PKRA Duitsland - Youri Zoon en Gisela Pulido winnen singles

[Evan]

De PKRA in St. Peter-Ording is van start gegaan en eindigs 28 Augustus, kan Youri ook deze op zijn naam zetten na hier het voor het laatst in 2006 gewonnen te hebben?

[Evan]

Day 1 in St Peter Ording, Freestyle Trials
Aug-20-2011

The PKRA riders where very impressed by the conditions in St Peter Ording, Germany today. They hope that it will stay this way the entire week as we enjoyed perfect sunshine and strong winds, with conditions starting from 9-12 knots this morning and improving to 16-18 knots toward the middle of the trials. We had very clear skies to start these nine days of competition ,which will be one of the biggest trials ever done on the PKRA. Fifty six riders competed for the fourteen places left in the ladder of the men’s single elimination, and eight girls out of fourteen made it to the next stage.


We had fourteen men’s heats with four riders competing in each. The rider who came fourth was directly eliminated, the three winners were then mixed up to compete in again in the next heat in which the winner advanced into the main event. In the girl’s competition, there were four initial heats with the two best riders from each one qualifying for the main event.

The Dominican Republic was well represented by Ariel Corniel (Ozone), Robinson Hilario (F-ONE) and Alex Soto (F-ONE). Ariel reckoned that he is now used to the European conditions and didn’t suffer from riding in the cold waters of the North Sea. Alex was more cautious and has been training in St Peter for the past two weeks to get used to the spot.

While talking about the return of Kevin Langeree (NED, Naish), 2009 World Champion after his knee injury, they mentioned that this type of injury is commonplace nowadays in kiteboarding, all the riders are now joking about it: “If you want to be a pro and get into the top 10, you’ve got to injure your knee, train hard to get back and then wear a knee brace for the rest of your career,” reported the current leader of the tour, Youri Zoon (NED, Slingshot) whilst waiting for the single elimination to start. The Dominicans all suffered injuries recently and they agreed that the important thing when you go down for a while is to get back up on the board quickly. A lot of riders on tour are now wearing knee braces to prevent any further troubles.



There were no major surprises in the first 14 heats, all the best riders from the PKRA made it to the next round. Head judge Sami Gali noted the performance of Van De Kop (NED, Flexifoil) who came first in his heat, “he showed some serious talent and proved that he is a rider to look out for in the future.”

Judge Antoine Jaubert also mentioned another rookie: Stefan Spiessberger (AUT, North) who won his first heat today, so we have a few new promising faces to follow in this event.

Entering the main event in the girl’s division are: Schumacher, Rapp, Lutz, Whiteley, Boese, Brill, Jungo and Kennedy. Hannah Whiteley (GBR, Wainman) reported that the conditions were challenging, as the wind dropped when they started competing. The current was strong which made it hard to stay up wind to do all the tricks inside the four buoys, which mark the area to perform for the judges. She felt confident about her heat today and won it, Hannah won the big air, board off last year and hopes to reiterate her performance during this event.

As we entered the second part of the trials the wind seriously dropped but allowed us to finish 5 heats therefore qualifying the five winners: Morales, Whaley, Wesch, Soto and Tack.

Eight riders are prequalified and two wild cards have been given to Kevin Langeree (NED, Naish) and Tim Kummerfeld (GER, Core). Kevin was stoked to enter into the main event, he feels lucky since he reckoned that the trials here were hard, long and hectic. Now he has to prove himself worthy of the spot in his come back to the competition.

When the wind dropped completely, Race Director Olaf Van Tol stopped the competition and the riders went for a walk into the event village. Sebastien Garat (FRA, RRD) was happy to be in Germany because he considers this to be the biggest event of the year. “It’s nice because everyone can come and discover kiteboarding in the tents, every brand is represented so you can see all the new equipment, you can meet all the riders and there are cool activities within the village. It’s a very entertaining and well rounded event.”

Tomorrow morning the conditions are predicted to be lighter and we should see the fleet of Course Racers on the water. If the wind is strong enough we will finish the trials.


Bron en meer info: http://prokitetour.com/news2.php?id=113&Day=1

[martimor]

Allrightythen, come on kevin
en youri gewoon winnen natuurlijk,

[Evan]

Katja doet ook hier weer goed mee aan de top, helaas te weinig wind deze dag om verder te gaan met de freestyle-competitie.

