The PWA’s premium crop of slalom, freestyle, and wave sailors descend on Sylt’s iconic sands for another year of spectacular multi-discipline competition!

Over a three hour period the world’s most talented windsurfers signed up to battle it out off the North Sea in Germany today. And, despite a fairly relaxed vibe currently flowing through the equipment tent, it wont be long before the sailors flip out of control as they fight it out in their respective disciplines.

With more technology than the Hubble Space Telescope, this year’s competition in Westerland will be more exciting to follow than ever before. Alongside all of our usual event features, the action will be streamed live with a broadcast on our home page, and every single slalom racer will be tracked via GPS as they speed their way round the racecourse.

The forecast looks promising for the week ahead with perfect conditions for the slalom and freestyle fleets, but the wave sailors may only have a very small window of opportunity unless a new front rolls in from the Atlantic, which is more than possible over the next nine days.

Throughout the course of the afternoon we took the opportunity to talk to some of the competitors towards the top of the rankings, along with the head judge, and the race director about the week ahead…

Current Tour Leader Women’s Waves – Daida Ruano Moreno (Starboard, Severne)

“Everyone’s been checking the weather forecasts and saying that it’s going to be onshore tomorrow morning and offshore all week, but with such a long holding period anything can happen – we’ve seen it change rapidly here before. So, I’m preparing all of my gear with sails from 5.0 right down to 3.3. Sylt’s always a great event for everyone so hopefully we’ll get some wind and waves at some point.”

Current No.2 Men’s Waves – Ricardo Campello (JP, NeilPryde, MFC)

“I’m glad to be back in Sylt for another year, and I hope that we have some good wind for slalom and freestyle, but personally I hope we don’t get any conditions for waves! It’s not that I don’t want to compete, but it would be much better for me in the race for the title because it would mean that no one would get a discard! But, whatever happens, happens… If we do get the conditions then I’ll try my best to stay in the top 3 overall. I’m going to compete in freestyle this week as well, and I’ll no doubt enjoy some Nutella crepes too!”

Current Tour Leader Men’s Slalom – Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde)

“My expectations here are for sure the same as all of the events I enter – I’ll try to win, and do my best. I hope we get some wind so that we can get plenty of races in, and I’ll try to get a good result in waves too if I can.”

Current Tour Leader Men’s Freestyle – Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic, North)

“I’m pleased to back here in Sylt for 2010. I really like the place, especially the crowds. I’ve already secured the title this year, but I’m looking forward to giving it my best shot at winning this contest too.”

PWA Race Director – Juan Antonio Aragon

“The forecast for this week’s racing is really promising. It’s not the best for the spectators on the beach due to the offshore direction which will mean the finish will be out to sea, but the live streaming should help with that! From my experience I think the conditions will be excellent for racing, which will be great for this event. Normally, due to the fact that we have 3 disciplines here, the racing isn’t the highest priority, but this week it looks like it could be the most spectacular show.

PWA Head Judge – Duncan Coombs

Talking about the wave competition:

“There’s a glimmer of hope for tomorrow morning with an early start and onshore winds with a 2.5m swell. The wind is forecast to swing side-shore and drop, so hopefully we’ll get a couple of rounds in before that happens. Then we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

Talking about freestyle competition:

“For the first part of the rest of the week it looks like we’ll get some cross-offshore winds from the right, which will bring cold weather with it, but it should be strong enough for freestyle.”

The spectacular opening ceremony went without a glitch, and the elimination ladders have been announced, so prepare yourself for an action packed week of windsurfing!

Keep in the groove

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:

• View the live streaming broadcast

• View the live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

• Check live elimination ladders

• Check results

• Read daily news summaries

• Browse awesome action photo galleries

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.windsurfworldcup.de

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

Photos: John Carter/PWA