Fuerte Grand Slam Freestyle
Saturday, 12th August at 11:03 am by Bubble
Simon, myself and Laure all competed in this event. We wrote daily reports on the action......
More photos can be found here .
Event Preview
Bubble and I arrived 1 week before the action kicked off for some much needed training at the event location.
Sotavento is at the Southern tip of Fuerteventura where the northerly wind howls over the sand dunes and across the water. We are not the only ones finding the conditions hard. It is super choppy and very gusty where the competition will be held. 100 % concentration is needed just to sail in a straight line, let alone pull off every trick!
It’s not just us that’s finding the conditions difficult, everyone is.
There are however some stand outs. The French boys, Tomas Traversa and Anthony Ruenes have their moments of magic and of course Ricardo Campello, Gollito, Kauli and the rest of the southern hemisphere crew are here to contest the title.
Day 1
After a couple of hours waiting for suitable conditions the competition finally got underway. The wind was quite gust but it was low tide so the water was pretty flat which made this a bit easier. The first rounds didn’t really see any great surprises; the usual suspects were advancing including Simon and myself. Simon was against Alex Sallehy from Catalunya and I was against Clay Finnies from Bonaire. To be honest neither of us sailed our best but luckily neither did the other guys!
The first upset of the day was three times world champion Ricardo Campello being knocked out by Tonky Frans in the second round. Maybe it had something to do with Ricardo’s mast going through the top of his sail but to be fair Tony was on fire and went all the way through to the final against Gollito from Margarita. I narrowly lost to Nick Warmuth from the States and Simon went out to Anxton Otaegui from Lanzarote.
The top 3 from today’s single elimination were Gollito Estredo, Tonky Frans and Kiri Thode. Taty Frans should definitely get a mention as he was the best today but a tuff heat against Gollito meant that Taty was out, but many of us feel that Taty was the winner.
After a half an hour break the double elimination got underway and it gave the guys that were knocked out in the early rounds a second chance. Luckily for me I somehow ended up with a bye into the second round while Simon ended up against young gun Sam Neal from the UK but unfortunately for Sam, Simon was on fire and advanced into the next round which was against me! Bugger! There is nothing worse than competing against your teammate and one of your best mates but it happens and we were both fairly relaxed about the whole thing, knowing that one of us would advance.
Today it seemed to be my day and unfortunately for Simon he crashed a lot of his moves meaning that I advanced into the next round against Leo Ray from France.
That was the end of the competition for today, we carry on tomorrow with the rest of the double elimination. As it stands at the moment Simon is 23rd and I am 17th. Stay tuned for another report tomorrow from windy Fuerte!
Day 2
The day opened with 4.7 weather and low tide which is the flattest and easiest state. Unfortunately the wind was very gusty and refused to stay stable enough to complete a full heat. Bubble pumped his way through 2 heats only for them to be cancelled after the buzzer. The third heat counted and although he had beaten Leo Ray in the 2 previous, he went down to the French man in the one that counted. This left us both watching the rest of the double elimination from the beach. The wind died shortly after and returned at 6pm. All the top boys put on an exceptional show. The sailor of the day was definitely Antxon who dispatched many of the top seeds.
There will definitely be a new World Champion for the first time in 3 years. Ricardo was beaten by Taty Frans who in my opinion is the best freestyler in the fleet at the moment.
Laure Treboux, another team member, fought through the double, beating many of the worlds top women freestylers. Today she faces Iballa on her way to the final.
All the action will unfold in the next single elimination today. Wish us luck……
Simon.
Day 3
What started out to be a good day very quickly turned in to the most windless day since I arrived! Simon and myself went out sailing at about 10.15 and we were nicely powered up on 4.7s. But you got the feeling that it wasn’t going to last and then at about 11.00 the wind started dropping and by 12.00 it had gone completely and even went onshore!
The rest of the day was spent sitting around on the beach, going on the Internet and watching videos! At about 5.30 the wind started to pick up and a few people were out sailing but the wind was still too gust to hold the competition. All the sailors were released at about 6.30 which was right on cue for the wind to pick up enough for a bit of late afternoon action from some of the sailors.
