On the second day of the PWA freestyle event on Fuerteventura the wind arrived much earlier than the day before and the Single Elimination got completed. In the end of day 2, Sarah-Quita Offringa and Gollito Estredo claimed victory in the first single elimination.
Sarah-Quita Offringa and Gollito Estredo won the Single Elimination
THE PRESENTATION CEREMONY
DAY 2
To know the winners of the first single elimination, 9 men heats and 5 ladies heats had to be finished. The wind arrived earlier than the day before and the action started in the afternoon. The conditions looked very tricky as the tide was still low and the heat area was located in a big wind shadow. The race director decided to put the heat area a bit further out compared to the previous day. The sailors used sails in between 4,4 and 5,2 m and boards in between 90 and 100 liters.
Beautiful colors – Pic: C7/Susanne Timm
THE MEN´S ELIMINATION
In round 3 (top 16 sailors) of the single elimination we saw extremely tough heats and already one upset. The 17 year-old Youp Schmit from Bonaire defeated the Dutch freestyle sailor Davy Scheffers. But in the next round it was also over for Youp, as his opponent Kiri Thode was on fire and landed difficult double combos.
The biggest surprise of day 2 was the last heat in the quarterfinal heats. The Belgian freestyler Dieter van der Eyken, who was using the whole heat area and was showing moves with high difficulty on both tacks, defeated last year´s PWA freestyle worldchampion Steven van Broeckhoven. “Earlier in the single elimination Dieter Van Der Eyken produced an outstanding performance to cause the biggest upset of the day, as he knocked out the reigning World Champion Steven Van Broeckhoven in the quarterfinals. Not only did Van Der Eyken land some incredible moves but he also sailed a tactically supreme heat, by maintaining his upwind position, whilst Van Broeckhoven was struggling to stay in the sailing area, downwind, with two and a half minutes remaining. On his way to victory Van Der Eyken landed textbook Culos and a super tweaked Shove it Spock. The young maestro came ever so close to landing a new move in the heat, too.” (Chris Yates, PWA Press)
Dieter van der Eyken – Pic: PWA/John Carter
THE FINALS
The top 4 sailors were ready to sail the semifinals. The first one with Kiri against Gollito looked liked an anticipated final. But it was a semifinal. Kiri started his heat with a firework of moves on the way in. The most outstanding was a fully planed super clean Kabikuchi. But Gollito was very consistent on both tacks and had more airtime on the way out. In the end Gollito got the better points by the judges, but the result caused some discussions in between the riders and spectators on the beach.
A very disappointed Thode faced Dieter van der Eyken, who lost against Tonky Frans. Dieter showed his best performance ever and had again an attempt of his new move. Kiri sailed extremely aggressive and landed almost everything he tried, even a Spock into Kono. He deserved the third place in the end and Dieter made it on the stage a s well, what he commented as his biggest succes in his career so far.
Gollito Estredo new move – Pic: PWA/John Carter
The final between Gollito Estredo and Tonky Frans was a tough one:
“Gollito made an explosive start to the heat as he instantly racked up a super fast, almost Air Skopu followed by a stunning burner-funnel on his first run to instantly transfer the pressure onto Frans. Frans stepped up to the plate as he launched into a radical Culo, before unleashing into a breathtaking trademark Bongka with an extra 360 for good measure. However the four times World Champion was 100% in the groove and there was no way he was going to let anyone beat him today. Gollito continued to land more extraordinary stunts such as massive Konos and a perfect Air Funnel into Funnel, but the best of the bunch was still to come as he let loose with an astonishing Air Flaka Shaka, which left the crowd and judges mesmerized by what they had just witnessed. Frans tried to fight back with a huge toad and super sick Skopu 360 of his own, but on this occasion it wasn’t enough to defeat the Venezuelan, as Gollito maintains his unbeaten record this year.” (Chris Yates, Press manager)
“I am really happy that I could win and do my new move finally, almost in the last minute of the final heat. I tried the move in every heat and could not make it. Now it´s out and that makes me really happy!” Gollito Estredo stated after his victory in the single elimination.
Tonky Frans´s plan was to nail a no handed Burner – Pic: PWA/John Carter
Tonky Frans, who had a great comeback on the podim, commented his great success with following words: “I used the new 2012 board with 90 liter, which is 63 wide and 228 cm long. I love this board. And my training on Lanzarote definitely pays off. We have flat water and waves there. And I plan to be back on the wave tour as well soon. For the freestyle discipline I want to add that I listen really carefully to the judges, who told us that almost everybody does the same moves at the moment. So I did something different and showed the Bongka in every heat!”
C7: And what are the most challenging moves at the moment out of your view?
Tonky: “The double Burner is the move to land and as well Scheffy´s new one, the Spock into double Culo.”
THE WOMEN´S ELIMINATION
The ladies fleeet only saw 8 competitors this time. The favourites made it into the top 4. Sarah-Quita Offringa, who had less time to train this year, sailed heat by heat better. She landed massive Shakas, Air Flakas, Spock 540ties. In between her an the rest of the fleet is a big gap in terms of style, diversity and difficulty. It´s really impressive how Sarah-Quita could conserve her level. It was the first competition for her in 2012. He opponent in the final was Laure Treboux, who already sailed many heats in 2012. Most of them in the wavesailing discipline. “I did not feel so well today and had not so much pressure in my sail”, Laure stated after the winners final. “But the second place is right now quite ok for me!”
Sarah-Quita stated: “I am very happy that it worked so well. I did not risk too much and did not push too much during the heats. But I got better heat by heat and did not feel nervous at all. In the final heat I felt a bit underpowered on my 4,8m!”
In the loosers final Yoli de Brendt and Arianne Aukes were fighting for the remaining place on the podium in the single elimination. Yoli went for Esliders, Flakas, Punetas, Shove Its. Her repertoire had much mor ediversity compared to Arianne, who as well nailed a perfect Eslider and a Flaka. Yoli made it in the end in third position. Congrats!
Well done by Dieter! Looks like Steven isn’t having a good year.