Bonaire Youth Slalom PWA World Cup

May 25, 2024 Created by Chris Yates

Day 2: A waiting game before a short flurry of wind allows three eliminations to be completed before the clouds returned

Day 2 of the 2024 Bonaire Youth Slalom PWA World Cup was a waiting game where rain and clouds looked like they were going to stop any chance of racing. But good things come to those who wait and at 3:30pm the sun finally broke through, the wind picked up and we managed to complete three eliminations before the clouds came back and killed the wind again.

There are three standout riders this event - one in each fleet and all three earned perfect scores on day 2 - namely Bobbi-Lynn De Jong (Starboard / NeilPryde), Arxon Gomperts (FutureFly / Point-7) and Brendan Lorho (FMX Racing / Point-7).

Behind the leaders things are getting very tight. In the U21/U17 Boy’s Fleet, only 5 points separate Bimbi Clappers (Future Fly / S2Maui) in second from Storm Nicolai (Starboard / Duotone) in fourth with Tycho Smits (Future Fly / NeilPryde) sandwiched in the middle. 1.3 points separates the top two U17 Boy’s - repeating the battle from Aruba, but at this stage it’s Tycho leading over Storm.

In the battle of the De Jong twins, its Kit De Jong (Starboard / NeilPryde) who holds a commanding lead at this stage over Lone De Jong (Starboard / NeilPryde). The 12-year-olds are separated by Louise van den Meulen (Starboard / NeilPryde) from Aruba who has found her form here in Bonaire and currently sits in third place.

The fight for second place in the U15 Boy’s couldn’t be closer with only 0.7 separating Jaevian IJtsma from Barrie Sassen. Barrie had a good second day, scoring a string of second place finishes to jump up the ranking and apply pressure on Jaevian.

Joey Ross continues to lead the U13 Boy’s and had extended the gap to 12 points over Julien Blom. The conditions were the most challenging yesterday for the smallest riders as their extremely light weight means pumping the sail is very difficult and so getting going and planing through the gusts can be challenging. Ross continued on his 4.5m - his favourite no matter the conditions and with perfect starts and good gybes, he maintained a steady pace throughout the course, where others were more sporadic in their performance.

With 10 eliminations now complete and two days to go, it’s all still incredibly tight as the young guns battle it out on the beautiful Bonairean waters.

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