Daida Ruano Moreno & Ricardo Campello win - PWA Gran Canaria 2019

Daida Ruano Moreno & Ricardo Campello win the 2019 PWA Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival after successfully defending the single eliminations crowns

The 41 year-old Pozo local and Gran Canaria Wind& Waves Festival co-organizer Daida Ruano Moreno won the the ladies competition for the 20th time. This victory will be her first and last victory for this year as she will not attend in any other PWA wave windsurfing events. So, whe will not battle for another PWA Wave World title in this season. “It’s just a little break. I will come back next year,” Daida Ruano Moreno told us.

Ricardo Campello, one of the most radical windsurfers on our planet and three times freestyle world champion, won the event in Pozo for the first time in his long career. The 34 year-old windsurfer, who was born in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and moved to El Yaque, Isla Margarita (Venezuela), has a big dream. He wants to become Wave World Champion once in his lifetime. Perhaps his wish will become true this year.

Watch the winning heat of Ricardo Campello in the super final

Women Final & Super Final – Double elimination

Justyna Sniady surprised everybody by defeating Sarah-Quita Offringa and made it into the winners final against Daida Ruano Moreno. Daida was waiting for the Polish rider, who landed all her jumps and showed great wave rides in her heats. But Daida is called the “Queen of Pozo” and showed that she practiced a lot during the past months. She landed three excellent jumps, a Forward loop, a Back loop and a Tabletop Forward. All together she scored 19.62 points for her jumping performance. She as well tried a double Forward loop. The rotation was really nice, but she couldn’t land properly. But it was a great attempt! Justyna had 10 jump attempts and collected 13.4 points in total.

In the wave riding performance Daida collected 12.65 points with her best two waves out of 6 attempts. Justyna got 7.59 points for her best two waves out of three attempts.

“I was surprised that Sarah-Quita didn’t make it to the final. I think she didn’t sail her best heat. Against Justyna I knew what I had to do. Just my three jumps and my two wave rides. I tried to stay upwind, because I was watching some good sets of waves during the other heats and could see some waves. I just felt really comfortable, happy and excited. My sister Iballa told me to go for the double in the end. It’s a pity I couldn’t land it in the end. But it was really close! This pushes me to try it more often and hopefully will land it one day.” (Daida Ruano Moreno)

Daida and Iballa Ruano Moreno after the won final at the beach of Pozo (Photo: Carter/PWA)

Men’s final & super final – Double elimination

Philip Köster made his way up to the final of the double elimination by defeating Victor Fernandez, who suffered a neck injury from a crashed double Forward in the single elimination and was not 100% fit. Afterwards the Gran Canaria local won against Marcilio Browne in a very close heat. 41.17 vs 40.33 points.

In the first final against Ricardo Campello the king of Pozo showed a super consistent performance and gained 40.85 points in total. Ricardo had to find his rhythm. He only scored 28.78 points. Philip forced the Venezuelan to a super final.

Duncan Coombs extended the heat duration from 15 to 20 minutes with 3 jumps and 2 waves to count. The tension was high. Ricardo tested some gear during the heat break as the wind seemed to drop a bit. Philip sat at the beach together with his girlfriend Manca and concentrated on the all deciding final. From the beginning on of the heat Ricardo busted out massive jumps, in total 10. His top scoring moves were a double Forward, a Push Forward and a Push Table Top. He managed to beat the 9 years younger Philip Köster by almost 7 points in this category. Philip missed to land a good scoring third jump in the end. He earned a 10 for a perfectly stalled double Forward, received 6.12 points for a one footed Back loop and just 1 point for another jump. He as well landed another perfect double Forward, but it didn’t count as it was out of the same move category. In the waves Ricardo was 3.3 points behind Philip. This little difference didn’t change the overall result. Ricardo won with a total score of 34.12 points against Philip with 30.62 points.

Ricardo Campello couldn’t believe he won (Photo: Carter/PWA)

Ricardo sailed tactically a brilliant super final and made most out of the difficult conditions. Philip had to change equipment due to the lighter wind and showed very nice wave rides containing freestyle elements like a Willy Skipper. But like mentioned he missed to land a proper third jump, what cost him the victory this time.

“I can no believe it still. I’ve been so close to win many times. I finally made it! I’m super happy. I want to thank everyone, who has been around supporting me in and out of the water. It’s a dream come true to start the year like this. I’ve been struggling without a sail sponsor. I had to buy my own sails and I had a time when I thought to give it up and do something else, but I decided to give it all and here I am now!” (Ricardo Campello)