PKRA 2008 - Germany Day 9

Final Day of Fun and Event

The Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 in St. Peter-Ording, Germany, PKRA’s 7th Tour stop is now officially close after nine days of exciting kiteboarding competition held at the largest event site this year. A total of 52 professional kiteboard athletes representing 16 countries competed in this grand slam event including Freestyle, Course Racing and Boardercross. The total prize money for this Tour stop was a whopping € 50,000.00 (US$ 73,800.00.)

Final Day Highlights

The riders meeting was held at 10:00 am, right on schedule. The wind was offshore so race director Olaf Van Tol decided to go for one more racing event to wrap up the competition so the freestylers were released at 12:00 pm and because the conditions were not favourable during the morning.

The race got underway at 12:30 pm which turned out to be quite a nice race to cap the Germany Tour stop. The wind at the start was up to 18 knots then it became really gusty and there were a lot of crashes around the safety boats. A lot of racers were getting towed out of control in the downwind and even in the upwind. It took 28 minutes for each competitor to finish the course.

Once again, Charles Deleau and the whole North team dominated the race with a first place win followed by Sami Gali (ESP, Best) and Sebastian Bubmann (GER, Flysurfer). This meant that after 10 races, Charles Deleau remained on top thus earning the Course Racing World Championship title.

Overall Race Results:

Men:
1st - Charles Deleau (France, North Kiteboarding) – World Champion
2nd - Sky Solbach (United States, North Kiteboarding)
3rd – Sean Farley (Mexico, North Kiteboarding)

Women:
1st – Gina Esteva (Spain, Best)
2nd – Steph Bridge (United Kingdom, North)
3rd – Fabienne D’Ortoli (France, Cabrinha)

After the event, a handful of athletes were seen in the waters doing an expression session to please the public including PKRA President Mauricio Toscano, Naish Kiteboarding boss Robby Naish who was at the beach along with WBO Champion Wladimir Klitschko who joined in to please the crowd.

The Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 was sponsored by Colgate, We Love, TV Today, Gard New Style, Chevrolet, the local government of St. Peter-Ording, Quicksilver, SevenOne Intermedia GmbH, Naish Kiteboarding, Jever, and Kitelife.

PKRA 2008 - Germany Day 8

No Wind Day

Wrapping up Day 8 of the Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 in St. Peter-Ording, Germany is a particularly quiet day. There was no wind throughout the day as forecasted but the weather was sunny and warm. There were a lot of people on the beach today, enjoying the sun while the weather is good.

The skippers meeting was held exactly on time and then there was a Judging Freestyle meeting where the participants discussed the judging criteria with the competitors at 11:30 am and a course racing meeting at 4:00 pm.

The riders were seen with their laptops in the riders lounge while some took the time to play foosball or Playstation. Some of them took the opportunity to dry out their kites, wet suits and equipment while the sun was up.

A friendly competition for paddle board racing was held at 2:00 pm. Paddle board is much larger surf board where a rider stand on and use a paddle to move forward. The race was a relay with two people per team. The first person of each team would run to the water and then paddle from one mark to another then switch people and the second person would paddle back. Since the competitors were paddling parallel to the beach the small ankle high waves made standing on the board a little more challenging with a few people loosing their balance and falling of the boards. The distance between marks was approximately 150 meters.

There were a total of 10 teams and 2 heats of 5 with the first 3 advancing to a final heat for a total of six teams for the final heat. There results were:

1st - Kevin Langere & Tom Court
2nd - Mango Carafino & Charles Deleau
3rd - Julian Hosp & Juno (Netherlands)

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is scheduled at 10:00 am with first possible start at 10:30 am local time.

The Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 is proudly sponsored by Colgate, We Love, TV Today, Gard New Style, Chevrolet, the local government of St. Peter-Ording, Quicksilver, SevenOne Intermedia GmbH, Naish Kiteboarding, Jever, and Kitelife.

Login and register at www.extremeelements.tv to view the freshest HD-quality extreme sports videos including the PKRA World Tour videos. Visit www.kiteworldtour.com for the latest updates about the Tour.

PKRA 2008 - Germany Day 7

Boardercross Day

The Boardercross competition got underway with a perfect weather wrapping up Day 7 of the Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008. This is the 7th Tour stop of the Professional Kiteboard Riders Association 2008 World Tour.

The mandatory riders meeting was held at 10:00 am while the Boardercross event started exactly on time at 11:00 am after all preparations and work time on the water setting up buoys and marks were completed.

The Boardercross event requires the kiters to navigate around a series of buoys and jumps around the course while doing required tricks. The course is generally laid out in a ‘Z’ fashion with all the legs somewhat downwind. If one of the required moves or jumps were not performed, the competitor would drop one place overall in the heat.

The competition ladder was set up as the best two would advance and either the other two or three would be eliminated. The first round had 5 competitors and then the subsequent rounds only had 4 competitors. There were a total of 17 heats for the men and 7 heats for the ladies with the first heat requiring a restart because all kites got tangled.

The Boardercross event finished at 1:30 pm and then an hour of lunch break was held. The plan was to run two more boardercross eliminations but it was abandoned due to some technical difficulties so a racing event was ran instead which finished at 4:45 pm. Because of the very good conditions, the competitors managed to do beach starts instead of line starts in the water.

