KITEBOARDING. The weekend brought great wind to the Costa Brava, with a strong afternoon thermal that allowed the top juniors in the world to land some amazing tricks.  The single elimination was almost complete with all the finals being set apart from the girls 14-16 that had to be stop in the semifinals due to light winds.  Font and Cloetens landed some great front blind mobes and KGB's, while Galliart rode extremely powered.  Only a few heats remain for Sunday to crown our PKRA/IKA Kiteboarding Freestyle World Champions.

The heats started with the 15-16 boys, that is also the toughest and biggest fleet.  All eight heats in the second round were up for grabs. The first upset of the day was by Zurik who defeated Oliver Bridge, who is one of the best known freestylers. They both had many great tricks but Zuriks execution of the tricks was very clean and got him the win.  Up next Tarin and Fyffer hit the water and Fyffer was on from  the start and easily advanced to the quarter finals. Gainza and Issel had a good battle but Issel got enough good tricks in to advance.  The next two heats Font and Delmas put on a show with some nice double back roll mobes and huge 313’s.  Novotny had a close heat but his switch tricks put him ahead of Lupion.  Hurst and Vergez had the next heat; Vergez could not find his rhythm and was eliminated.  The final heat of the round Cloetens landed some really powered and technical moves to advance.

The wind had really filled in and was blowing around 18 knots, the girls were on their 8 meters and going for it.  The first heat featured Klabbers, Bowcut and Crathorn.  Klabbers had some nicely executed tricks and Bowcutt was a little more technical so that both girls advanced.  Crathorn was a close third but unfortunately was eliminated from the singles.  The next heat had four girls: Gallairt, Peiro, Menardo and Schipper.  Galliart was charging hard and set herself apart from the other girsl with her powered and advanced to the semifinals.  Menardo edged out the other two girls with her kiteloops and stylish riding.

The quarter finals of the boys were intense from the start.  Zurik and Fyffer were charging hard, Zurik’s clean execution of the tricks kept him ahead and advanced to the semis.  Font and Issel had a very close heat and at the end of the heat the judges missed a trick by Issel and decided to rerun the heat having missed a critical trick that could change the results.  Delmas and Novotny hit the water next, Novotny had many good tricks but Delmas land many tricks extremely well executed with a lot of power.  The Font and Issel heat was rerun and this time Font advanced convinsingly into the semis.  The last heat of the quarters was run with Cloetens dominating again in the easing thermal winds of the afternoon.

The semifinals went out and when the wind was getting lighter but the Head Judge and Race director decided that the wind conditions were suitable.  In the first heat Zurik was a little light on his 11 and made a few mistakes that Font capitalized on and qualified for the final with his full repertoire of tricks.  Cloetens and Delmas were in the second semifinal, Cloetens kept landing tricks while Delmas never found his rhythm in the light winds.  He changed to a 12m but Cloetens had already landed enough tricks to qualify for the final.  The first semifinal of the girls was canceled due to light winds.

The start fo the weekend had some of the best wind of the week along with some of the biggest moves we have seen.  Tomorrow we will wrap up the first PKRA/IKA Kiteboarding Freestyle World Championships and crown some winners.  So far all the youngsters have gone above the expectations of the PKRA crew that are blown away by how many young riders are ripping.

PKRA
Sat, July 6, 2013 11:40 pm

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