Ten epic days which sees Sylt deliver results in every discipline

The 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam saw an epic 10 day of action as results were gained in all three disciplines — making this year’s addition one of the most successful in recent years as the men's slalom, men's and women's wave title races continued to gather pace, while the 2016 PWA Men's Freestyle Champion was crowned after a dramatic final day.

Women’s Wave

The women’s title race once again looks as though it’s going to go all the way between Iballa Moreno and Daida Moreno after another all Moreno Twins final in Sylt. Daida came into the third event of the year leading the title race, but victory for Iballa here sees the twins tied on 6,234 points with Iballa edging ahead on count-back — having won the last two events. The title race is balanced on a knife-edge with two events to go.

Sarah-Quita Offringa fought off Amanda Beenen in the losers’ final to claim her second wave event podium of the season, which sees Offringa consolidate her place in the current top 3 with her advantage extending over Beenen in 4th.

Men’s Wave

With Germany’s very own Philip Köster forced to retire for the season through injury, Alex Mussolini came into the event as current world tour leader — Victor Fernandez’s closest rival. Mussolini had experienced the taste of victory in Sylt in 2009 and after defeating his good friend Thomas Traversa in the winners’ final, the Spaniard was once again standing proudly at the top of the podium.

Mussolini’s success here keeps the pressure firmly on Fernandez, who sees his lead at the top of the rankings reduced for the first time this season after finishing 4th. However, the former world champion is still in the driving seat with two events to go as he looks to add to his sole world title in 2010.

After finishing 2nd Traversa rises to 4th in the overall rankings from 6th, while Jaeger Stone returns to the overall top 3 after defeating Fernandez here to claim the final place on the podium. Stone was slightly aggrieved with his narrow 0.13 point defeat to Traversa in the semifinals, but is still in an excellent position as the season heads towards its climax — particularly if he can discard his 7th place finish in the next event when the discard comes into play.

Local boy, Klaas Voget recorded his best result of the season so far as he fought his way into joint 5th alongside — Kenneth Danielsen, Robby Swift and Dany Bruch, who suffered a buzzer beater at the hands of Fernandez, with the Spaniard sneaking through the quarterfinals with his last minute wave.

Men’s Freestyle

Heading into the final day Amado Vrieswijk already had one hand on his first world title after a tremendous display in the single elimination, which saw the 20 year old claim an emphatic victory with double air culos and air kabikuchis making him look unstoppable.

However, on the last day the wind arrived and Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo had clearly not given up hope of overturning the deficit. The 6-time world champion drew upon all of his experience to produce an inspired display, which forced the title race into a Super Final, with the winner ultimately being crowned the champion of the world. The pressure was unfathomable on the beach, but it’s in this sort of environment that Gollito really comes into his own and Venezuelan produced another brilliant performance to deny Vrieswijk, while securing an incredible 7th world title.

Vrieswijk maybe a little disappointed to have missed out on this occasion, but it looks as though there will be plenty of opportunities in the future as the Bonairean continues to emerge as one of the most exciting talents in the sport.

Yentel Caers may have only just completed his second full season on tour, but the Belgian is another sailor with an incredibly bright future. The 21 year old ends 2016 in 3rd place overall — his first top 10 finish — and he looks set to be one of the top title challengers in years to come.

Last year’s world champion Dieter Van der Eyken finishes 2016 in 4th place overall, while Canada’s Phil Soltysiak records the best result of his career in 5th.

Caers is not the only new addition to the overall top 10 as the same is also true for Balz Müller and Adrien Bosson, who finish the season in 6th and 7th place respectively — with the Frenchman completing the podium here with a fine display, which saw him claim impressive victories over Caers and Van der Eyken on the final day.

This year's overall top 10 is completed by 2011 world champion Steven Van Broeckhoven, Taty Frans and Nicolas Akgazciyan.

Men’s Slalom

Matteo Iachino was in a league of his own as the Italian destroyed the rest of the field to record 3 bullets and a 2nd place in the 4 races completed. The 26 year old's latest performance has seen him increase his lead at the top of the rankings over Pierre Mortefon who could only muster a 9th place here. Iachino held the lead going into the final event of last year and he will be in the same position again with just one event to go in 2016, but he will be hoping for a different outcome this time around. Mortefon still has a shot at the title, but Iachino now has a little bit more room for error in France.

Ross Williams continues to hold 3rd place in the overall rankings, but has seen his advantage over Julien Quentel reduced after Quentel pipped the Brit to the final place on the podium here. The battle for the last place on the prestigious overall podium should see a nail-biting showdown with just one place separating the two sailors.

