The Fuerteventura Wave Classic saw the opening ceremony last night at 08.00 pm. Almost all riders showed up. Just Thomas Traversa missed the opening, but will arrive on time for the competition and guest rider Björn Dunkerbeck should arrive in Corralejo on Wednesday in the afternoon. The ceremony was held in the Oasis Papagayo Resort and organiser Orlando Lavandera announced the main goal of the event: “This is an event, which is made for riders. And together with all of you, who showed up, we want to present windsurfing as a cool and radical sport.”
While the opening ceremony the lucky draw for the first round was done. Have a look at the shot below, which shows the different heats. The first heat will see the 6 ladies and then 3 heats of the men will follow.
The heats of round number 1 (Pic:Pierre Bouras).
Orlando Lavandera also explained the judging system and informed the riders about the race comitee, which will exist of Iballa Moreno, Dario Ojeda and Stephane Etienne.
The whole event will be judged by the riders. Heat 1 will be judged by heat 3, heat 2 by heat 4, heat 3 by heat 1, heat 4 by heat 2. After the first elimination another lucky draw will happen with new heats. The ladies heat will be the same through the whole event. The best rider of each heat will win 6 points, the second best 5, etc. If there are only five riders in one heat the first one will win 6 points as well and the 5th one 2 points. “This point system will be fair, because the groups will be changed after each full elimination,” the organizer stated.
Each rider had to sign an exclusion of liability. Some spots, especially Puertito, can be very risky and it could happen that riders end up on the rocks or lose their gear or hurt themselves.
The first skippersmeeting will take place on Tuesday at 10.00 am. We will keep you updated!
Eleazar Alonso signs, but he already knows how hard rocks can be (Pic: Pierre Bouras).