As far as the competition goes we are still trying to finish the first double elimination, we only need an hour of wind to finish it. After that we should be able to start a new single elimination, giving a few of us another chance to get back in. Ideally a second double elimination would be run, again giving a few of us another chance to move up the rankings.
The forecast at the moment is looking promising for today and the wind is already picking up so fingers crossed. The forecast for tomorrow is looking a lot better so hopefully we might get another double finished but at the moment its looking unlikely.
Stay tuned for more event news and action from Fuerte.
Cheers
Bubble
Day 4
Freestyle is alive and kicking!
Today saw some major upsets with many of the top names going down early. Unfortunately neither myself or Bubble managed to win a heat. I was taken down by Rossi (the tricktionary author). I had a reasonable heat but I crashed my shaka and 2 of the judges missed 2 of my switch tricks. Don’t think it would have helped much as he sailed well.
Bubble got a bye through the first heat again and came up against Kauli. It was very close and bubble sailed a blinder but Kauli won.
This left us on the beach watching some amazing heats with upwards of 20 moves in each! Antxon was again the star of the day and went on to beat Gollito in the final with a massive Air Chachoo to finish.
The other story to note was Laure. She fought her way through the rest of the double to face Daida after a controversial decision went her way against Sylvia Alba. Laure came out all guns blazing and put together the perfect heat including a stylish clew first, switch stance spock 540. The beach went wild as she beat the world champion. In the single to follow she did it again, this time landing a perfect, high flaka. She then went on to face Sarah Quita who made combinations such as eslider into eslider, flakas and a good puneta. Laure is now in a well deserved second and the Spanish girls are fuming!!!!
I kick off against Frank Diaz in the double (a tough one!) and Bubble has one of the British young guns.
It’s not over yet!
Keep Reading,
Simon
Final Day
The windiest day of the contest so far! This was an action packed day of competition with more big names going down and its fair share of controversy.
I was to face Frank Diaz, a seasoned competitor and good sailor. I felt I could win and went out with confidence. Unfortunately I crashed my first switch trick. I then pulled it back with a decent shaka and some switch combinations only to crash a spock and a funnel on the buzzer. I was confident that I had won the heat though as he only did easy moves such as grubbies and spocks. He did however make a ponch right on the beach in front of the judges which apparently tipped the balance in his favour. The beach all thought I’d won on technical difficulty but the judges gave it to him. So that left me out in the first round of the final double leaving me in 31st. I am gutted again. Competition is obviously not for me but now I’m going to have to train hard for the British Freestyle Champs in Poole. I did share 31st with other good names such as Colin Sifferlen (previous King of the Lake!) a small consolation.
Bubble sailed well this day and beat one of the British Young guns, then Colin Sifferlen and the came up against Ricardo. Although the world champion has not been on form (only placing 8th in the comp) and the heat was very close, Ricardo won. Bubble put up a great performance and was unlucky not to land a couple of his moves. He finished in a well deserved 17th place.
Laure had to sit on the beach and wait for the winning girl in the double. It was of course Daida Moreno who had gone mental when Laure beat her twice previously. She received a fine for unsportsmanlike conduct for her trouble. She has been winning for years and now she seems a little bit unsettled by the recent form of the new girls such as Sarah-Quita and Laure. It was very windy for the show down and the conditions really suited Daida. She made a flaka, and some impressive forward combos. This meant that she advanced to take on Sarah. Luckily Sarah held onto her 1st place. Laure then lost to Daida again for 2nd position leaving Laure in a very respectable 3rd for the event. She is now 2nd Overall in womens freestyle!
The guys freestyle was incredible again. Taty didn’t sail so well and the event belonged to Gollito. Unfortunately Antxon broke his foot in the warm up and was unable to carry on. He still finished in 3rd place. Well done mate!
The event party went off from what we can remember!
Thanks to everyone who supported and followed us along the way.
See you all at Club Dahab.
Simon.