Gran Canaria Wind & Waves Festival

Day 3: A look at the men’s qualifying round

Day 3 of the Gran Canaria Wind & Wave Festival saw a break in the competition with Pozo Izquierdo flattening out with the tide. At around midday an attempt was made to run the Youth’s but the heat was cancelled after only 5 minutes, due to the conditions deteriorating.

Correction to number of sailors who advance from qualifying round:

With the competitors remaining on hold for the majority of the day we decided to take a look at the men’s qualifying round, which will see 12 sailors competing for the remaining 4 places in the main draw. The winner of each heat will progress followed by 1 more sailor progressing from a final heat consisting of the 2nd place finishers. 

The first qualifying heat will see 3 aspiring youth’s Marc Paré (99NoveNove / Simmer / Maui Ultra Fins) 18, against Julian Salmonn (Severne / Severne) 19 and Jake Schettewi (JP / Hot Sails Maui) 15, against the more experienced Eric Sanllehy (Goya Windsurfing). However, Sanllehy, will not have an easy route into the main draw with Paré finishing 3rd here in the Youth’s last year and has apparently progressed significantly again over the winter, while Julian Salmonn almost defeated Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) in Tenerife last year. 

The second heat will see 2 Pozo locals pitted against the youthful talents of Loick Lesauvage (Goya Windsurfing) 16, and Arthur Arutkin (Fanatic / North) 19, who both successfully qualified for the main draw last year via the trials. However, they will face a stern test if they wish to make the main draw this time around with Ceballos a previous event winner and someone who has also been ranked as high as 3rd overall in the world. Both he and Eleazar Alonso (Starboard / Severne) will be able to use their extensive local knowledge to their advantage, but the heat promises to be an intriguing battle against two up and coming sailors.

The final qualifying heat sees Kenneth Danielsen (Simmer) going against Federico Morisio (Quatro / Goya Windsurfing / MFC), Markus Rydberg (Simmer / Simmer) and Nicolas Akgazciyan (99NoveNove / Challenger Sails / Maui Ultra Fins). Danielsen is probably the favourite for the third qualifying heat and the Dane enters the event off the back of a brilliant result obtained in Denmark last year — when the 32 year old sailed superbly to claim 6th place. If he sails anywhere near that that level then he should comfortably progress into the main draw. Meanwhile, Rydberg, has been in Pozo for a couple of months and has recovered from a shoulder injury that originally hampered his preparation for the event and the Swede is raring to go. Akgazciyan, who finished 4th overall in freestyle last year, will be a major threat and you can expect to see doubles, backloops and shiftys as he looks to claim his place in the single elimination, while Federico Morisio is fresh from his winter training in Cape Town, South Africa, and it will be interesting to see how his level has progressed since last year. 

The forecast for tomorrow predicts slightly more wind than today, which will hopefully allow the action on the water to resume, while Thursday onwards still look solidly windy. The sailors will once again meet at 10am with the action commencing from 10:30am (GMT+1) — if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com from the 3rd-9th July to see all of the gravity defying stunts as they happen via the PWA live stream and live ticker.

To see all the latest from the event — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.

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