The 2008 PWA Colgate World Cup, Sylt – Day Eight

Kauli Seadi slashes a path through to the wave elimination final, securing him his third Wave World Title on the penultimate day of competition in Sylt.

Foreseeing a healthy dose of wind and waves, the wave fleet were summoned for their skippers meeting bright and early at 7.30am. The decision paid off, with the forecast staying true to its prediction.

After a brief warm up, round two resumed at heat 15, where it had been left off the previous day. Kevin Mevissen (RRD) kicked off the action by delivering Marcilio Browne (Mistral, Gaastra) a killer blow. Mevissen, the underdog, played a sensible game and racked up a solid base of jumps before pushing for the more technical moves. Browne on the other hand, was punished for attempting over elaborate manoeuvres in unsuitable conditions, and ended up paying the ultimate price.

Continuing his rampage into round three, Mevissen lined up Vider Jensen (North) in his sights. Piecing together another comprehensive heat that had Jensen on the back foot from the outset, Mevissen went on to prove he’s a talent to be taken seriously in waves, and deservedly reserved his position in the last eight.

Round three also witnessed a classic battle of new school versus old, when Jonas Ceballos (Fanatic, Simmer, MFC) took on Jason Polakow (JP, NeilPryde), and John Skye (RRD, Naish, MFC) duelled with Nik Baker (Mistral, North).

The old guard proved to be totally outgunned in the air, and had little reply to the tabletop forward loops and tweaked pushloops Skye and Ceballos threw down. However, wave riding proved to be a different state of affairs, as Baker and Polakow tapped into their wealth of experience to dominate that side of the score sheet. Unfortunately for them, the onshore conditions heavily favoured jumping over riding, with very few peeling waves to work with. On the final horn, the young guns emerged victorious, having cast aside their older rivals.

Other big names to exit in the third round were Ricardo Campello (JP, NeilPryde, MFC), who failed to match the truly inspirational wave riding of Seadi. Danny Bruch (Gaastra, MFC) fell by the way side courtesy of Victor Fernandez (Fanatic, Simmer, MFC), whose precision aerial manoeuvres proved too much to contend with. And Josh Angulo (MauiSails) also struggled with the more jumping orientated conditions, departing the elimination to local favorite, Klass Voget (Fanatic, NeilPryde, MFC).

After several first round heats of the women’s wave elimination were completed, the wind and waves backed off, and competition shifted to slalom, which picked up race four where it had left off on day seven.

The remainder of round one, and two second round heats were completed before the wind dropped so much that racers could no longer plane. As a result, competition was forced to go back to playing the waiting game.

Promise came late into the afternoon, when the wind swung cross shore and built to a solid 25knots. With the waves on the push, the women’s wave fleet took to the water to compete in far and away the best conditions seen thus far.

Picking up the quarter finals of the elimination, Anne-Marie Reichman (Naish) was unfortunate to come up against Daida Moreno (North), who savoured the jump orientated conditions and dispatched Reichman, bagging her a place in the semi final.
Also advancing from that heat was Nayra Alonso (Fanatic, Severne), who took down local sailor, Steffi Wahl (F2, Gaastra).

The second semi final saw Junko Nagoshi (Tabou, Simmer, Dakine) overthrow Karin Jaggi (F2, North) thanks to some powerful wave riding, and big forward loops. Also, Iballa Moreno (North) was handed a clear run to the semi’s, after Silvia Alba Orozco (MFC) gave up sailing the heat moments into it.

This produced an explosive semi final that ultimately resulted in the Moreno twins reigning supreme in the full on jumping conditions.

Back in the men’s elimination, the moves were going off. Mevissen had his run of form put to a halt by Seadi, who relished the side shore conditions and opportunity to ride the building waves down the line.

Fernandez chose to entertain the crowds with double attempt after double attempt, eventually slaying Julien Taboulet (F2, Naish). Kevin Pritchard (Starboard, Gaastra, MFC, Dakine) has his hopes of making the semi finals crushed by Voget, who got some monumental hits during his riding. And Skye left the elimination after Ceballos launched numerous tweaked moves to bolster his solid wave rides.

The final heat of the day was a two man match up, where Ceballos challenged Seadi in the semi finals. The clash was a classy affair, but ultimately favoured Seadi, who was simply untouchable in the side shore riding conditions, and had an aerial arsenal to match. Seadi’s victory marked a historic moment, as it guaranteed him his third World Title, regardless of the outcome of tomorrow’s final.

Be sure to tune back into pwaworldtour.com tomorrow, to follow all the action from the final day of the 2008 PWA Colgate World Cup, Sylt. Proceedings will start bright and early with the wave fleet’s skippers meeting at 07.00am.