KIA COLD HAWAII PWA WORLD CUP, DENMARK – EVENT SUMMARY

Cold Hawaii supersedes all expectations allowing three times world champion, Kauli Seadi to claim the first ever Klitmoller crown after an amazing display of heavy hitting in the North Sea.

When every weather forecasting model North of the equator was calling for an all-time Klitmoller, the PWA’s most proficient wave heads could barely contain their excitement as the lows began tracking across the North Sea. By the end of the first day the reef showed signs of movement, and when the official contest took place – over the following three days – some mast high barrels jacked up, creating the best European wave contest seen in recent PWA history.

The conditions ranged from cross-off perfection to violent cross-on euro style storm riding, enabling only the most all-round wave warrior to be crowned after a full double elimination. With winds of 15-30 knots and plenty of stronger gusts in the squalls, the sailors had to have their full quivers rigged from 3.7s to 5.7s, and a caddy on hand to ensure they could make the most of the unpredictable conditions during their heats.

King Of Klitmoller

Three times former world champion, Kauli Seadi (JP, NeilPryde, MFC) stamped his authority on the fleet during the single elimination in Denmark with an impressive display of jumping and riding. However, with no easy runs it was hardly a stroll in the park for Seadi, who had to take the scalps off many a seasoned pro before he could stand tall on the podium.

After first seeing off German youngster, Leon Jamaer (Fanatic, HotSails), the Brazilian sensation met port tack legend Dario Ojeda (Tabou, Simmer, Dakine, MFC), who very nearly stopped him from advancing any further with an excellent taka in the jaws of a brutal North Sea monster. Unfortunately for Ojeda, the judges gave it to Seadi who went on to meet his team mate Robby Swift (JP, NeilPryde). The British wave hero put up a fight, as did Seadi’s next victim, Kevin Pritchard (Starboard, Gaastra, Dakine, MFC), but the Brazilian was on flying form and wasn’t about to let his run of glory go to waste.

In the single elimination final he met another of his JP/Pryde team mates, triple loop daredevil Ricardo Campello (JP, NeilPryde, MFC) who’d also been having a superb run of fortune on the reef in Klitmoller. It was a closely fought battle with the former wave champion having the edge in the waves, but Campello was always a threat due to his perfect doubles. Luckily for Seadi the Venezuelan couldn’t find a ramp in time, leaving the Brazilian as the champion for the first time in over a year.

Suicide In The Single

The current tour leader and event favourite Victor Fernandez (Fanatic, North, MFC) sailed for just twelve minutes in the single elimination against an on form Camille Juban (Gun, MFC) who was claiming radical rides in every heat. Fernandez had the skills to match the young Frenchman from Guadeloupe, but failed to find his form and went out immediately causing a shock to the system.

On The War Path

With such a poor performance in the single, Fernandez was keen to make amends in the double. The fired up three times Pozo champion fought his way through three heats on the first day of the double elimination before the conditions deteriorated, giving him plenty of time to rest and recuperate.

Fresh faced and hungry for more, Fernandez literally sailed from dusk ‘til dawn taking down everyone in his path – a feat that hadn’t been seen for many years in PWA competition. Fernandez even went on to beat the single elimination champion, Seadi ensuring a spectacular final showdown would have to take place!

King Waves Win

After watching Fernandez demolish the entire fleet, including himself, Seadi had to hit the water to fight it out for the final time. Seadi chose to play the heat to his strengths, catching plenty of waves, and tearing them to pieces. However, with three minutes remaining, Seadi still hadn’t attempted a single jump, and when he came in to swap his gear everyone thought he’d lost it. On his first run back out he failed to find a ramp, and when something similar happened on his second he was forced to rotate round a low scoring pushloop off a piece of chop. Luckily for the Brazilian his outstanding skills on the waves had won over the judges. And with it, the first ever Cold Hawaiian crown.

