and Nayara Licariao (BRA, Xtreme, North). The girls are getting tighter in points now and the upcoming days will show who will be the champ in the end.

Racing had to be postponed after this fifth race of the competition due to a technical problem of the committee boat but will commence tomorrow afternoon. First up in the morning will be the freestylers then for the single elimination of the Kite Tour Europe Sylt stop.

Results Men after 5 races:

1. John Heineken (USA) 2.8 points
2. Adam Koch (USA) 7.7 points
3. Syk Solbach (USA) 12.0 points
4. Julien Kerneur (FRA) 15 points
5. Bryan Lake (USA) 16 points

Results Women after 5 races:

1. Katja Roose (NED) 5.4 points
2. Steph Bridge (GBR) 6.1 points
3. Nayara Licariao (BRA) 10 points
4. Caroline Adrien (FRA) 13 points
5. Melissa Gil (USA) 19 points

Day 1

Sunshine and warm weather welcomed the competitors of the 2011 world championships here at Sylt today, and after the opening ceremony it went straight to racing.

The wind was blowing offshore with 17-22 knots, but that meant that racing took part a few kilometers outside which made communication and handling the fleet of 70 racers a tricky job.

Men and women were sent out on a trapezoid course with 1.5 km upwind length with a sequenced start, and right from the beginning it was Johnny Heineken (USA, Ozone, Mike Lab)) who dominated the fleet. Sometimes with a margin of more than a minute to the second placed rider there was only a tangle in race 4 that was able to stop him.

Four races were run in total in two sessions and the fleet brought safely brought back ashore before the wind dropped in the evening. Several protest had to be heard until everybody was satisfied and the results stand.

Defending World Champion Adam Koch (USA, Ozone, Mikes Lab) is in close second ahead of Sky Solbach (USA, North). In total there are six US boys in the top 10 and 4 French riders, the best being Julien Kerneur (FRA, RRD, Takoon) in 5th position.

In the womens fleet it looks like it is coming down to a battle between Katja Roose (NED, Airush) and Steph Bridge (GBR, North), being only one point apart after 4 races.

Racing will commence tomorrow, the forecast is for the wind to swing from the offshore direction to the usual onshore winds with big chops and waves which might mix up the whole fleet. If conditions permit, the freestyle competition for the European Championship Tour will also commence later in the evening.

Men (after 4 races)

1. John Heineke (USA)
2. Adam Koch (USA)
3. Sky Solbach (USA)
4. Bryan Lake (USA)
5. Julien Kerneur (FRA)

Women (after 4 races)

1. Katja Roose (NED)
2. Steph Bridge (UK)
3. Nayara Licariao (BRA)
4. Adrien Cardine (FRA)
5. Melissa Gil (USA)

Full results here