The PWA freestyle World Cup is on here in Bonaire between 12th and 16th June. Tomorrow will be the start of competition but I have been at the beach watching the pros practice over the last two days and it has been awesome! Today was between 20 and 27 knots. They were going off! In one way, the practice/warm-up is even more spectacular than the event itself because the pros are all on the water together and throwing themselves at every move possible. Sitting on the beach is an experience I am glad not to be missing - you get to see something phenomenal every 3 seconds. It's also really cool to get to sail amongst them although sometimes it feels a little humbling. But they are great inspiration and the atmosphere is full of excitement. It is an unbelievable experience for Alex too - I have never seen him jump so high or attempt such a variety of freestyle moves in one sailing session. Today he was trying the vulcan! His hands got a real work out because he won't get off the water!
Alex with a chophop
Alex with a one handed,tail grab gecko-this is my new desktop pic
The first day of the PWA started with ideal conditions. The forecast for the next week is perfect:
The opening ceremony was at 6 pm after the day's competition and included a parade with drums and all the Pros walking down the street and up to the stage.
parade
Kiri Thode is on fire and undoubtedly so far ahead of the pack. Gollito's reign is over by the looks of it. Kiri's performance is obviously best and he is followed, after a gap, by 4 or 5 others who are also awesome and then there's another gap between them and the rest. Kiri will definitely be World Champion this year! The moves are executed flawlessly. There was an amazing back to sail, fully powered gybe, lots of switch stance, one handed, clew first variations and combinations of all the moves - vulcans, spocks, konos, flakas...
Kiri
We had a great day of windsurfing too now that there's finally some wind! Got a shot of the lucky Severne sailors - Dieter Van Eyken in the photo with my son Alex and wife Anna.
severne
Great shot of Alex jumping - looks like he's jumping over Andy "Bubble" Chambers!
alex,bubble
The women's final winner's heat ended up with Lorne Treboux losing to Sarah Quita in the first elimination.
womens
There were 16 men's heats after the wild cards competed against each other to enter the first elimination. In the final men's heats, Taty and Kiri fought it out in the men's winner's final and Goletto fought it out with Steven van Broeckhoven in the loser's final.
mens
Awesome.
My mate and I were getting some advice off Laure Treboux last summer when we were learning how to Vulcan in the river.
She's a cool chick.
you can follow the action live and see the previous days heats from the PWA website
www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=920
keep an eye out for the beautiful orange severne sails in the background