The wind topped at 18 knots towards the last couple of heats for the ladies, blowing slightly onshore from the right which made it possible to do the beach start. Then the rain came in and the wind dropped to 13 knots but went back up between 14 and 15 knots during the afternoon for the race and picked up further more before the start of the race. It took 27 minutes for the first racer to complete the course, again won by Charles Deleau (FRA, North).

Boardercross Results:

Men:
1. Kevin Langeree (NED, Naish)
2. Sky Solbach (USA, North)
3. Sebastien Garat (FRA, RRD)

Women:
1. Karolina Winkowska (POL, Naish)
2. Fabiene D’Ortoli (FRA, Cabrinha)
3. Bruna Kajiya (BRA, Best)

PKRA 2008 - Day 6

Course Racing Day

It’s an all-race day for Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 in St. Peter-Ording, Germany. It’s the sixth day of competition and race director Olaf Van Tol decided to release the freestylers and boardercrossers for today and went for an all-race day.

The weather was partly cloudy but the wind finally gave the course racers an excellent day for racing, packing a sustained speed of 15 – 20 knots. The sea was a bit rough in the morning. High tide came in at 11:00 am then went back normal and the seas became a littler flatter, not very choppy but less swell which was very good for racing.

The mandatory riders meeting started an hour later than normal. The competitors met at 11:00 am then got started at 12:00 noon. Two races were held just before lunch which finished at 1:15 pm. A short lunch break followed then another two races were held at 3:15 pm. The day was finally called off at 4:45 pm.

Course Racing Highlights

Once again, North kiteboard racer Charles Deleau (FRA) dominated today’s games, winning the last three races while finishing 2nd in the first race. Deleau is still way on top of the leader board with a total of 4.9 points. In a surprising show of racing ability, another North rider Sky Solbach (USA) wearing jersey #34 finished the first race of the day ahead of everyone while crossing the finish line behind Deleau in the remaining three races. As a result, Solbach now occupies the 2nd place overall with a total of 15.7 points. Still another North racer, Sean Farley (MEX) maintains his 3rd place position overall after finishing 3rd in the first three races and 4th in the last race. Flysurfer’s Sebastian Bubbmann (GER) who occupied the 2nd top spot after five races drops down to number 4 after being disqualified in the first race and finishing 5th in the other three. See complete results here.

Another North power racer dominated the women’s event in the person of Steph Bridge (GBR), finishing first in all of the four races. As a result, Bridge jumped from number 4 yesterday to 2nd place overall and is now only 2.15 points away from Gina Esteva (ESP, Best) who occupies the top spot. Esteva only managed to cross the line in 3rd place for the last three races behind Fabienne D’Ortoli (FRA, Cabrinha) who finished three 2nd places and one 4th place. D’Ortoli drops down to 4th place overall. Meanwhile, Kristin Boese (GER, Best) drops to 3rd overall from the number 2 spot after finishing 3rd, 4th, 4th and 2nd in today’s races.

Course Racing Results (after 9 races)

Men
1. Charles Deleau (FRA, North) – 4.9 pts.
2. Sky Solbach (USA, North) – 15.7 pts.
3. Sean Farley (MEX, North) – 23 pts.

Women
1. Gina Esteva (ESP, Best) – 10.65 pts.
2. Steph Bridge (GBR, North) – 12.8 pts.
3. Kristin Boese (GER, Best) – 15.7 pts.

PKRA 2008 - Germany Day 5

Freestyle doubles conclude after a fast-paced competition day; Congratulations to Kevin Langeree and Bruna Kajiya for winning the doubles event

After a windy, fast-paced, action-packed and wet Day #5, the Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 in St. Peter-Ording, Germany concludes another day of exciting kiteboarding competition with the Freestyle double event now in the history books. The weather was cold and windy, as is typical in Northern Germany. The temperature peaked at 16° Celsius with winds of up to 22 knots. There were brief pockets of rain with some higher winds during the small rain squalls that rolled through but most of the male competitors were on their 9-meter kites for much of the day.

The freestyle doubles event started right on schedule at 10:30 am after the 10:00 am skippers meeting. The final heats were completed at 4:00 pm after which a course race was planned by 5:00 pm but due to technical difficulties and the subsiding winds, race director Olaf Van Tol decided to cancel the plan and call it a day at 5:15 pm.

Freestyle Highlights

There were a lot of exciting matches both in the men and women’s events as Bruna Kajiya won her first back-to-back win in a single Tour this year, defeating world champion Gisela Pulido in an exciting two-heat final.

Joanna Litwin (POL, Nobile) defeated Jo Wilson (GBR, Naish) in the 12th heat with higher technical difficulty score in the air passes, landing a slim and blind judge over Wilson’s krypt to surface pass and Vulcan to surface pass.

