Philip Köster tames Tenerife's howling wind & waves

Windsurfing as good as it gets on day five of the PWA World Tour in Tenerife. Philip Köster rides Tenerife’s howling wind & waves whilst the Women’s Single reaches anti-climactic end?.

The forecast promised epic conditions for Day Five of the Tenerife PWA World Cup and that’s exactly what it delivered with winds in excess of 50 knots to begin the day and pumping waves.

For a time, it was actually almost too windy, but Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) was able to tame the extreme conditions to win the single elimination ahead of Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails), but the Women’s Single Elimination saw an anti-climatic finish with Daida Moreno forced to withdraw from the final after suffering suspected broken ribs during her semifinal, which leaves Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) at the top of the podium at the close of play.

During the double elimination, Tenerife produced quite possibly the best conditions we have seen here over the last six years to produce an amazing afternoon of action.
 

Women’s – Single Elimination

Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) and Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) were involved in the first heat of the day and it was a heat that proved almost too close to call with just 0.14 of a point between them by the end.

Offringa won the aerial battle with a pushloop and forward loop, but Iballa scored double points in the waves to leave the heat on a knife’s edge.

Crucially Iballa only completed one jump – a pushloop – and she was furious at the end of the heat that her crashed backloop didn’t score more than one point, which would’ve been enough to advance into the final. However, her protests were in vain with the decision being upheld meaning Offringa deservedly progressed.

Like yesterday, Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins), made a flying start to her heat as she launched into a huge stalled forward to earn 8 points, but unfortunately she was forced to withdraw from the single elimination after landing on top of her equipment after a jump went wrong when hitting a close out wave.

Lina Erpenstein (Patrik / Severne) did her best to overcome her injured opponent, but couldn’t quite find the scores she needed despite Daida being injured for over half the heat.

Iballa then regained her composure to win the battle for third place against Erpenstein with more solid wave riding, while Erpenstein couldn’t land her second jump, a mistake you can’t afford against the reigning world champion.

With Daida forced to withdraw, Offringa was handed the single elimination victory on a plate for a hollow win.

Daida was taken to hospital immediately and will potentially try and sail in the double elimination tomorrow as she looks to at least defend her second place – if not either Erpenstein or Iballa Moreno will have a chance to come back against Offringa. Everyone from the PWA wishes Daida all the best with her recovery.
 

Double Elimination

Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / Mystic) sailed well in the opening round of the double elimination to defeat Sarah Hilder (Simmer / Simmer Sails), but unfortunately for her she then ran into Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic), who was the standout sailor in the double elimination thus far to see her hopes ended. Sniady will now face Greta Benvenuti (Patrik / Point-7 / AL360) for a place in the top six.
 

Men’s – Single Elimination

Philip Köster opened the Men’s Winners’ Final with a trademark double forward to earn 9.12 points before quickly landing an amazing one-handed, one-footed backloop, but after a flying start the 23-year-old then went slightly off the boil, which opened the door Mussolini, who hit back with an exquisite one-handed, one-footed backloop of his own before stomping a stalled forward.

The Spaniard then took the lead with a signature frontside three and for quite a while it looked like the local legend was on course for a famous victory. However, Köster wasn’t quite done and he delivered a late show to snatch the victory with his last two waves.

Mussolini showed why he is the frontside 360 King in his semifinal against Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / NorthSails / Shamal Sunglasses) as he was able to land them seemingly at will and was absolutely delighted upon hearing the result that he’d booked his place in the top two.

Victor Fernandez then won the battle for the final place on the podium against teammate Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX) in what was a very close heat.

Lewis accumulated the higher wave scores but crucially couldn’t land the double forward he desperately needed to dislodge Fernandez from the top three.

 

Double Elimination

Immediately after the completion of the single elimination the double elimination began and conditions only improved for the majority of the afternoon as clean peeling waves – logo to mast high – rolled into el Cabezo while the wind dropped just a fraction, which saw the level of sailing go through the roof as we were treated several hours of the highest performance windsurfing possible.

By the end of another long and enthralling day, five rounds have been completed – leaving only eight sailors still standing in this year’s competition.

Marc Paré (Simmer / Simmer Sails) produced a stunning comeback in the double as the Youth World Champion found his best form to win four heats on the spin as he ended the hopes of Britain’s John Skye (RRD / RRD Sails), Belgium’s Dieter van der Eyken (Starboard / Severne), France’s Arthur Arutkin (Fanatic / NorthSails) and Germany’s Klaas Voget (Fanatic / NorthSails), who also enjoyed a fine day, with a series of fantastic performances which included quite possibly the highest jump of the day – a monstrous stalled forward against Arutkin.

The young Spaniard then met an on fire Alessio Stillrich (Fanatic / NorthSails), who will now face Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne / SWOX / Shamal Sunglasses) for a place in the top six, but Paré should be delighted with his performance after breaking into the top 10 at an event for the first time.

Stone showed the level of performance that has seen him ranked third and fifth overall in the last two seasons as he too gathered momentum today by winning three consecutive heats – firstly defeating Omar Sanchez (Carbon Art / KA Sail) before also dispatching of Antoine Martin (JP / NeilPryde) and Ricardo Campello (Point-7), who had his chances against the Australian, but the 31-year-olds hand slipped off the boom at a crucial moment when landing a double forward, which ultimately proved costly.

However, take nothing away from Stone, who again excelled on the wave with trademark turns consistently blowing out the fins.

Jules Denel (JP / NeilPryde) gained revenge against teammate Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / SWOX) for his Pozo defeat, but the Frenchman was then taken down by fellow compatriot Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails), who just seemed to get better with each heat he sailed – particularly in the wave riding department.

The 2014 world champion will now face the 2013 wave world champion – Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing) in Heat 46b after the Brazilian destroyed Dany Bruch (Starboard / FlightSails / AL360 / Shamal Sunglasses) in the final heat of the day.

Browne made an explosive start to the heat with a sick double forward before earning the highest wave score of the contest so far – 9.88 points – after landing a radical frontside three right in the pocket to put his opponent under the cosh. Bruch will be disappointed after seemingly self-destructing under pressure as he failed to land a jump until the final minute – by which point it was far too late.

Over the course of the day there were several standout performances with the world’s best making the most of the world class conditions on offer again in Tenerife – Omar Sanchez, who consistently landed some of the biggest and most stylish jumps, Morgan Noireaux (JP / Hot Sails Maui) and Julian Salmonn (Severne / Severne), who produced some of the best turns of the day with the latter claiming the scalp of Leon Jamaer (JP / NeilPryde) and Aleix Sanllehy (Tabou / GA Sails) who tried couple of tweaked pushloop forwards as he pushed himself to the limit in search of success, but just fell short against Traversa.

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