Ten days of epic windsurfing as Fuerteventura delivers.

Fuerteventura lived up to its reputation with 8 days of howling winds — frequently above 40 knots — to produce an epic freestyle and slalom show for the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam — organized and sponsored by René Egli. At the end of the competition Sarah-Quita Offringa secured an incredible 9th freestyle world title, while Amado Vrieswijk tasted victory for the first time in the men. Meanwhile, Antoine Albeau bounced back to his best to dominate the slalom and collect his first event victory of the year.

Women’s Freestyle

Sarah-Quita Offringa once again proved unbeatable as she extended her unbeaten run to an incredible 9 years to deservedly collect her 9th world freestyle world title — 11th overall with a further 2 world crowns in slalom. Offringa combined the latest power moves together with some of the older sliding moves to see off Maaike Huvermann and Oda Johanne.

Maaike Huvermann grew in confidence throughout the event and she ends 2016 as the vice-world champion, which is her best result so far. Huvermann was able to show her true talent after a disappointing single elimination and by the end of the week she was even beginning to give Offringa a run for her money — consistently landing regular konos and shakas.

Oda Johanne sailed well once again and the Norwegian secured her place on the podium for the 3rd consecutive year. Johanne earned 2nd place in the opening single elimination, but slips back one place to 3rd with Huvermann gaining the upper-hand in their next two battles.

Meanwhile, Arrianne Aukes rises to 4th in the overall rankings this year, while Maxime van Gent and Olya Raskina complete the top 6. Alexa Escherich made her debut this week and she walks away as the 2016 PWA Youth World Champion.

Men’s Freestyle

Amado Vrieswijk built on his opening performance of the year in Austria, where he finished 2nd, to go one better in Fuerteventura as the Bonairean came back through the double elimination to beat Yentel Caers and claim a maiden event victory. Success here takes Vrieswijk to the top of the overall rankings with one freestyle event to go — Sylt between 30th September until the 9th October.

Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo had to settle for 3rd place here, which sees the 6-time freestyle world champion fall one place to 2nd in the overall rankings. Uncharacteristically, Gollito, crashed a couple of moves against Vrieswijk in Heat 50, and his last minute shifty did not count due to having completed his score sheet, which led to a slender 1.8 point defeat. However, Gollito is still firmly in the hunt for a 7th world crown and once again oozed style in each of his heats.

Yentel Caers properly announced himself on the world stage this week by storming to victory in the single elimination. The young Belgian produced a powerful display to defeat Vrieswijk, but couldn’t quite hold off his challenge in the double. Caers will still walk way from this week delighted with his performance after finishing on the podium for the first time and he currently completes the overall podium.

Dieter Van der Eyken was a man on a mission in the double elimination as the Belgian recaptured the form which saw him crowned world champion last year. Van der Eyken won 7 heats on the bounce by defeating — Francesco Cappuzzo, Balz Müller, Kiri Thode, Nico Akgazciyan and Phil Soltysiak to rise from 9th to 4th and is now 5th overall in the world.

Phil Soltysiak was delighted to sail his way into the top 4 in the single elimination and the Canadian leaves Fuerteventura with a superb 5th place. Elsewhere, Nicolas Akgazciyan recovered from a disappointing performance in Austria with a 6th place finish here as the Frenchman sailed to the level which earned him 4th overall in 2015. Meanwhile, Taty Frans remains 4th in the overall rankings after a joint 7th place alongside fellow Bonairean Kiri Thode.

Men’s Slalom

The opening two events of year had proven tricky for Antoine Albeau, but the reigning world champion was back to his very best over the last 5 days to dominate proceedings. AA claimed 4 bullets and qualified for all but two winners’ finals as he claimed his opening event victory of the year, which sees him rise to 5th in the overall rankings.

Ross Williams continued his great start to the season as he too qualified for every winners’ final bar two. The Brit finished 3rd here last year and was able to go one better this time around as he claimed 2nd place. Williams showed brilliant pace and gybing throughout and he remains in 3rd place overall — firmly in contention for the world title.

Pierre Mortefon still holds control of the 2016 title race after completing the podium. The Frenchman failed to win an elimination this time, but showed the level of consistency required to challenge for the top and he remains the man everyone has to catch.

Matteo Iachino made a flying start to the week as he secured the opening bullet after an enthralling finish against Antoine Albeau. The Italian was able to clinch a further victory in Race 8 to secure 4th place here to maintain 2nd place overall.

Julien Quentel produced a brilliant set of results to record his second top 5 finish of the year and is currently 7th in the world rankings, while Cedric Bordes and Ben van der Steen achieved their first top 10 finishes of the year with the latter winning the final elimination of the week.

The top 10 is completed by Taty Frans, Cyril Moussilmani and Pascal Toselli who hangs onto 10th place after having to withdraw from sailing on the last day due to a shoulder injury sustained on Day 9.

The last 5 days of racing produced some of the most exciting slalom in year’s with the sailors skills and tactical awareness being tested with a variety of courses, while there were thrilling finales and brutal crashes to make it a show you couldn’t take your eyes off.

Thanks to René Egli for once again organising a fantastic event, which will be remembered for a long time, and to everyone who was involved with the event. The PWA looks forward to returning again.