The younger Jalou Langeree (NED, Naish) defeated veteran Kristin Boese (GER, Best) in the 13th heat with a krypt to surface pass, raley to blind and front to blind winning with greater power versus Boese’s raley to wrapped, front to wrapped and raley to blind. Ironically, Langeree’s bid for the podium would stop there as EETV’s very own Susi Mai (GER, Cabrinha) defeated her with a higher technical difficulty score, landing a raley to wrapped, raley to blind, front to blind, and krypt to surface pass against Langeree’s krypt to surface pass, Vulcan to surface pass and raley to blind.

In another twist of luck, Mai was defeated by Julie Simsar (FRA, Liquid Force) who landed a raley to blind, front to blind, kiteloop and back to toeside surface pass, winning with a higher technical difficulty score versus Mai’s raley to blind and kiteloop-backloop. Simsar would then succumbed to the riding powers of Karolina Winkowska (POL, Naish) in the 17th heat with a higher technical difficulty score in air passes, landing a slim, blind judge, blind judge 360, raley to blind and front to blind.

Finally, Winkowska was the last heat winner to loose to the next heat’s competitor versus Gisela Pulido (ESP, Slingshot) with a slim, mobe, blind judge, front mobe and s-bend. Winkowska landed a blind judge, s-bend to blind with air pass and 313 loosing with less technical difficulty and variety.

In the first final heat, freestyle singles winner Bruna Kajiya (BRA, Best) goes down to Pulido who landed a blind judge, front mobe and slim versus Kajiya’s back to blind air pass and slightly butt-checked blind judge and s-bend. In the second final heat, Kajiya fought back in the last few minutes to seal the deal and take the event win. The Brazilian kiteboarder landed a blind judge, s-bend, back to blind, back to blind air pass, non-inverted slim and blind judge with aerial handle pass versus Pulido’s slim, 313, front to blind, back to blind and blind judge. A higher technical difficulty score and more powered moves sealed the win for Bruna Kajiya.

EETV interviewed Kajiya after the games and got her view of the competition. “We had a really tough day today. The doubles went on thru the whole day. On my fist heat I was on a 7-meter when it rained and started to get dark. The wind picked up a lot so I started to hold on to my kite really hard but I was overpowered because I don’t weigh too much and when the wind picked up a little I was really flying so I couldn’t get my tricks so Gisela won and we had to go through a second heat. In the second [final] heat, the wind came down a bit so I went with my 7-meter again and it was nice so I landed some really good tricks and tried some powerful and clean moves. It’s really tiring but everything went good so I won.”

The men’s heats were equally exciting, with the finals between Aaron Hadlow (GBR, Flexifoil) and Kevin Langere (NED, Naish) going into a repeat heat, keeping the men’s tour title bid alive.

In some of today’s highlights, Tour regular Mario Rodwald (GER, North) started his 6-heat winning streak in the 19th heat beating all odds and climbing to number 4 up the doubles ladder. The world 15th ranked German PKRA athlete defeated countryman Tobias Hoelter (JN Kites) in this heat before knocking out another countryman Rick Jensen (Naish) in a closely fought 23rd heat. Rodwald won that heat with cleaner execution.

After that round, Jan Schiegnitz (GER, Liquid Force) knocked out Bas Koole (NED, Best) in a closely contested heat. The German kiteboarder landed a slim, front mobe, mobe, back to blind air pass, blind judge, front side 360 and a kiteloop-backloop while Koole had a slim, mobe, front mobe, hasselhoff, KGB and a blind judge up his trick list but had less power in his moves.

Mikael Blomvall (SWE, Nobile) also had a good day, running a 4-heat winning streak starting in heat #25 after being disqualified in the singles, knocking out French ripper Florian Daubos (Naish) with a higher technical difficulty score. The Swedish kiteboarder then defeated Russian Petr Tyuskevich (Cabrinha) in the 29th heat with smoother execution and a lot of powered moves.

A strong showing from Steve Verelst (BEL, Best) put the pressure on Michael Schitzhofer (AUT, JN Kites) in their 26th heat match. Verelst landed a blind judge, front mobe, front mobe 5, 313, slim and s-bend while Schitzhofer landed a regular and switch slim, front side 360, blind judge with aerial handle pass, mobe, front mobe and kiteloop slim taking the win. Schitzhofer then lost to Reno Romeu (BRA, North) in the 28th heat.

Rodwald defeated North team mate Cesar Portas (ESP) in the 26th heat with cleaner execution and lower kite angle before ending Sebastien Garat ‘s (FRA, RRD) podium bid in the 28th heat. He also managed to fight another heat after defeating world #11 Romeu in the 30th heat going into the quarter finals. Also in the same heat, Blomvall defeated Spain’s Alex Pastor (Naish) with a higher technical difficulty score and cleaner landings. Pastor suffered a few crashes while Blomvall landed several solid and reliable regular and switch tricks.

After both riders fighting through a lot of heats, Rodwald would take the upper hand against Blomvall in their 31st heat match. Inspired by the home crowd, Rodwald moved on to fight for a higher place in the ladder, defeating the Swedish kiteboarder with a front mobe to blind, regular and switch slim, regular and switch back to blind air pass and regular and switch mobe. Ironically, tired after six heats, Rodwald would suffer a lot of crashes in the next heat against Tom Hebert (New Caledonia, Airush), loosing his bid for a podium position. Hebert took the win with a near-textbook display of smooth and powered regular and switch tricks to fight Onieva in the next round.

