Exciting action returns to Ho’okipa on day 11: Iballa Ruano Moreno and Philip Köster sealed the PWA world title deal

Day 11 brought a little bit less waves and wind than everyone had expected, but it was definitely contestable. The wind sometimes dropped massively and gave all participants a hard time. 6 men heats and 9 ladies heats of the double eliminations got completed. The day was a big success again and showed how cool down the line windsurfing looks nowadays. 

Two riders were shining bright in the double. Let’s start with the ladies! Fiona Wylde surprised everyone in the double elimination and climbed up the ladder with perfect wave rides and even Aerials in steep sections. Big respect to Fiona, who not only competes in windsurfing, she is one of the most competitive ladies in SUP. She won 5 heats in a row and will now face local Sarah Hauser competing for the podium. Daida Ruano Moreno did not make it through her heat in round 3 and left the title to her twin sister Iballa in 2015 despite dominating the windy events on the Canaries. Sarah-Quita again delivered a consistent performance and made it up in the top 8 finishing the double in 7th, what guarantees her the remaining 3rd place overall. Congrats! Amanda Beenen wasn’t able to come back in the double elimination. It was definitely a close fight with Sarah-Quita, who has good chance to finish the season on the podium in all three disciplines. Imagine, if she would have finished the Maui event in 6th instead of 7th she would have made it in 2nd place overall in waves, pushing Daida down by one place from 2nd to 3rd place.

Fiona Wylde hits the lip (Pic:Carter/PWA)

Fiona Wylde hits the lip (Pic:Carter/PWA)

 

And the men? The rider of the day definitely was Levi Siver, who showed again what’s possible at Ho’okipa, even when the conditions aren’t huge and are far from perfect. His highest scored heat was in the last men’s heat of the day against Camille Juban. The local earned 19 points out of possible 20, what’s incredible.
Landing fluid frontside wave 360s and huge Aerials off the lip can create huge scores. And that’s what 34 year old Levi Siver is capable of. The Red Bull rider is able to connect big moves on one wave and would deserve to win the Aloha Classic this year as almost everything looks big what he does. He just takes good waves, decides for a quick exit, when the wave doesn’t look well and sails upwind quick and looks for a bigger and better set. And when he goes for an Aerial he definitely does it at the biggest part of the wave with an extremely explosive hit, what results in a high Aerial. But 3 very stylish riders are waiting for Levi: last year’s world champion Thomas Traversa will be the first one. Former world champ Kauli Seadi can be the next one and if Levi will make it to the final he has to defeat young hot shot Morgan Noireaux twice.

Levi Siver with a frontside 360 (Pic: Carter/PWA)

Levi Siver with a frontside 360 (Pic: Carter/PWA)

Who else performed great on day 11?
In the ladies fleet we definitely have to mention Nayra Alonso, who had a great wave selection and still takes the big ones and goes for the lip. Great job Nayra! Vickey Abbot, who participates for the first time in a PWA event, challenged Fiona and has a bright future in down the line events. She can make it on a podium, too. Anne-Marie Reichmann, the 41 year old lady from the Netherlands, who lives in California and surfs a lot, felt comfortable and finished the event in 8th overall.

 

In the men’s fleet Spaniard Victor Fernandez and Ricardo Campello showed great skills. Victor made it through 3 heats, showing very nice connected turn, moves off the lip like a textbook Forward off the lip or a frontside Wave 360. Ricardo impressed with a lot of physical effort and risky Air moves like Goiters, Air Takas, Aerials off the lip and Backloops off the lip. Levi Siver, the best rider of day 11, stopped Victor’s title hopes in heat 45. Ricardo lost an heat earlier.
Kevin Pritchard, Mr. consistent, impressed with huge Aerials and the best wave selection in his heat, but lost against Ricardo quite close. Kai Lenny again climbed up a few places in the ranking making it through heat 42 with Marcilio Browne and Robby Naish behind him. Robby Naish was on good form, but didn’t choose the biggest sets this time. He is more in favour of huge waves and very difficult conditions like what he had in the single elimination. But a 11th place is an amazing result. Imagine, Robby Naish is 52 years old. Marcilio unfortunately did not have the best wave selection on day 11 and didn’t find his usual rhythm.

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