PWA Sylt 2007 - The biggest event of the year

03 October 2007

A little report from the PWA Worldcup in Sylt:

After we arrived from Dahab/Egpyt, we put all our equipment in my car and drove 14 hours straight to Sylt. It was raining every now and then, but that's how it is in Sylt. The opening ceremony was big and and with a lot of spectators, like every year. 10 Days time to do races in Wave (Men and Woman), Slalom and Freestyle. According to the wind-conditions it was decided which discipline to do. In the beginning the Race-management decided to do Woman Waveriding - Nayra Alonso won in really difficult and quite light-wind conditions. In low winds, Slalom was held and we had the chance to do a Freestyle double ellimination. The first day of Freestyle, the wind was sideshore from the right and it was picking up pretty fast - I was on my 4,7 quite on the limit. Unfortunately i lost against Cheo Diaz (Venezuela) - he had a quite good heat. Well - some surprises were up as well - Tonky Frans went into the finals - he was sailing very good. There was a very very close fight for the title of the world champion in Freestyle. Kiri Thode from Bonaire, Gollito Estredo from Venezuela and Marcilio Browne from Brazil were fighting for the title.

Well - Tonky kicked Kiri before he could reach the finals - Brawzinho came 4th after Ricardo Campello - so the World championship was still open. Gollito could win the Single elimination - Few days of no wind and hoping for the Double Elimination - and on Friday we could go on. The conditions were very very difficult, the wind was side-offshore, so very gusty and quite strong on the outside. 1-2 meter waves coming straight in from the sea made moves going out very hard. All the guys were struggleing with the conditions.

I was up against Mr. Schenk from Germany - and guess what - i had the worst heat in my whole carreer... 3 moves in 6 minutes, that's really bad!! :) Anyway, shit happens...

It was late and getting dark already, when the last heats of the single were up. Kiri had to advance just one or two heats to become freestyle world champion - lot of pressure - and he was finally beaten by Antony Ruenes from France. For lot of guys on the beach that decision of the judges was quite questionable, as Kiri had a lot more moves - but that's how they decided. So the fight was just between Marcilio and Gollito - due to Gollitos 7th place in Fuerteventura, Marcilio just had to advance one place more - it was the heat against Ricardo Campello - loads of pressure on Marcilio - but Ricardo was crashing several times - which made Marcilio Browne Freestyle World Champion 2007.

Right after that heat, the wind dropped and there was no more wind - until the last day, when the direction changed to westerly - straight onshore. A great final of the double ellimination - Tonky Frans against Gollito Estredo!! - Tonky could win the first final - as Gollito won the single ellimination, that meant one more final - the conditions were really hard - and this time Gollito teached Tonky who's the boss - With a Burner onehanded, Ponch into Flaka in those hard conditions and loads of other radical moves, Gollito won the Worldcup in Sylt - a pitty that he couldn't defend his title from last year.

Well - After 10 days of Sylt - a great Event with 180.000 visitors - the biggest event in the world-, we drove home, 12 hours, 1200km from Sylt to Innsbruck/Tirol/Austria. It's still warm - not bad - hope the winter waits a bit till it drops in....

Freestyle Results after 1 Double Elimination:
1. Jose Estredo
2. Tonky Frans
3. Marcilio Browne

Men’s Slalom Racing Results:
1. Antoine Albeau
2. Bjorn Dunkerbeck
3. Kevin Pritchard

Women’s Wave Sailing Results
1. Nayra Alonso
2. Iballa Moreno
3. Steffi Wahl
4. Junko Nagoshi

Unfortunately no result in the Mens Wave Sailing - just a spectacular Supersession,... But stay tuned for action from the wave-event in Tiree happening now...

All the best
Rossi - AUT 256

Some pix - Photos by John Carter / PWA