Day 9: Three out of top 4 crash out in quarters as Iachino strikes again

The penultimate day of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam — organised and sponsored by René Egli — didn’t quite go as the excellent forecast suggested with heavy cloud cover scuppering the local effect. The conditions proved quite tricky with the wind remaining gusty for much of the morning and afternoon, but eventually it was possible to complete a further elimination as the wind stabilised for a couple of hours, while throwing up a few surprise results.

Men's Slalom Elimination 8

For the first time this week 3 out of the top 4 put a foot wrong today as firstly Cedric Bordes followed by Antoine Albeau crashed out after jumping the gun in the quarterfinals.

This potentially opened the door for Ross Williams to reduce the margin between himself and Albeau at the top of the event rankings, but the Brit too fell at the quarterfinal stage after dropping his first gybe. Williams managed to fight back into 5th in Heat 12, but ran out of room before he could reel in Alexandre Cousin, who booked his place in the second winners’ final of the week.

This means that in the most likely event of one final elimination tomorrow that it will probably be a head-to-head battle between Albeau and Williams for the event title. AA holds a 6.9 point advantage over the Brit heading into the final day, so the reigning world champion only requires a 6th place finish or better to ensure his opening event win of the season — assuming both sailors qualify for the winners’ final, which as today proved is no given.

Men's Slalom Elimination 8 - Winners’ Final

The wind picked up for the winners’ final and Matteo Iachino made a great decision to change down to 6.2m², while Ben van der Steen, Jordy Vonk and Pierre Mortefon were overpowered on 7m² sails. The race for the opening buoy saw an intense battle, but after an excellent start it was Iachino who held a closely contested lead, however, the Italian was soon given a clear advantage as van der Steen and Mortefon collided, while taking down Vonk in the process. With clean winds, Iachino soon extended his lead and it wasn’t long before he was celebrating his second bullet of the week, which sees the 26 year old rise to 4th in the current rankings. After avoiding the carnage at the first buoy, Taty Frans broke through to clinch second, which is the Bonairean’s best result of the week, followed by Julien Quentel who has sailed consistently all week and Cyril Moussilmani who completed the top 4.

Unfortunately, Pascal Toselli suffered a dislocated shoulder in the first semifinal and everyone at the PWA would like to wish the Frenchman a quick and successful recovery. Toselli had enjoyed an excellent week up until this point and looked set for a top 5 finish come the end of the event. Elsewhere, Maciek Rutkowski bounced back to form after a disappointing opening few days as the Pole qualified for his opening winners’ final of the week — eventually finishing 5th.

The forecast shows excellent wind for the final day and crucially, unlike today, it predicts clear skies which should hopefully provide a thrilling finale to what has been an amazing event. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10:30 AM with the action commencing from 11 AM (GMT+1) — if conditions allow.

Day 8: Albeau and Williams cement places as top two with a bullet each

The wind took a little longer to fill in on Day 8 of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam — sponsored and organised by René Egli — but by 2:30 PM the wind had successfully kicked in and by the time the second set of finals were being held it was absolutely howling again with sailors reaching for their small boards and 5.6m²-6.3m² sails. Coming into the third day of the slalom it was Antoine Albeau and Ross Williams who held the top two places in the overall rankings and they showed why again today as they shared a victory each in races 6 and 7.

Men's Slalom Elimination 6 - Winners’ Final

Josh Angulo made the best start to the winners’ final, but it was Matteo Iachino who led the race into the first mark ahead of Angulo, Antoine Albeau and Ross Williams who produced an excellent first gybe and turn of acceleration to grab pole position as they rounded the second. However, in a hotly contested final it was soon a 3 or 4 way battle over the remainder of the course between Albeau, who held the advantage into the third, Williams, Iachino and Pierre Mortefon, but ultimately Albeau wouldn’t be denied a 4th bullet of the week as he extended his lead at the top of the event rankings. Meanwhile, Williams, hung onto 2nd place after a photo finish with Mortefon after a thrilling final leg.

Ethan Westera booked himself a place in his first semifinal of the week to recover from a poor day yesterday. The young Aruban couldn’t navigate his way into the winners’ final, but he secured 13th overall in the sixth race. Ross Williams found himself in a spot of trouble in the semifinal, but escaped brilliantly by executing a superb gybe at the second buoy to jump from 7th to 4th.

Cyril Moussilmani missed out on a place in the winners’ final, but was able to limit the damage by claiming victory in the losers’ final to maintain his place in the overall top 10 of the event.

Men's Slalom Elimination 7 - Winners’ Final

The seventh elimination brings the second discard into play, but the top 10 doesn’t really change after this. The biggest mover is Matteo Iachino, who rises from 10th to 6th. However, the last winners’ final of the day saw another thrilling finale with Pascal Toselli leading Heat 16 from the start until half way down the final reach only for Williams to haul himself back into contention to force an absolutely flat out fight for the finish line and as the two sailors past it was too close to call. Soon afterwards it was confirmed that Williams had managed to secure his opening bullet of the week, while denying Toselli a second victory. Julien Quentel ended that day with his best result of the event so far — 3rd — while Antoine Albeau will currently discard his 4th place finish.