Gonzalo Costa Hoevel and Finian Maynard both recorded their best results this season with the Argentinian taking home 2nd place, which sees him rise to 7th in the overalls, while Maynard claimed 5th place. Meanwhile, Bruno Martini and Marco Lang achieved the best results of their careers so far with Martini finishing in 6th place, while Lang secured 7th — with a 2nd place in the second race proving pivotal in the Austrian’s success.

Foiling

Antoine Albeau had a rare event to forget in the slalom, but he softened the blow slightly by winning the exhibition foiling contest ahead of Gonzalo Costa Hoevel and Sebastian Kornum.

Where’s Next on the PWA World Tour?

The wave and slalom fleets will be returning to action in La Torche, France, between the 20th - 30th October. The wave fleet will take centre stage on the opening five days in their penultimate event of the year, while the men’s slalom world champion will be decided during the following five days. La Torche produced epic conditions two years ago and hopefully, it can produce world class conditions again. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

The last day of the 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam saw a dramatic finale as the men’s freestyle title race took a last minute turn, with an early flutter of wind allowing the double elimination to be completed, against the odds.

Men’s Freestyle

Amado Vrieswijk came into the final day leading the event — putting him within touching distance of his first world crown. However, standing in his way was the formidable figure of 6-time freestyle world champion Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo, who was in inspired form today.

At the start of the day, Gollito knew that he would need to defeat Vrieswijk twice in order to regain the world title, but first of all he had to earn the right to face Vrieswijk again, which he duly did by defeating Adrien Bosson in Heat 50.

In the final, Gollito continued to impress and he ensured the title race went the full distance with a radical display, which was capped off with an absolutely amazing air chachoo and a clean backloop.

The wind then began to drop leaving some uncertainty whether it would be possible to complete the last heat. The initial attempt to run the super final resulted in a cancellation, so the heat was extended to 12 minutes and thankfully the wind returned to provide a grandstand finale. Both sailors threw down some amazing manoeuvres — from air chachoos to air kabikuchis and backloops — but ultimately it was Gollito who edged the duel to complete a stunning comeback — earning the Venezuelan an incredible 7th freestyle world crown.

Gollito drew upon all of his experience today and once again showed that he is an incredible competitor, who excels under pressure — further reinstating his reputation as the King of Freestyle. Gollito was understandably emotional after winning another world title and added: “Last night I didn’t really think that I’d be world champion today, but I just went to bed early and just thought let's see what happens. To have won my 7th world title is amazing. I can’t believe it. Thanks to all my sponsors, to Matthias for organising the event and of course my friends and family.”

Earlier in the day Adrien Bosson climbed up to 3rd place in the double elimination after claiming impressive victories against Yentel Caers, who completes this year’s overall podium, and Dieter Van der Eyken.

At 3:30 PM the prize giving ceremony was held as the champions of the event were crowned in front of a packed out crowd — bringing down the curtain on what has been a fantastic 10 days with results across all three disciplines being gained.

Result 2016 Mercedes-Benz​ Sylt PWA Grand Slam — Men’s Freestyle

1st Gollito Estredo2nd Amado Vrieswijk3rd Adrien Bosson4th Dieter Van der Eyken5th Yentel Caers

Overall Ranking 2016 Men's PWA Freestyle World Championship:

1st Gollito Estredo2nd Amado Vrieswijk3rd Yentel Caers4th Dieter Van der Eyken5th Philip Soltysiak6th Balz Müller7th Adrien Bosson8th Steven Van Broeckhoven9th Taty Frans10th Nicolas Akgazciyan

Result 2016 Mercedes-Benz​ Sylt PWA Grand Slam - Men's Slalom

1st Matteo Iachino2nd Gonzalo Costa Hoevel3rd Julien Quentel4th Ross Williams5th Finian Maynard6th Bruno Martini7th Marco Lang8th Vincent Langer9th Pierre Mortefon10th Taty Frans

Result 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam — Women’s Wave

1st Iballa Moreno2nd Daida Moreno3rd Sarah-Quita Offringa4th Amanda Beenen5th Lina Erpenstein5th Alice Arutkin5th Steffi Wahl5th Justyna Sniady

Result 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam — Men’s Wave

1st Alex Mussolini2nd Thomas Traversa3rd Jaeger Stone4th Victor Fernandez5th Robby Swift5th Kenneth Danielsen5th Klaas Voget5th Dany Bruch

After a frustrating day, which saw countless cancellations due to the unstable nature of the wind, the final four heats of Elimination 4 were eventually completed in the early evening, bringing the discard into play for the slalom fleet.

