On Monday is the start of the first PWA wave event of the 2012 season. The Gran Canaria Wind&Waves Festival will take place between the 2nd and the 7th July at Pozo Izquierdo (Gran Canaria). The multiple windsurfing champions Iballa and Daida Moreno, who grew up in Pozo Izquierdo, have taken over the organization of the event and they promise some changes to the event. Daida: “We believe Pozo Izquierdo deserved much more! It was simple time for a change.” They aim to bring a whole new dimension to the event, transforming the Windsurf World Cup into the Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival. We just hooked up with both of them to get the latest infos about the event, which will be started in less than 48 hours!
Daida and Iballa Moreno
C7: Why did you decide to organize the PWA Worldcup in 2012? What´s your main motivation?
Iballa: Because its our home, and we know perfectly what we could do to make it more attractive for people to come and join in the event. It was an opportunity and we are putting all our efforts to make it be the best event if ever happened before in Gran Canaria. The action at the water is always secured. We have great riders on tour, and now, more than ever we are inviting everybody to come and join to see on them and off the water.
Daida: Gran Canaria and Pozo Izquierdo is a very special place for us. We grew up here, we have been competing in PWA’ tour for 16 years and we’ve seen how other events grew up to a better level during all the years. We believe Pozo Izquierdo deserved much more! It was simple time for a change. The time is now and we are taking it as it is always in collaboration with PWA. Me and our Club are really happy for this change. We are all working for the best of the sport and for the best of Gran Canaria as a good holiday windsurfing destination.
C7: How does it feel to organize an event at a place you were born and you have learned windsurfing?
Iballa: Honestly I´m so proud of this and being involved in the organization of the competition. We have a great team behind us helping with many things and without them it would be impossible to run the whole project. We are really glad to count on this people and our Club Morenotwins is going to make a great event!
C7: You, Iballa and Daida are the main organizers, but how big is your crew around you?
Iballa: We are a group of about 10 people. All helping with different parts of the organization and all important! As I said: without them, we couldnt make it. Its a big event and happy to count on this people to make it happen.
Daida: We created a sports club back in 2010, but have been organizing events since 2006 with all the girls training camps. At the moment the club has everything from journalists, engineers, teachers, windsurfing instructors, monitors,… 10-12 people in the team, and many more involved in this project.
C7: You were part at the events in Pozo almost since the beginning and saw many events. What will be new compared to the events in the past years?
Iballa: We will get the public involved in the event and make sure they will be watching and having fun with us! We are building a big tent, and in it we will also have different activities during the day for kids, food, interviews, videos….and of course the great action in the water!!! We will make something comfortable for the people to sit and watch the competition.
Daida: Changes have been made, we have barely much time since we were confirmed about this change of organization (about two months ago), but we still manage to invite many editors and journalist from many magazines around the world, to work with a strong and solid TV program and help bring windsurfing and Pozo Izquierdo in every corner of the Planet and have a solid Festival and fun windsurfing parties and market on the beach. The first thing we tried to do was to find a private sponsor and find collaboration with the local business, they all opened their doors to our project and finally felt part of the event.
Dario Ojeda and Kauli Seadi looking forward to the event
C7: Do you guess that you have an advantage as professional windsurfer in organizing a windsurfing event? You have been competing in windsurfing events for almost 15 years and you probably took part in extremely well organized and innovative contests while your career!
Iballa: Yes, watching so many events in different places makes you keep an eye on little details….. we basically organized this in 3 weeks with our club and we are happy of the results so far!!! Plus the forecast is looking the best it could be!! We could not ask for more!
Daida: There is certainly an advantage, but it’s not all. You need to have a marketing experience, a sales experience and a communication experience. All in all, we have managed to polish all this aspect during our actual career as profesional windsurfers. Besides, the Club have really important people behind the scenes working day and night for this project and the most important this is that we all have the same goal: to promote windsurfing in Gran Canaria and in Pozo Izquierdo as its deserves.
C7: Are you planning to run a youth event also and a supersession?
Iballa: We will be giving our wild cards to the young kids that are ripping in Pozo!!
Daida: Yes, of course, youth are really important for this Club and for the future of Windsurfing. They are all starving for competition and we hope to get the experience of PWA judges to promote this part of the event.
Daida at the pressconference
C7: It is the first time you are organizing such a big event. What are the most difficult things for you?
Iballa: its really difficult to get all the permits in time with such a short time we had…. we are running a lot to make little details look good! because the structure, and big things are done already.
C7: Will you both compete?
Iballa: Of course! Once the contest starts, we will be fully focused on the competition. Our team knows, what they have to do exactly 🙂
Daida: Yes, I will compete, really looking forward to compete.
C7: Will you offer live streaming plus a commentator?
Iballa: We will be running life tv from PWA, commentators, etc. also on the site we will be having a new speaker, in spanish and english. We will do interviews with competitors, and much more.
Daida: Commentators are really important. We are offering a live TV commentator and also a local commentator for the beach. It’s important that everyones know how windsurfing competition works and what´s happening at every moment on the beach.
C7: What do you think about the wind and waveforecast for the event period?
Iballa: We just had a couple of days of glassy conditions, but right now it´s looking AMAZING!!! Big waves and windy!!! Really happy to see this 🙂
Daida: It looks like we will have sick conditions from the very beginning on. We will definitely start competing the first day in Pozo, so do not miss the chance to follow “Gran Canaria Wind and Waves Festival 2012”.
You can follow us here:
http://grancanariawindandwavesfestival.com
https://www.facebook.com/GranCanariaWindWavesFestival
https://twitter.com/#!/GCWindWavesFest
http://www.youtube.com/GCWindWavesFestival
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gcwindwavesfestival/
C7: One last question: who will be the winners of the event in 2012?
Iballa: Daida is sailing amazing…..and Philip….will be hard to beat but im sure I will try my best! I will be happy just to be in the water and have fun. The rest will come alone!
Daida: Uff this is going to be hard.. I will leave it for the public to bet and enjoy the event 😉
C7: Thanks for the interview!
© continentseven.com 2012
