Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam Day 6
by Chris Yates 24 Jul 04:48 PDT
Sarah-Quita Offringa mid-culo on Day 6 of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam © Inna Bru
Sarah-Quita Offringa pushed all the way by Maaike Huvermann in arguably the best female Freestyle final of all time, while Yentel Caers wins 'Battle of Belgium' against Steven Van Broeckhoven to hold respective event leads
The contortionists of the windsurfing world served up an unbelievable spectacle on the first day of Freestyle at the 2025 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam with upsets, epic duels and huge moves being thrown down throughout the day. After an almost non-stop seven hours of competition Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) and Yentel Caers (JP / NeilPryde) head up the event rankings after claiming victories in the Single Eliminations.
Women's Freestyle
Maaike Huvermann (Severne / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) made her intentions pretty clear before the start of the event that she wanted to challenge Sarah-Quita Offringa for the coveted top spot on the podium and she certainly wasn't lying as she and Offringa put on, not only the best ever women's Freestyle final in Fuerte, but quite possibly the best women's Freestyle final ever on the World Tour, as both women pushed each other to raise the bar once again.
Huvermann has an inner belief, which most people don't possess, that she can beat Offringa as she is the only woman since 2008 to have taken a heat off the Queen of Freestyle, and you could sense that in the final as she unloaded her full artillery of moves in the final consisting of; a shaka, skopu and massive burner on port, while she landed a regular kono, culo and the first ever spock into kono in competition to place Offringa under all kinds of pressure.
The problem for Huvermann was that she was up against one of the greatest female athletes of all time in Offringa, and no matter the discipline, the Aruban has an uncanny knack of raising her game when it matters most, which is what she did once again to fend off Huvermann's attack by just 0.8 of a point, which is made all the more impressive given Offringa's seamless transition from Slalom X to Freestyle.
By the looks of things, and with no disrespect, Offringa and Huvermann are a cut above, and it's more than likely that they will lineup against each other again in the Double Elimination, which should provide an intriguing conclusion to the Women's Freestyle.
Meanwhile, third seed Lisa Kloster (MB-Boards / Sailloft Hamburg) claimed her place in the top three for the first time in her career as she comprehensively saw off Elena Dominick (Severne / Severne Sails) in the b-final and she will now look to defend that position in the Double Elimination. Kloster should take plenty of confidence from her performances today as she continually improved heat-by-heat and was head and shoulders above the rest of the competition.
Men's Freestyle
Yentel Caers survived a potential injury scare to deservedly claim the top spot on the podium in the Single Elimination. The Belgian came out of his straps mid-trick in his quarterfinal against Antony Ruenes (Tabou / GA Sails) and suffered a nasty cut to his leg after landing on his fin, but didn't let that affect his focus as he laid down the highest scoring heat of the event thus far against Jacopo Testa (WeOne / GUNSAILS / AL360) in the semifinals - 39.5 points. Caers sailed with his usual clinical, powerful style and was the only sailor to land a double air culo throughout the day. The Belgian last won here in 2023 and will look to regain his Fuerte crown by successfully defending his top spot in the Double Elimination, which will start tomorrow.
They say that Freestyle is a young man's game, but Steven Van Broeckhoven (WeOne / GUNSAILS) continues to seamlessly deny Father Time as the 39-year-old still manages to keep his younger peers at bay after delivering another polished display. Van Broeckhoven edged an incredibly close Round of 16 heat against Sam Esteve (JP / NeilPryde) with just 0.4 of a point separating them by the end of their fight. The Belgian then went on to win the battle of the veterans as he defeated former 9-time Freestyle world champion - Jose 'Gollito' Estredo (Tabou / GA Sails) - in a matchup that was often a Winners' Final little more than a decade ago, before taking down 18-year-old Takumi Moriya (Severne / Severne Sails) in the semifinals.
Breakout Performance
Today marks a massive day for Takumi Moriya as the hugely talented Japanese sailor qualified for the semifinal of a Single Elimination on the World Tour for the first time in his youthful career. Moriya has been on the radar for a couple of years already, but today he truly announced himself as a face that will carry Freestyle for years to come. Not only did Moriya qualify for the semifinals, but he then won an epic duel against Testa in the battle for third and fourth after staging a phenomenal late comeback to claim the last place on the podium - for now at least.