Men’s Slalom Elimination 4 - Winners’ Final

Heat 16 had to be cancelled on the first attempt due to a shift in the wind making it impossible for the sailors to make the first mark. Upon the restart, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel made the best start, but it was his teammate Matteo Iachino who stole the lead from Finian Maynard after the first mark with an amazing gybe. However, unlike the previous three races, Iachino didn’t disappear into the distance as Costa Hoevel battled back to earn his first bullet of the season, which sees the Argentinian rise from 4th to 2nd in the event rankings. Meanwhile, Iachino secured 2nd place, which he can discard, while Maynard recorded his best result of the season with 3rd. Behind the top three, Julien Quentel once again fought his way back through the fleet as he overtook three people at the second buoy with a great gybe to take 4th — this leaves Quentel in 3rd overall at the moment with Ross Williams being relegated to 4th as things stand heading into the final day.

Cyril Moussilmani secured a decisive victory in Heat 15 to finish 9th overall in Race 4 ahead of Pierre Mortefon, Jordy Vonk and Marco Lang.

Pierre Mortefon would have been hoping to use this race to discard one of his previous results but unfortunately for the Frenchman, in the second semifinal Taty Frans seemed to gybe into the back of him at the first mark causing Mortefon to stall and ultimately miss out on a place in the winners’ final with Frans securing 4th place. As the two sailors crossed the line Mortefon’s emotions were evident with plenty of shouting, but he remains 9th in the rankings here.

After the racing had been finished a conch blowing contest was hosted by Brian Talma with Barbados, who sponsor the event giving away a trip to Barbados. Graham Ezzy, Leon Jamaer and Klaas Voget all competed, but it is Voget who walks away with the free trip.

The forecast for tomorrow shows the chance of there being wind early in the morning with 18-19 knots from the north-north-east being predicted. With this in mind the freestyle fleet will meet at 8 AM tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 8:30 AM — the slalom fleet will meet at 10 AM with a first possible start at 11 AM (GMT+1). Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Current Ranking 2016 Mercedes-Benz​ Sylt PWA Grand Slam - Men's Slalom - After 4 Races

1st Matteo Iachino2nd Gonzalo Costa Hoevel3rd Julien Quentel4th Ross Williams5th Finian Maynard6th Bruno Martini7th Marco Lang8th Vincent Langer9th Pierre Mortefon10th Taty Frans

Day 8 of the 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam saw flukey winds, but for a couple of hours there was enough breeze to resume the fourth elimination of the slalom — allowing a further 12 heats to be completed before the conditions deteriorated meaning the discard doesn’t come into play quite yet.

Men’s Slalom - Elimination 4

The majority of the top seeds safely negotiated their way into the quarterfinals, but youth world champion Tristan Algret and Arnon Dagan failed to qualify from Heats 6 and 8 respectively.

Reigning world champion Antoine Albeau won his second round heat, but was then knocked out in the quarterfinals after he finished 6th in Heat 11. Albeau was clearly frustrated after struggling to leave the opening gybe, but the wind was deemed to be suitable — meaning the event went from bad to worse for the 23-time world champion as he has only qualified for one winners’ final, which leaves Albeau in a lowly 19th place.

Elsewhere, current event and world tour leader — Matteo Iachino — escaped a spot of bother in Heat 12 after finding himself out of the top 4 as they rounded the opening buoy. However, the Italian soon maneuvered his way through the fleet to secure 3rd place, while Jordy Vonk, Pierre Mortefon and Pascal Toselli all advanced to the semifinals as well.

After the completion of Heat 12 the wind dropped and after several hours spent on hold the sailors were released at 4:30 PM. The northeasterly winds continue tomorrow and there should be more racing on offer. Skippers’ meeting for all fleets will be held at 10 AM with a first possible start of 10:30 AM for the wave/freestyle and 11 AM (GMT+1) for the slalom. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

The mercury plummeted on Day 7 of the Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam, making today as much of a battle against the cold and it was against each other for the competitors. Despite, the bone numbing wind chill the freestyle fleet still produced an impressive display and now only the top five sailors remain in the contest, as unfortunately, the wind dropped before the double could be completed.