Second day - Light winds for the Course Racers
Aug-21-2011

The forty five male and six female course riders were welcomed to St Peter Ording today by beautiful sunshine and flat water. The first race of the day started in light wind conditions, the competitors raced with kites up to 18 meters and extended lines.

We met with Adam Koch (Ozone, USA) at the end of the first race, he was leading until the last minute when he crashed just before the finish line. As he got to close to the beach his fins grazed through the sand resulting in him falling into the water. He was disappointed with this first race since he was leading the fleet for a good twenty minutes and saw the two French riders Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon), current leader of the 2011 PKRA Course Racing World Tour, and Olivier Dansin (FRA, North) passing him before he got back on his board to go through the finish line in the third place.



Current World Champion John Heineken (USA, Ozone) had a bad first race: “It was a tough one; I had bad luck and got a garbage bag caught around my fins… I had a couple of mistakes and crashed a lot, I’d love to start a new race to start all over again”.

Results Race 1:

Men:
1. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon)
2. Olivier Dansin (FRA, North)
3. Adam Koch (USA, Ozone)

Women:
1. Katja Roose (NED, Airush)
2. Steph Bridge (GBR, North)
3. Caroline Adrien (FRA, Cabrinha)

During the second race it was interesting to see the different strategies that the riders adopted for the last tack to make sure that they didn’t make the same mistake Koch did in the shallow water.

On the finish line the five best riders were very close to each other, Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon) took the lead by doing one less tack than the riders. Some of them chose to come from the outside instead of along the beach as this route lowered their chances of hitting the sand with their fins.

In the girls division Steph Bridge (GBR, North) got beaten by Katja Roose (NED, Airush) on the first race as her board got caught in the sand close to the finish allowing Katja to overtake her and take the win. However in the second race Bridge came back strong and won with a good distance between her and the other female riders.

Steph is looking forward to the rest of this week of competition and is particularly excited about the variety of conditions that St Peter Ording boasts. The forecast here can change from light wind and sunny skies to a storm in a matter of days.

She also mentioned that she came in 7th on the men’s ranking in the second race since we’re running men and women at the same time. She’s hoping to stay in the top ten of the men during this event.



Results Race 2:

Men:
1. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon)
2. Olivier Dansin (FRA, North)
3. Adam Koch (USA, Ozone)

Women:
1. Steph Bridge (GBR, North)
2. Katja Roose (NED, Airush)
3. Caroline Adrien (FRA, Cabrinha)

Dirk Hanel (GER, North) also enjoys the varied conditions of this spot but remarks: “It’s when you see people riding with 21 meter kites who cannot go up wind anymore that you know it’s time to enjoy a Jevver beer in the Red Bull rider tent and make the most of the attractions at the event site, such as the new Beetle car on display. I’d rather be doing that or browsing the web on the new Internet Explorer 9 than out on the water in bad conditions.”

As the wind died slowly during lunch break we took some time out from the action to discuss the debate going on at the minute between the production class and the open class.



The Production class means that you are using the equipment coming out of the brands factories and therefore used by the public, you are allowed to use one board and choose three sizes of kites for the event.

In the Open Class you can use any type of kite and any kind of board, many riders are using prototypes kites and also hand shaped boards such as US riders John Heineken and Adam Koch or French rider Bruno Sroka (FRA, Cabrinha).

There is a rule book for the boards, they have to be less than 70cm width, less than 190cm height, fins are limited to 50cm long and the board shouldn’t be less than 4kg. There is no limitation on the kite size.

The US team thinks that for security reasons there shouldn’t be a restriction on the kite sizes as it could get dangerous if your kite isn’t appropriate for the conditions, especially in very strong winds. They are asking for no limitation in kite sizes.

The final word comes from the IKA who should only allow production class for 2012 with one board and three kites, although there will be a discussion about allowing four kites by the end of the year. The goal is to open Course Racing to any kiteboarder with a low entry budget and have all riders using the same equipment.

There might also be a limit for the wind conditions, the course racers won’t be riding in more than twenty five knots as it gets too hectic on the water.


Bron: http://prokitetour.com/news2.php?id=113&Day=2

[Michiel.]

Moet je die deuren zien waarmee ze courseracen
Volgens recent onderzoek in de kiteboarding.eu ook de enige optie voor lichtwind. Nog beter als de Door van ons aller Eddy Lansink

[haast - te - recht]

zaterdag wordt een knal dag daar    helemaal zin an

[Erik@Spijk]

En ik maar denken dat flysurfer zou domineren bij weinig wind, maar zowel bij de mannen als bij de vrouwen staan ze er niet bij.

