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Sarah-Quita Offringa on verge of 9th freestyle world crown after seeing off stern challenge of Maaike Huvermann.

The penultimate day of the freestyle in Fuerteventura saw a much quieter day of action with the wind proving to be too gusty to make for a fair competition. However, for a brief period during the afternoon the wind stabilized allowing the second women’s single elimination to be completed as Sarah-Quita Offringa took another step towards the world title.

Women’s Single Elimination II - Winners’ Final

Maaike Huvermann lined up against Sarah-Quita Offringa in a repeat of yesterday’s final and the two women, who occupy the top two places in the current event rankings, produced another entertaining battle. Huvermann has grown in confidence throughout the event and she led the opening half of the final with a combination of flakas on both tacks, a big forward and an excellent regular kono to put Offringa under some pressure. With 8 freestyle world titles to her name, Sarah-Quita Offringa responded like the champion she is landing a powerful ponch and stylish shaka before clinching her third victory of the week with a perfectly executed culo, which puts her on the verge of a 9th world title.

Women’s Single Elimination II - Losers’ Final

The battle for third and fourth saw Oda Johanne take on Arrianne Aukes and it was the Norwegian who came out on top to reaffirm her 3rd place in the event rankings. The heat proved to be quite an even affair with both of them matching each other move for move, until Johanne found a moment of inspiration as she landed a superb shaka to secure the victory.

During the afternoon many of the sailors decided to go for a free sail, but with the conditions failing to improve to a suitable level they were released shortly before 6 PM.

The forecast for tomorrow looks similar to today and the Calima is expected to worsen overnight, which could make completing any further freestyle tricky. The sailors will meet again tomorrow morning at 10 AM skippers’ meeting — with the action commencing from 10:30 AM (GMT+1) if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the amazing action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Women’s Freestyle Current Ranking - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa2nd Maaike Huvermann3rd Oda Johanne4th Arrianne Aukes5th Maxime van Gent

Men’s Freestyle Current Ranking - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Amado Vrieswijk2nd Yentel Caers3rd Gollito Estredo4th Dieter Van der Eyken5th Phil Soltysiak

Day 3: Vrieswijk fights back while Sarah-Quita shines once more

Day 3 of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam — sponsored and organised by René Egli — saw the wind continue to produce the third consecutive day of explosive freestyle, which saw the men’s and women’s double eliminations completed. Sarah-Quita Offringa was able to successfully defend her single elimination crown and she is now a major step closer to an incredible 9th freestyle world title — 11th overall — while Amado Vrieswijk fought back in the double to overhaul Yentel Caers and take control of the current men’s ranking.

Women’s Double Elimination

Maaike Huvermann may have been disappointed with her result and performance yesterday, but today she can be extremely proud of the day she sailed. The 18 year old came out with all guns blazing as she won five heats on the bounce today, and six overall in the double elimination. Huvermann, who finished 3rd overall last year, landed anything from flakas and shakas to spocks and grubbys, and as her confidence grew she even busted out regular konos to firstly defeat Lene Kyte before also clinically dispatching of Birgit Rieger, Olya Raskina, Maxime van Gent and Arrianne Aukes before clinching victory against Oda Johanne in a fiercely fought battle.

Women’s Double Elimination - Winners' Final

After storming back through the double Huvermann had earned the opportunity to take on Sarah-Quita Offringa in the winners’ final and she put on a bold show. Huvermann made a flying start to the heat as she landed a fully planing regular kono and she soon backed it up with a big forward — having only learnt to forward yesterday — while also attempting a culo. For a while Huvermann led the heat, but SQ soon re-assumed the lead with a combination of a stylish shaka, perfect culo and a powerful ponch, before also landing a burner, shaka360 and a double puneta to extend her unbeaten run — which currently stretches to 8 years.

Women’s Single Elimination II

In the afternoon the second single elimination began, but couldn't quite be completed as conditions deteriorated during the evening. However, Huvermann and Offringa will line up once more after successfully navigating their way into the winners’ final after defeating Johanne and Aukes in the semifinals.