Men’s Freestyle - Double Elimination

Mattia Fabrizi produced a stunning comeback in the double elimination, which saw the Italian win five heats on the bounce. Fabrizi won his first two heats in the double two days ago, so his first victim today was Youp Schmit, before he won an incredibly close battle against fellow Italian Jacopo Testa — with a radical air chachoo proving pivotal. The 24 year old then defeated Nicolas Akgazciyan before Balz Müller brought his comeback to an end — leaving Fabrizi in 7th place for the double.

Steven Van Broeckhoven looked to be inspired form in his opening heats today and the Belgian produced the highest scoring heat of the day — 113.5 points — in Heat 40A against Taty Frans landing the move of the day with an outstanding air kabikuchi. However, Van Broeckhoven then met his match against Philip Soltysiak in Heat 45A as the Canadian produced a performance mixed with a blend of style and diversity. Just over a point separated the two sailors and crucially the 2011 world champion landed an air bob outside the competition area, which could have made all the difference.

Davy Scheffers bounced back from a disappointing performance in Fuerteventura by returning to the top ten here. Scheffers is one of the few sailors in the world who has starboard tack paskos in his repertoire and he used them to full effect to defeat teammates Nic Hibdige and Antony Ruenes.

However, Scheffers then met Yentel Caers and the young Belgian edged a tight battle to set up a tie against Soltysiak, which he was also able to win with his powerful approach and height impressing the judges. Caers then ended the hopes of his good friend Balz Müller and the pressure is now off the 21 year old as his place on the overall podium is guaranteed, which is Caers’ best result of his career so far. The Belgian will now face Adrien Bosson in the battle for 4th and 5th — with the winner going on to face Dieter Van der Eyken in Heat 49.

The winner of Heat 49 will then face Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo who must win in order to keep his title chances alive. Otherwise, Amado Vrieswijk will officially be the 2016 PWA Freestyle World Champion. If Gollito manages to advance then the 6-time freestyle world champion will have to defeat, Vrieswijk, twice in order to deny the Bonairean.

The forecast for tomorrow looks slightly lighter than today with 17-20 knots on offer, so all fleets will meet at 10 AM tomorrow morning for the skippers’ meeting — with the action commencing from 10:30 AM for the waves/freestyle and 11 AM (GMT+1) for the slalom. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Current Ranking 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam — Men’s Freestyle Double Elimination:

1st Amado Vrieswijk2nd Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo3rd Dieter Van der Eyken4th Adrien Bosson5th Yentel Caers6th Balz Müller 7th Philip Soltysiak7th Matti Fabrizi

After a frustrating start to Day 6 of the Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam, the wind eventually stabilized and filled in to provide an excellent afternoon of racing in 10-16 knots — allowing a further two races to be completed.

Title Race

Matteo Iachino further reinstated his title winning credentials today with the Italian destroying the field again to complete a superb hat-trick. This deservedly gives him a commanding lead at the top of the event rankings — with Julien Quentel 8.9 points behind in 2nd place. This swings the title race further in Iachino’s favour with his main rival Pierre Mortefon currently back in 9th place after a disastrous day, which saw the Frenchman miss out on both winners’ finals. Mortefon hasn’t finished outside the top 4 so far this season, so could discard this result if required, but he will be determined to reduce the deficit over the next 4 days with a windy forecast to come.

Men’s Slalom Elimination 2 - Winners’ Final

Marco Lang and Matteo Iachino made the best starts to Heat 16, and it was the Italian who held the lead as they entered the first gybe ahead of Lang and Ross Williams. Like yesterday, Iachino continued to extend his advantage over the remainder of the course and he was soon claiming clinical back-to-back victories to take command of the event. Meanwhile, Lang, held his nerve to secure the best result of his career in 2nd followed by Gonzalo Costa Hoevel and Bruno Martini who also recorded his best result in 4th. Williams dropped a gybe to slip out of the top 3 and to add insult to injury Julien Quentel finished one place ahead of him, which could yet prove pivotal in the stakes for a place on the overall podium.

In the opening quarterfinal, Quentel produced an amazing comeback. The man from Saint Maarten collided with Kurosh Kiani at the first mark, but somehow managed to fight his way back into the top 4 to book his place in the semifinals alongside Jordy Vonk, Arnon Dagan and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel.