[Evan]

Third day - Course Racing in very light winds
Aug-22-2011

Day three provided very light winds for us here in St Peter Ording, Germany. The focus of the day was on course racing. The race set up was adapted due to these conditions and the decision was made to start the day with a long course in a square box.

The first starting line of the day was going straight against the wind, which made an interesting decision for the racers who could either chose to start starboard or port.

Judge Anki Knutson explained that the starboard tack is the priority, when you are sailing with your right hand forward. Since the first race was very long we took some time to explore the origin of the words, starboard comes from the early days of sailing. “Before ships had rudders on their centerlines, they were steered by use of a specialized steering oar. This oar was held by an oarsman located in the stern (back) of the ship. However, like most of society, there were many more right-handed sailors than left-handed sailors. (…) An early version of "port" is larboard but when shouted in the wind, was presumably too easy to confuse with starboard[1] and so the word port came to replace it. Port is derived from the practice of sailors mooring ships on the left side at ports in order to prevent the steering oar from being crushed.” (Ref. Wikipedia)



The point of this brief explanation of the starboard tack is that the start of race 1 came with a technical choice of strategy. The riders starting port side took a risk as they had to give the right of way to their competitors, however starting port side came with it’s advantages as it allowed the riders to go much further upwind than their starboard rivals.

John Heineken (USA, Ozone) explained that to make this choice, you look at the angle to cross the start line and choose the one that will bring you the most upwind. John Heineken (USA, Ozone), Adam Koch (USA, Ozone) and Bruno Sroka (FRA, Cabrinha) took that decision and chose to ride port side risking the chance of getting blocked by the riders going starboard.

Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon) reckoned that the port fleet went faster than the starboard and therefore took a bit more time to get to the second buoy.

This first race of the day (Race 3) took twenty five minutes for the fastest riders and they all came close to each other for the leading pack.

Steph Bridge (GBR, North) was exhausted after this first race and metaphorically joked: “today we went to Denmark, crossed over to France and came back to Germany!”

Race 3 results:

Men:
1. John Heineken (USA, Ozone)
2. Adam Koch (USA, Ozone)
3. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon)

Women:
1. Steph Bridge (GBR, North)
2. Katja Roose (NED, Airush)
3. Christine Boenniger (GER)



Race 4 started with a big tangle between a few racers who were going port on the starting line. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon) explained that Adam Koch (USA, Ozone) was coming sailboard in front of his fleet, which was lead by Bruno Sroka (FRA, Cabrinha). They got blocked by Bruno who lifted his kite up therefore tangling the rest of the fleet around him, including John Heineken (USA, Ozone) and Tomiek Janiak (GER, RRD).

We took some time today to know the correct sailing terminology to use. This multinational fleet of competitors have all been mixed up and confused due to their different ways of describing the action on the water.

To summarize, “running” is going downwind whilst “beating” (close reach/fetching) is going upwind. “Reaching” (beam reach) is a course steered at right angles to the wind on either port or starboard tack and a “broad reach” is the fastest, it represents a range of wind angles between beam reach and running downwind.

Results Race 4

Men:
1. Adam Koch (USA, Ozone)
2. Ozog Blazej (POL, North)
3. Florian Gruber (GER, North)

Women:
1. Steph Bridge (GBR, North)
2. Christine Boenninger (GER)

After a short lunch break the thermal winds picked up enough to start two more races. Olaf Van Tol decided to change the course with only one lap, this reduced the course time to 17 minutes for the best riders.



Results Race 5 and 6 for the men are the same:

Men:
1. Adam Koch (USA, Ozone)
2. John Heineken (USA, Ozone)
3. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon)

Women:
1. Katja Roose (NED, Airush)
2. Steph Bridge (GBR, North)
3. Christine Boenniger (GER)

Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon) summed up his Race 6 for us: “The wind was super light, I started starboard and came out second at the up wind buoy behind Adam Koch (USA, Ozone). I remained second during the entire race but on the last tack John Heineken kept passing me and ended up taking second on the finish line behind Adam who was by far in lead.

Olaf Van Tol commented “These very light wind racing conditions proved the development of the sport as this wouldn’t have been possible two years ago. This morning we raced in 6 to 9 knots and this afternoon in winds averaging 7 knots. I even recorded 3.5 to 5 knots on the boat as the race was going. There is a big gap now between the top guys and the rest of the fleet.”

