PWA World Cup Sylt 2009 – A preview on the final
In the this years PWA tour the event in Sylt will be the final event, which will be held from the 25th of September till the 4th of October. The 9th tourstop of the year will see competitions in Slalom category men, in Freestyle men and in ladies and men waves.
Exciting light while the freestyle comp (pic: John Carter)
Let´s have a view on the single disciplines:
SLALOM
Antoine Albeau already could win 5 single tourstops in 2009 and could crown himself already as the new PWA Slalom worldchampion. In second position sits Finian Maynard. He had a strong season so far, could win the Speed windsurfing worldtitle on Karpathos and finished in second at the last tourstop at Alacati, Turkey. He is the only one of the followers, who has more than 10.000 points in the current overall ranking. The riders behind Finian are quite packed. Kevin Pritchard, Buzianis, Dunkerbeck and Williams are splitted by 132 only. Relatively close behind are Cyril Moussilmani and Peter Volwater. And in between the 9th and 17th are only 627 points. Steve Allen could also make a big jump forward in the ranking. Sylt is his 5th event and the best 5 of 7 will be counted. In the moment he is placed in 20th position.
Sylt can bring a lot of different conditions. Sailing on 9,0 to 9,5 in extremely light wind or blasting around in 30 knots. The forecast looks like the Slalom racers should have their first races on the first day.
Tight fights at the marks in the Slalom discipline (Pic: John Carter)
WAVE
The waveevents on Sylt are always quite tricky. The wind is changing in direction and force very quick. A massive shorebreak with a lot of current makes waveriding risky and the start sometimes impossible. The wind drops in the area closer to the shore.
Kauli Seadi riding the massive break at Westerland (Pic: John Carter)
It´s a hard spot for the girls, who only had one waveriding competition so far in the 2009 season. Daida Ruano Moreno has the lead in front of her twin sister Iballa. Karin Jaggi is placed in 3rd position. Daida will try to win, but Sylt can bring a lot of surprises.
In the men´s category Josh Angulo could win the Cabo Verde event at his homebreak and surprised with a strong performance in Pozo. So he is the current leader in the PWA waveranking. The hardest opponent will be Kauli Seadi, ranked second 33 points behind Josh only. But there is not much room for any faults left. Sylt is the third waveevent and there will be no discards this season. Well positioned are Traversa, Campello, Swift and Fernandez. Also Williams, Pritchard or Browne have a chance to make it on the podium overall. Many people will have an eye on wonderkid Philip Köster.
Surprise, surprise: Jason Polakow also should show up in Sylt to compete. Antoine Albeau will also fight for points in the waveriding discipline. Not at the list are big names like Levi Siver or Scotty McKercher.
The Kono master Kiri in the rough waters (Pic: John Carter)
FREESTYLE
And what´s about the freestyle discipline? Many riders are recovered or still recovering from their summer injuries, like last years winner Antxon Otaegui or Nicolas Akgazciyan from Leucate. 35 riders already registered to compete in the extremely rough freestyle conditions at Westerland. Some surprising names are on the list like wave specialists Thomas Traversa and Camille Jubon. The big favourite is definitely current Freestyle tourleader Gollito Estredo. Kiri Thode and Tonky Frans from Bonaire will try to put some pressure on the reigning worldchampion Estredo. Still in the game are Broeckhoven and Browne placed in 4th and 5th position right now.
Besides the action on the water we can expect an exciting video highlight: Andre Paskowski and his team will present his brandnew movie “Four dimensions” for the very first time.
See you at the beach of Westerland on Sylt or check the daily updates on continentseven.com!
Text: © CP/Continentseven 2009
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