Tanya Saleh reports from day three of the American Windsurfing Tour’s Cactus Cup, Punta San Carlos, Baja…

Glassy conditions led to extended surf sessions this morning both down at the point and at the main beach break. Unfortunately the high spring tides meant that by the time the wind kicked in, the swell wasn’t playing ball. Although some waist to head high sets rolled in they were very few and far between.

After lunch it was full on 4.5 weather and the judges called a pro – am event. What is this I hear you say? (Since I wondered exactly the same thing). It’s a team event in pairs where each Amateaur picks out the name of a Pro man to team up with. There are 10 minute heats and you are ONLY scored on overall impression.

This obviously ended up rather similar to an SWA event, except for imagine Kevin Pritchard killing a head high wave with a blonde wig, starboard cape on and beer in hand. It was hilarious. There were wrestlers, there was sabotage, there were tears and much more.

The whole event took all afternoon and was certainly a fine display of skill combined with creativity. The moral of the story was … that to win, you couldn’t just bust some amazing moves; you had to do so with a special twist.

The winners were Russ Faurot and Yossy who heat after heat landed synchronised jumps and wave rides. 2nd place went to Morgan and Robert who put up an incredibly good fight with their own synchronised moves. 3rd place went to Nathan Mershon and Josh Sampeiro; whose wardrobes earnt them many points for request. Not only were wrestling masks involved, but also women’s swimwear … AND world class waveriding.

Tomorrow afternoon the ‘real’ swell will be back and competition will (unfortunately) be restored to normal 🙂

More at www.americanwindsurfingtour.com