In the losers’ final Jordy Vonk saw off the challenge of firstly, Finian Maynard, and then Pierre Mortefon to earn 9th place and the Dutchman was clearly delighted with his efforts as it brought him back into the overall top 16, while Mortefon claimed 2nd ahead of Maynard in 3rd. Both Mortefon and Maynard were involved in a collision in the opening semifinal, which ultimately cost them a place in the winners’ final when both well placed.

Elsewhere, Matteo Iachino produced a superb comeback in the quarterfinals after falling at the second when in the lead. The Italian made a quick recovery to somehow still grab the final qualifying place as he denied Ludovic Jossin.

The forecast looks windier again tomorrow, which should see the exhilarating slalom continue. The sailors will meet again at 10:30 AM — with the racing commencing from 11 AM (GMT+1) onward. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the racing live.

Day 7: A true test of tactical awareness and adaptation

A further three eliminations were completed on the second day of slalom as the wind continued to howl, which saw the elite of the slalom world reaching for their smallest equipment with most sailors on 5.6 - 6.2m² sails. Today was a true test of skill with each elimination seeing a different course being set to really test the sailors tactical awareness and by the end of the day it is Antoine Albeau, who has extended his lead at the top of the event rankings after another brilliant day, which saw the reigning world champion record a further two victories, while discarding a 9th place finish in Elimination 3.

Men's Slalom Elimination 3 - Winners’ Final

Taty Frans made the best start of the fleet in the opening winners’ final of the day, but it was Cyril Moussilmani who assumed the lead as they rounded the opening buoy. However, with the ferocious winds and extremely choppy water, Moussilmani took a tumble at the second mark allowing Pascal Toselli to pick up the lead. Over the remainder of the course there was a fantastic battle between Toselli, Taty Frans and Pierre Mortefon, but it was Toselli who eventually came out on top with Mortefon taking 2nd ahead of Frans and Ben Van der Steen, who recorded his best result of the event so far — 4th.

Men's Slalom Elimination 4

The fourth elimination saw a completely different course, which saw some sailors up in arms about the course they had been set, but it produced the most exciting race of the day with positions constantly changing with sailors falling left, right and center with the short and broad legs catching many out. This meant that sailors going in the drink at the opening couple of buoys were still frequently qualifying with the opportunity to come back a real possibility and from a spectators perspective it was fantastic.

Men's Slalom Elimination 4 - Winners’ Final

Having missed out on the winners’ final in the third elimination, Antoine Albeau, immediately struck back as he made a flying start by the pin to take a narrow lead into the first over Pascal Toselli, who was looking to win back-to-back eliminations, and Ross Williams. With the bit firmly between his teeth Albeau was soon securing bullet number two of the week and he celebrated by launching into a massive jump as he crossed the finish line. Meanwhile, with Williams applying the pressure the Brit secured himself an excellent 2nd place as Toselli went down when under pressure, while Ben Van der Steen went one place better than the previous race to finish 3rd ahead of Cedric Bordes and Pierre Mortefon.

Elsewhere, Diony Guadagnino qualified for his first winners’ final since returning to the PWA Slalom World Tour this year and the Venezuelan showed excellent pace and secure gybes to earn a 6th place finish.

Men's Slalom Elimination 5 - Winners’ Final

After a short and dynamic course in the third race, the final elimination of the day was a battle consisting of out and out speed with just two successful gybes being needed to round the course. However, the speed runs saw many sailors tail walking as they fought to survive the extreme conditions and some suffered some brutal wipeouts — including Marco Lang who broke his boom such was the ferocity of one of his catapults.

The fifth elimination saw another scintillating finish involving Antoine Albeau, Pierre Mortefon and Matteo Iachino. Jordy Vonk made an excellent start, but by the first it was Albeau and Iachino going all out and it looked as though it would be AA who would hold the lead as they entered the opening gybe, however, Iachino dived down the inside to snatch pole position only for Albeau to find another gear to blitz past Iachino on the second reach to take first place. Mortefon then came flying down the home reach to make it a three way battle for the finish line, but Albeau would not be denied as he opens up an extensive lead at the top. Mortefon, meanwhile, rises to 3rd overall after beating Iachino to 2nd place, while Ross Williams continues to enjoy a fine start to the event and he occupies 4th place in the currently event rankings after another top 4 finish.

Jordy Vonk qualified for his opening winners’ final of the week after a disappointing performance yesterday and the young Dutchman was clearly delighted as he fist pumped across the finish line, only to be brought firmly back to earth with a catapult. However, Vonk didn’t let the crash affect his mindset as he continued to celebrate once being back on the beach.

Cedric Bordes missed out on a place in the winners’ final for the first time this week, but he limited the damage by claiming victory in the losers’ final to finish 9th overall and holds 4th place in the event rankings.

Antoine Albeau now holds a commanding lead at the top of the rankings and he’ll be looking to continue his domination of the event tomorrow with the forecast predicting another windy day tomorrow. The sailors will meet again at 10:30 AM — with the racing commencing from 11 AM (GMT+1) onward. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the racing live.

