Playa Surf CBbC Hotel Tenerife El Médano Windsurf Grand Slam Day 3

by Chris Yates 4 Aug 21:27 AEST 1-10 August 2025

Playa Surf CBbC Hotel Tenerife El Médano Windsurf Grand Slam Day 3 © Rafael E.

Pierre Mortefon draws first blood in Tenerife after the wind fills in late

After a couple of days of waiting for the wind, Day 3 of the Playa Surf CBbC Hotel Tenerife El Médano Windsurf Grand Slam eventually provided the goods to end the wait for some official competition as the Slalom X got under way during the early evening in 15-18 knots of wind. With the wind on the low-end of the spectrum the racers were reaching for their biggest registered equipment to provide a very different test from Fuerteventura. With the wind only filling in late there was only time to complete one elimination, but the usual suspects featured heavily.

Slalom X

Men's

Pierre Mortefon (FMX Racing / NeilPryde) made a seamless transition to his new sails as the Frenchman clinched the opening bullet of the event. Mortefon, who leads the world title race having won in Fuerteventura last month, produced a superb second gybe as he utilised the swell to gybe inside Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails / Z Fins) and take the lead, and once there, never looked like relinquishing it.

Playa Surf CBbC Hotel Tenerife El Médano Windsurf Grand Slam Day 3 - Pierre Mortefon makes a winning start - photo © Rafael E.

Iachino starts the event with a solid second place, but he'll know he slightly missed an opportunity to claim the opening bullet. The Italian produced a great first gybe as he went slightly wider and powered out of the turn to move from about fifth into the lead, but then just mistimed gybing onto the same piece of swell that Mortefon ultimately used, which caused him to lose a bit of momentum and lose valuable ground that he couldn't make up.

After the opening race the top three is identical to Fuerteventura with Maciek Rutkowski (JP / NeilPryde), who held the lead down the opening reach, completely the current top three and it looks like the three heavyweights could be in for another epic tussle here.

In fact, the current top ten consists of exactly the same names that completed the top ten in Fuerte, but for now at least in a slightly different order. After the first race here, Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / Point-7 / Z Fins) occupies fourth followed by Ingmar Daldorf (Tabou / GA Sails) in fifth, Jordy Vonk (Duotone Windsurfing) sixth, Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde) seventh, Taty Frans (Point-7 / Z Fins) eighth, Jimmy Thieme (PATRIK / PATRIK Sails) and Bruno Martini (I-99 / S2Maui / Z Fins) completing the current top ten.

The forecast for Monday looks marginally windier than today with 16-20 knots predicted during the afternoon, while the skies are expected to be clearer, which may hopefully mean we get a bit more from the local thermal effect. The skippers' meeting for both the Wave and Slalom X fleets will be held at 12pm (GMT+1) with the action commencing from 13:00 onwards.

You can stay up to date with all of the developments from Tenerife — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker by visiting www.pwaworldtour.com.

Current Ranking 2025 Playa Surf CBbC Hotel Tenerife El Médano Windsurf Grand Slam - Men's Slalom X (*After One Elimination)