Men’s Double Elimination

Amado Vrieswijk faced Jose Gollito Estredo in the battle for 2nd and 3rd place, while fighting for the opportunity to take on Yentel Caers to steal his single elimination crown. The heat between Vrieswijk and Gollito proved to be one of the heats of the day with sailors both going massive. However, it was Vrieswijk, who managed to gain the upper hand with a combination of shiftys, paskos, spock culos and a brilliant backloop. Gollito nailed a pushloop off flat water and an air kabikuchi, but crucially he used his final move on port tack to try and follow suit after Vrieswijk’s backloop, but couldn’t emulate his effort. Having reached 7 moves on port, the 6-time world champion then went onto land a radical shifty, but unfortunately it didn’t count due to his score sheet being complete already.

Men’s Double Elimination - Winners' Final & Super Final

Having defeated Gollito, Vrieswijk, came out even more pumped it against Caers knowing that he had a shot at his first double elimination victory. The Bonairean came mighty close in Austria — forcing a super final, but eventually lost out. However, he wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip through his fingers again and the 20 year old continued his blistering form to force a super final after a close heat against Caers.

With adrenaline levels still running high, Vrieswijk once again produced a masterclass of freestyle as he quickly racked up an amazing shifty, pasko, clean kabikuchi and a superb planing double culo to really put the pressure on Caers. The Belgian produced a few stunning moves, but he couldn’t quite replicate the form he showed in the prior heat or day.

Dieter van der Eyken was visually disappointed with his display yesterday, but he’ll feel much better after today’s performance, which saw the reigning event and world champion rise to 4th in Fuerteventura after winning seven heats on the bounce. The Belgian rediscovered the form which saw him earn top honors last year with a combination of spock culos, kabikuchis and massive skopus on the outside as he took down Francesco Cappuzzo, Balz Müller, Kiri Thode, Nico Akgazciyan and Phil Soltysiak before he pushed Gollito all the way, but he eventually just missed out.

Men’s Single Elimination II

The first round of the men’s second round was also completed and so far all the names you would expect to progress have escaped unscathed.

The forecast predicts lighter winds for tomorrow, but there is still the possibility of more action with the gradient wind in the correct direction for the local thermal to kick in. The sailors will meet again tomorrow morning at 10 AM skippers’ meeting — with the action commencing from 10:30 AM (GMT+1) if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the amazing action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Result Women's Double Elimination - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa2nd Maaike Huvermann3rd Oda Johanne4th Arrianne Aukes5th Maxime van Gent

Result Men's Double Elimination - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Amado Vrieswijk2nd Yentel Caers3rd Gollito Estredo4th Dieter Van der Eyken5th Phil Soltysiak6th Nico Akgazciyan7th Taty Frans7th Kiri Thode9th Jacopo Testa9th Tonky Frans9th Steven Van Broeckhoven9th Balz Müller

Day 2: A new name emerges at the top of the men’s freestyle, while Sarah-Quita continues to dominate

Day two of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam — sponsored by René Egli — saw the howling winds continue to produce another frantic day of freestyle. Sarah-Quita Offringa stomped her authority in the women’s fleet to claim an emphatic victory, while a new name emerged at the top of the men’s freestyle with Yentel Caers claiming victory in the single elimination in his maiden winners’ final.

Women’s Single Elimination - Winners’ Final

Oda Johanne booked her place in the final as she defeated Maxime van Gent in the semifinals with a proficient display of sailing. However, the Norwegian beauty then faced the ominous task of trying to overhaul Sarah-Quita Offringa in the winners’ final. Offringa, who hasn’t been beaten in 8 years, looked in imperious form in her earlier heats and the Aruban gem continued her magnificent display in the final to once again stomp her authority as the undisputed Queen of Freestyle. On her way to victory Offringa landed anything from shakas and bobs to radical skopus and burners and it’s almost impossible to see anyone knocking her off her pedestal at the top of the current event rankings — quite simply Offringa was in a league of her own.

In the battle for 3rd and 4th, Maxime van Gent, who earlier defeated Maaike Huvermann much to her delight, took on Arrianne Aukes, who was looking to return to the podium and that’s exactly what the 29 year old managed to do with a combination of flakas, punetas and funnels and she will now look to, at least defend her position in the double elimination, while setting Johanne in her sights.