Bron: http://prokitetour.com/news2.php?id=113&Day=3

[Evan]

Fourth Day in St Peter Ording, Trials and Racing
Aug-23-2011

The fourth day in St Peter Ording began with clouds and rain resulting in an action free morning for the PKRA. Towards midday the clouds began to clear and the wind picked up leaving us with a beautiful sunny beach to begin the first race of the day (Race 7). As the spot was perfectly flat a three buoy course was set with a starting line far out to sea.



John Heineken (USA, Ozone) seemed on form today, he won the first race with a good advantage. John reckons that he is a lot more confident in strong winds and the same thing applies to his friend and challenger Adam Koch (USA, Ozone). “It’s seems like when it’s windy we get away. Adam and I are fighting for first place, just like at home!”

Race 7

Men:
1. John Heineken (USA, Ozone)
2. Adam Koch (USA, Ozone)
3. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon)

Women:
1. Katja Roose (NED, Airush)
2. Steph Bridge (GBR, North)
3. Caroline Adrien (FRA, Cabrinha)

Heineken led race 7 all the way and commented that the conditions were a lot stronger out there on the start line; he claimed to be overpowered on his twelve meters kite. Kerneur had the same problem and estimated 20 to 25 knots on the starting line for Race 8.

Julien took some time to explain to us his strategy to stay within the bands of wind whilst racing: “If you feel that you are losing speed and that you might be leaving the band then you just look on the water surface to see where the gusts are moving. You can then tack accordingly to stay within them.”



The reaching tack was the most spectacular for the public as the racers were going full speed towards the finish line. The leading fleet came in close to each other and Dirk Hanel (GER, North) had a massive crash on the last stretch, he came too close to the shore with his fins skimming the sand.

Race 7

Men:
1. John Heineken (USA, Ozone)
2. Adam Koch (USA, Ozone)
3. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon)

Women:
1. Steph Bridge (GBR, North)
2. Katja Roose (NED, Airush)
3. Caroline Adrien (FRA, Cabrinha)

At 2.30pm, despite cloudy skies, the wind was strong enough to move onto Freestyle. We began with 10 to 15 knots blowing on flat water but unfortunately this didn’t last and before long the beautiful spot turned grey and rainy which stopped the wind and therefore the action. We did however manage to squeeze in three heats before the weather turned, qualifying Hund (GER, North), Blomvall (SWE, Nobile) and Spiesseperger (AUT, North) into the main event. Most riders were doing 313’s and Blind Judges to secure their heats and would then go into mobes to impress the crowds and judges.



Between the course racer’s, the freestylers who were going into trials and the freestylers training for the single elimination, there were over 150 kites lying on the beach by the end of the day. All of these plus the 300 packed in the riders tent and the kites on display in the brand tents probably made St Peter Ording the biggest concentration of kites on earth today…

Bron: http://prokitetour.com/news2.php?id=113&Day=4

[Evan]

Day 5 – Fog for the racers and meetings
Aug-24-2011

Foggy weather welcomed the racers to this fifth day in St Peter Ording. Rolf Van Der Vlugt (NED, Airush) commented that he could barely see the buoys on the water whilst racing, “I had to really focus in order to maintain balance on my board instead of looking for the buoys!”

The first race started with an impressive crash, Dirk Hanel (GER, North) came too close to the starting line before the flag was raised which forced him to fall close to the boat committee. The rest of the riders quickly got away from the compressed fleet and the leaders quickly pushed to the front of the pack.



The American riders have continued to lead the group today; John Heineken (USA, Ozone) and Adam Koch (USA, Ozone) have lead most of the races. The French team however is following very close behind.

Results Race 9:

Men:
1. Adam Koch (USA, Ozone)
2. John Heineken (USA, Ozone)
3. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon)

Women:
1. Katja Roose (NED, Airush)
2. Caroline Adrien (FRA, Cabrinha)
3. Christine Boenniger (GER, Flysurfer)

Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon) is happy to have finished most of the races in third place in front of his friend Olivier Dansin (FRA, North), he now beats Dansin in the overall ranking of the PKRA 2011. This is now the third event in which we have witnessed the French team go head to head with the Americans, they still lag behind a little but the gap is getting smaller at every event.