Jacopo Testa was on song throughout the day as the Italian only posted one score below 36 points as he sailed with his usual silky style - he was just unlucky to lose out in the dying stages against both Caers and Moriya - but don't be surprised if he still challenges for the event title in the Double Elimination.
Fifth place is currently shared by the French duo of Antony Ruenes (Tabou / GA Sails) and Adrien Bosson (Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins), Germany's Niclas Nebelung (Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins) and Venezuela's Jose 'Gollito' Estredo. Bosson and Nebelung both lost extremely close quarterfinals against Testa and Moriya, respectively, with Bosson losing out by just 0.3 of a point, while Nebelung missed out by just half a point and all of the current joint fifth places are more than capable of breaking into the podium positions during the Double Elimination.
Gollito Rolls Back The Years
Last year, Gollito made his first appearance on the World Tour since 2019, and while he showed glimpses of what he's still capable of, he didn't look quite like the 9-time Freestyle world champion winning machine that he once was. However, today, the 35-year-old rolled back the years with a couple of unbelievable performances as he oozed his usual 'Gollito' style that has made him such an iconic Freestyle figure through the years.
No-one was quite sure of what to expect from him this year, but his first round performance soon made everyone standup and take notice as he posted the third highest score of the opening round - 34.5 points. With Gollito being unseeded, that would setup a mouthwatering, but extremely unlucky draw for reigning event and world champion - Lennart Neubauer (Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) - who would be forced to face the Freestyle legend in the Round of 16 and fireworks ensued as they produced one of the heats of the day in Heat 12b. It's hard to call it an upset when the reigning world champion loses to the 9-time Freestyle King, but ultimately in today's day and age it is, as Gollito prevailed by 0.2 of a point.
Neubauer is nursing an ankle injury, which impacts him more on port tack, but even so, he was humble enough to admit that he was happy enough with his sailing and that he was just on the wrong side of the outcome this time around. Neubauer is more than capable of coming all the way back through the double, but that ankle injury does still leave question marks about whether he can really push that hard for the 10 heats it would require to comeback. As a spectator it should make for great viewing either way.
The forecast for Thursday looks as equally windy as today, so tomorrow promises to provide another blockbuster installment of Freestyle. With the forecast looking dodgy for the closing weekend it's likely that we will push to finish both the Men's and Women's Double Eliminations if the wind plays ball. The Freestyle fleets will meet again at 09:30am (GMT+1) tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 10am onwards.
You can stay up to date with all the latest developments from Fuerteventura — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker via www.pwaworldtour.com
Current Ranking 2025 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Women's Freestyle:
1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU | Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Maaike Huvermann (NED | Severne / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Lisa Kloster (GER | MB-Boards / Sailloft Hamburg)
4th Elena Dominick (GER | Severne / Severne Sails)
Current Ranking 2025 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Men's Freestyle:
1st Yentel Caers (BEL | JP / NeilPryde)
2nd Steven Van Broeckhoven (BEL | WeOne | GUNSAILS)
3rd Takumi Moriya (JPN | Severne / Severne Sails)
4th Jacopo Testa (ITA | WeOne / GUNSAILS / AL360)
5th Niclas Nebelung (GER | Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Antony Ruenes (FRA | Tabou / GA Sails)
5th Jose 'Gollito' Estredo (VEN | Tabou / GA Sails)
5th Adrien Bosson (FRA | Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins)
9th Tig Kort (NED | JP / NeilPryde)
9th Bodhi Kempen (NED | Severne Windsurfing)
9th Lennart Neubauer (GRE | Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
9th Sam Esteve (FRA | JP / NeilPryde)
9th Antoine Albert (NC | Goya Windsurfing / MFC)
9th Balz Müller (SUI | Severne / Severne Sails)
9th Dieter van der Eyken (BEL | Severne / Severne Sails)
9th Youp Schmit (NB)
