The third day of the PWA Pozo Izquierdo event saw Iballa Ruano Moreno win the single elimination against her twin sister Daida and Victor Fernandez and Philip Köster securing their places in the men´s winners final.
Iballa Moreno wins the Single Elimination
If you don´t want to read everything, you can watch Duncan Coombs´resume about day 3.
On the third day a hazy sky welcomed us at Pozo Izquierdo. Light Calima pushed from Africa towards Gran Canaria, but did not influence the wind, which was already blowing with steady 35 knots. The PWA race director Coombs decided to continue with the men´s single elimination. The first heat of the day was heat 17, the first heat in the third round. Voget vs Bruch and Campello vs Skye. Dany Bruch convinced the judges with his unique waveriding style milking the onshore waves from far outside until the shore. He stopped the german Klaas Voget. Ricardo Campello started well and won against John Skye. The stuntman from Venezuela landed his jumps perfectly and attacked the waves in the steep sections.
In Heat 18 Robby Swift fought hard against his opponent Marcilio Browne. He even changed his sail during the heat and slided through several Takas and landed a Double, but Marcilio´s perfect Backside Wave 360s and tweaked Pushloops were a number too big for Robby. The Frenchman Jules Denel was an easy opponent for Victor Fernandez. Jules: “I sailed on my best level, but it was not enough against Victor”, Jules told us.
The British sailor Ross Williams surprised everybody and probably himself as well. He took advantage of Kauli´s faults in waveriding and won against the 3-times wave Worldchampion. “I often crashed while my waverides as I tried to land a backside 360°. The waves were not the best in my heat,” Kauli commented his performance. The Brazilian down-the-line expert is now ranked in 9th after the single elimination.
The other opponents in heat 19 were Ojeda vs. Danielsen. Dario Ojeda showed his skills and local knowledge with a perfect waveselection, big Backside Airs, Takas, Pushloops and Doubles.
In the last heat of round 3, heat number 20, skinny Thomas Traversa impressed landing a massive Double Forward. Additionally he chose the perfect waves and ripped them into pieces. The French down-the-line expert managed to win against his teammate Alex Mussolini. In the second duel we saw Philip Köster vs. Phil Horrocks. The strong wind and steep ramps gave Köster the opportunity to show his signature moves, like fast rotated Doubles and massive Pushloops, even into a Forward. His waverides were also more fluid than in his first heat two days ago.
QUARTERFINALS
El Cabezo Local Dany Bruch kept the nerves against former Freestyle worldchampion Ricardo Campello, who collected excellent points in his jumps, but missed a bit of variety in waveriding. Bruch again surfed the waves from far outside until the shore, which gave him the advantage over Campello.
The closest heat of day 3 was the second duel of heat 21 between Victor Fernandez and Marcilio Browne. PWA: “In the end it was Fernandez who advanced after it was revealed that the Spaniard received the highest wave score. However Browne deserves a special mention as he landed an outrageous pushloop forward as well as a fully planing forward off the lip, and he was extremely unlucky not to advance.” “I am happy to be in the final, Marcilio is someone, who can win here also,” a very happy Fernandez told us afterwards.
Victor Fernandez – Pic: PWA/John Carter
The second quarterfinal saw Köster vs. Traversa and Williams vs. Ojeda. Although Traversa had a good waveselection and good jumps and Philip broke his mast while doing a massive backloop, it was not enough for the Frenchmen Traversa to advance against the Worldchampion Köster. Köster seemed to be focused and after his caddy sailed out his new sail, he continued to show his whole move repertoire. This was the end for Thomas Traversa, who is now ranked on a very good 5th place after the single elimination.
Dario Ojeda continued his great sailing against Ross Williams and made into the top 4. Again, he is by far the best ranked local.
Dario Ojeda on form – Pic: PWA/John Carter
SEMIFINAL
Victor Fernandez vs. Dany Bruch and Philip Köster vs. Dario Ojeda were the duels in the semifinals. PWA: “The men’s semi-final saw the level go quite literally sky high, as the wind hit forty knots or more and the waves continued to increase.” This semifinal was epic and probably the best semifinal we have ever seen. Epic stands for the sailing of Victor and Philip. We don´t want to devalue the performances of Dany Bruch and Dario Ojeda, but Victor and Philip sailed on a new level in terms of waveriding. Both nailed perfect Goiters off the lip. Fernandez had an amazing Stalled Forward Loop, Köster landed a perfect Wave 360° combined with a Taka, which brought him a very high waveriding score.
Tomorrow we will see a monster final. And again, it is the same final like in the past years. But Victor has improved, trained a lot and will try everything to be on top of the podium. He looks very safe in waveriding and jumping. But Köster will defend his first place and will try to land heavy combos like stalled Doubles or Tweaked Pushloops into Forwards.
After the semifinal of the men the losers final and winners final of the women got sailed.
Philip Köster – Pic: PWA/John Carter
THE FINAL OF THE LADIES
The winners final was once again Iballa Ruano Moreno against her twin sister Daida Moreno. Iballa Moreno decided just in the seconds before here final heat to change her sail size from 3,3 to 3,0, she climbed over the rocks, swopped an won in a very close 3:2 decision.“It was definitely the right decision. My gear worked perfectly. I just received a 3.0 m from Severne and I landed a wave 360° just some seconds before the end of my heat!” Besides her waveriding Iballa did a massive Pushloop and a perfect Backloop. Daida commented the heat as follows: “I was a bit overpowered, but will be back tomorrow in the double elimination. Anyway, it was really close.”
In the loosers final we saw a fight in high wind conditions in between Karin Jaggi and Laure Treboux. Laure was maxed out on her 3.0 sail. Karin felt fine, landed several jumps and had the longer waverides. In the end it was Karin, who made it on the podium in third position.
After the women´s final the PWA decided to have a break to wait for better waves, but it did not happen. Almost two hours later the competition got called off. The forecast for tomorrow looks excellent: very strong wind and more than 2 meter high waves. Action is guaranteed.
RESULT WOMEN
- Iballa Moreno
- Daida Moreno
- Karin Jaggi
- Laure Treboux
