All photos by © Carter / PWAworldtour.com

Despite winds lighter than usual Bonaire is more than a worthy place to start the PWA world tour: It’s a true freestyle paradise! It provided a week packed with sunshine, wind, action and drama!Heroes stumbled. Heroes fell. And heroes rose again.In the end it was a thrilling week for all the JP riders who delivered an outstanding show – thank you, boys!And congratulations!

AMADO VRIESWIJK NB-20 ̶̶― IMPRESSIVE !

No better place to win than home… and to do this in an impressive way:After an early exit in the single elimination there was no more room left for error. It constantly was all-or-nothing and NB-20 had to unleash everything he had! Heat after heat, the young Bonairean filled the score sheets with 180+ points, as well as the highest-ever score in the PWA Freestyle history. In the end, Amado was the worthy no.1!On the beach the crowds were cheering in Amado’s favor and the riders unanimously had to pay respect to the dominance of the victor.

The PWA wrote:Amado Vrieswijk NB-20 may have had to do things the hard way, but eventually, the 23-year-old deservedly claimed the top spot on the podium to make the perfect start in the bid for his first world title. A second round exit in the single elimination meant that Vrieswijk then faced a gruelling fight back through the double elimination, but it was evidently a fight that he relished as he won 10 consecutive heats to deservedly be crowned the King of Bonaire. Vrieswijk consistently posted heats scores over 180 points – and was the only sailor to achieve this feat – so there can be no complaints that the best man won.

Amado:“It’s been a long, long, long week, a long week, but an amazing though. The wind was light the final, but the level has been so high throughout……. I’m just really, really happy!”More from Amado here->

Explosive pop – Amado pulled-off most double moves

JULIEN MAS F-7 ̶̶― THE SURPRISE OF THIS EVENT !

The Frenchman delivered the biggest upset of the event by defeating the reigning PWA Freestyle World Champion in the first round of the single elimination. F-7 surprised with a new combination in a contest: a flaka-bob. Julien was consistently able to land this and every other move he wanted, including another new combination -a super technical flaka-clock- to advance all the way into the final of the single elimination!Finishing 3rd, the 29-year-old claimed his best ever result on the PWA World Tour!

Right from day 1 Julien was grinning from ear to ear (probably still today?): Was there anybody who had more fun ?

SAM ESTEVE F-79 ̶̶― RELIABLE EXECUTION

More than others Sam is able to make most of high winds. And despite the light winds here, the young JP rider sailed at a consistently high level throughout the event. This top-10 ranking was the maximum which could be expected and is based on a solid and clever sailing tactics: Duty well fulfilled !There will be events with stronger winds when Sam can prove his full potential…

Sam controling his air-time

Nicolas Akgazciyan F-400 ̶̶― POLISHED PERFORMANCE

Nico had an good start into the single elimination and sailed already very well. But he was able to significantly up his performance in the double elimination: He sailed excellently and scored close to 150 points in all his heats – a score that would have gained him the 1st place not too long ago. Thumbs up for this!

Greetings from Nico