The 2004 PWA Canadian Freestyle World Cup Day 1

Reigning women’s world freestyle champion, Daida Moreno (Mistral, North)
has taken the first victory here on the opening day of the 2004 PWA
Canadian Freestyle World Cup after defeating her twin sister Iballa
(Mistral, North) in an action packed first single elimination final. World
number two, Karin Jaggi (F2, Arrows) of Switzerland had to settle for
third place today after defeating Sylvia Alba (JP, Neil Pryde) of Spain in
the losers final

Today’s competition kicked off at 11 am and took place in flat-water
conditions in the Lagune du Havre aux Basques in northwesterly winds
gusting between 12 and 18 knots. The first round battles saw impressive
performances from Colette Guadagnino, Junko Nagoshi, Motoko Sato, Silvia
Alba (JP, Neil Pryde) and Tanja Emig who all advanced comfortably into the
last eight.

In the first heat of the second round, Japanese sailor, Junko Nagoshi went
on to face Iballa Moreno but was unable to match the skate style spocks,
flakas and more loaded repertoire of spins and tacks. In the other half of
the draw Collette Guadagnino gave Karin Jaggi a run for her money pulling
some aggressive flakas, forcing Jaggi to pull out all the stops and use
all of her artillery of tricks to overcome the challenge. On the lower
side of the ladder Motoko Sato showed the crowds she is not just a
formidable wave sailor after fighting a brave battle against Spanish
sailor Sylvia Alba. Sato, who usually sails down the line conditions in
Hawaii nailed spocks, tacks and willy skippers but was outclassed by
Silvia who was on red-hot form today pulling off consistent push tacks,
smooth spocks and radical vulcans. In the final conflict of the round
Tanja Emig of Austria fought bravely against Daida Moreno (Mistral, North)
but failed to match the formidable sailing of the women’s world champion
who was on red hot form today and advanced with ease

Despite an overcast sky, the heat was on in the semi finals with Iballa
Moreno facing Karin Jaggi and Sylvia Alba head to head with Daida Moreno.
Although both Jaggi and Alba fought bravely, both sailors failed to match
the slick style of both Moreno sisters who both advanced comfortably
through to face each other in the opening final. After Jaggi disposed of
Silvia Alba in the battle for third place with her best heat of the day,
Daida Moreno started shakily in the first final of the series, sailing
below the level we had seen her performing in her opening heats. Iballa
seemed to rise above the pressure and pulled off an impressive string of
moves including a stylish spock 540, a flat water forward and a faultless
push tack. In the closing stages of the heat Daida showed the crowds why
she is the women’s world champion clawing her way back into the winning
position with a one handed spock, a willy skipper and a flat water
forward. After the final the wind subsided and became way too gusty to
continue with any further official competition and racing was eventually
abandoned at 5 pm.

Last night saw some crazy antics in the Chez Gaspard with Tiffany Ward
(Gaastra, Starboard), Kana Suzuki and Ania Ostrowska all getting involved
in the body painting session in the downstairs bar. American sailor,
Tiffany ward seemed to be prepared for the situation sporting a patriotic
stars and stripes bikini top especially for the occasion.

The forecast here in the beautiful Magdalene Islands is for 20-25 knots
tomorrow morning with gales forecast for the weekend. The battle of the
women has only just begun here in Canada so stay tuned…