With a huge low heading straight for the North Sea, head judge Duncan Coombs, made the excellent call to start the wave heats early on the eighth day of competition at the Colgate World Cup Sylt.

The women hit the water first whilst the conditions looked a little less brutal, but it didn’t take long for the wind to increase and the shore break to build, creating an amazing scene for the thousands of spectators gathered on the beach. With a constant 25 knots and gusts of up to 40 knots, it really was an incredible sight, and the women put in a solid performance in the toughest of conditions.

Women

Iballa Ruano Moreno (North) was sitting pretty at the top of the single elimination, so by the time it came to her first heat she had barely sailed. Her sister Daida Ruano Moreno (North) on the other hand was already in tune with the conditions having sailed against Nayra Alonso (Fanatic, Severne) to defend her position. Daida upped the level and actually sailed a better heat than most of the men did in their early rounds, landing huge tweaked push loops to beat her sister. This meant a second final would have to take place to decide the event winner. Second time round, both of the Moreno twins were pushing hard and getting some excellent jumps and riding in. Iballa however pushed the sailing a notch higher and landed a huge push loop followed by a high scoring ride which just edged her out in front, winning her the heat, and the event.

All of the women sailed extremely well in the tough conditions but some better than others. Evi Tsape (Fanatic, NeilPryde) stood out in the early rounds with some great forward loops and an excellent riding style, but she was halted in her tracks by an on form Alonso. Alonso was hitting heaps of sections with plenty of power, and going for some frighteningly high push loops. Laure Treboux (Fanatic, North) also looked more comfortable in the port tack conditions and was unlucky not to progress further.

Men

Alex Mussolini (Tabou) sailed a fantastic final to take the men’s wave event in one foul swoop. Klaas Voget (Fanatic, NeilPryde, MFC) put up a strong fight after charging through numerous heats, but the Spaniard was fresh from the wrapper and ready to defend his single elimination victory. Mussolini landed some stylish jumps throughout, and in the final few seconds put the final nail in Voget’s coffin by spinning round a sweet taka. Mussolini knew he had won and was celebrating as soon as he touched Sylt’s golden sands.

Voget had sailed tremendously well for much of the day, taking down the likes of Kauli Seadi (JP, NeilPryde, Mormaii) with an awesome display of sky-high back loops, fully planing push loops, and incredibly late stalled forwards. Seadi put up a great fight, but the local lad finished him off with the only wave 360 of the contest. And thus handing the 2009 Wave World Title to Josh Angulo (Angulo, MauiSails, Dakine) on a silver platter. Even when Voget met Angulo on his path to second, he wasn’t fazed. The newly crowned World Wave Champion almost bowed down to Voget somehow knowing that he would carry on the show in front of his home crowd.

Another amazing performance came from Dany Bruch (Exocet, Serverne), who after failing to get out in his first heat of the single elimination stormed through this round with some of the highest scoring jumps and waves of the day. Bruch was on fire for much of the day until he met Voget, who permanently put a stop to his rampage with his powerful display of aerial antics.

Also worthy of mention, is Jonas Ceballos (Fanatic, Simmer Style, MFC), he arguably landed the biggest back loop of the contest in a heat against Julien Taboulet (F2, Naish), wowing both the judges and the crowd. Thomas Traversa (Tabou, Gaastra) also threw some of the craziest jumps with a huge stalled forward, which helped him on his way to gaining the highest score of the double elimination at that time.

Biggest bailout of the day went to the 2009 Slalom World Champion, Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde). When it was his turn to stop Voget, he rotated around a huge push loop, but unfortunately for him came adrift from his gear at the apex of his jump creating an amazing spectacle for those on the shore, and needless to say, a long swim for himself!

With a double elimination complete for both the men and the women, there will be no more wave competition in Sylt. However, with the second round of the freestyle already underway there could well be more action to come.

Results

Men

1^st Alex Mussolini (Tabou)

2^nd Klaas Voget (Fanatic, NeilPryde, MFC)

3^rd Josh Angulo (Angulo, MauiSails, Dakine)

4^th Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde)

5^th John Skye (RRD, Naish, MFC)

Men’s Overall Wave Rankings 2009

1^st Josh Angulo (Angulo, MauiSails, Dakine)

2^nd Kauli Seadi (JP, NeilPryde, Mormaii)

3^rd Robby Swift (JP, NeilPryde)

4^th Klaas Voget (Fanatic, NeilPryde, MFC)

5^th Thomas Traversa (Tabou, Gaastra)

Women

1^st Iballa Moreno (North)

2^nd Daida Moreno (North)

3^rd Nayra Alonso (Fanatic, Severne)

4^th Karin Jaggi (F2, Severne)

5^th Evi Tsape (Fanatic, NeilPryde)

Women’s Overall Rankings 2009

1^st Daida Ruano Moreno (North)

2^nd Iballa Ruano Moreno (North)

3^rd Karin Jaggi (F2, Severne)

4^th Nayra Alonso (Fanatic, Severne)

5^th Evi Tsape (Fanatic, NeilPryde)

The forecast is predicting more wind tomorrow, so be sure to tune in early to catch up with the action, or in the meantime, for more information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with every piece of the action, click on www.pwaworldtour.com 

Here you can use our:

• Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

• Check live elimination ladders

• View results

• Read daily news summaries

• Browse awesome action photo galleries

There’s also a dedicated event website for our German fans at www.worldcupsylt.de 

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via [email protected]

PWA/Paul Griffiths