Men's Slalom Elimination 3 - Winners’ Final

It was that man again — Matteo Iachino — who made the best start and he bagged the lead as they rounded the first buoy once again. However, he didn’t have things all his own way, this time around with Taty Frans and Vincent Langer putting him under heavy pressure on the 2nd and 3rd reaches. However, Iachino remained cool and gradually he broke away from the chasing pack to clinch an emphatic hat-trick, which puts him in complete control at the end of the second day of racing. Langer took home 2nd place, which was well received by the home crowd, while Julien Quentel once again weaved his way back through the fleet to take 3rd ahead of Frans and Williams, who finished 4th and 5th respectively.

In Heat 12, Iachino and Steven Allen had safely booked their place in the semifinals and it looked as though Casper Bouman and Malte Reuscher would also be cruising into the next round. However, as the two of them approached the finish line they collided into one another. This left a few moments of deliberation as sailors must cross the finish line in the sailing position, but fortunately for them, they had already crossed the line.

Elsewhere, Ingmar Daldorf enjoyed a fine day. The Dutchman qualified for the losers’ final of Race 2 before finishing 6th in Elimination 3, which sees the 26 year old rise to 10th in the event rankings.

The forecast looks excellent for tomorrow with strong northeasterly winds of 22-26 knots being predicted. This will hopefully allow the men’s freestyle double elimination to be completed, which will decide the 2016 PWA Freestyle World Champion and as things stand Amado Vrieswijk is on course to lift his first world championship trophy, unless 6-time freestyle world champion Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo can beat him twice. The Venezuelan will first have to win Heat 50 to have any shot at a 7th world crown. If the conditions are still suitable after the completion of the freestyle double the slalom will be resumed. Skippers’ meeting times for tomorrow as follows:

Freestyle - 8 AM — 1st possible start - 8:30 AMSlalom - 10 AM — 1st possible start - 11 AMWave - 10 AM — 1st possible start - 10:30 AM


Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com tomorrow to follow, what should be a pulsating day of action, as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Current Ranking 2016 Mercedes-Benz​ Sylt PWA Grand Slam - Men's Slalom - After 3 Races

1st Matteo Iachino2nd Julien Quentel3rd Ross Williams4th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel5th Bruno Martini6th Marco Lang7th Vincent Langer8th Finian Maynard9th Pierre Mortefon10th Ingmar Daldorf

At the halfway point of the 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA World Cup, a result has been gained for all three disciplines, after the opening slalom race of the event was completed today in winds of 10-15 knots, which saw most sailors reaching for their 8.6m² and medium boards. Matteo Iachino made the perfect start as he claimed the first bullet to extend his lead at the top of the overall rankings — for now at least.

Men’s Slalom Elimination One

Matteo Iachino and Pierre Mortefon came into the event tied on points — with Iachino ahead on count-back — and both of the title contenders successfully navigated their way into the winners’ final, making for an extremely exciting first final with whoever beating who taking control of the title race.

Men’s Slalom Elimination One - Winners’ Final

Heat 16 was completed at the second time of asking after reigning world champion Antoine Albeau was disqualified after jumping the gun. Upon the restart Iachino grabbed the lead from the word go and safely rounded the first mark ahead of Antoine Questel and Ross Williams, while Mortefon was stopped in his tracks as the Frenchman hit a piece of chop after unhooking ready to enter the first gybe, leaving him at the back of the pack. Over the remainder of the course Matteo Iachino extended his advantage as the 26 year old made the best possible start. Antoine Questel secured second place, while Julien Quentel out maneuvered Williams to take 3rd, which has more significance with the two sailors extremely close in the battle for the final place on the overall podium. Meanwhile, Mortefon did brilliantly to fight his way back through the fleet into 5th place.

The losers’ final also saw a dramatic start as Vincent Langer, Sebastian Kördel and Andrea Cucchi were all disqualified for premature starts. Marco Lang made the best start on the second attempt and the Austrian led from start to finish to claim 9th in the first race with Bruno Martini completing the top 10.

In the opening race of the week there were also plenty of upsets with Malte Reuscher, Jimmy Diaz and Ben Van der Steen all being eliminated in the second round, while Pascal Toselli — making his first appearance since dislocating his shoulder in Fuerteventura — Arnon Dagan, Taty Frans and Cedric Bordes all missed out on a place in the semifinals.

Jules Denel was making his first appearance on the slalom tour for several years and the Frenchman advanced through the first couple of rounds before being eliminated in Heat 11.

Meanwhile, in Heat 2, Nico Prien did superbly to make the second round after having to sail his heat with no starboard tack harness line. The German still held his own to earn 2nd place, while Ingmar Daldorf, Michal Aftowicz and Andrea Ferin also advanced.

