The IWT Pacasmayo Classic 2018 event period ended with a big swell. The famous Peruvian wave spot delivered and a big swell hit the bay. Lina Erpenstein and Antoine “Titoun” Martin, who were also the highest ranked international wave riders attending the event, were the best in the long left handers and won the pro categories. Congrats!!
Antoine now leads the tour and is the big favourite for the overall title. In the women category Maria Andres is in the lead. Two more events are on the IWT tourplan for 2018: Chile & Maui.
The Women’s final
It was started but cancelled half way through due to a temporary drop in the wind that saw it glass out and become unmanageable after a first wave. This put a 2 heat pause (40 minutes) in proceedings while all riders were called back to the beach for that heat and the next to regroup and wait for the wind to settle back in.
The wind came back in fairly quickly and this time looked settled for the rest of the afternoon so the Women’s final was back on with Sarah, Jessica, Lina and Maria. Wave scores were moderate for all riders until they got onto their 3rd waves with the best sets coming through mid heat. This is when Jessica and Lina burst out from the group. Jessica had a flowing and powerful 7.5 ride and Lina scored big with a super impressive 8.7 coming from some very critical and powerful hits on the biggest wave of the heat. These were the game changing rides. Sarah and Maria were unable to find matching wave scores. As the riders returned to the beach the crowd was cheering them all for the very high standard of power riding on display. This was a very tough final and it had been very hard to reach it with such a strong field of women this year. Lina was the victor with the most powerful and critical riding of the group (15.0 average heat score). Jessica’s world champion power and grit were still on show against her younger rivals taking her to second place (12.1 average heat score). Sarah’s super stylish bottom turn top turns were not at her critical section best this heat and she was 3rd (6.9 average heat score). Maria close behind in 4th also struggling to repeat her best performances in earlier heats (6.3 average heat score). This was the highest ever overall wave riding standard for women at any IWT event outside the Aloha Classic. A very promising sign.
The wind came back in fairly quickly and this time looked settled for the rest of the afternoon so the Women’s final was back on with Sarah, Jessica, Lina and Maria. Wave scores were moderate for all riders until they got onto their 3rd waves with the best sets coming through mid heat. This is when Jessica and Lina burst out from the group. Jessica had a flowing and powerful 7.5 ride and Lina scored big with a super impressive 8.7 coming from some very critical and powerful hits on the biggest wave of the heat. These were the game changing rides. Sarah and Maria were unable to find matching wave scores. As the riders returned to the beach the crowd was cheering them all for the very high standard of power riding on display. This was a very tough final and it had been very hard to reach it with such a strong field of women this year. Lina was the victor with the most powerful and critical riding of the group (15.0 average heat score). Jessica’s world champion power and grit were still on show against her younger rivals taking her to second place (12.1 average heat score). Sarah’s super stylish bottom turn top turns were not at her critical section best this heat and she was 3rd (6.9 average heat score). Maria close behind in 4th also struggling to repeat her best performances in earlier heats (6.3 average heat score). This was the highest ever overall wave riding standard for women at any IWT event outside the Aloha Classic. A very promising sign.
Results pro women:
1.Lina Erpenstein
2.Jessica Crisp
3.Sarah Hauser
4.Maria Andres
The Men’s final
The Pro mens final somehow managed to get the best conditions of the day, and the riders did not disappoint. The battle between Morgan Noireaux, Antoine Martin, Maxime Fevrier, and Federico Morisio was one not to miss. Each of these guys has been tearing it up throughout the week and it was no surprise that they made it this far. The opening of the heat started with a bang. All the guys caught set waves and tore them to pieces. Maxime won the opening exchange scoring an excellent 8.8 for his efforts. Morgan, Federico, and Antoine all scored well in the 6 and 7 point range to remain close. The middle of the heat saw the guys trading wave after wave and all looking very on point. The display of power surf/wave sailing was impressive to watch. The perfect timing with which they hit the lip is on full display as the fan of spray is thrown behind each turn. The second half of the heat saw Antoine “Titoun” Martin really turn it up a notch. He chose a set wave, mixed in some beautiful turns and threw down a perfectly timed goiter in the critical section to score a 9.5 and take a strong lead. Titoun then followed this up with an equally impressive wave and finishing it off with 2 clean Goiters to seal the win. Morgan did his best also landing Goiter, for high marks, but wasn’t quite able to match. Federico stuck to the power surfing, hitting big lips and throwing aerials, but didn’t have the trick and was stuck just behind the others. This was a very difficult heat to judge as all the guys were ripping. It was a pleasure to watch such a high level of windsurfing at such an amazing wave spot. The top 4 in order were Antoine, Maxime, Morgan, and Federico.
Results pro men:
1.Antoine “Titoun” Martin
2.Maxime Fevrier
3.Morgan Noireaux
4.Federico Morisio
Source: IWT 2018 (International Windsurfing Tour)