Current Ranking Men’s Slalom — Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam

1st Antoine Albeau2nd Ross Williams3rd Pierre Mortefon4th Cedric Bordes5th Pascal Toselli6th Cyril Moussilmani7th Julien Quentel8th Taty Frans9th Finian Maynard10th Matteo Iachino

Day 6: Survival of the fittest as nuclear winds hit Fuerteventura

After 5 days of freestyle the slalom fleet took centre stage for the first time of the 2016 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam — organised and sponsored by René Egli — and it proved to be a spectacular start to the racing with winds in excess of 40 knots firmly testing the mettle of the world’s fastest sailors. At times the wind was so strong that survival became the primary goal and there were several massive wipeouts as Fuerteventura caught out several unsuspecting victims. At the end of the first day of racing Antoine Albeau heads the top of the rankings after a first and second place in the opening two eliminations.

Men’s Slalom Elimination 1 - Winners’ Final

The opening winners’ final saw one of the closest finishes in PWA history as Matteo Iachino pipped Antoine Albeau to the first bullet of the week in an exhilarating finish, which saw the two heavy weights flying down the final reach at mac ten. Albeau looked to be in control, but Iachino turned on the afterburners to steal the victory from the claws of the reigning world champion. Meanwhile, Cedric Bordes made a fine start to the event as he secured third place ahead of teammate Ross Williams.

Enes Yilmazer, Ingmar Daldorf, James Dinsmore and Massimo Colombi all received byes into the second round after Bruno Martini, Nik van den Eerenbeemt and Diony Guadagnino all jumped the gun resulting in disqualification.

Men's Slalom Elimination 2 - Winners’ Final

Cyril Moussilmani led for the majority of the second winners’ final, but was denied victory by Antoine Albeau, who struck late to overtake at the final mark ensuring that he leads the event at the end of the first day of racing. Moussilmani finished in second place ahead of Ross Williams and Cedric Bordes and he holds second place in the current event rankings, while Bordes and Williams are currently tied for third.

After making a flying start to the event Matteo Iachino suffered an early exit in the second elimination as he was knocked out in Heat 12, which saw the Italian go from leading the event to dropping to 12th but he will be hoping to discard that result after the fourth race.

Elsewhere, Andrea Ferin enjoyed a fine second elimination as he qualified for the semifinals. Unfortunately the Italian then jumped the gun in Heat 13, but secured 13th place to bounce back from a second round exit in the opening race.

Current world tour leader — Pierre Mortefon — currently sits in 6th place after 9th and 5th place finishes today and you would expect to see him charging for the top tomorrow as he looks to continue to set the pace in this year’s title race.

The forecast for tomorrow looks even windier, which should guarantee plenty of adrenaline fueled slalom and whether anyone can tame Fuerteventura’s fierce winds will remain to be seen. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the racing live.

Day 5: Magic No.9 for Sarah-Quita Offringa while Amado Vrieswijk tastes victory for first time

The fifth day of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam — orangeades and sponsored by René Egli — saw light winds to conclude the final day of the freestyle. During the afternoon the breeze did increase and the women’s second double elimination was started, but unfortunately conditions deteriorated again soon afterwards meaning that there was no change to the results, which means Amado Vrieswijk claims a deserved maiden win on the world tour, while Sarah-Quita Offringa maintains her incredible unbeaten run to collect freestyle world title No.9.

Women’s Freestyle

Sarah-Quita Offringa proved again over the last 5 days why she is the undisputed Queen of Freestyle as she produced another imperious display to extend her unbeaten run to 9 years. The 25 year old won every heat she sailed this week with a combination of the latest power moves and also sliding combos. Offringa had this to day after capturing a 9th freestyle world crown — 11 overall:

“I feel like I had a good event and it was fun to sail in a different range of conditions — varying in wind strength and waves, which gave everyone a chance to show their level. The thing that I personally enjoyed the most is that everyone was trying to push the level with Maaike and Oda going for the power moves, while Arrianne and Maxime are also pushing. Overall its nice to see the level go up.”

Maaike Huvermann grew in confidence throughout the event and she ends 2016 as the vice-world champion, which is her best result so far. Huvermann was able to show her true talent after a disappointing single elimination and by the end of the week she was even beginning to give Offringa a run for her money.

Oda Johanne sailed well once again and the Norwegian secured her place on the podium for the 3rd consecutive year. Johanne earned 2nd place in the opening single elimination, but slips back one place to 3rd with Huvermann gaining the upper-hand in their next two battles.

Meanwhile, Arrianne Aukes rises to 4th in the overall rankings this year, while Maxime van Gent and Olya Raskina complete the top 6. Alexa Escherich made her debut this week and she walks away as the 2016 PWA Youth World Champion.

Men’s Freestyle

Amado Vrieswijk clinches a maiden event victory after fighting back through the double elimination and defeating Yentel Caers twice to overturn the result. Vrieswijk now assumes control of the title race as he leap frogs Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo into 1st place in the current overall world rankings. Vrieswijk added: “I’m super stoked to win my first world cup event. We had some amazing conditions. Thanks to everyone for being here and congratulations to Yentel and Gollito as well. I look forward to coming back next year.”

