Reno World Cup Sylt

Another glorious day in Sylt meant that the slalom sailors were unable to hit the water to complete elimination one, however that didn’t stop the freestylers delivering an incredible show in the second Reno world cup tow-in freestyle competition.

Eighteen of the world’s finest freestylers were ready and raring to go at 11am to fight it out for the €1000 prize money. The sailors were quickly organized into four separate heats and provided with two attempts behind the Jet Ski to impress the judges with their most impressive tricks.

Heat 1

From the word go the action was insane with Marcilio Browne (Fanatic / North / MFC) pulling a textbook burner into flaka, setting the bar really high for his opponents. Anthony Ruenes (Tabou / Simmer) was quick to follow with a clean burner. Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra) usually avoids the tow-in sessions and he looked a little shaky on his first run, but by the time his second run arrived he was ready to go and he performed a spectacular double funnel. The Brit Max Rowe (Fanatic / North) pulled a really fast burner of his own but it wasn’t enough to see him into the final, with the places awarded to Ruenes and Browne.

Heat 2

The choppy conditions threw a number of the sailors in the second heat with Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra) flying out of his foot straps trying a funnel and Julien Mas (Patrik / Hot Sails) crashing on the line-up. Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard / Gun) chose a different tactic by launching off the face of a wave to gain extra height and Mas upped the game to secure his place in the final by landing the only culo of the competition. Dieter Van Der Eyken (Starboard / Severne) made his way in to the final on the last run with an amazing air funnel.

Heat 3

Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra) exploded into action with an enormous air funnel, but he lost control on the landing. It was then up to Ricardo Campello (JP / NeilPryde / MFC) to wow the crowds with a perfect planing burner. Both Youp Schmit (JP / NeilPryde / Dakine) and Andy Chambers (JP / NeilPryde) pulled burners off their own, but Van Broeckhoven was in control in his second run and he performed a massive burner by launching off the back of a wave and landing planing. Van Broeckhoven and Campello were rewarded for their efforts with a place in the final.

Heat 4

With one win already in the bag, Jose Estredo (Fanatic / North) was looking super-confident on his way out and going full speed; however he proved that he is still human and caught his board on a wave and went down. Despite spinning out on entry Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) managed to land a perfect flaka diablo, but it was his burner flaka that really blew the judges away and provided him with his pass into the final. Estredo was back in the game on his second run throwing a perfect burner to ensure he was also in the final.

Final

The eight sailors that had earned their places in the final were shuffled into order depending on how highly they had scored in their opening heat, providing the highest scoring sailor Taty Frans with the biggest advantage by going last.

Van der Eyken and Ruenes opened the final with two crashes, allowing Van Broeckhoven to pull the highest scoring move first by landing a planing burner, but it was Estredo that really stole the show with a thirty point scoring burner into flaka putting his name firmly in the top spot.  The remaining sailors tried to match the master with their moves but Estredo’s trick was leagues ahead of the rest. Having put in two runs each Campello and Van Broeckhoven were in tied in second place for their burners. The pair were provided with one more attempt to upstage each other, Van Broeckhoven nailed a planing burner to secure really high points, whilst Campello played it a little safe with a funnel.

The second Reno world cup tow freestyle session results:
1^st Jose Estredo (Fanatic / North)
2^nd Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra)
3^rd Ricardo Campello (JP / NeilPryde)

Following the amazing display, the sailors returned to the beach to receive their prizes and spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing in the sun and surfing the waves until they were released at 5pm. The skippers meeting for all three fleets will kick off at 10am tomorrow morning.

Scope the action

For more information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with every piece of the action, click on www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our:
- Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins
- Check live elimination ladders
- View results
- Read daily news summaries
- Browse awesome action photo galleries

Make sure you check out the event website for more video clips and pictures at www.windsurfworldcup.de, ‘like’ the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/worldcupsylt and follow everything on Twitter at www.twitter.com/#!/worldcupsylt.