PWA Gran Canaria
Day 2: Pozo Delivers as Daida Moreno and Philip Köster Win Single Eliminations
The conditions continued to fire on Day 2 of the Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival with winds in excess of 40 knots greeting the competitors and after a short wait, the waves quickly improved with the tide on the push to allow the single eliminations to be resumed. With better stunt ramps on offer than yesterday, the level soon went through the roof as the best sailors in the world pushed themselves to their limits in search of glory. After several monumental battles and some exquisite sailing, it was Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) and Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) who crowned the Queen and King of the Single Eliminations. Women’s The Moreno twins continued their dominance - for the time being at least - as both Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) and Daida Moreno safely navigated their way into the winners’ final. Daida came into the event as the favourite and she quickly set the tone for the final by landing a massive stalled forward, but Iballa quickly levelled things up with a well-executed pushloop and it wasn’t until towards the end of the heat that Daida fully asserted as she landed a one-handed backloop before linking together her best wave of the heat to earn 7.5 points and claim a decisive victory. In the battle for 3rd and 4th, Lina Erpenstein (Patrik / Severne) lined up against last year’s world No.3 Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins). The young German had already secured her best ever result by breaking into the 4 for the first time, but she wasn’t done there as she caused an upset by claiming a hard fought victory over Offringa. Come the end of the heat there was just over quarter-of-a-point between the two sailors, but crucially Erpenstein made the better of the waves to earn two solid scores of 6.38 and 6.75 points which deservedly saw the 20-year-old claim the final place on the podium. Before reaching the opportunity to battle for the podium Erpenstein was involved in the closest heat of the day against Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic), which saw the Pole land a textbook forward and a perfectly executed backloop, but it was once again Erpenstein’s aggressive wave riding which made the difference as she progressed by just 0.01 of a point. Sniady will now hope for a chance in the double elimination to exact revenge in a tie where margins were almost too close to call. Men’s Coming into the event there were some questions marks over Philip Köster’s fitness with the former 3-time world champion making his first appearance since rupturing his cruciate knee ligament in September last year. However, after the 23-year-olds performance today it’s safe to say that there was no need to be concerned about whether he could return to his best or not as he produced a sublime performance to defeat Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / NorthSails / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) in an extremely close, top quality winners’ final. In fact, Köster’s jumping was so good against Fernandez that he earned a perfect 20 points out of 20 after landing an amazing stalled double forward and a pushloop forward. Fernandez put up a stern fight as he landed an excellent double of his own, but even after earning the only perfect 10 wave ride of the day the reigning world champion couldn’t quite deny Köster the victory. 2014 PWA Wave World Champion - Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails) - got the better of Ricardo Campello (Point-7) in the battle for last place on the podium with the Frenchman making the better of the waves, but also out jumping his opponent. Earlier in the day Campello had been in inspired form and for a long time it looked as though he may be the main man that everyone else had to beat as he firstly defeated Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing) in a mouth-watering third round tie, before posting the second highest scoring heat of the day - highest at the time - against Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne / SWOX / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) in the quarterfinals - 35.13 points - as the Brazilian/Venezuelan) also recorded perfect jumps scores after earning 10 points for each of his double forward and pushloop forward. Unfortunately for Campello, he couldn’t find the scores required to defeat Fernandez - even after both semifinals were resailed due to a timing error in the first attempt - and he settles for 4th place in the single elimination. Yesterday saw the top seeds survived unscathed but that all changed today as the vice-world champion - Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails) - fell in the opening heat of the day against an on song Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX) - who produced an excellent jumping and wave riding display and the Brit now occupies joint 5th after the single elimination. Omar Sanchez (Carbon Art / KA Sail) then produced the second upset of the day in the very next heat as he turned the tables on Britain’s Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / SWOX), who is usually so dangerous here. Sanchez had looked good yesterday and he carried that form into day two to also sit in joint 5th alongside Lewis, Stone and Dany Bruch (Starboard / Flight Sails / AL360 / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) - who earlier beat Aleix Sanllehy (Tabou / GA Sails) in one of the closest heats of the day. The forecast for tomorrow predicts lighter winds and smaller waves so we will have to wait and see whether it is possible to resume the double eliminations. If the pro fleets remain on hold then it is likely that we will see the Youth Divisions take centre stage. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am tomorrow morning again with the action commencing from 10:30am (GMT+1) onwards. To stay up to date with all the latest developments from Pozo — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page. Result Women's Single Elimination Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival 1st Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) 2nd Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) 3rd Lina Erpenstein (Patrik / Severne) 4th Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) 5th Birgit Rieger 5th Caterina Stenta (RRD / RRD Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) 5th Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic) 5th Sarah Hilder (Simmer / Simmer Sails) Result Men's Single Elimination Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival 1st Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) 2nd Victor Fernández Official (Fanatic / NorthSails / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) 3rd Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails) 4th Ricardo Campello (Point-7) 5th Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX) 5th Omar Sánchez (Carbon Art / KA Sail) 5th Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne/ SWOX / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) 5th Dany Bruch (Starboard / Flight Sails / AL360 / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses) 9th Antoine Martin Windsurf (JP / NeilPryde) 9th Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails) 9th Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / SWOX) 9th Alessio Stillrich (Fanatic / NorthSails) 9th Leon Jamaer (JP / NeilPryde) 9th Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing) 9th Aleix Sanllehy (Tabou / GA Sails) 9th Dieter Van der Eyken (Starboard / Severne)