MARIA ANDRES: 2ND PLACE WOMEN'S WAVE

Maria finished the IWT season last year with a 3rd place at the Aloha Classic but hungry to come back fighting in 2023, especially with the annoucement of the combined PWA x IWT Wave Tours bringing some new locations to the overall World Ranking. Our Queen of the Waves, headed to Omaezaki for a new challenge - a new location and potentially challenging and changeable conditions were on the forecast and that was what Japan delivered. Whilst the warm up days gave some solid waves and winds for the 3.0 SUPER_HERO, the actual contest was very different, with marginal winds and small waves. Maria fought through all the way to the final, where she faced local hero Matoko Sako. Unfortunately for Maria, local knowledge prevailed as Sato was able to pick off the best set wave of the final to secure the win, leaving Maria in 2nd place for the single elimination. Whilst Maria was eager to take her chances again in the double elimination, the conditions did not cooperate, and thus Maria now sits in 2nd place on the World Tour Rankings after the first event! 

MARc PARÉ: tied 1st place

Marc Paré took his first PWA podium of his career at the last event of last season in Sylt, finishing in 2nd place, and with a fully charged winter of training under his belt in a variety of conditions, he was as prepared as possible heading into this first event in Japan. 

For the light onshore conditions, we armed Marc with a new weapon - the SUPER_HERO SLS - all will be revealed on the 11th April but Marc's first impressions were formidable. After spending the last 4 years working on the sails, he couldn't wait any longer to try them out in competition. 

Marc says: "I was competing in my heat on the 5.0 SUPER_HERO SLS and it was so early planing and light in my hands that I actually didn't need the 5.3. It felt like a killer combo - even the judges were telling me how fast I was moving and how easy it was to get around the spot and be in the right position, even in the tricky conditions we had. The sail definitely made the conditions feel easier and I was able to do everything I wanted in the heat. I was super stoked with how I was sailing and I really wanted to keep going but unfortunately the conditions never materialised so we didn't have a chance to fight for the top spots."