PWA Gran Canaria
Day 3: The Fight Back in the Double Eliminations Begin
Despite the lesser forecast for the third day of the Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival, Pozo still produced an entire afternoon of competable conditions with the wind machine continuing to blow with winds in excess of 30 knots. Today saw the men’s and women’s double eliminations begin as sailors knocked out in the early rounds of the single elimination were given their chance to mount a fightback to improve their ranking. Women’s The opening two rounds of the women’s double elimination were completed today, but after a bright start Nicole Bandini (Fanatic / NorthSails) saw her hopes ended by Sarah Hilder (Simmer / Simmer Sails), while Serena Zoia (99NoveNove / LoftSails) suffered the same fate after winning her first round tie as she was defeated by Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic). In the bottom half of the draw Greta Benvenuti (Patrik / Point-7 / AL360) and Nayra Alonso (Fanatic / NorthSails) both won their opening two heats and will now face each other in Round 3. Men’s The exceptionally high level was apparent even from the opening round of the double with double forwards and one-handed, one-footed backloops already being landed, which led to several pulsating battles. Man on the Move Coming into the event there was no doubting Moritz Mauch’s (Severne / Severne) wave riding ability, but there were some concerns about his jumping, however, the German clearly hasn’t been taking any notice of other people's concerns as he won 4 consecutive heats to move into the top 10. Mauch consistently scored some of the highest wave scores of the day with slick turns and a strong aerial game and that proved crucial - particularly in his final heat of the day against Aleix Sanllehy (Tabou / GA Sails) when the 21-year-old performed a buzzer beater by producing a 7.88 point final wave to defeat the Catalonian by just 0.33 of a point. Prior to facing Sanllehy, Mauch had sent Martin ten Hoeve (Simmer / Simmer Sails), Pablo Ramirez (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg) and Dieter van der Eyken (Starboard / Severne) all packing and it will now be interesting to see if he can also claim the scalp of Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX). Jules Denel (JP / NeilPryde) was the other main mover on day 3 as the Frenchman fought his way back from a shock first round exit in the single elimination to fight back into joint 13th place. Denel was faced with a very tricky first round draw against the young and talented Loick Lesauvage (Goya Windsurfing / Shamal Windsurfing), but he produced a solid professional display to escape a potential banana skin. The 27-year-old then ended the hopes of Florian Jung (Starboard / Gun Sails / SWOX) before also dispatching of the highly rated Alessio Stillrich (Fanatic / NorthSails) to set up a tie against teammate Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / SWOX). Heat 42b - Swift vs Denel - saw an incredibly close battle, so close in fact that they were almost inseparable come the end of the heat. Unfortunately though, Denel was on the wrong end of the decision as he missed out by just 0.14 a point, while Swift defends his joint 9th place from the single and will have the chance to fight for 7th place and beyond against last year’s world No.5 Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne / SWOX / Shamal Windsurfing Sunglasses). Elsewhere, vice-world champion Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails) survived a major scare against local boy Josep Pons (Simmer / Simmer Sails), who had already defeated Eric Sanllehy (Goya Windsurfing) and Antoine Martin (JP / NeilPryde). Pons started the heat in spectacular fashion by landing an almost perfect double forward and heading into the final 4-5 minutes of the heat he only required a 5 point jump or better to cause an upset, but unfortunately a ramp never presented itself and he will be left to rue attempting a second double rather than going for another jump midway through the heat - while Mussolini survives to fight another day. Move of the Day While Josep Pons may have been disappointed to have been eliminated in Heat 42a he still produced the move of the day as he landed a perfect 10 point double forward against Antoine Martin. In the second round Marc Paré (Simmer / Simmer Sails) produced one of the upsets of the day as he claimed the scalp of Klaas Voget (Fanatic / NorthSails), while Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing) dispatched of Leon Jamaer (JP / NeilPryde) and the Brazilian will now be hoping for further conditions to allow the double elimination to be completed, so that he has a chance to climb further up the rankings. Youth’s Under 13s To end the day, the youngest age group of the Youth’s hit the water for their first final of the week and Liam Dunkerbeck (Severne) claimed the first victory of the week with some solid wave riding, while also throwing himself into pushloops, backloops and forwards to Deny Brazil’s Jahdan Tyger (Severne). The forecast suggests lighter winds and smaller waves again for tomorrow, but hopefully there will still be suitable conditions for at least a few hours again with the tide on the push. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am with the action commencing from 10:30am (GMT+1) onwards again. 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) 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)