The 2005 Schroders London Boat Show PWA Indoor Windsurfing Championships Day 2

Saturday January 15, 2005

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Day 2 of the PWA London contest has taken indoor windsurfing to new levels of excellence. Never before has such fierce racing been complemented by so perfect, clean massive jumps from the ramp and such extremely polished freestyle performances.

Taty rocking Courtesy of PWA / Carter

As the bank of 24 high-powered fans wound up to their thirty knot output, the stands were filled to capacity with excited windsurfing devotees, eager to see the best of the best in action. The freestyle sailors were first to strut their stuff on the seventy meter pool and strut they did. Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra) opened the bidding early on with an incredible shaka, aerial upwind 360, scoring a near perfect 27.5 out of a possible 30. Frans looked good for a first place with such a good score early on, but the big guns still had to fire. Gollito Estredo (Fanatic, North) landed a succession of incredibly fast moves, planing cleanly out of each one. Taty Frans (Starboard, Gaastra) made his mark with a superb Diablo on his very last run but it was not enough against a perfect one handed flaka from Ricardo Campello (JP, Neil Pryde). Even with such brilliance Campello still could not touch event leader Nicolas Akgazciyan who chalked up the first perfect score of the contest with a flawless Flaka – Diablo and won round two of Freestyle accordingly.

The Moreno name dominated the women’s freestyle, with both sisters proving yet again that they are at the top of their game. All the girls sailed well, with both Karin Jaggi (F2) and Nayra Alonso (Fanatic) performing stylish body drags and making some convincing Vulcan attempts, but the battle for first place lay firmly between Daida and Iballa Moreno (Mistral, North). Despite a magnificent effort from Iballa she did not quite manage to surpass he sister and Daida found herself in the familiar position number one.

The slalom competition took an extreme turn early on, after event favorite, Nik Baker (Mistral, North), was escorted from the pool by the paramedics with a dislocated shoulder. Baker has overwhelmingly dominated the slalom discipline here in London and his premature departure left the door wide open for his would be challengers. Ben Proffitt (Fanatic) fought his way through the fleet to end up against Campello who was firing on all cylinders with a new found agility around the gybe marks. Proffitt was charging hard, but Campello had both speed and excellent control that put him ahead of Proffitt and into first place in slalom round two.

It was rapidly turning into Daida’s day as she came head to head with her sister Iballa in the women’s slalom final. The twins both showed great control turning tight to the marks, each clearly hungry to triumph over the other. When all was done though, it was Daida’s E-64 sail number that crossed the finish line first to secure her second slalom win.

ricardo back loop Courtesy of PWA / Carter

Over three thousand people crammed into the arena ready for the aerobatics of the second round of jump. Yesterday’s session had been impressive but the best was still to come. John Skye (F2) opened his account with a perfect clean push loop planing out of the landing and racking up twenty-nine points of the possible thirty. Taty Frans matched his bid with a high, one footed forward loop soon to be followed by a massive perfect table top from Campello. Skye retained his lead in the heats until the final jump, when Taty nearly landed a spectacular air chacho (duck gybe forward loop) only to be outdone by Campello who notched up the second perfect thirty of the contest with a massive, planing push loop, sending the crowds wild and putting him safely into the final alongside Frans and Skye.

nayra goes off Courtesy of PWA / Carter

Alonso came close to claiming a Moreno scalp in the women’s jump final, with a big forward loop attempt, but both Iballa and Daida held their nerve with cleaner forward loops. Daida raised the stakes with a big back loop attempt requiring a solid response from Iballa who launched herself off the ramp, into wind and into a back loop of her own crashing down hard and out of contention for first place. Daida, now with the win safely in her hands, sealed the deal with another massive back loop to sit confidently in first.

If the men’s jump heats had been full throttle, then the final was off the scale. Skye landed another perfect back loop and with Campello not achieving more than a solid forward, could be forgiven for thinking that he had the win already. But nothing is more dangerous in a windsurfing contest, than a glory seeking Campello and glory as what he found. In a display of aerial excellence, Campello racked up 89.5 out of a possible 90 points with his next three jumps, including 2 maximum thirty’s for the biggest planing back loop and the most tweaked table top forward loop that have ever been seen in Indoor windsurfing, proving that he truly is a master of the jump ramp and placing him squarely in the lead for the jump title.

The crowds will be back in force tomorrow to see what is expected to be a dramatic conclusion to an incredible event. For those who are not lucky enough to have witnessed to days action, highlights can be viewed at www.high.tv along with live broadcasts from tomorrow’s