Graham Ezzy

Day five of the Starboard Severne Aloha Classic saw the PWA contest continue with the resumption of the men’s and women’s double eliminations. The swell today was much smaller than on the previous couple of days, but the smaller waves offered greater performance riding with more tricks being thrown than on the previous days. After another full day of contest only the top four men and women remain in the battle for the prestigious Aloha Classic titles - currently Morgan Noireaux (JP / Hot Sails Maui) and Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne) hold pole positions, but that could all change by the end of the double eliminations.

Iballa Moreno

Women’s Overall Top Three Decided

The biggest news from today is that Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) is officially the 2014 PWA Wave world champion - reclaiming her title from 2012 - after another epic battle with her sister - Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) - who takes home an excellent second place with two event victories out of three to her name. 

Iballa Moreno on winning the single elimination and world crown: “Obviously, yesterday was a really good day for me. It was a special day because I won the final - being able to defeat three local girls, who were all ripping, felt special. I was stoked to learn that I had won. In the final I found the big section I had been looking for my big aerial, which I think was missing from previous heats, and I think that made the difference. Being carried up the beach by Dany [Bruch] and my sister [Daida Moreno] was really special, after Sam [Bittner] had pointed out that I had won coming off the water.”

“To be honest I didn’t even know the ranking situation coming in to today, but I’m obviously delighted with the outcome. I was already really happy about being in the top two at the Aloha Classic. It’s already a dream come true for me. The last time we were here was 2006 and I won that event, it’s one of the most special wins of my career - especially because I haven’t won that many events.”

The biggest mover of the day though was - Alice Arutkin (Fanatic / North) - who won four consecutive heats to rise from thirteenth in the single elimination to fifth place in the double. However, her heat against Maria Andrés (Fanatic / Gun Sails) had a lot riding upon it. If the French beauty could defeat her Spanish rival then she would rise to third overall in the world rankings, claiming her place on the prestigious podium for the first time in her career, and that’s exactly what she managed to do with more, fluid riding, which had continually impressed the judges over the course of the day. 

However, Junko Nagoshi (Goya Windsurfing), proved to be a step too far for Arutkin as her incredible comeback through the double was ended in heat thirty, as the Japanese ripper showed better wave selection and execution with several vertical, snappy turns.

Maria Andres (Fanatic / Gun Sails / Mystic) and Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) were the other biggest movers of the day as both of them won three heats in a row. With the former making her debut on the PWA Wave World Tour and eventually finishing the event in an excellent sixth place. Meanwhile, Offringa, looked to improve with almost every wave as she fought back from the first round to fight back into eighth place. 

Heat 28 saw the battle of the one’s as KA-1111 - Jason Polakow (JP / NeilPryde) - USA-1 - Graham Ezzy (Quatro / Ezzy) - V-111 - Ricardo Campello (Patrik / Point-7 / MFC) and US-1111 - Robby Naish (Naish) - lined up against each other in the battle of the old school legends versus the new school rippers. In the end Campello and Ezzy booked their place in the next round, as the new school trickery won out in the smaller waves, but Naish’s and Polakow’s top to bottom wave riding was second to none with wave after wave of vertical, late hits and aerials as they took home seventh and eighth place respectively. 

Graham Ezzy enjoyed his best day to date on the PWA Wave World Tour, in his own backyard, as he claimed fifth place overall, having won five heats in a row in the double elimination, Ezzy used his local knowledge to full affect as he combined powerful turns with tweaked aerials, silky smooth takas and superb one-handed goiters, however he ran into Marcilio ‘Brawzinho’ Browne (Goya Windsurfing / MFC) in heat thirty, who was in untouchable form to halt the American’s rampage. 

In heat thirty, Brawzinho, racked up the highest scoring heat of the contest so far, as he issued a warning to the remaining three sailors - Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / North / MFC), Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails) and Morgan Noireaux. Browne sailed an almost perfect heat as he posted two wave scores of 9.5 and 9.27 points as he linked powerful gouging hacks, with a combination of stunning air takas, goiters and one-handed goiters, as the Brazilian gave an evening masterclass. Browne now has the potential to pip - Ricardo Campello - into third place in the overall rankings, but only if he is able to defeat Victor Fernandez to claim third place or better in the double elimination. 

Graham Ezzy Taka

Robby Swift

Ricardo Campello had to settle for sixth place, but the Brazilian/Venezuelan was in inspired form today and, for the time being at least, has put himself into pole position for the Dunkerbeck Eyewear Best Wave Move contest, after landing a quite incredible, massive goiter, which he then backed up with a powerful hack to earn 9.88 points. The highest scoring wave of the contest. 

Tomorrow looks windy again with a similar swell to today with 1.9m waves predicted, compared to 2 metres from today. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am with the first possible start at 10:30am. Don’t miss any of the enthralling action by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com, where you’ll be able to see all the action as it happens via the PWA live stream and live ticker.

Robby Naish