Men’s Slalom Elimination Two

The second elimination was started but only two heats could be completed before the wind became too gusty and light to continue. 18 year old Peter Nors who was making his debut on the world tour advanced from Heat 3.

With the conditions becoming borderline the decision was made to switch back to the foil exhibition races, which provided a great show for the spectators, close to the shore. A further 4 races were completed today and after the discard, Antoine Albeau has shot to the top of rankings, but Gonzalo Costa Hoevel and Sebastian Kornum are just 0.7 points behind.

The forecast for tomorrow looks windy again with the east-north-east winds continuing, which should provide more racing. The skippers’ meeting for all disciplines will be held at 10 AM with the action commencing from 11 AM (GMT+1) — if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Current Ranking 2016 Mercedes-Benz​ Sylt PWA Grand Slam - Men's Slalom - After 1 Race

1st Matteo Iachino2nd Antoine Questel​3rd Julien Quentel4th Ross Williams​5th Pierre Mortefon6th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel7th Finian Maynard8th Antoine Albeau9th Marco Lang10th Bruno Martini

Current Ranking 2016 Mercedes-Benz​ Sylt PWA Grand Slam - Men's Foiling Exhibition - After 5 Races

1st Antoine Albeau2nd Gonzalo Costa Hoevel3rd Sebastian Kornum4th Mateus Isaac5th William Huppert6th Alexandre Cousin7th Maciek Rutkowski8th Antoine Questel9th Benjamin Auge10th Cedric Bordes11th Matteo Iachino

The forecast delivered on Day 4 of the Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam, which allowed a full day of explosive freestyle to be completed in 15-25 knots of wind. At the end of the day, Amado Vrieswijk is now on the verge of earning his first world title after he produced a stunning performance to win the single elimination in style.

Men’s Freestyle - Single Elimination

With Sylt being the final stop of the freestyle world tour there was plenty at stake, particularly for Amado Vrieswijk, who came into the event leading the title race. The 20 year old is aiming to win his first world title, so he could’ve been forgiven for any nerves. However, rather than buckle under the pressure, Vrieswijk seemed to revel in the spotlight and he saved his biggest performance for the final where he faced his main rival — Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo. Vrieswijk came flying out of the starting blocks and unleashed an incredible double air culo, before planing out of an air kabikuchi to build an unassailable lead.

The final was almost the title decider as whoever won the final, between Vrieswijk and Gollito, would sit at the top of the overall rankings, so after victory Vrieswijk is now on the verge of collecting his first world crown. Gollito will now have to hope for enough wind to allow the double elimination to be completed, and even then, he will need to defeat Vrieswijk twice in order to deny the Bonairean.

Fine Margins

The title race was just centimeters from swinging in Gollito’s favor today as Nicolas Akgazciyan would have actually beaten Vrieswijk in Heat 22B if his pushloop hadn’t been adjudged to be performed outside of the competition area. As a result, Akgazciyan was eliminated rather than Vrieswijk and he remains on course for the world title.

Elsewhere, Dieter van der Eyken secured the final place on the podium after defeating Adrien Bosson in the battle for 3rd and 4th.

Meanwhile, Sam Esteve produced the biggest upset of the day as the young Frenchman claimed the scalp of Steven Van Broeckhoven in Heat 12A with a hugely impressive performance oozing style, power and height through all of his moves. Unfortunately, Rick Jendrusch suffered a dislocated shoulder while competing today and everyone from the PWA wishes him a speedy and successful recovery.

Men’s Freestyle - Double Elimination

The double elimination began almost immediately after the completion of the single and the first round has been completed. Thomas Traversa entering the freestyle always had potential for creating upsets and in Heat 30A TT ended the hopes of Max Matissek and he will now face Steven Van Broeckhoven in the next round.

Both Mattia Fabrizi and Antoine Albert have made the perfect starts to their comebacks by winning their opening couple of heats. Fabrizi first defeated Rasmus Oegelund before beating Yegor Popretinskiy with an efficient display, while Albert dispatched of Jamie Howard and Marco Lufen with a textbook spock-culo being the pick of his moves.

Shortly after 5pm the wind began to fade and the sailors were released at 5:30 PM. The forecast for tomorrow shows moderate to fresh easterly winds, so the plan will be to begin the racing. The skippers’ meeting for the slalom has been called for 9 AM tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 10 AM. The freestyle and wave fleets will meet at 10 AM for their skippers’ meeting. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Result 2016 PWA Grand Slam Sylt — Men’s Freestyle Single Elimination:

1st Amado Vrieswijk2nd Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo3rd Dieter Van der Eyken4th Adrien Bosson5th Yentel Caers5th Philip Soltysiak

With the wind remaining light for the second day in a row Day 3 of the Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam saw the competitors remain on hold, but the crowds still flocked to the event site in the thousands to soak up some of the early autumn sunshine. With the contest on hold we decided to take a look at how the title race would shape up if the wave result was to stay as it is.

