PWA IRISH WAVE GRAND PRIX DAY 7

Californian Crowned World Wavesailing Champion In Co. Kerry

Thursday October 10, 2002
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Californian Kevin Pritchard was crowned World Wavesailing Champion 2002
this afternoon (Thursday 10th October) in Brandon Bay, Co. Kerry. The PWA
Irish Wave Grand Prix event, presented by Bord Fáilte, has been the climax

of a hectic world wave tour where windsurfing’s elite athletes have fought
for the world champion title and a prize fund of 65,000 Euro. Over the
past seven days, the event has attracted a record number of visitors to
the beaches of Castlegregory, where the Professional Windsurfers
Association (PWA) has staged the event for the third consecutive year.
Over 6,000 visitors enjoyed the event activities last weekend alone.

Despite Brandon Bay’s reputation as being a windsurfers’ paradise, the
unprecedented Indian summer over the past week meant that windsurfing
conditions never quite matched expectations. The calm weather has kept the
competitors off the water for much of the week. They did take to the water
on the first day but it was not for long enough to establish a result for
the event. However the PWA world tour result is a different matter. Having
performed exceptionally throughout the tour this year, 26-year-old Kevin
Pritchard (Gaastra, Bic) was crowned PWA World Wavesailing Champion for
2002. Seven-times PWA World champion, Björn Dunkerbeck (Neil Pryde, Proof)

of Andorra had to settle for 2nd place this year, with British champion
Nik Baker (North Sails, Mistral) in 3rd. Meanwhile in the women s
division, Spain s Daida Ruano Moreno (North, Mistral) took the title,
ahead of Karin Jaggi (Arrows, F2) of Switzerland and Anne Reichman (North)
of Holland.

Kevin Pritchard said: I m ecstatic to win this, my first Wave title. I ve
been wanting and waiting for this for a long time! 64 of the world s top
windsurfers from over 20 countries have spent the past week in Brandon
Bay. Irish competitors who qualified for this event included Irish
wavesailing champion Oisín Van Gelderen (JP, Neil Pryde), from Skerries,

Co.Dublin; Peter Nunan from Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork and brothers Timo and
Finn Mullen (both: Arrows, F2) from Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the overall success of this year s competition, event
organizer Mr. Andrew Owen from Proteus Sports said: No-one expects to come
to Co. Kerry in October and find it windless, it s extraordinary. It s a
great shame to have had the world’s best windsurfers on Ireland s shores
without giving them a chance to experience the world-class conditions that
Brandon Bay is famous for. But we ve not been sitting idly by, we ve had
around 6,000 people visit the event and enjoy the atmosphere just at the
weekend alone, so Castlegregory has been buzzing. Everyone loves to see
these world-class athletes and there’s been a big party scene too. Above
all, we ve continued the relationship with the PWA and Ireland and the
event will be back next year when the wind is sure to blow.

Mr. Niall Reddy, acting Chief Executive of Bord Fáilte said: The hosting

of the PWA Irish Wave Grand Prix underlines once again the attractions of
Ireland s coastline to the visiting water sports enthusiasts and to
windsurfers in particular. Ireland has excellent year round water sports
facilities with over 5,600 km of scenic coastline and hundreds of lakes
and rivers. Bord Fáilte has identified water sports as a very important

tourism attraction and thus provided sponsorship through Bord Fáilte
s
International Sports Tourism Initiative for the PWA Irish Wave Grand Prix.