Having one heat to warm to the conditions, Hebert trounces Alvaro Onieva (ESP, Best) with another solid display of regular and switch moves and higher technical difficulty score. Onieva goes hard with a lot of power but got caught out on several hot landings.

Langeree seemingly unfazed by Hebert’s regular and switch prowess goes on to demonstrate his switch abilities and technical skills. A total of 16 moves (all with aerial handle passes) in 7 minutes outclassed Hebert who despite landing a mobe to wrapped, double back mobe and several regular and switch moves would have to settle for 3rd as Langeree moved into the next round to face Hadlow and go for the event win.

Final Match (Heat #36)

A total of 16 moves for Hadlow and 17 for Langeree. Hadlow landed a blind judge with aerial handle pass, regular and switch front mobe, regular and switch slim, regular and switch mobe, s-bend to blind with aerial handle pass, s-bend, shifty 3, back to blind air pass, mobe to wrapped and slim to wrapped. Langeree landed a blind judge with aerial handle pass, s-bend to blind with aerial handle pass, regular and switch kgb, regular and switch front mobe, double s-bend, 313, mobe, slim and double back mobe. Going bigger and with more power, Langere would take the win. A slight technical advantage went to Hadlow but the height and power in Langeree’s moves outweighed Hadlow’s tech and gave him the win.

Repeat Final

Not satisfied with 17 moves Langeree threw 18 moves in this heat. A blind judge with aerial handle pass, regular and switch KGB, s-bend to blind with air pass, a huge and fast front mobe to blind, nuclear KGB, front side-bend to blind with air pass, 313, double back mobe, kiteloop 360 and a non-inverted slim. Hadlow landed a blind judge with aerial handle pass, s-bend to blind with air pass, front mobe to blind, regular and switch mobe, regular and switch back to blind air pass, 313, slim and kiteloop 360. With more power and technical difficulty score, with cleaner and smoother execution and landings, Langeree took the win and keeps the men’s tour title alive.

EETV interviewed Langeree after the games and this is what he had to say.

“I’ve been here for the last five days and the wind was pretty good yesterday but today’s forecast was even better. I started my heat against Tom Hebert and I was pretty surprised he came all the way up there. The first final heat was good. I was able to do some powered moves even though the wind was up and down sometimes. I was super-stoked riding in front of the judges but was very surprise to win that heat but I think it was pretty close just like yesterday. So we had to do another heat and the second one went even better [for me]. I think the biggest advantage is I got my 9-meter kite. The wind picked up a little more so I started the heat with a super-powered blind judge.”

PKRA 2008 - Germany Day 4

Three course races, five heats of freestyle and an hour of drizzle wrapped up Day 3

Day 4 of the Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 in St. Peter-Ording, Germany capped one of the best days that the competition had so far in this traditionally wet region of the North Sea coast. The wind was around 15 – 17 knots in the morning which lasted longer than what was expected but gradually dropped to about 9 to 11 knots in the afternoon during the racing events. The cloud started to set in during noon time and there was a brief rain at 12:00 pm and another wet shower at around 1:00 pm. The temperature averaged at 18° Celsius.

The skippers meeting went right on schedule at 10:00 in the morning, followed by the first freestyle heat of the day half an hour later with a re-run of heat #6 which was abandoned yesterday. From there, the competition went smoothly up to the finals of the men & women’s singles elimination. After a half hour lunch break, the competition switched to course racing and finished one race. The day wrapped up around 4:30 pm.

Course Racing Highlights

Only one race was completed today and was won by no less than Fuerteventura racing champ Charles Deleau (FRA). Sean Farley (MEX) came in second followed by Sami Gali (ESP) and Sebastian Bubmann (GER). As a result of Farley’s win, Ron Reimers (GER) dropped to number four overall while Farley moved a notch up to number three.

Still no change in the overall standings in the women’s event as Gina Esteva (ESP) once again won today’s race followed by Kristin Boese (GER) and Steph Bridge (GBR) in third place.

Course Racing Results (after 5 races)

Men
1. Charles Deleau (FRA, North) – 2.8 pts.
2. Sebastian Bubmann (GER, Flysurfer) – 9.7 pts.
3. Sean Farley (MEX, North) – 14 pts.

Women
1. Gina Esteva (ESP, Best) – 2.8 pts.
2. Kristin Boese (GER, Best) – 6.7 pts.
3. Fabienne D’Ortoli (FRA, Cabrinha) – 10 pts.

Freestyle Highlights

The freestyle event started with a re-run of yesterday’s heat #6 which was abandoned due to light wind conditions. Alex Pastor (ESP, Naish) had a tough heat beating Julian Hosp (AUT) but came up victorious in the end with more variety and powered moves. Pastor nailed a mobe, regular and switch slim, 313, regular and switch back to blind airpass, blind judge 3, front mobe, double s-bend and kiteloop handle pass. Hosp landed a regular and switch blind judge 3, back to blind air pass, non-inverted slim, mobe and regular and switch front mobe.

