Gonzas

Course Racing Day

Day one of the 2008 PKRA World Tour in Mexico dubbed the Movistar Kiteboard World Cup was an astonishing feat. Warm weather and light wind prevailed during most of the day but the good news was that the wind was consistent between 10-14 knots. The mandatory skippers meeting was held at 10:00 a.m. but the wind did not provide enough fuel for a freestyle competition to be held.

At about 12:15 p.m., the first Racing event of the season got underway when the wind slightly picked up speed. Another race was held at 2:45 p.m. and the last one at 4:15 p.m. It took the first guy to cross the finish line between 15-20 minutes per race.

Race Director Eric Troostheide managed to come up with a nice course setup – a triangular course that brings the racer closer to the beach with the finish line at the beach.

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is scheduled at 9:00 am with first possible start at 9:15 a.m. depending on the wind condition. According to Troostheide, “If it’s light then we might start with some more racing then the freestyle event in the afternoon when the wind is suppose to be stronger with a forecast of 14-16 knots, so we are expecting a great day tomorrow.”

So everybody is looking forward to the start of the freestyle event, including the competitors who have prepared a great deal for this season.

“I think we could have a really good show. I think all the competitors are super motivated. I saw a couple of new tricks during their practices but I’m very sure that most of the riders are keeping the good stuff for the competition,” said PKRA Head Judge Sami Gali.

“You can feel that it’s going to be an exciting season, with the athletes thinking one step ahead. Tomorrow is going to be a very important day for the freestyle because we are going to see new styles that we’ve never seen before, if the conditions are right.”

Besides being the head judge for the Freestyle event, Sami is also a competitor in the Racing event under the Best banner but so far has been lagging behind Mexico’s ace racer Sean Farley of North Kiteboarding. Sami’s been working on a prototype board but unfortunately broke it in yesterday’s practice so he wasn’t able to use it in the actual race.
Asked about his performance in today’s event, he commented, “I had a very bad first race. I was the last one at first but I really managed to catch up and finished third on the first race. It’s amazing and I still don’t know how I managed to catch up.”

Farley on the other hand seems to be satisfied with his performance in today’s races, winning the last two of three events after bowing to North teammate Charles Deleau of France in the first race. Back from a six-week long prototype testing with North over in Western Australia, the young Mexican rider said, “Today was really interesting and I got to put all the hard work of the North design team to whatever I was doing. It was a success out there today against the other racers. It was a good result and I was pointing above everybody today.”

Race Results:

Men’s Race 1

1. Charles Deleau (France, North) – 0.7 pts.
2. Sean Farley (Mexico, North) – 2 pts.
3. Sami Gali (Spain, Best) – 3 pts.

Race 2

1. Sean Farley (Mexico, North) – 0.7 pts.
2. Sami Gali (Spain, Best) – 2 pts.
3. Charles Deleau (France, North) – 3 pts.

Race 3

1. Sean Farley (Mexico, North) – 0.7 pts.
2. Sami Gali (Spain, Best) – 2 pts.
3. Charles Deleau (France, North) – 3 pts.

Women’s Race 1 to 3:

1. Steph Bridge (UK, North) – 2.1 pts.
2. Angela Peral (Spain, North) – 6 pts.
3. Susi Mai (Germany, Cabrinha) – 9 pts.