Women's Double Elimination

The opening 3 heats of the women’s double elimination were also completed and so far the sailors you would expect to advance have with Olya Raskina, Yoli Freites de Brendt, Birgit Rieger and Maaike Huvermann all progressed.

Men’s Single Elimination

Yentel Caers and Amado Vrieswijk have frequently been drawn on the same side of the draw — usually resulting in one of them knocking each other out. However, the single elimination here saw them on different sides of the draw and both sailors took full advantage as they progressed into the winners’ final. On Caers’ route to the final the Belgian firstly defeated Antony Ruenes today, followed by Nicolas Akgazciyan and Philip Soltysiak. Meanwhile, Vrieswijk took down Balz Müller before defeating Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo in one of the heats of the day.

Men’s Single Elimination - Winners’ Final

Caers may have never qualified for a final in his life, but he thrived under the opportunity who had deservedly earned and continued to impress with his powerful style in the final. The 21 year old made the slower start to the showdown, with Vrieswijk landing an absolutely amazing shifty bolt upright but he gathered momentum as the final progressed as he landed a radical pasko, double burner, kabikuchi and even a brilliant air chachoo. Vrieswijk also racked up the moves with a kabikuchi of his own, a spock culo, double culo and also a perfectly executed backloop, but crucially the Bonairean was missing a counting move on port tack with the best 4 moves from 7 to count on each tack. However, it would still have been an extremely tall order to overhaul Caers, who eventually won the final by 19.4 points as the new generation start to rise to the top of the rankings.

Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo, narrowly missed out on a place in the winners’ final, but he put any disappointment behind him to ensure he claimed 3rd place by winning the losers’ final. The 6-time world champion faced Philip Soltysiak, who will be delighted with his performance today after clinching 4th place in the single elimination and was leading much of the heat until Gollito landed a couple of big moves in the latter stages of the heat.

Men’s Double Elimination

Steven Van Broeckhoven was the name everyone was watching in the double elimination as the 2011 PWA Freestyle World Champion began to attempt his comeback through the double after being knocked out by Kiri Thode in the second round of the single. The Belgian has now won four consecutive heats after ending the hopes of Cheppi Gustowski, Antoine Albert, Antony Ruenes and Mattia Fabrizi and he will now have the chance to exact revenge against Thode in Heat 45A.

The biggest shock of the day was perhaps Davy Scheffers being defeated by Max Matissek meaning the very talented Dutchman finishes last in the opening double elimination. Matissek was then defeated by Max Rowe in the next round.

Mattia Fabrizi enjoyed a fine day with the Italian knocking out fellow teammate Adrien Bosson — who finished 3rd in Austria — in Heat 40B with a sick burner and spock culo inflicting the damage.

Sam Esteve pushed Dieter van der Eyken all the way in the final heat of round 3, with the young Frenchman producing a fantastic array of moves on starboard tack — including a sick air skopu — but he couldn't quite match his performance on port, after Dieter van der Eyken sailed a solid heat.

The final heat of the day saw the legendary brothers — Tonky and Taty Frans — progress into Round 5 of the double elimination after defeating Youp Schmit and Jeremy Pluss respectively.

The forecast for tomorrow looks lighter than today, but there should still be more than enough wind to continue the freestyle. The sailors will meet again tomorrow morning at 10 AM skippers’ meeting — with the action commencing from 10:30 AM (GMT+1). Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the amazing action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Result Women's Single Elimination - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa2nd Oda Johanne3rd Arrianne Aukes4th Maxime van Gent5th Jazzy Zwerus5th Birgit Rieger 5th Yoli de Brendt5th Maaike Huvermann

Result Men's Single Elimination - Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:

1st Yentel Caers2nd Amado Vrieswijk3rd Gollito Estredo4th Phil Soltysiak 5th Balz Müller5th Kiri Thode5th Nico Akgazciyan

Day 1: Fuerte lives up to its reputation to provide a day of full power explosive freestyle

Fuerteventura lived up to its reputation on the opening day to deliver a showing of world class freestyle in winds in excess of 40 knots. With the elite of the world’s freestylers on display there was plenty of radical action consisting of the latest power and combination moves as well as an extensive array of jumping, while the howling winds and choppy waters made things extremely challenging leading to a few, inevitable, big crashes. By the end of the first day just over half the men’s single elimination and the opening round of the women’s single has been completed.