The wind actually died during the second race, Theo Sicallac (FRA, North) said: “When the wind dropped I thought about my friend Olivier Dansin who is actually 15 kg heavier than me but was on the same equipment, he must have been struggling but in the end he came seventh”



Results Race 10:

Men:
1. John Heineken (USA, Ozone)
2. Adam Koch (USA, Ozone)
3. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon)

Women:
1. Katja Roose (NED, Airush)
2. Steph Bridge (GBR, North)
3. Caroline Adrien (FRA, Cabrinha)

After 10 races, 0.2 of a point is all that separates Adam Koch (10.8) and John Heineken (11) from each other. Meanwhile Julien Kerneur has secured his third place well with 19 points, holding the gap between himself and fourth place Dansin who currently holds 30 points.

Katja Roose (NED, Airush) who won both races reckoned that in the first race she was looking around trying to spot Steph Bridge (GBR, North) behind her. In fact Bridge had actually broken her lines in the middle of the race and was already waiting on the beach. She did however come back strong in race 10 finishing second place.

After these two races the wind completely died and the PKRA decided to stop action and hold two meetings: the first one about the Media and the second one about the IKA.



The Media Director explained to the crowd of riders how the interaction between the press and the PKRA works. There are three main platforms who bring coverage to the PKRA: magazines, the web and television. A photo database is available for use in magazines and they are invited to publish articles about the events and riders. The online press receives a constant feed of photos, videos and press releases that get published daily for their use. Finally a 26 minute television show is created at the end of each event and a news feed is updated throughout the week which aims to display the best aspects of kiteboarding to the world.

The IKA meeting was about the creation of the KSP (Wave World Tour) and the role of the association in the industry. The PKRA riders had questions about the way the IKA is currently ruling the kiteboarding world. It turns out that there are a few conflicts being discussed at the minute concerning where we are taking the competitive aspects of the sport in the future.

Bron: http://prokitetour.com/news2.php?id=113&Day=5

[Evan]

Meetings and one race for the sixth day
Aug-25-2011

For the sixth day of action here in St Peter Ording, Germany, the conditions didn’t look promising. Instead of taking to the water, the kiteboarders of the PKRA decided to hold meetings about the judging system in the Freestyle discipline and the rules applying to Course Racing. By the middle of the afternoon the wind picked up to around 8 knots, which was enough to start the only race of the day, Race 11.



The Freestyle-judging meeting was set up to discuss several points:

- Scoring individual tricks from 0 to 10 according to the existing judging criteria but putting more emphasis on the quality of execution. The judges now have to note the name of the trick as well as the score.

- Only taking into consideration the 5-7 best tricks from each rider (Men & Women’s divisions)

- A panel consisting of five judges in which the highest and lowest scores are withdrawn for the final tabulation.

All these different issues were discussed and debated with the riders and final decisions will be made after voting in Brazil.



Meanwhile the Course Racers had a meeting of their own about different rules:

- The wind limit was discussed and set to 6 knots combined with suitable conditions, the current and the direction of the wind being the most important factors.

- The board limitation was discussed (190cm by 60cm) and will be voted at the next AGM (annual general meeting) of the IKA (International Kiteboarding Association) to decide whether to go for a production class only or also accept custom boards.

- The same thing applies for the number of kites to be registered at the event. Right now it’s set to 3 per event for budgets reasons and could go to 4 or 5 kites.



At 3pm the wind was fairly light but higher than 6 knots confirming the new rule to start the course racing discipline. The three leaders of the ranking were on the exact same kite, a 17 meters, and kept on crossing each other throughout the course. Kerneur (FRA, Takoon) remembered pumping with his legs by pushing on the board to gain some speed and managed to go faster than the others on the last reaching tack, he went on to win the race.

Olivier Dansin (FRA, North) tangled right on the start line due to Bram Hoogendijk (NED, Peter Lynn) who looped his kite into Olivier’s as he got blocked by the fleet and tried to get away. When this kind of mistake happens the rider needs to scream “Protest” on the water in order to fill out a proper protest form once the race is over. At the end of the day all protests are discussed with Markus Schwendtner, IKA representative, who then decides the legitimacy of the protest.

