GRAN CANARIA VARGAS, AGUIMES PWA WAVE WORLD CUP

Registration Day
Tuesday April 29, 2003

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Setting the stage for an awesome forthcoming event, the forecast for the
Gran Canaria Vargas, Aguimes PWA Wave World Cup 2003 is for strong winds
and big surf! As a low pressure system tears northern Europe apart, a huge
swell is pumping south due to hit the north east coast of Gran Canaria
right on cue for the start of what is potentially the most exiting year in
PWA Wave history.

This years title race is wide open and the opportunity for a new world
champion has never been stronger since the young gunsof freestyle have
matured into hardened and experienced competitors over the past two seasons.

And theres big news and upset for this event and for the whole season as
last years world champion, Kevin Pritchard (Starboard / Gaastra) and
regular top three ranking sailor Nik Baker (Mistral / North) are both
absent from Vargas with broken feet, the almost trend setting, trade mark
injury of modern windsurfers going for double loops and contorted
freestyle tricks.

Also, the Wave Champion of 2000 Francisco Goya (Fanatic / Arrows) has
taken a step back from competition for 2003. With these guys wiped out of
the picture, the opportunity for other sailors to take the title is so
greatly increased, theres a distinctively more professional and
enthusiastic push from all the world tour sailors, both the old guard and
especially the new school of wave sailors.

This new wave crew are the radical generation, from Robby Swift (JP / Neil

Pryde) the hard core competitor and freestyle power man from England, to
Ty Bodycoat (Starboard) and Luke Walmsley (Starboard) the laid back west
coast Australian rippers, and the tricky South Americans Kauli Seadi (AHD
/ Naish) and Ricardo Campello (JP / Neil Pryde). But the man to look out
for this week has to be Jonas Cabellos (Fanatic / Gaastra), the born and
bred Gran Canarian local famous for his mind blowingly high back loops and
his gravity defying tweaked table tops known now as Ninja Kicks!

The old guard cant be ruled out either. Theres the serious chances of
Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Proof / Neil Pryde), another local and the undisputed
king of windsurfing taking back a world champion title that eluded him for
the first time in over a decade last year. Married with kids now though
might have taken the edge off his hard core competitiveness, opening up
chances for Vidar Jensen (North), another Gran Canarian local to pounce on
the world title that hes come so close to before but never owned.

This time last year, one of the main contenders for the world title, Jason

Polakow (JP/ Neil Pryde), missed this event due to injury and therefore
his chance to fight for world supremacy. Despite a series of horrific
injuries hes staggering back this year and has a serious chance of ripping
it up on the water, despite hardly being able to walk on land.

Scotty McKercher (Starboard) is known to his mates as Grampshaving to wear

both a back brace and a knee brace just to hold him together, neither of
which will hold back his aggressive gauges and all round sick wave riding
though, which has got him the number three seed here at Vargas, just
behind the Hawaiian Josh Angulo, whos not been out of the top four here in
Gran Canaria for the last few years.

And theres more, in fact theres so many wave sailors now who could
potentially take the world title this year either through double loops,
getting tricky busting out new school moves or just hard core lip smacking
gauging wave riding, this years title truly has no favorites.

The womens championship is up for grabs too as both Karin Jaggi (F2 /
Arrows) and Anne-Marie Reichman (Naish / Naish) have been in serious port
tack training this winter in Australia, stepping up to the insanely high
pace set by the Gran Canarian local twins Daida and Iballa Ruano Moreno
(Mistral / North).

This week will set the trend for both the mens and the womens 2003 world
titles and theres a seriously good forecast, so tune in tomorrow for the
first day of PWA Vargas and see the PWA action live and direct on
www.high.tv with ground breaking broadband technology bringing the speed,
the height, the wipe outs and the power of wave sailing right to you
online daily. Bring it on!