Heat #9 also was a very closely fought heat between Mikael Blomvall (SWE, Nobile) and Reno Romeu (BRA, North) until Blomvall had a crash landing and tangled with Alvaro Onieva (ESP, Best) from the other heat. Unfortunately, Blomvall was disqualified for dangerous riding and Romeu would advance to the next round but would eventually be knocked out of the game in heat #13. Onieva also received a warning for dangerous riding when his opponent in heat #9b had to change course to manoeuvre around him as he came in hot on a landing. Onieva eventually beat Stefan Permien (GER, North) with more power and a higher technical difficulty level.

Sebastien Garat (FRA, RRD) defeated Tom Court (GBR, North) in heat #10, landing more tricks with greater power while Tom Hebert (New Caledonia, Airush) knocked down Cesar Portas (ESP, North) in another tough round in heat #11a with a 2-1 decision in favour of Hebert, winning with a higher technical difficulty score and lower kite angle riding. Pastor also defeated Rick Jensen (GER, Naish) in tight second round battle of the 11th heat with better execution and more height and power in his moves before loosing to Hebert in the 14th heat.

Petr Tyuskevich (RUS, Cabrinha) took out Michael Schitzhofer (AUT, JN Kites) in the 12th heat courtesy of a slim, mobe, front mobe, hasselhoff, s-bend, front mobe to blind and blind judge. The Austrian freestyler stomped a slimchance, blind judge 3, front mobe and 313.

Meanwhile, Aaron Hadlow (GBR, Flexifoil) appered to have a renewed energy for the competition, landing an NIS 7 in this heat against Steve Verelst (BEL, Best) taking an easy win to move in the next round. In contrast, Kevin Langeree (NED, Naish) had a close heat between Garat in the 13th heat. Langeree landed a blind judge 3, regular and switch KGB, s-bend, 313, non-inverted slim, mobe 5, move to wrapped and kiteloop handle pass, winning with better execution and more power against Garat’s blind judge 3, front mobe, regular and switch slim, front side 3, mobe and front to blind.

In the semi-final rounds, Langeree denied Onieva a top podium bid by defeating him in heat #15a with more powered execution and greater overall height in his moves while Hadlow drew a solid heat against Hebert in the heat’s second round with more power, higher technical difficulty and variety. Onieva would then beat Hebert to grab third place in the podium with a regular and switch front mobe, slim, back to blind air pass, blind judge, front mobe to blind ole and mobe.

As expected, the finals was a close 3-2 heat between Hadlow and Langeree with the current world champ landing a front mobe to blind, double s-bend to blind, s-bend to blind with aerial handle pass, blind judge, shifty 3, non-inverted slim and regular and switch mobe, back to blind airpass, slim. Langeree landed a blind judge 3, 313, s-bend, front mobe, double s-bend, mobe, non-inverted slim, and regular and switch KGB/hasselhoff. Hadlow took the top podium spot with more switch variations and powered moves.

In the women’s events, Julie Simsar (FRA, Liquid Force) took on Jo Wilson (GBR, Naish) in the first heat winning with variation and then defeated Susi Mai (GER, Cabrinha) with higher technical difficulty and more variety in the 5th heat. Kristin Boese (GER, Best) knocked out Laura Fernandez (ESP, Cabrinha) in the 2nd heat while Karolina Winkowska (POL, Naish) defeated team mate Jalou Langeree (NED, Naish) in the 3rd heat with a blind judge, s-bend to blind, s-bend and raley to wrapped.

In the finals, Winkowska defeated Simsar in a close battle for third with a 3-2 decision, winning via her air pass moves and with a higher technical difficulty level. Bruna Kajiya (BRA, Best) finally won her first championship title this year upsetting world title holder Gisela Pulido (ESP, Slingshot) with a blind judge, s-bend, back to blind airpass, blind judge 3 and front to blind.

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is set at 10:00 am with a first possible start at 10:30 am. The plan is to start right off with the freestyle doubles elimination and with the strong wind forcast, hopefully do two course races.

PKRA 2008 - Germany Day 3

Three course races, five heats of freestyle and an hour of drizzle wrapped up Day 3

After two days of waiting, the weather finally cleared to kick-off the Freestyle events and continue the racing competition for the third day of the Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 co-sponsored by We Love, TV Today, Gard and Chevrolet. The clouds came in during the morning and provided an hour of drizzle but it was all smooth sailing (or kiting) for the rest of the day. Wind speed was between 9 and 12 knots cross-shore left forming small waves with fairly frequent white horses, while the temperature was a bit warmer than the past two days at 18-19° Celsius.

The mandatory skippers meeting went right on schedule at 10:00 am with the course races in the morning and freestyle in the afternoon. The first race of the day started as planned at exactly 11:00 am then the second race followed about an hour later at 12:00 pm. After that, there was a brief lunch brake but the schedule after lunch race was postponed because the wind didn’t really pick up so another race was held at 2:30 pm which by then, the wind started to show some strength. After the races, the freestyle event kicked-off at 3:15 pm with the men’s division and managed to finish five heats out of the planned six. The last heat had to be abandoned because the wind started to drop, the current got stronger plus the tide came in so the day was called off at 5:00 pm.