In the girls division, Katja Roose (NED, Airush) was happy to finish first again and confirm her recently acquired top spot overall for this event after 11 races. She reckoned that she played well with the shifting winds, tacking as they were changing to get to the upwind buoy. Meanwhile Steph Bridge (GBR, North) commented that she rode well but didn’t go as fast as she thought she should and is now thinking about going on a diet…

Results Race 11:

Men:
1. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon)
2. John Heineken (USA, Ozone)
3. Adam Koch (USA, Ozone)

Women:
1. Katja Roose (NED, Airush)
2. Steph Bridge (GBR, North)
3. Christine Boenninger (GER, Flysurfer)

John Heineken (USA, Ozone) and Katja Roose (NED, Airush) are now sitting in first place on the overall ranking of this event.

Tomorrow afternoon the conditions should be good enough to start the Freestyle discipline again.

Bron: http://prokitetour.com/news2.php?id=113&Day=6

[Evan]

Wind, sun and a storm for the start of the Singles
Aug-26-2011

St Peter Ording saw a massive crowd gather to enjoy the best freestyle kiteboarding action today with epic conditions: wind, flat water and sunshine. After finishing the few heats that were left of the trials, the PKRA organized the Junior championships and moved on to the Freestyle single elimination.

The trials didn’t bring any surprises as the highest men in the rankings made it to the main event: Hays (FRA, Cabrinha), Van De Kop (NED, Flexifoil), Paris (FRA, North), Schitzhofer (AUT, Best), Corniel (DOM, Ozone) and Garat (FRA, RRD) were all happy to be advancing into the top 24 and are ready to compete for first place in the biggest event of the year.

For the first time in the history of the PKRA we organized a Junior Championship to showcase the future generation of riders who will be appearing on tour in the near future. The competition was open to under14s years and it was unanimously decided that Tom Bridge (GBR, North) won the Championship. At only 10 years of age, Steph Bridge’s son (2009 IKA Course Racing World Champion) showed an incredible variety of tricks including a powered Front Blind mobe, Back Mobe, Blind Judge 3, 313, etc…

Judge Ian Sleuyter reckons that he will be the next world champion and would have easily qualified into the main event if he was over 14 and therefore authorized to compete in the main competition.

Tom said that: “It was very hard, I had to beat my own older brother but I wasn’t really stressed out. I rode on my 7 meter kite, well powered, the way I like it and I won, I’m stoked!”



Race director Olaf Van Tol commentated that he really liked the fact that the spectators could be so close to the action. Due to the wind being off shore the huge crowds lining the beach could see the riders perform their tricks only a few meters away.

The single elimination started with the youngest rider on tour Liam Whaley (GBR, Airush) beating Marian Hund (GER, North). Liam dominated the heat by riding a lot more powered than Hund who performed his tricks with his kite higher, therefore taking less risks than Liam.

For the next heat we met with Nils Wesch to sum up the action: “I had a good heat, the water was nice and flat, it was just a bit hard with these crazy gusts. I’m happy that the wind finally showed up after a week here in St Peter Ording. I landed all my tricks, rode with a nine meter kite and managed to win my heat against Jerrie Van De Kop who is a tough contender. Next I’m up against Alberto Rondina (ITA, Cabrinha), so it’s going to be another story!”

Head Judge Sami Gali reckoned that the next heat, Corniel (DOM, Ozone) versus Blomvall (SWE, Nobile) was definitely the most exciting heat of the day with two strong competitors. Ariel was on fire as usual performing tricks after trick, but the Swedish rider has a lot more experience in competition and knew what the judges were looking for: good trick execution and well powered. Judge Carlos Saez reckoned that Corniel secured his heat by landing two double handle passes: a 317 and a mobe 7, which were both executed with technical precision whilst keeping the kite high. Ariel Corniel won with a 3-2 judges decision.

Tim Kummerfeld (GER, Core) was the only rider using boots instead of foot-straps in this event and he made a lasting impression on the judges. All the tricks that he landed were very well executed, especially a S-bend 3. Christopher Tack (BEL, Liquid Force) started pretty badly but improved throughout the heat and finally managed to land enough tricks to win with a lot more variety than Tim. He wins with a 5-0 decision.

The Dominican rider Alex Soto (DOM, F-ONE) had to verse Victor Hays (FRA, Cabrinha) who knew the reputation of the local from Cabarete and therefore did his best to remain consistent. But Alex now has great experience in competitive kiting and rides with a lot more power than Victor, he took the win and advanced into the next round.



Up next, the French riders of the event had to go out, first Sebastien Garat (FRA, RRD) advancing easily against Morales (ESP, Slingshot). You could tell the difference in experience between both riders as Morales was trying a lot of tricks and crashing, meanwhile Sebastien secured his heat with his usual tricks.

