Sea, Sail & Surf newsPozo Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam
Competition was put on hold until noon today
dimanche 14 juillet 2002 –
Competition was put on hold until noon today whilst the judges waited for the waves to build. The predicted swell started to show its face by late morning and with 40 knots of wind cranking through rocket air was the order of the day.
Pritchard opened up his account with a first round victory over Francisco Onrubia of Spain. He waited until his second round heat against Pozo local Juan Enrique Garnica before he pulled out the first of his one legged back loops. His route to the final then continued with a tough string of heats against Tristan Boxford (Fanatic, North) Scott McKercher (Starboard, Naish) and Josh Angulo. On the other side of the draw the big man from Spain, Bjorn Dunkerbeck quashed challenges from Jorge Garcia, Dario Ojeda (Proof), Jonas Ceballos (Gaastra, Fanatic) Levi Siver (F2, North) and Nik Baker (Mistral, North).
In the final both sailors were matching each other move for move. Dunkerbeck was throwing massive one handed back loops and huge stalled forwards. Pritchard replied with two consecutive one-legged back loops followed by a radical tweaked tabletop. In the wave riding Dunkerbeck struggled to find a connecting wave but still managed to ride with his usual power and precision. Pritchard meanwhile seemed to find the better of the sets and ripped his way all the way into the beach. After a nervous wait for the verdict the five man judges panel gave the decision to Pritchard with a 3-2 majority.
Kevin Pritchard : "I am pretty happy and pretty shocked too ! It is pretty hard to Dunk the Dunk in Pozo. It is still not over, he is going to come back strong in the double I am sure. I’ve been holding back my one legged back loops for this event. It seems like I got a jump start with that move"
In the equally breathtaking losers final Nik Baker needed to pull of a table top forward, an enormous back loop and a Crazy Pete in order to fend of the challenge of Josh Angulo. The move of the day in the men’s competition today an incredible double loop from Orjan Jensen (North, Proof) in his heat against his brother Vidar (North). Orjan advanced only to go down in his next encounter in the quarter finals against Angulo.
The women’s final between Daida Moreno and Karin Jaggi was action packed form start to finish. Moreno seemed to take the lead early after nailing several incredible back loops in the severe conditions. Jaggi was determined not to go down without a fight and replied with a back loop and a push loop. The final and could of gone either way but the judges gave the decision to Moreno. The women’s losers final was won by Anne Marie Reichman (Naish, Boards, Naish sails) who defeated Colette Guadagnino (JP, Neil Pryde).
Daida Moreno : "I am pretty happy. Today we finally had some waves and now we have results in both disciplines. It was tough out there, the waves were not so consistent so it was hard to find the right ramps !"
The forecast is for more ballistic wind and waves tomorrow so its looks like we will be going straight into the men’s and women’s wave double eliminations.
Dans la même rubrique
Pozo Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam : The young guns dominated today with Campello leading the way
Pozo Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam : Antoine Albeau is back on top after winning the 2nd round of the men’s freestyle
Pozo Gran Canaria PWA Grand Slam : Extreme freestyle action underway in nuclear winds !
PWA Freestyle Special King of the Lake : The changing of the guard
