The 2005 Bonaire King of the Caribbean – Day 1

Day 1 summary: light winds, serious action.

Today saw the start of the first elimination of the men’s competition in somewhat unstable but sufficient winds. The biggest upset so far is the elimination of Kauli Seadi (BRA-253, Quatro/Naish) by Tyson Poor (US-22, JP/Neil Pryde). The Brazilian’s heat was postponed due to light winds, but even during the re-sail Kauli couldn’t fully display his skills in the light conditions. Even a clean ponch couldn’t help him, as it was just outside of the competition area. Both Tyson and his brother Whit (US-333, JP/Neil Pryde) gave a strong performance in the first round, knocking out local man Christian Dammers (NB-115, Starboard) and Andrew Chambers (K-540, Tabou/Gaastra). In the second round Whit was defeated by Thomas Traversa (F-3, Tabou).

First round was smooth sailing for Germany’s Andre Paskowski (G-2, F2/North) and the youngest Frans brother Choco (NB-6, F2). Andrea Rosati (I-0, Neil Pryde) gave Robby Swift (K-89, JP/Neil Pryde) a hard time, but Robby just managed to stay ahead of the Italian. Brazil’s Marcilio Broume (BRA-105, Naish) was taken out by his fellow countryman Konan Lang (BRA-3, Starboard/Naish) and local star Clay Finies (NB-7) knocked out Wyatt Miller (US-525) who broke his mast and couldn’t get back into the game.

Jose ‘Cheo’ Estredo (V-1, Fanatic/North) convincingly went through to the next round, pulling off the only Meev of the event so far in the process. Unfortunately the wind dropped at the end of the day, putting the contest on hold until tomorrow. After the official contest was called off for the day, the Frans brothers stunned the crowds with a couple of flawless Cana Bravas, which is best described as a flaka diablo behind your back. Ricardo Campello (V-111, JP/Neil Pryde) seemed to be getting the hang of the new move pretty quickly and with many riders cooking up other new moves seemingly every hour, anything can still happen.

We have yet to see Taty (NB-9, Starboard/MauiSails) and Tonky Frans (NB-7, F2/Gaastra) in action, as well as reigning champion Campello and Dutchman of the moment Kevin Mevissen (H-79, JP/Neil Pryde).

MEN’S SINGLE ELIMINATION LADDER 1
WOMEN’S SINGLE ELIMINATION LADDER 1

The contest continues tomorrow morning at 0900, so make sure to check in on the PWA website for the latest news and images of the hottest moves. And don’t forget to tune into high.tvfor live action from Lac Bay, Bonaire as the competition unfolds.