PWA Pozo World Cup - Massive action on day 2 + Video

by Chris Yates on 4 Jul 2012 On the second day of the 2012 PWA Pozo World Cup, with lighter winds than the previous day, head judge Duncan Coombs made the decision to run the women’s single elimination ahead of the remainder of the men’s. Although the winds were lighter than on Monday, the women were still reaching for their 3.4-3.7 sails in order to survive the powerful winds of Pozo.

The opening round of the women’s single elimination saw Olya Raskina (JP / NeilPryde) narrowly edge out France’s Fanny Aubet (JP / NeilPryde), whilst Eva Oude Ophius (Fanatic / North) delivered a sterling performance. The Dutch woman’s wave riding was what really separated her from her opponent Carmen Afonso Martin, who was making her debut on the tour.

Meanwhile Alice Arutkin (Starboard / North) advanced against Hester Anderiesen (Fanatic / North) after an extremely close fought contest. Steffi Wahl (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg) demonstrated the best wave riding of the opening round, with her backside hits being particularly impressive. The German was rewarded as she knocked out Astrid Muldoon (Fanatic / North) to progress into the quarter finals.

Heat twenty one witnessed Olga Raskina up against the former World Champion Karin Jaggi (Patrik / Severne) and Eva Oude Ophius versus Iballa Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne). Both sides of the heats were dominated by Jaggi and Iballa Ruano Moreno respectively, as the highly ranked seeds showed their class to advance. Iballa Moreno set the bar extremely high as she landed an impeccable pushloop as well as throwing massive backside aerials.

The second quarter final saw the multiple World Champion Daida Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne) hit the water and the crowds and judges were not disappointed, as she delivered the best wave ride of the day to score a perfect ten. The Spaniard opened up with a big backside aerial before going onto throw an outstanding wave 360. It was so good that it would have rivaled many of the men’s best efforts.

It wasn’t just Moreno’s wave riding which was a class above either, as she put together an astonishing jumping performance consisting of a super tweaked pushloop and a rocket propelled backloop to steal the show. Steffi Wahl didn’t go down without a fight though as she attempted a wave 360 of her own which she couldn’t quite pull out of the bag. On the A-side of the heat Laure Treboux (Fanatic / North) put together a confident display to dispatch Alice Arutkin. Treboux nailed a perfect forward loop at the beginning of the heat and from here she never looked back.

Into the semi-finals and the Moreno twins made no mistakes by booking their places in the winners’ final. Iballa Ruano Moreno successfully defeated the Swiss gem Karin Jaggi. During the heat she was able to land a massive stalled forward and a beautifully controlled backloop as well as throwing an impressive amount of spray with her front and backside riding. Jaggi sailed a solid heat but her backloops and slick wave riding weren’t quite enough today.

Meanwhile, Daida Ruano Moreno continued to launch into massive back and forward loops, as the World Champion sailed in devastating fashion to book her place in winners’ final ahead of Laure Treboux. On the bright side for Treboux, the Swiss styler now has the opportunity to secure her first ever top three finish in the waves, when she takes on Karin Jaggi in the losers’ final.

The decision was made to postpone the women’s finals until the conditions improved as the high tide cancelled out the waves. Unfortunately as the tide receded the waves never returned with the same quality as in the morning, so we will have to wait until tomorrow to complete the single elimination.

Whilst the men and women waited patiently for the condition to improve, a youngsters competition was held. The contest saw eight up and coming sailors take to the water for two twelve minute heats, in which the biggest move would see the top two sailors advance into the final. In the first heat Alessio Stillrich (Fanatic / North / AL360) and Moritz Mauch (Starboard / North) booked their place in the final. Stillrich landed a sick bolt upright pushloop whilst Mauch excelled in the wave riding as well as landing a text-book backloop.

Pablo Ramirez (Goya / MFC) and Arthur Arutkin (Starboard / Severne) both advanced from the second heat after landing a brilliant backloop and a monster stalled forward respectively. The final saw Stillrich deservedly claim the youngsters' crown as he landed a stunning repertoire of tricks. The pick of the bunch was a super tweaked pushloop which he landed ankle-dry.

The forecast for tomorrow offers an increase in both the wind and waves, so we should see the conclusion of the women’s single elimination at an absolute minimum. With this in mind the skippers meeting has been called for 9:30am with the action commencing from 10am.

PWA World Tour website
Gran Canaria Wind and Waves Festival website