Women’s Wave

Reigning world champion Iballa Moreno would gain control of the title race for the first time this season if things remain as they are. Iballa started off the season with a 3rd place in Pozo, but responded in the perfect manner by claiming victory in Tenerife. Having won the single elimination here this means Iballa and Daida Moreno would be tied on 6,234 points, but Iballa takes the lead having beaten Daida more times this season. However, the title race still remains balanced on a knife’s edge with two events left to go in La Torche, France, and Maui, Hawaii.

Meanwhile, Sarah-Quita Offringa would hold control of 3rd place in the overall rankings. The 25 year old defeated Amanda Beenen in the battle for 3rd and 4th here, which would further extend her advantage — Offringa has accumulated 6,102 points compared to Beenen’s 5,970.

Men’s Wave

Alex Mussolini came into the event as Victor Fernandez’s closest contender, with Philip Köster ruled out for the season, and he has applied maximum pressure possible, at this point, by winning the single elimination, while Fernandez could only finish 4th. This has seen Fernandez’s lead reduced, but the 2010 world champion still holds a commanding lead with 6,210 points to Mussolini’s 6,102 points.

The biggest mover would be Thomas Traversa, who would rise from 6th into joint 3rd — on 5,954 points — with Jaeger Stone after finishing 2nd to Mussolini in the single elimination. Without any major upsets, it looks as though the Frenchman and Australian will be the other main threats to Fernandez’s title charge — with Dany Bruch and Robby Swift back on 5,724 points and 5,723 points respectively.

After a couple of light winds days, the forecast looks promising for tomorrow with 20-24 knots winds from the northeast being predicted — meaning the slalom or freestyle fleets will likely take center stage. Tomorrow will see another early start with the following skippers’ meeting times:


Freestyle: 8 AMSlalom: 8:30 AMWave: 10 AM

Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

After yesterday’s full day of competition today saw an early skippers’ meeting, but unfortunately it didn’t pay off with light offshore winds greeting the competitors. Over the duration of the morning the waves improved with the tide on the push tempting quite a few sailors out for a surf in the pumping swell.

During the course of the day the wind swung more cross-off shore and several sailors including Ricardo Campello and Victor Fernandez were able to tuck into a few North Sea nuggets.

For a brief period the wind did threaten to kick in raising the possibility of some slalom, but the breeze soon dropped back, so to keep the crowd entertained an exhibition foiling race was held, which saw 12 sailors fighting it out. With winds of 5 to 6 knots there should have been enough for foiling, but the strong current made things tricky and after the first mark the majority of the fleet stopped flying. This left Alexandre Cousin with an unchallenged lead after the first and he claimed a decisive victory over Williams Hupert, Maciek Rutkowski and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel.

With less happening today than an action packed first day we thought we’d see what a few people made of yesterday’s competition:

Alex Mussolini reacts after winning yesterday’s single elimination: “I cannot believe it! Won the single elimination here in Sylt! Thanks a lot to my sponsors RRD and Godzilla Surf Shop for the support and to all my friends for the messages!! Also thanks to Omar Sanchez, Moritz Mauch and Pablo Ramirez for their support on the beach. Thanks to my love Vicky Zaro for your love, without you this dream could not be possible!”

Thomas Traversa: “Wow… Second place in the single elimination of the Wave World Cup here in Sylt. It’s such a special moment to sail the final with my mate Alex Mussolini aka "the Sylt Monster" and it was even more special to have Sophia and our little Lola cheering on the beach — this was priceless for me! Also thanks to Antony [Ruenes], Cedric [Bordes] and Ross [Williams] for the great help and support…”

Dany Bruch had mixed emotions after yesterday: “Sooo... I finished 5th yesterday and I’m happy but not happy… This is the second time this year that I lost by 0.something… and yesterday by less than half a point against Victor [Fernandez]. Yes, all the work is going in the right direction, but I’m desperate to break through into the very top positions! Thanks to all my sponsors.”