Results

1^st Kauli Seadi (JP, NeilPryde, MFC)

2^nd Victor Fernandez (Fanatic, North, MFC)

3^rd Ricardo Campello (JP, NeilPryde, MFC)

4^th Dany Bruch (Patrik, Severne, MFC)

5^th Kevin Pritchard (Starboard, Gaastra, Dakine, MFC)

6^th Philip Koster (Starboard, NeilPryde, Dakine)

Moves That Mattered

Anything short of a perfect double doesn’t really cut it anymore in PWA competition. They now have to be performed in a clinical manner with completely dry ankles, in total control, and on cue in front of the judges. This immediately gives guys such as Koster, Fernandez, and Campello a huge advantage. These three sailors seem to consistently pull them off to claim 9.5+ points, hammering anyone else that goes against them. A one handed, one footed, rocket air backloop may be impressive, but it’ll only ever score an 8.5…

The one and only move that seems to trump the perfect double is the pushloop forward. Pull one of those off in a heat, and you don’t have to leave the water on the way out ever again! None were seen during official competition, but towards the end of the first super session Canarian crazy man, Jonas Ceballos (Mistral, Simmer) spun round one to please the crowds and score bucket loads of points from the judges. With the bar raised, everyone wanted a piece of the action, and of course the points! After a morning of practicing, Britain’s Robby Swift (JP, NeilPryde) lifted the bar further by casually hopping on his board and spinning round the biggest pushloop forward ever seen by his peers off the first wave he hit!

On the wave face there are whole host of lip smacking moves that gain bucket loads of kudos. And, the most impressive of these during the competition had to be a simple aerial from Dutch giant, Martin Ten Hoeve (Mistral). After hammering his way down a mast high face he whipped his board round to head straight for the thickest section. After hitting it as hard as he could, the lip threw him right out into the flats to gain massive respect from everyone on the beach.

Outside of the contest there was one memorable move that got the judges cheering. This was when Dany Bruch spun round the perfect wave 360 whilst warming up before his double elimination heat against Victor Fernandez. If Bruch had performed that exact same move during his heat, it would have made the difference between him advancing over his opposition.

Overall Rankings

Following a week of hardcore sailing in spectacular North Sea style, the current tour leader Victor Fernandez has strengthened his lead at the top of the fleet. Ricardo Campello’s consistent results see him move up into second. And, Philip Koster’s sixth sees him fall to third. Three times former world champion, Kauli Seadi made the biggest leap with his victory here which sees him move from ninth to fourth.

1^st Victor Fernandez (Fanatic, North, MFC)

2^nd Ricardo Campello (JP, NeilPryde, MFC)

3^rd Philip Koster (Starboard, NeilPryde, Dakine)

4^th Kauli Seadi (JP, NeilPryde, MFC)

5^th Dany Bruch (Patrik, Severne, MFC)

6^th Robby Swift (JP, NeilPryde)

Live Mash Up

All of the action was streamed live throughout the week, so you could watch it wherever you were in the world. If you missed it, you can check it all out by following this link HERE.

Keep in the groove

For more information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with every piece of the action, click on www.pwaworldtour.com

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.worldcup.coldhawaii.eu

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

“Some people don’t sail with their heads they sail with their balls,” Duncan Coombs, the head judge of the PWA tour, says and it was testosterone time in north west Denmark today as the best wave windsurfers bust out some big tricks in the super sessions at the KIA Cold Hawaii PWA World Cup.

It was the perfect way to relax – if you can relax in 35 knots doing a double forward loop – and the riders reflected on what they believe has been one of the best World Cup events they have ever been to. The mixture of innovation and bullet-proof event management has shone a light on the future of the sport and will leave a legacy. A ‘mashup’ with live streaming combined with social media, provided by Active Institute, a creative Danish company, has been an instant online hit and brought one of the best windsurfing spots to life for fans around the world. All sailing events could learn a lot from what has been done here with a tenth of a competition’s usual budget.

Kai Lenny, the 17-year-old Wave prodigy born and bred in Hawaii admitted to travelling to Cold Hawaii with some trepidation, but has been blown away. “It was the best wave riding I’ve had in Europe, bar none and the (live video) takes windsurfing to the next level, because the whole world can watch, this is the future,” Lenny said. “The conditions were a lot better than I’d expected. I’d never been to Klitmøller and I was really stoked when the winds turned side off and we were really wave riding. I would say this is one of the best organised events I’ve ever been to in windsurfing. I didn’t do as good as I would have liked to, but I’m excited to come back here next year and hopefully do a lot better. This has been my favourite place to go to in Europe.”