Yentel Caers has been threatening to produce a big performance recently and this week everything clicked into place as the Belgian stomped his mark on the world tour by winning the single elimination — guaranteeing himself his best ever result — 2nd here. Caers has now broken through and established himself as a world title contender for 2016 and years to come.

6-time freestyle world champion Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo sits in 2nd place overall after the event. Gollito sailed well throughout the event, but uncharacteristically made a few errors in his heat against Vrieswijk in the double elimination. Gollito is usually clinical in the competition arena but crashed a couple of times, before running out of moves on port tack, which proved critical with his shifty in Heat 50 not counting. However, Gollito, still occupies 2nd place in the overall rankings and will enter the final event of the year in Sylt with an excellent shot at a 7th world title.

After an epic freestyle battle attention now turns towards the slalom, which starts tomorrow and runs for the next five days. From the looks of the forecast the fastest sailors in the world will be trying to hold onto their smallest equipment, while attempting to safely navigate themselves to the end of the course. The skippers’ meeting for tomorrow will be held at 12:30 PM with a first possible start of 1 PM (GMT+1).

Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the racing live. Here’s a recap from the preview of some of the top contenders to look out for over the next five days.

Men’s Slalom

Pierre Mortefon came agonisingly close to a maiden world title last year, finishing level on points with Antoine Albeau, and the Frenchman has picked up exactly where he left off and currently leads the race for this year’s title after following up a 4th place finish in Korea with his first victory of the year in Costa Brava. The 26 year old seems equally adept in light or strong winds and he looks sure to be challenging for the top again as he looks to maintain his lead at the top of the rankings.

However, Mortefon will face stern competition, first and foremost from Matteo Iachino, who led the title race for much of last year and made a flying start to the year in Korea where he came out on top. A small blip in Costa Brava saw the Italian have to settle for 7th, but he looks to have made a seamless transition onto his new equipment and should be challenging for the top again. Iachino is still breathing down the neck of Mortefon, but will be doing everything in his power to overhaul the current world tour leader.

Ross Williams has continued his fine form from 2015 and currently sits in 3rd place overall and will be looking to replicate his podium finish here last year as the Brit looks to keep himself in contention.

Pascal Toselli has bounced back from a slightly disappointing end to last season with two top 10 finishes — including 5th in Costa Brava. Toselli looks to have the bit between his teeth and looks lighting quick and should be involved again.

Arnon Dagan entered the second event of the year in 15th place, but has risen to 5th in the current standings after an excellent 2nd place in Costa Brava and the Israeli will be looking to build upon that performance, while Steven Allen continues to perform unbelievably consistently. The Australian currently holds 6th overall after two top 10 results — 10th in Korea and 9th in Costa Brava, respectively.

Andrea Cucchi has been racing on the PWA World Tour for the last 20 years, but the Italian experienced his best performance to date in Costa Brava as he won the final elimination of the week to deservedly earn a maiden podium. Cucchi is extremely quick and if he can avoid making any errors then he’ll be a real threat again — as will Julien Quentel who currently holds 8th place.

The season hasn’t gone to plan so far for reigning world champion — Antoine Albeau — and he currently finds himself in 9th place. However, the proud new father, holds an incredible 23 world titles to his name and you would expect him to bounce back with a vengeance. AA generally performs excellently under pressure and there’s now no room for error for the remainder of the season.

Elsewhere you can expect to see the likes of Cyril Moussilmani, Antoine Questel, Malte Reuscher, Taty Frans, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, Tristan Algret and Jordy Vonk all challenging for the top 10 again — with the latter coming into the event off the back of his best ever result — 4th in Costa Brava.

You would also expect to see big performances from teammates Cedric Bordes and Ben van der Steen, who finished in 5th and 6th place last year, but currently find themselves outside of the top 16.

Sarah-Quita Offringa on verge of 9th freestyle world crown after seeing off stern challenge of Maaike Huvermann

The penultimate day of the freestyle in Fuerteventura saw a much quieter day of action with the wind proving to be too gusty to make for a fair competition. However, for a brief period during the afternoon the wind stabilized allowing the second women’s single elimination to be completed as Sarah-Quita Offringa took another step towards the world title.

Women’s Single Elimination II - Winners’ Final

Maaike Huvermann lined up against Sarah-Quita Offringa in a repeat of yesterday’s final and the two women, who occupy the top two places in the current event rankings, produced another entertaining battle. Huvermann has grown in confidence throughout the event and she led the opening half of the final with a combination of flakas on both tacks, a big forward and an excellent regular kono to put Offringa under some pressure. With 8 freestyle world titles to her name, Sarah-Quita Offringa responded like the champion she is landing a powerful ponch and stylish shaka before clinching her third victory of the week with a perfectly executed culo, which puts her on the verge of a 9th world title.

Women’s Single Elimination II - Losers’ Final

The battle for third and fourth saw Oda Johanne take on Arrianne Aukes and it was the Norwegian who came out on top to reaffirm her 3rd place in the event rankings. The heat proved to be quite an even affair with both of them matching each other move for move, until Johanne found a moment of inspiration as she landed a superb shaka to secure the victory.