In the girls division, the first heat was pretty close, Rapp (SWE, Liquid Force) and Jungo (SUI, Liquid Force) both landed a railey to blind but the decision of the judges went in favor of Manuela Jungo who landed a few more tricks.

Hannah Whiteley (GBR, Wainman) executed her manouevers with a lot of power but crashed some good ones leaving Holly Kennedy (GBR, North) to win the heat. Judge Carlos Saez reckoned that, “It was good for the confidence of Kennedy who deserves it, she was unlucky in Fuerteventura and here she had the chance to properly show her level. Plus the two girls coming from the United Kingdom are very good friends so it was an exciting heat.”

Finally the German heat, national champion Lutz (GER, Liquid Force) versus Boese (GER, Best) the youngest german rider against the oldest showed the passage to a new generation of riders in Germany, Lutz won with a 4-1 decision.



At 4pm it suddenly felt like we were under an eclipse as the dark clouds invaded the sky. A massive thunderstorm engulfed the event site and the local meteorologists advised the PKRA to postpone the competition for safety reasons.

In 15 minutes the fully packed beach and the hundreds of kites were back at the event site under the tents, a few strikes of lightening were seen and it rained for a while which killed the wind completely and meant the rest of the competition is postponed until tomorrow.

[Evan]

Zoon and Pulido wins the Singles in St Peter Ording
Aug-27-2011

After a week of sun and light wind conditions, today the typical German weather returned to St Peter Ording beach. Along with the cloud and rain came a steady twenty knots of wind in which we watched the best PKRA kiteboarders compete on the North Sea.

Once again the Kiteboarding World Tour was proud to have a Livestream operating from the judge’s tower with one of the official judges commenting in the chat room.

The day started with Reno Romeu (BRA, North) facing the youngest rider on tour Liam Whaley (GBR, Airush), Reno claimed his mind was on the wipeouts happening on the ASP but he managed to focus on his heat enough to go for his fully powered tricks. Liam defended himself well but just couldn’t match his more experienced competitor.

Alberto Rondina (ITA, Cabrinha) had a few problems with choosing his kites today as the wind kept changing. During his first heat he went to change from his 9 meter to 11, but as the tide came up his lines became tangled meaning he had no choice but to change back to 9. He unfortunately had the same problem twice today.



The French team had a very bad day as Paris (FRA, North), Hays (FRA, Cabrinha), Garat (FRA, RRD) and Hebert (FRA, North) all lost in the first or second round of the singles. Tom Hebert commented that there wasn’t much to say: “Sometimes it’s just not your day, you’re out there riding and you know you are not doing well and you don’t know why, today was like that but we’ll all be back in the double elimination!”

Sebastien Garat (FRA, RRD) had to verse one of the best riders of the moment, Marc Jacobs (NZL, Switch) who did everything with a little more height and power than Sebastien, and a nice double back to pass secured him his win.

The onshore wind caused tension in the judges tower today; as it picked up the riders were forced to perform their tricks very close to the water’s edge where both the judge’s tower and photographers were positioned. There were many close calls when it seemed like we were going to witness kites crashing on the tower however fortunately nobody did. Robinson Hilario (DOM, F-One) however got pretty close when he crashed a 317.

Robinson is new to the tour this year and has been showing very good style with a nice tantrum to blind and very powered front blind mobes. However he was no match for Youri Zoon (NED, Slingshot), current leader of the tour.

Alexander Lewis Hughes reckoned that Youri is riding twice as fast as anybody else on the water, therefore bringing so much more power to all of his tricks. When other riders land their tricks and almost stop or butt check them, Youri pulls of a clean landing and comes down fast taking a lot of risks, which score very well.

Race director Olaf Van Tol said that “the heat between Langeree (NED, Naish) and Zoon (NED, Slingshot) was like witnessing a final of a PKRA event. It took me back to two years ago when the two Dutch riders were fighting over the title together with Aaron Hadlow (5 times world champion)”. What could have been a final happened right in the middle of the single elimination and it was an exciting heat. Both riders had a knee injury, Youri actually had to come back twice on tour before this year where he can now show his full potential.

We met with Kevin after his heat, he commented that he was happy to compete against his friend and did all he could. He was however a little disappointed not to have landed his double passes as consistently as he used to. In contrast he did manage to pull off his specialty one handed tricks and was happy to manage a flat 7 off a kicker.