Women’s Single Elimination

The opening women’s heat saw Olya Raskina in action against Maxime van Gent and Lisa Kloster versus Birgit Rieger. Raskina, who was making her first appearance since 2014 didn’t produce her best heat and a result took an early exit and van Gent linked together the moves necessary to advance, while Rieger used her competition experience to defeat Kloster, who was making her debut on the world tour.

Heat 19 saw Arrianne Aukes take on 14 year old Alexa Escherich and Aukes produced a professional display to safely advance into the next round where she will now face Yoli Freites de Brendt, who easily dispatched of Stefania Fumagalli on the b-side of the draw.

The final women’s heat of the day saw Jazzy Zwerus negotiate her way past Lene Kyte to set up a tie against the 8-time freestyle world champion — Sarah-Quita Offringa.

Men’s Single Elimination

The opening round of the men’s single elimination saw the 2011 world champion — Steven Van Broeckhoven — in action after the Belgian missed last year’s contest due to injury. As you’d expect Van Broeckhoven had no problems advancing as he ended Loick Spicher’s hopes.

The remainder of the opening round all went to plan for most sailors, except Max Matissek with the Austrian suffering a slightly surprising defeat to Marco Vinante, who sailed an excellent heat. Meanwhile, Tony Mottus, sailed through the pain barrier, after dislocating his toe earlier this week, to knock out Yuma Kobayashi.

The second round saw the top seeds in action for the first time and most survived unscathed. However, there was one major upset as Davy Scheffers suffered a defeat at the hands of Francesco Cappuzzo. The 19 year old Italian was in fine form in the challenging conditions landing one-handed ponches and a spock into culo, which was the best of the bunch. The b-side of Heat 15B saw a very close battle between Phil Soltysiak and Max Rowe with the two sailors matching each other move for move throughout the heat. However, Soltysiak just managed to gain the upper hand towards the end of the heat to progress.

The biggest battle of Round 2 saw two former world champions going head-to-head as Steven Van Broeckhoven faced Kiri Thode in Heat 12B. Both sailors pulled off some exceptional moves with Van Broeckhoven landing a double burner, but he met an on fire Thode who stomped a sick air skopu and a double air funnel diablo to advance into the last 16. The Bonairean then produced the highest scoring heat of the day against Julien Mas amassing a huge 120.9 points with a stunning performance and he clearly means business after a slightly slower start to the year in Austria than usual.

Reigning world champion — Dieter van der Eyken — looked sharp in his sole performance of the day against Tony Mottus. The Belgian excels in tricky conditions and today was no different as he landed spock culos, skopus and a radical air skopu on the way out, which is extremely difficult here. Dieter van der Eyken will now face Jacopo Testa.

Balz Müller continued his fine start to the season as he ended the hopes of Taty Frans in the opening heat of the third round. Müller’s radical and fearless approach once again proved popular, with both the crowd and the judges, and the Swiss will now face Amado Vrieswijk in Heat 21A after the Bonairean came out on top against fellow countryman Youp Schmit.

Six time freestyle world champion — Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo — looked on song in both of the heats he sailed today as he firstly ended the hopes of Mattia Fabrizi before also conquering Tonky Frans in what proved to be one of the most entertaining heats of the day with both sailors throwing themselves into big stalled forwards, air chachoos and backloops. However, Tonky, will now have to wait until the double elimination to try and exact revenge.

Elsewhere, Yentel Caers, produced a powerful display to knock out Adrian Beholz and he’ll be one to watch again tomorrow after being one of the standout sailors of the day. Next up he will face Antony Ruenes, who dispatched of Jeremy Plüss, and the Frenchman was still able to land a trademark no-handed burner — even in the nuclear winds, while fellow countrymen Adrien Bosson and Nicolas Akgazciyan are also in the last 16 after claiming victories over Giovanni Passani and Nic Hibdige, respectively.

The forecast predicts excellent conditions again tomorrow with the trademark strong winds and swell still present, which should see the single eliminations completed in spectacular conditions. With this in mind the skippers’ meeting has been called for 9 AM — with the action commencing from 9:30 AM (GMT+1). Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow the amazing action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

- Text and Pictures by PWA World Tour.com / Chris Yates & John Carter -