During the afternoon many of the sailors decided to go for a free sail, but with the conditions failing to improve to a suitable level they were released shortly before 6 PM.

The forecast for tomorrow looks similar to today and the Calima is expected to worsen overnight, which could make completing any further freestyle tricky. The sailors will meet again tomorrow morning at 10 AM skippers’ meeting — with the action commencing from 10:30 AM (GMT+1) if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the amazing action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Women’s Freestyle Current Ranking - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa2nd Maaike Huvermann3rd Oda Johanne4th Arrianne Aukes5th Maxime van Gent

Men’s Freestyle Current Ranking - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Amado Vrieswijk2nd Yentel Caers3rd Gollito Estredo4th Dieter Van der Eyken5th Phil Soltysiak

Day 3: Vrieswijk fights back while Sarah-Quita shines once more

Day 3 of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam — sponsored and organised by René Egli — saw the wind continue to produce the third consecutive day of explosive freestyle, which saw the men’s and women’s double eliminations completed. Sarah-Quita Offringa was able to successfully defend her single elimination crown and she is now a major step closer to an incredible 9th freestyle world title — 11th overall — while Amado Vrieswijk fought back in the double to overhaul Yentel Caers and take control of the current men’s ranking.

Women’s Double Elimination

Maaike Huvermann may have been disappointed with her result and performance yesterday, but today she can be extremely proud of the day she sailed. The 18 year old came out with all guns blazing as she won five heats on the bounce today, and six overall in the double elimination. Huvermann, who finished 3rd overall last year, landed anything from flakas and shakas to spocks and grubbys, and as her confidence grew she even busted out regular konos to firstly defeat Lene Kyte before also clinically dispatching of Birgit Rieger, Olya Raskina, Maxime van Gent and Arrianne Aukes before clinching victory against Oda Johanne in a fiercely fought battle.

Women’s Double Elimination - Winners' Final

After storming back through the double Huvermann had earned the opportunity to take on Sarah-Quita Offringa in the winners’ final and she put on a bold show. Huvermann made a flying start to the heat as she landed a fully planing regular kono and she soon backed it up with a big forward — having only learnt to forward yesterday — while also attempting a culo. For a while Huvermann led the heat, but SQ soon re-assumed the lead with a combination of a stylish shaka, perfect culo and a powerful ponch, before also landing a burner, shaka360 and a double puneta to extend her unbeaten run — which currently stretches to 8 years.

Women’s Single Elimination II

In the afternoon the second single elimination began, but couldn't quite be completed as conditions deteriorated during the evening. However, Huvermann and Offringa will line up once more after successfully navigating their way into the winners’ final after defeating Johanne and Aukes in the semifinals.

Men’s Double Elimination

Amado Vrieswijk faced Jose Gollito Estredo in the battle for 2nd and 3rd place, while fighting for the opportunity to take on Yentel Caers to steal his single elimination crown. The heat between Vrieswijk and Gollito proved to be one of the heats of the day with sailors both going massive. However, it was Vrieswijk, who managed to gain the upper hand with a combination of shiftys, paskos, spock culos and a brilliant backloop. Gollito nailed a pushloop off flat water and an air kabikuchi, but crucially he used his final move on port tack to try and follow suit after Vrieswijk’s backloop, but couldn’t emulate his effort. Having reached 7 moves on port, the 6-time world champion then went onto land a radical shifty, but unfortunately it didn’t count due to his score sheet being complete already.

Men’s Double Elimination - Winners' Final & Super Final

Having defeated Gollito, Vrieswijk, came out even more pumped it against Caers knowing that he had a shot at his first double elimination victory. The Bonairean came mighty close in Austria — forcing a super final, but eventually lost out. However, he wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip through his fingers again and the 20 year old continued his blistering form to force a super final after a close heat against Caers.

With adrenaline levels still running high, Vrieswijk once again produced a masterclass of freestyle as he quickly racked up an amazing shifty, pasko, clean kabikuchi and a superb planing double culo to really put the pressure on Caers. The Belgian produced a few stunning moves, but he couldn’t quite replicate the form he showed in the prior heat or day.

Dieter van der Eyken was visually disappointed with his display yesterday, but he’ll feel much better after today’s performance, which saw the reigning event and world champion rise to 4th in Fuerteventura after winning seven heats on the bounce. The Belgian rediscovered the form which saw him earn top honors last year with a combination of spock culos, kabikuchis and massive skopus on the outside as he took down Francesco Cappuzzo, Balz Müller, Kiri Thode, Nico Akgazciyan and Phil Soltysiak before he pushed Gollito all the way, but he eventually just missed out.

Men’s Single Elimination II

The first round of the men’s second round was also completed and so far all the names you would expect to progress have escaped unscathed.