Course Racing Highlights

A total of three races were held at different time intervals during the day with none other than Fuerteventura racing champ Charles Deleau (FRA) winning all three races. Deleau came in second yesterday but swept the competition early on today to grab first place overall from Sebastian Bubmann of Germany. Bubmann finished 3rd, 2nd and 6th in races one to three respectively, dropping to second place overall. Local racer Ron Reimers (GER) remains in third place after finishing 5th in two races and 3rd in the second race.

No change in the overall standings in the women’s event as Gina Esteva of Spain was the first to cross the finish in two races while Germany’s Kristin Boese celebrated her come back to the PKRA with a first place finish in the third race. Fabienne D’Ortoli grabbed two second-place finishes and a third place finish in today’s races.

Course Racing Results (after 4 races)

Men
1. Charles Deleau (FRA, North) – 2.1 pts.
2. Sebastian Bubmann (GER, Flysurfer) – 5.7 pts.
3. Ron Reimers (GER, North) – 11 pts.

Women
1. Gina Esteva (ESP, Best) – 2.1 pts.
2. Kristin Boese (GER, Best) – 4.7 pts.
3. Fabienne D’Ortoli (FRA, Cabrinha) – 7 pts.

Freestyle Highlights

Round 1 of the men’s freestyle event had a total of five heats (the last heat had to be abandoned because of lack of wind) with ten riders already advancing to the next round. Heat #1 was won by Mikael Blomvall (SWE, Nobile) with higher technical difficulty level and more variety against local kiteboarder Jan Erichsen (GER, Liquid Force). Blomvall’s indy KGB, regular and switch slim, front mobe, mobe, double front to blind won against the German’s 313 and blind judge.

Heat #2a was a tight heat in the light conditions between top-ranked Alvaro Onieva (ESP, Best) and Christophe Tack (BEL, Slingshot). Onieva won with a higher technical difficulty level and cleaner execution, landing a mobe, front side 360, KGB, hasselhoff and slim against Tack’s front side 360, blind judge, hasselhoff and 313. In the same heat, Stefan Permien (GER, North) knocked out PKRA tour regular Silvester Ruckdaschel (GER, Liquid Force) with a front mobe, slim, blind judge 360, mobe and 313.

A super tough 3rd heat ensued between Mario Rodwald (GER, North) and Sebastien Garat (FRA, RRD) with the latter emerging victorious dealing a hefty blow on Rodwald’s event hopes. The French athlete won with more tricks and more power in his moves.

Tour regular Jo Ciastula (ESP, Airush) had a shocker and went down to un-seeded Jan Schiegnitz (GER, Liquid Force) in an upset heat #4. A blind judge, slim, and front side 360 for Ciastula were not enough to beat the German’s mobe, slim, regular and switch KGB, raley to blind and flat 360. The last heats were easy wins for Tour regulars Cesar Portas (ESP, North) and Tom Hebert (New Caledonia).

Tomorrow’s forecast looks quite promising so the plan is to start the freestyle event early.

Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 is also co-sponsored by the local government of St. Peter-Ording, Quicksilver, SevenOne Intermedia GmbH, Naish Kiteboarding, Jever, and Kitelife. Media partner ExtremeElements.tv is the official webcaster of live results, high-definition event footages, photos and press releases. For hotel bookings, contact ExtremeElements Travel.

PKRA 2008 - Germany Day 2

Almost a non-competition day

A lot of the fans on the beach were eager to see their favorite kiteboarder in action but day 2 of the Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 in St. Peter-Ording, Germany didn’t go quite as expected. The day started out with the clouds moving in early with the temperature at 16° Celsius and looked like it was not going to improve. Eventually the sun showed up by mid-day and has remained sunny for the rest of the day.

The wind was below 10 knots during the morning and having a Freestyle event was out of the question so race director Olav Van Tol decided to go ahead with the Racing competition. However, due to some technical difficulties, the games were delayed for more than an hour. The planned race start of 11:15 am was delayed until 12:15 pm but eventually got started at 12:30 pm under marginal conditions.

“Early morning in the beach, we were doubtful if we were going to do Racing or Freestyle but then I decided to go with Racing since the wind tends to slip. From there it was quite a tiring process to get the race course out of the water due to problems with the boat not being able to transfer from land to the beach. Once it was on the beach and then in the water they couldn’t get it over the next sand bank so we lost like 1 ½ hours before we could actually get it started but at that time the wind was really getting marginal but we managed to pull off one marginal race. Better than nothing.”

Powered by a Flysurfer kite, Sebastian Bubbman of Germany was the first racer to finish after 28 minutes followed by North Kiteboarding team mates Charles Deleau (FRA) and Ron Reimer (GER). Race veteran Sean Farley (MEX) also of North Kiteboarding who came in fourth place aired his sentiment during EETV’s interview:

“The conditions were real marginal and kind of unfair when it’s like that. You can’t really do much of it but just go and try to make it upwind. I went around the course (but I don’t know how) there were times that I wasn’t even moving but I managed to do it. I came in 4th behind two foil kites and Charles. He did real well for these conditions but other than that I didn’t see anybody else. When I looked back when I was finishing there was nobody else coming. They were all just in a mess trying to go upwind. I think it’s not cool that we get races done in these conditions. It blows all of our efforts away and just making us compete in those conditions, I guess it makes no sense.”

