Sylt delivered the goods: on-shore winds, gnarly shore break, wind gusts and lulls, cold water and hot tea. We saw big names dropping out early, sailing heats with under 10 points and breaking masts in the shore break. Sylt happens. The event started with three days of classic northern wave sailing. After the single elimination, our DUOTONE warriors were spread all over the ladder. Victor 3rd, Adam 7th, Alessio and Gollito 11th. Our most experienced sailor Klaas and the youngest team rider here in Sylt Arthur couln't make it through the first round. But Sylt wouldn't be Sylt if things would always turn out as expected. Alessio (13th) won one heat in the double. Gollito (17th) ended his comeback in the double by loosing with a 0.19 point difference to Jamaer. Klaas fought his way back to the TOP 10, by defeating the young Dunkerbeck, Mauch and Jamaer and then loosing to Adam, who then won one more heat against Stone. Victor couldn't hold his 3rd place by loosing to Brawzinho.
Top 10 results (overall ranking):
1st Thomas Traversa (6th)
2nd Marcilio Browne (3rd)
3rd Philip Köster (1st)
4th Victor Fernandez (2nd)
6th Adam Lewis (10th)
9th Klaas Voget :-)
World Title Show Down at Hookipa. The big question is: Who is the most complete sailor? Remember: the last Maui events (until 2016) were won by Maui locals (Pritchard, Noireaux, Siver), who don't sail the entire PWA and therefore don't play a role in the overall title race. Let's talk straight. Köster (1st at the moment) is not known for starboard tack wave riding. DUOTONE team rider Victor Fernandez (2nd) goes to Maui with every chance of winning his fourth wave title, if he manages to keep Brawzinho (3rd) - one of the best sailors of Hookipa - under control. The currently 4th, 5th and 6th ranked sailors Stone, Campello and Traversa have the chance to create their very own miracle. You never know...
The single elimination didn't go too well for our team riders, except Adrien Bosson, who sailed onto a great third place. In the double then, Gollito found back to his freestyle mood. The 9-time world champion produced a superb come back in the double elimination to earn his first podium of the season after winning 6 heats on the bounce against Ruenes, Cappuzzo, Caers, van der Eyken, Bosson and finally Steven van Broeckhoven. In the final Gollito landed the probably heat deciding last move 1 second right after the buzzer and consequently lost the 1st event place in the last second against his mate Amado. But we show great respect to Gollito´s stunning comeback in the double by winning 6 heats in a row. The heat against team mate Adrien was the highest scoring heat of the event: 127.3 vs 133.7 points!
Results Freestyle:
1st Amado Vrieswijk
2nd Gollito Estredo
3rd Steven Van Broeckhoven
4th Adrien Bosson
The last three days were all about foiling. With 8-15 knots of wind, the sailors had to rig their bigger gear sets. The PWA used the event to try two different racing formats: upwind and downwind racing and a slalom like course. Team Duotone sailed in the middle of the mix. Pierre (9th) and William (10th) complete the TOP 10.
For the 2019 overall ranking that means, Pierre finishes on a great 6th place this year, William becomes 11th and Jordy 17th.