In the girls division we witnessed a moment which will go down in kiteboading history when Karolina Winkowska (POL, Slingshot) met Bruna Kajiya (BRA, Flexifoil) in the semi Finals. All the judges reckoned that the level was insanely high, both girls landed all of their tricks one after another, Blind Judge 3, 313, back to blind, NIS, kite loop 3, etc. Karolina was the one who finally made the difference by landing her first ever low mobe in a PKRA competition. The judges were literally blown away when she landed this trick and she won with a 5-0 decision. She then had to face Gisela Pulido (ESP, Airush) in the finals.



Legendary rider Franz Olry (FRA, Wainman) who used to compete back in the early stages of kiteboarding and is known for shaping the first twin tip was on the beach of St Peter Ording and happy to see all this new generation of riders killing it on the water. He reported ironically that he was offended to see that the young blood could learn tricks which took him weeks to perfect in just days. Franz also remembered the Dominican riders who are now performing so well in the PKRA being little kids, Soto (DOM. F-One), Corniel (DOM,  Ozone) and Robinson (DOM, F-One) are all in the third round of the single elimination.

Unfortunately none of the Dominicans will make it into the top 4 overall ranking of the PKRA: Zoon, Pastor, Rondina and Jacobs have now proven once and for all that they are the best riders and provided a high level of riding for the semi finals of this single eliminations.

Alex Pastor (ESP, Airush) versus Rondina (ITA, Cabrinha) was a very close heat, Alex performed a lot of switches, a low mobe 5 and 315, he won based on his variety in comparison to Alberto.

Youri Zoon (NED, Slingshot) is getting more and more confident at every event, Marc Jacobs (NZL, Switch) had one of his best heats but still remained a lot less powered than Youri who advanced into the finals.

Just before the finals Alex Pastor had a small problem that could have turned out to be a big mess. Whilst launching his kite it flew into the flag pole which left a hole in the edge of it. This was only a couple of minutes before his final, fortunately for Pastor his opponent Youri Zoon is a great sportsman and came to help him out, meanwhile the ladies were having their finals.



Gisela Pulido (ESP, Airush) is a very technical rider and therefore chose to perform trick after trick to secure her heat as she knew Karolina Winkowska (POL, Slingshot) would go for more risky powered tricks but might not land them all. This strategy paid off and she won the single elimination, proving her supremacy on the women’s division with 4 wins out of 5 events this year. But the doubles remains…

The final of the singles was a trick spectacular as expected. All of the judge’s sheets were full after the heat and both riders gave a great show. We met with both riders after the heat and Alex admitted that this wasn’t his best run of the day. Youri Zoon (NED, Slingshot) was on fire as usual and won the single elimination meaning that he remains undefeated after five events!

Official Results of the Single Eliminations:

Men:
1. Youri Zoon (NED, Slingshot)
2. Alex Pastor (ESP, Airush)
3. Alberto Rondina (ITA, Cabrinha)



Women:
1. Gisela Pulido (ESP, Airush)
2. Karolina Winkowska (POL, Slingshot)
3. Bruna Kajiya (BRA, Flexifoil)



The conditions remained suitable into the afternoon so we started the double eliminations on nice flat water as the tide began to go out. The highlight of this stage was Tom Hebert (FRA, North) who was killing it in his heats. Before the weather turned again and action was postponed we witnessed Tom power through, firstly his heat against Mike Blomvall (SWE, Nobile)  and then Ariel Corniel (DOM, Ozone). Tom is locked in a close fight for fifth overall place with his team-mate Reno Romeu (BRA, North). Since Tom won his heat he now has the advantage over Reno who is in a pending heat against Kevin Langeree (NED, Naish)… not the easiest competitor…

Tomorrow will be the last day in St Peter Ording and the conditions look very promising, we will finish the doubles and you can follow all the action LIVE on: live.prokitetour.com

Results Women

Results Men

 


Bron: http://prokitetour.com/news2.php?id=113&Day=8

[Evan]

Is Youri nog wel te stoppen zeg, hij blijft maar doorgaan.

Niet zo gek dat Kevin van hem verliest in de 2e ronde in zo'n vorm, maar misschien vecht hij zich terug in de doubles vandaag,

[Michiel.]

Zojuist heeft Youri ook de doubles gewonnen!!!