Gina Esteva (ESP) powered by a Best Kiteboarding kite lead the women to the finish line. A total of 37 kiteboarders competed in today’s race but only 15 managed to finish the course within the time limit. After the first race, the wind died down causing a 3-hour delay waiting for the wind to return. Without luck, the race director finally called the day off at 5:00pm.

Tomorrow, there is a very good looking forecast with the wind coming from the left cross-shore which is quite nice for Freestyle. The skippers meeting is set at 10:00 am with first possible start at 10:30 am.

Course Racing Results (after 1 race)

Men:

1. Sebastian Bubbman (GER, Flysurfer) – 0.7 pts.
2. Charles Deleau (FRA, North Kite) – 2 pts.
3. Ron Reimers (GER, North Kite) – 3 pts.

Women:

1. Gina Esteva (ESP, Best Kiteboarding) – 0.7 pts.
2. Kristin Boese (GER, Best Kiteboarding) – 2 pts.
3. Fabienne D’Ortoli (FRA, Cabrinha) – 3 pts.

PKRA 2008 - Germany Day 1

Germany hosts the 7^th Tour Stop of the PKRA 2008 World Tour; A total washout day kicked-off the event

After a three-week break, the PKRA riders are back in action for another exciting competition that will spice up the kiteboarding scene once more. For the 3rd straight year, the Professional Kiteboard Riders Association (PKRA) – the world’s foremost authority on kiteboarding events is holding the competition at the beautiful North Sea cost of St. Peter-Ording in Germany. Organized by ACT Agency GmbH, the event dubbed Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 is without a doubt, the best organized kiteboarding competition in the world. This grand slam event includes the Freestyle discipline, Course Racing, and Boardercross. A total of 52 professional freestyle riders from 16 different countries will be competing in the main Freestyle event while 37 world-class racers representing 10 countries will be gunning for the first to cross the finish line in the Course Races. The Boardercross will showcase 41 extreme athletes from 10 nations vying for a total prize money of € 50,000.00 (US$ 73,800.00.)

The Colgate Kitesurf World Cup 2008 is proudly sponsored by Colgate, We Love, TV Today, Gard New Style, Chevrolet, the local government of St. Peter-Ording, Quicksilver, SevenOne Intermedia GmbH, Naish Kiteboarding, Jever, and Kitelife. The 2007 Freestyle champion’s trophy was bagged by top-ranked Dutch kiteboarder Kevin Langeree (Naish) and the young Spanish champ Gisela Pulido (Slingshot) for the men and women’s event respectively. St. Peter-Ording will also be hosting the last of the five Course Racing events of Tour at the largest beach of all PKRA tour stops.


Day 1 Highlights

The day started with the men’s trials elimination under a rain-soaked kick-off day. The rain came in early in the morning at 6:00am and by 10:00am for the skippers meeting, the event site was flooded from the amount of rain that dropped. The wind was marginal for the course racing while the mandatory skippers meeting was delayed by about an hour to allow for more competitors to make their way to the meeting. Finally at 11:00 am, the skippers meeting started but the wind had fallen off a little so the competition went into a series of postponements until 3:00pm when the wind picked up considerably. Event director Olav Van Tol decided to start with the Freestyle Trials instead of the originally planned Course Racing.

At exactly 3:30pm, the red flag for heat #1 was raised and the games went into a sequence for an eight-heat elimination series with the first round having six heats and a double elimination (round two) of two heats. It took a total of two hours to finish the eliminations under a 15° Celsius cold weather condition so the day wrapped up at 4:50pm. The wind speed ranged between 15 and 20 knots in the early heats but gradually dropped off in the later heats. It rained until the last heats were done so the competition was a total washout for the day.

Immediately following the final heats of the trials, mother nature decided to provide some brief sunshine and the skies started to clear so everyone is looking forward to some sunnier and warmer conditions for day 2.

A BMX Dirtjump Show was also held at the event site from noon until 6:00pm while a mini-concert presented by WE LOVE was held in the evening at the beach featuring Stefanie Heinzmann and Band.

Day 2 riders meeting is slated at 10:00am with first possible start of 10:30am. Stay tuned to www.extremeelements.tv for live results and the freshest photos and videos.

PKRA 2008 - Fuerteventura Day 3

Some of the strongest winds of the Tour so far plus Freestyle singles event wraps up! And the winners are…

After battering the competition area yesterday that saw some of the kites crashing down in the waters, the wind is back even stronger, gustier and more unpredictable. The gale-force wind blew at an average of 35 to 45 knots formed perfect kickers that provided some opportunities for some of the athletes to impress the judges and the crowd with spectacular kite moves. The weather was sunny and the thermometer display played between 28 to 30 degrees Celsius.

The competition started right on schedule and had three races during the morning. It took about 13 to 15 minutes for each racer to cross the finish line. Really gusty winds and strange wind holes on the course caught a few racers off guard at the windward mark making them tack several times to make the mark, eventually loosing valuable positions. The Course Racing event finished around 1:00 pm.