The forecast predicts lighter winds for tomorrow, but there is still the possibility of more action with the gradient wind in the correct direction for the local thermal to kick in. The sailors will meet again tomorrow morning at 10 AM skippers’ meeting — with the action commencing from 10:30 AM (GMT+1) if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the amazing action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Result Women's Double Elimination - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa2nd Maaike Huvermann3rd Oda Johanne4th Arrianne Aukes5th Maxime van Gent

Result Men's Double Elimination - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Amado Vrieswijk2nd Yentel Caers3rd Gollito Estredo4th Dieter Van der Eyken5th Phil Soltysiak6th Nico Akgazciyan7th Taty Frans7th Kiri Thode9th Jacopo Testa9th Tonky Frans9th Steven Van Broeckhoven9th Balz Müller

Day 2: A new name emerges at the top of the men’s freestyle, while Sarah-Quita continues to dominate

Day two of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam — sponsored by René Egli — saw the howling winds continue to produce another frantic day of freestyle. Sarah-Quita Offringa stomped her authority in the women’s fleet to claim an emphatic victory, while a new name emerged at the top of the men’s freestyle with Yentel Caers claiming victory in the single elimination in his maiden winners’ final.

Women’s Single Elimination - Winners’ Final

Oda Johanne booked her place in the final as she defeated Maxime van Gent in the semifinals with a proficient display of sailing. However, the Norwegian beauty then faced the ominous task of trying to overhaul Sarah-Quita Offringa in the winners’ final. Offringa, who hasn’t been beaten in 8 years, looked in imperious form in her earlier heats and the Aruban gem continued her magnificent display in the final to once again stomp her authority as the undisputed Queen of Freestyle. On her way to victory Offringa landed anything from shakas and bobs to radical skopus and burners and it’s almost impossible to see anyone knocking her off her pedestal at the top of the current event rankings — quite simply Offringa was in a league of her own.

In the battle for 3rd and 4th, Maxime van Gent, who earlier defeated Maaike Huvermann much to her delight, took on Arrianne Aukes, who was looking to return to the podium and that’s exactly what the 29 year old managed to do with a combination of flakas, punetas and funnels and she will now look to, at least defend her position in the double elimination, while setting Johanne in her sights.

Women's Double Elimination

The opening 3 heats of the women’s double elimination were also completed and so far the sailors you would expect to advance have with Olya Raskina, Yoli Freites de Brendt, Birgit Rieger and Maaike Huvermann all progressed.

Men’s Single Elimination

Yentel Caers and Amado Vrieswijk have frequently been drawn on the same side of the draw — usually resulting in one of them knocking each other out. However, the single elimination here saw them on different sides of the draw and both sailors took full advantage as they progressed into the winners’ final. On Caers’ route to the final the Belgian firstly defeated Antony Ruenes today, followed by Nicolas Akgazciyan and Philip Soltysiak. Meanwhile, Vrieswijk took down Balz Müller before defeating Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo in one of the heats of the day.

Men’s Single Elimination - Winners’ Final

Caers may have never qualified for a final in his life, but he thrived under the opportunity who had deservedly earned and continued to impress with his powerful style in the final. The 21 year old made the slower start to the showdown, with Vrieswijk landing an absolutely amazing shifty bolt upright but he gathered momentum as the final progressed as he landed a radical pasko, double burner, kabikuchi and even a brilliant air chachoo. Vrieswijk also racked up the moves with a kabikuchi of his own, a spock culo, double culo and also a perfectly executed backloop, but crucially the Bonairean was missing a counting move on port tack with the best 4 moves from 7 to count on each tack. However, it would still have been an extremely tall order to overhaul Caers, who eventually won the final by 19.4 points as the new generation start to rise to the top of the rankings.

Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo, narrowly missed out on a place in the winners’ final, but he put any disappointment behind him to ensure he claimed 3rd place by winning the losers’ final. The 6-time world champion faced Philip Soltysiak, who will be delighted with his performance today after clinching 4th place in the single elimination and was leading much of the heat until Gollito landed a couple of big moves in the latter stages of the heat.

Men’s Double Elimination

Steven Van Broeckhoven was the name everyone was watching in the double elimination as the 2011 PWA Freestyle World Champion began to attempt his comeback through the double after being knocked out by Kiri Thode in the second round of the single. The Belgian has now won four consecutive heats after ending the hopes of Cheppi Gustowski, Antoine Albert, Antony Ruenes and Mattia Fabrizi and he will now have the chance to exact revenge against Thode in Heat 45A.

The biggest shock of the day was perhaps Davy Scheffers being defeated by Max Matissek meaning the very talented Dutchman finishes last in the opening double elimination. Matissek was then defeated by Max Rowe in the next round.

Mattia Fabrizi enjoyed a fine day with the Italian knocking out fellow teammate Adrien Bosson — who finished 3rd in Austria — in Heat 40B with a sick burner and spock culo inflicting the damage.

Sam Esteve pushed Dieter van der Eyken all the way in the final heat of round 3, with the young Frenchman producing a fantastic array of moves on starboard tack — including a sick air skopu — but he couldn't quite match his performance on port, after Dieter van der Eyken sailed a solid heat.

The final heat of the day saw the legendary brothers — Tonky and Taty Frans — progress into Round 5 of the double elimination after defeating Youp Schmit and Jeremy Pluss respectively.