For Rich Page, the PWA tour manager, it has been a richly rewarding decision to bring the PWA to Denmark for the first time.

“Here we’ve had a convergence of the three key things for an event,” Page said. “Great organisation and onsite infrastructure – a lot of effort has gone into setting it up. Then we’ve had the innovative side, the introduction of the live streaming and interactive coverage. Thirdly, the one wildcard which can never be guaranteed, the weather and conditions, which have been amazing, it’s been a fantastic event.”

For Denmark, Sport Event Denmark and the Danish Sailing Association it is has been another important step in the bid to host the ISAF 2014 World Sailing Championships. “Sport Event Denmark acknowledges the importance of working innovatively, especially with sailing events,” Lars Lundov, Chief executive of  Sport Event Denmark, said. “This first PWA tour event went out on live feed on the internet and users from around the world could not only see jumps and wave riding but they could also get involved in commenting and asking questions to the sailors. This is a turning point for sports events made in Denmark. It can only boost the sport and the Danish bid to host the ISAF World Sailing Championships in 2014.”

For the windsurfers, one of the reasons the competition has gone well is that one of their own; Robert “The Sandman” Sand, a Klitmøller local and former PWA tour windsurfer, has been the project manager. “The reason why this event has been so good is that because it’s been run by a windsurfer”, Timo Mullen, the Irish rider said. “He’s an ex-pro, he’s done the tour for ten years and he knows everything the guys like and the guys hate, from the small things like the food’s good to things like the rigging tent and the number of helpers who know what’s going on.”

If the sailors have rarely had it so good, fans around the world have never had it so good. Rasmus Johnsen, the online project manager and the head of new media and technology at Active Institute, is the man behind the ‘mashup’ the social media used to share the event. He was the one with the vision and know-how to bring live streaming to the PWA tour for the fist time.

“One of the things when you are watching a world cup in windsurfing is that it is quite difficult to follow,” Johnsen, who is also a windsurfer living in Klitmøller, said. “We wanted to make all the exciting stuff viewable but we wanted to make what was happening understandable and more shareable. They’ve  (the PWA) wanted to do it for years and it was my idea to show that there are tools out there to do it live and it doesn’t have to be so expensive. What we have produced here is a model that is scalable. An open source CMS (content management system) is behind the site, WordPress and the same thing with the live streaming, it’s Bambuser, it’s a Swedish service and everyone can open an account and start live streaming.”

For Victor Fernandez Lopez, who followed a magnificent second place comeback in the World Cup with another second place in the Super Series – thanks to a double forward loop – the live streaming has been a huge addition. “It’s the first time they do live streaming and I love that, all my friends watch and send me emails and my girlfriend could watch me,” he said. “Even my friends who are not windsurfers can watch it and this is something great.”

Fernandez Lopez was just beaten by Ricardo Campello, the fearless Venezuelan and former freestyle world champion, who gains legendary height on his forward double. He had already had the winning jump – a 10-point forward double – from earlier in the twenty minute final involving the best six jumpers from earlier heats. But with ten seconds left and worried that Fernandez Lopez’s was better, Campello launched into space with a forward double which one of the judges gave him a 12 for. It was so high that on landing Campello riding a 4.5 (metre sail) and a 75 litre board with a 21cm single fin, broke his second board of the week on landing.

“It’s great, we needed this event,” Campello said. “It’s super important for the world tour to have an event like this.”

Editor’s Notes:

The Kia Cold Hawaii PWA World Cup is just one of many major international sailing events in Denmark in recent years. This summer, Denmark has hosted several major sailing events such as the SAP 505 World Championship and the RS:X World Championships. Also, Denmark is bidding for the ISAF Sailing World Championship 2014, which is the World Championship for all Olympic boat classes and the most important qualification event for the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio. Denmark’s official bid for the ISAF Sailing World Championship 2014 is handed in this autumn.

For more information and rights free photos for your use please visit the website:

http://worldcup.coldhawaii.eu/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coldhawaiiworldcup/sets/72157624893887898/