The 2011 Pozo Gran Canaria PWA World Cup – day four: Pozo’s wind machine storms into action allowing Philip Koster and Daida Ruano Moreno to soar into first place in the single elimination.

Thirty knots winds and a building swell were forecast for the fourth day of competition, the judges were prepared and raring to go at 9am; however Pozo wasn’t quite performing and remained in its dormant state at low tide. Slightly confused with the gentle conditions, the sailors were released until 2pm, in hope that the turn of the tide would bring with it the much needed waves.

On returning back to the beach the contenders were greeted with a very different picture, Pozo had kicked into action, the wind was blowing a gale, and the waves pounding the shore. The judges wasted no time in announcing the start of the competition and picked up the action from where they left off yesterday, with women’s heat 20.

Women’s Fleet

Justyna Sniady and Heike Reimann (Hot Sails) went head to head in a particularly close heat, both women sailed to best of their abilities taking advantage of every wave and launching into their jumps, however Reimann managed to sneak ahead on the score sheets with her clean forwards.

The quarter finals saw the demise of Laure Treboux (Fanatic / North) to the consistent Silvia Alba Orozco. Alba performed perfect forward loops and maximized her time on the waves throughout the heat and advanced into the semi -finals. The other pairing in the heat had another close battle but Iballa Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne) was displaying an incredible set of maneuvers and took down Eva Oude Ophius (Naish / Naish).

Next up, heat 22 saw Nayra Alonso (Fanatic / Severne) go about her exceptional wave riding to slay Alice Arutkin (Starboard / North) while Daida Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne) made her opening appearance on the 2011 tour. Daida burst into action with a stalled forward and continued with her rampage of mind-blowing moves throughout the heat securing her pass into the next round.

As much as Alonso and Alba Orozco tried to hold their ground, the Moreno twins ruled the semi-finals moving quickly from wave to wave and flying through their radical maneuvers. The pair took control on their home water and quickly guaranteed their position in the winner’s final.

Women’s Final

The Moreno twins have dominated the women’s fleet for the last decade, and their exceptional sailing made sure that 2011 was no different. Daida opened the heat with a colossal stalled forward however she was unable to hold the landing; Iballa quickly took advantage and landed her own. The sisters went from move to move in an attempt to outdo each other; however Daida looked to be the stronger of the two, working each wave all the way to the beach and making sure each tweaked move had maximal extension. Iballa took the moves up a notch and attempted the wave 360 to beat her sister; unfortunately she was unable to make it leaving the door open for Daida to claim the victory.

Men’s Fleet

The men’s single elimination picked up from heat 19, seeing big names Marcilio Browne (Fanatic / North / MFC), Brazil’s Kauli Seadi (JP / NeilPryde), Alex Mussolini (Tabou / Gaastra) and world champion Victor Fernandez Lopez (Fanatic / North) quickly make it through their heats and into the quarter finals.

With the ever mounting pressure the sailors turned the action up a notch, Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde) knew he had a challenge on his hands in order to make it past Pozo’s wonder kid Philip Koster (Starboard / NeilPryde / Dakine), as did Dario Ojeda (Simmer / Dakine / MFC) versus the mighty Ricardo Campello (JP / NeilPryde / MFC). Swift landed all his biggest moves; however he was no match for the consistent Koster, whilst Campello stole the show against Ojeda nailing a pushloop forward.

Browne stormed through the quarter finals, taking every opportunity to pull his super stylish backside 360’s and forward loops off the lip, ensuring he scored maximal point for his wave riding against his opponent Seadi, who was unable to match him. Fernandez Lopez put a stop to Mussolini’s winning streak defeating him with his slick wave riding and super tweaked table top forwards.

The semi-finals burst in to action with Koster, Browne and Fernandez launching into double forwards straight after the green flag. Campello missed the opening ramp however he quickly made up for it with the largest stalled double forward loop in the competition, he wowed the crowds with his incredible performance, however his board paid the price and snapped on impact with the water. Campello made a swift return to the beach to swap his equipment. The action continued through the heat seeing Koster land an ankle try pushloop forward and work his way around some smooth wave 360’s to secure his place in the winner’s final. Fernandez Lopez had his work cut out against Browne; however he was able to pull the win out the bag with his precise wave riding and clean table top forwards.

Men’s Final

The crowds were blown away by the radical action that arose from the men’s winners final as last year’s duo took to Pozo’s waves to do battle once again. Koster exploded out the gates and launched into a gigantic double forward loop in front of the judges, followed by a perfect pushloop forward and a one footed backloop seeing him earn his jumping scores within the first thirty seconds of the heat. Fernandez Lopez chose to work his wave riding and went about his super clean backside 360’s and smooth cut backs. The following minutes were a rollercoaster ride of emotions for the crowd, hooked on the action as the heat unfolded. The sailors matched each other with a perfect pair of super stalled forwards and both went down on their following waves. Fernandez Lopez looked to be struggling to land his double forward’s providing super consistent Koster with the advantage and the single elimination win.

The wind is forecast to build and build throughout the weekend, in order to take full advantage of the epic conditions that are expected, the skippers’ meeting will take place at 9am this morning with a first possible start to the double elimination at 9:30am.

Men’s single elimination results

1st Philip Koster (Starboard / NeilPryde / Dakine)

2nd Victor Fernandez Lopez (Fanatic / North / MFC)

3rd Ricardo Campello (JP / NeilPryde / MFC)

4th Marcilio Browne (Fanatic / North / MFC)

Women’s single elimination results

1st Daida Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne)

2nd Iballa Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne)

3rd Nayra Alonso (Fanatic / Severne)

4th Silvia Alba Orozco

Scope the action

For more information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with every piece of the action, click on www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our:

– Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

– Check live elimination ladders

– View results

– Read daily news summaries

– Browse awesome action photo galleries

– Follow the event live, with top class commentary from pros and industry insiders.

Current weather conditions for Pozo Izquierdo www.windfinder.com/forecast/pozo_izquierdo

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via [email protected]