Traversa Causes Shockwaves in Cold Hawaii

Electric wave riding from Thomas Traversa saw him ambush the favourites to win the single elimination round of the KIA Cold Hawaii PWA World Cup in Klitmøller on Wednesday morning and breathe life into the world cup.

In the biggest upset in wave sailing in the last two years, Traversa, the 26-year-old from Marseilles, beat the favourite, Philip Köster, by less than a point in the second semi-final and then defeated the second favourite and his old friend Victor Fernandez Lopez in the final.

The comparatively small and light Traversa thrived in the messy onshore 21-26 knots winds that most said were the toughest they had sailed in. With the minutes ticking away in the 15-minute final, Traversa had registered two strong wave rides, keeping vertical and with big turns, but was still without a jump. But he saw a ramp and landed a one-handed backloop that was enough to give him another narrow victory of less than two points.

“I stayed relaxed, I knew the wave riding was the most important so I concentrated on that,” Traversa said. “Then I got the backloop, I was so happy. That’s my best result ever.”

Video highlights from day one of the action.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDJ6JmvUClE
Day two provided no conditions for competition, but check out the day one report on the previous page.