The forecast for tomorrow looks lighter than today, but there should still be more than enough wind to continue the freestyle. The sailors will meet again tomorrow morning at 10 AM skippers’ meeting — with the action commencing from 10:30 AM (GMT+1). Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the amazing action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Result Women's Single Elimination - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa2nd Oda Johanne3rd Arrianne Aukes4th Maxime van Gent5th Jazzy Zwerus5th Birgit Rieger 5th Yoli de Brendt5th Maaike Huvermann

Result Men's Single Elimination - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Yentel Caers2nd Amado Vrieswijk3rd Gollito Estredo4th Phil Soltysiak 5th Balz Müller5th Kiri Thode5th Nico Akgazciyan

Day 1: Fuerte lives up to its reputation to provide a day of full power explosive freestyle

Fuerteventura lived up to its reputation on the opening day to deliver a showing of world class freestyle in winds in excess of 40 knots. With the elite of the world’s freestylers on display there was plenty of radical action consisting of the latest power and combination moves as well as an extensive array of jumping, while the howling winds and choppy waters made things extremely challenging leading to a few, inevitable, big crashes. By the end of the first day just over half the men’s single elimination and the opening round of the women’s single has been completed.

Women’s Single Elimination

The opening women’s heat saw Olya Raskina in action against Maxime van Gent and Lisa Kloster versus Birgit Rieger. Raskina, who was making her first appearance since 2014 didn’t produce her best heat and a result took an early exit and van Gent linked together the moves necessary to advance, while Rieger used her competition experience to defeat Kloster, who was making her debut on the world tour.

Heat 19 saw Arrianne Aukes take on 14 year old Alexa Escherich and Aukes produced a professional display to safely advance into the next round where she will now face Yoli Freites de Brendt, who easily dispatched of Stefania Fumagalli on the b-side of the draw.

The final women’s heat of the day saw Jazzy Zwerus negotiate her way past Lene Kyte to set up a tie against the 8-time freestyle world champion — Sarah-Quita Offringa.

Men’s Single Elimination

The opening round of the men’s single elimination saw the 2011 world champion — Steven Van Broeckhoven — in action after the Belgian missed last year’s contest due to injury. As you’d expect Van Broeckhoven had no problems advancing as he ended Loick Spicher’s hopes.

The remainder of the opening round all went to plan for most sailors, except Max Matissek with the Austrian suffering a slightly surprising defeat to Marco Vinante, who sailed an excellent heat. Meanwhile, Tony Mottus, sailed through the pain barrier, after dislocating his toe earlier this week, to knock out Yuma Kobayashi.

The second round saw the top seeds in action for the first time and most survived unscathed. However, there was one major upset as Davy Scheffers suffered a defeat at the hands of Francesco Cappuzzo. The 19 year old Italian was in fine form in the challenging conditions landing one-handed ponches and a spock into culo, which was the best of the bunch. The b-side of Heat 15B saw a very close battle between Phil Soltysiak and Max Rowe with the two sailors matching each other move for move throughout the heat. However, Soltysiak just managed to gain the upper hand towards the end of the heat to progress.

The biggest battle of Round 2 saw two former world champions going head-to-head as Steven Van Broeckhoven faced Kiri Thode in Heat 12B. Both sailors pulled off some exceptional moves with Van Broeckhoven landing a double burner, but he met an on fire Thode who stomped a sick air skopu and a double air funnel diablo to advance into the last 16. The Bonairean then produced the highest scoring heat of the day against Julien Mas amassing a huge 120.9 points with a stunning performance and he clearly means business after a slightly slower start to the year in Austria than usual.

Reigning world champion — Dieter van der Eyken — looked sharp in his sole performance of the day against Tony Mottus. The Belgian excels in tricky conditions and today was no different as he landed spock culos, skopus and a radical air skopu on the way out, which is extremely difficult here. Dieter van der Eyken will now face Jacopo Testa.

Balz Müller continued his fine start to the season as he ended the hopes of Taty Frans in the opening heat of the third round. Müller’s radical and fearless approach once again proved popular, with both the crowd and the judges, and the Swiss will now face Amado Vrieswijk in Heat 21A after the Bonairean came out on top against fellow countryman Youp Schmit.

Six time freestyle world champion — Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo — looked on song in both of the heats he sailed today as he firstly ended the hopes of Mattia Fabrizi before also conquering Tonky Frans in what proved to be one of the most entertaining heats of the day with both sailors throwing themselves into big stalled forwards, air chachoos and backloops. However, Tonky, will now have to wait until the double elimination to try and exact revenge.

Elsewhere, Yentel Caers, produced a powerful display to knock out Adrian Beholz and he’ll be one to watch again tomorrow after being one of the standout sailors of the day. Next up he will face Antony Ruenes, who dispatched of Jeremy Plüss, and the Frenchman was still able to land a trademark no-handed burner — even in the nuclear winds, while fellow countrymen Adrien Bosson and Nicolas Akgazciyan are also in the last 16 after claiming victories over Giovanni Passani and Nic Hibdige, respectively.

The forecast predicts excellent conditions again tomorrow with the trademark strong winds and swell still present, which should see the single eliminations completed in spectacular conditions. With this in mind the skippers’ meeting has been called for 9 AM — with the action commencing from 9:30 AM (GMT+1). Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the amazing action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

- Text and Pictures by PWA World Tour.com / Chris Yates & John Carter -