The forecast for tomorrow looks as though it will be windy in the morning with 15-17 knot winds from the south-south-west on offer. With this in mind the skippers’ meeting times have been called for as follows:

Freestyle: 8 AMSlalom: 8:30 AMWave: 10 AM

Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action live via the PWA live stream.

Result Foiling Exhibition Race:

1st Alexandre Cousin2nd William Hupert3rd Maciek Rutkowski4th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel5th Mateus Isaac

The opening day of the 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam saw the wave fleet take center stage as the wind and waves arrived as predicted. The conditions proved tricky at times and the infamous Sylt shore-break claimed several victims along the way — resulting in several broken masts — but ultimately for the first time in 4 years a result was gained for both the men’s and women’s wave fleets with Alex Mussolini and Iballa Moreno claiming respective victories.

Women’s Wave - Winners’ Finals

Both Iballa Moreno and Daida Moreno looked to be in their usual clinical form in the early stages and they both deservedly qualified for the winners’ final after defeating Sarah-Quita Offringa and Amanda Beenen in the semifinals — setting up another all Moreno Twins final, which saw a duel of few opportunities with the wind dropping back. Daida made the better start opening a 2 point lead in the jumps after stomping a radical tabletop forward to earn 7.5 points, but Iballa hit back in the waves to secure the No.1 spot — for now at least.

Meanwhile, Sarah-Quita Offringa claimed a clear-cut victory against Amanda Beenen in the women’s losers’ final to take home 3rd place.

Men’s Wave - Winners' Finals

Alex Mussolini defeated current world tour leader Victor Fernandez in the semifinals to set up a tie against Thomas Traversa who claimed a narrow victory over Jaeger Stone. Mussolini opened proceedings with a perfectly executed one-footed backloop, but Traversa soon took the lead after linking a decent wave and a clean backloop of his own. However, Mussolini hit back with the best wave of the heat consisting of a smooth taka and a backside air to secure victory. Both sailors end the opening day knowing that they have guaranteed themselves their best results of the season no matter what happens.

Last Chance Saloon

Both Jaeger Stone and Victor Fernandez made last minute escapes today to avoid earlier than anticipated exits. Stone hit back in the dying seconds of Heat 9B to defeat John Skye while Fernandez repeated the same escape against Dany Bruch in Heat 14B. The two sailors then met later in the elimination, in the battle for 3rd and 4th, and it was Stone who claimed the final place on the podium after producing more trademark aggressive wave riding.

Elsewhere, the opening heat of the single elimination saw last minute comebacks as well with Robby Swift edging past Pablo Ramirez by just 0.01 of a point, while Moritz Mauch produced an outstanding last wave to turn the tide on Jules Denel.

Upsets

Heat 3 produced a couple of big upsets with Adam Lewis and Ricardo Campello both being dumped out of the first round by Dieter van der Eyken and Kenneth Danielsen; with the Dane advancing with the highest single wave score after he and Campello finished tied on 14.62 points. Danielsen then defeated Dieter van der Eyken in the next round to end the day in joint 5th place.

Klaas Voget produced the other main upset of the day as he took down the 2013 world champion — Marcilio Browne in Heat 11A — which was well received by the home crowd. Voget then bumped into Mussolini, who was in unstoppable form, but after a disappointing couple of events — he returns to the top 5 alongside Danielsen, Swift and fellow countryman Bruch, who clocked up the highest scoring wave of the day against Camille Juban, earning 8.5 points.

The forecast for looks as though there’s the possibility of cross shore winds tomorrow morning so the wave and freestyle fleets will meet at 8 AM with a first possible start at 8:30 AM. Meanwhile, the slalom fleet will meet slightly later at 10 AM with the action commencing from 11 AM (GMT+1) — if conditions allow. Tomorrow also shows a lot of rain, so we will have to wait and see how that affects the wind. Make sure you tune into PWA World Tour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Result 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam — Women’s Wave Single Elimination

1st Iballa Moreno2nd Daida Moreno3rd Sarah-Quita Offringa4th Amanda Beenen5th Lina Erpenstein5th Alice Arutkin5th Steffi Wahl5th Justyna Sniady

Result 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sylt PWA Grand Slam — Men’s Wave Single Elimination

1st Alex Mussolini2nd Thomas Traversa3rd Jaeger Stone4th Victor Fernandez5th Robby Swift5th Kenneth Danielsen5th Klaas Voget5th Dany Bruch9th Moritz Mauch9th John Skye9th Dieter Van der Eyken9th Antoine Martin9th Marcilio Browne9th Leon Jamaer9th Camille Juban9th Alessio Stillrich

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