After a short lunch break, the continuation of the Freestyle singles event kicked off at 2:00 pm which lasted almost three hours after which another short break was held before the awarding ceremony at the beach. After the podium presentation, the first round of the Freestyle doubles for both men and women were started under an even more gusty and intense wind condition.

The competition wrapped up at 6:00 pm while tomorrows skipper’s meeting is set at 10:30 am with first possible start at 11:00 am.

Freestyle Singles Highlights

An even more intense third day wrapped up the Freestyle Singles with the fury of the wind being felt by everyone both on and off the waters. Cabrinha’s Paul Caswell (USA) suffered minor injuries due to a crashed landing in the 20th heat but managed to make it out of the water by himself, which goes to show the extreme athleticism, professionalism and dedication that the PKRA athletes have towards the sport.

Meanwhile, the first upset game of the day came courtesy of RRD’s Sebastien Garat (FRA) who took the win against world champion Aaron Hadlow (GBR) in the opening salvo of the men’s Freestyle singles in heat #15. The French champ did have a little luck go his way as Hadlow was down for about 4 minutes during the heat after crashing his kite and getting a tangled bridle. Hadlow landed a blind judge, s-bend to blind with air pass, mobe, slim and crashed on a huge kiteloop-backloop. Garat landed a blind judge with aerial handle pass, front mobe, s-bend to blind, slim and mobe. It was a close call but Garat came through with cleaner landings and variety. In the second round of the 15th heat, Kevin Langeree (NED) defeated Alex Pastor (ESP) over technical difficulty level and variety for an easy win.

Heat #18 (Looser’s Final): In the battle for third place, Hadlow retrieved his tangled Flexifoil kite, sorted the mess and headed back out. Hadlow came away victorious after landing a blind judge with aerial handle pass, s-bend to blind with air pass, front mobe, back to blind air pass, a huge kiteloop-backloop, handle pass front mobe, regular and switch mobe, slim and almost a frontside 7 off a wave. Pastor on the other hand, landed a blind judge with aerial handle pass, s-bend to blind with air pass, back to blind air pass, front mobe, non-inverted slim 5, and a mobe. Power, height in the moves and variety were the deciding factors for the heat, giving Hadlow the 3rd spot over all in the singles.

Heat #17 (Winner’s Final): Garat would have been stoked to make it to the top four, then to the final round for a guaranteed top 3 and with a good performance here, a definite top 2, but he would have to defeat one of the best competitors on tour and current rankings leader Kevin Langeree. Garat landed a blind judge, hasselhoff, regular and switch slim and mobe 5 while Langeree landed a blind judge, 313, mobe 5, non-inverted slim 5 and back to wrapped. In a 4-1 decision, the switch variety for Garat gave him the edge and his first singles event win.

In the women’s semi-final heats Bruna Kajiya (BRA) had an easy win over Jo Wilson (GBR) in heat #7a with an overall edge on power and technical difficulties.

World women’s champion Gisela Pulido really livened up the crowd in heat #7b with a big handle pass front mobe and kiteloop-backloop right in front and close to the grand stands. The judges were really impressed at the young champion, plus with a blind judge, slim and front mobe, she took the win against Susi Mai (GER) who landed several smooth and clean rolls and big airs but proved no match for Pulido’s technical moves.

Heat #8 (Looser’s Final): Wilson went for a heat winning high handle pass but did not manage to land anything and with just a tail grab air and a vulcan to surface pass, it was not enough to beat Mai who landed some more big airs with grabs and spins, as well as a raley to blind and one footer. Variety and technical difficulty level gave the ExtremeElements.TV’s host the 3rd podium spot.

Heat #9 (Winner’s Final): The women’s singles final was a fairly a one-sided heat with a blind judge, front mobe and slim coming from Pulido versus several crashed blind judges, plus a krypt and an s-bend to blind from Kajiya. Technical difficulty level and variety gave Pulido the 1st place podium spot.

Freestyle Singles Results:

Men:

1.Sebastien Garat (FRA, RRD)
2.Kevin Langeree – (NED, Naish)
3.Aaron Hadlow – (GBR, Flexifoil)

Women:

1.Gisela Pulido (ESP, Slingshot)
2.Bruna Kajiya (BRA, Best)
3.Susi Mai (GER, Cabrinha)

Congratulations to Seb Garat for winning his first singles event and to Gisela Pulido for winning the women’s singles!

Course Racing Highlights

After seven races so far, French racing champ Bruno Sroka is slowly inching his way up the racing ladder, climbing to number 3 overall after finishing 2,3,7 in today’s races powered by a Takoon kite. Sami Gali (Best, Spain) dropped to number 4 overall after finishing 4,9,3 with a total of 15 points accumulated, just one point shy from Sroka. It’s still a pretty much one-two game for the North team as Charles Deleau (France) and Sean Farley (Mexico) still holds the first and second overall places respectively even after Farley failed to finish the last race of the day.

The women’s standing is still unchanged as only the top three racers braved the conditions and went out racing with the pack. Gina Esteva (Best, Spain) didn’t even bother to start the last race due to the extreme gusty conditions.