NoveNove Maui Aloha Classic
The elite of the wave sailing world headed for the iconic Ho’okipa Beach Park, Maui, between the 28th October until the 10th November for what is widely regarded as the most prestigious event on the World Tour calendar — The Maui Aloha Classic sponsored by NoveNove — and with world titles on the line and everyone desperate to scoop this illustrious accolade the stakes couldn’t have been higher.
The last couple of events on the European leg of the World Tour had been unfortunate with conditions with a lack of both wind and waves, but the wind and wave god’s more than made up for this over the next 14 days in Maui as waves up to double mast high and regular trade winds bombarded Ho’okipa leading to a fitting finale as the sun eventually set on another pulsating PWA Wave World Tour with one of the all time events.
Women’s
The women’s world championship saw another showdown for the title between the legendary Moreno twins — Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) and Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) — just as last year Daida came into the final event of the year holding the lead with a perfect record (2 wins out of 2 in Gran Canaria and Tenerife) and knew that a 3rd place finish or better would guarantee her the title. However, just as in 2014 it was Iballa who was once again able to overhaul her sister to not only claim back-to-back world titles, but she also fended off stiff competition from Fiona Wylde (Starboard / Goya Windsurfing) to complete a famous hat-trick of Aloha Classics having won here in 2006, 2014 and now 2015.
Iballa Moreno had this to say upon defending both her world title and Aloha Classic crown: “In the water you don’t really have any idea about the points, but apparently it was really close until the last wave I caught, which gave me 8 points, which made the difference in the end. I’m pretty happy that everything went well and I won the event. I mean it’s another dream come true. The day I defended my world title was a really emotional day with a lot of things going on in my mind, but I’m so pleased that I realised my main goal of coming to Hawaii, which was to win the Aloha Classic and I’m delighted about this more than anything else.”
Meanwhile, Daida, walks away from the 2015 season in an excellent second place and she will no doubt be back stronger than ever next year. The latest victory for the Moreno twins now means they have collected an incredible 25 world crowns between them and they show no signs of relinquishing their power over the top of the rankings.
Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) may have only been competing on the Wave World Tour for the past two years, but the Aruban gem is already beginning to make her mark in the waves. Offringa — who has a Slalom world title and 8 Freestyle world titles to her name — completes the prestigious podium for 2015 after seeing off her main contender Amanda Beenen (99NoveNove / Point-7), who finishes fourth overall. In fact Offringa was just 0.99 of a point away from overtaking Daida Moreno into second place, as a 6th place finish at the NoveNove Maui Aloha Classic would have just done that but Nayra Alonso (Fanatic / Severne) prevailed with 12.37 points to Offringa’s 11.38 points.
Sarah-Quita Offringa completes the overall women’s wave podium for the first time in her career and said: “Wave is my new challenge and the goal was to finish top three this year. I just thought that would be cool. But now that I have it, I have the same feeling I had finishing 3rd in Pozo. It's great to have this mix of events of port and starboard tack and be able to sail against the best girls in the world of all these spots. It's a dream come true finishing on the podium for WAVE sailing. Unknowingly it was something I wanted badly. I get to be up there next to Daida and Iballa and that's real cool! Big, big congrats to all the ladies out there, especially charging at this event in Ho'okipa. They're all very inspiring to me. Time for some champagne!!”
Back to the Aloha Classic and it was Fiona Wylde who stole the show in the double elimination as the 18 year old battled her way back to second place by winning 7 heats in a row, before only just losing out to Iballa Moreno in the final. Wylde suffered an unexpected early exit in the single, but re-found the form she showed in 2014 to complete an epic comeback — continually selecting the biggest set waves and showing excellent execution with perfectly timed turns.
Meanwhile, Ingrid Larouche (Fanatic / North), sailed through the pain barrier with two fractures in her foot to complete the women’s top 3 in Maui, which sees the Canadian rise to 5th in overall world rankings, whilst Sarah Hauser (Tabou / Simmer), recorded her best result with an excellent 4th place at the NoveNove Maui Aloha Classic.
Men’s
World Title Race
Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / North / MFC) was the only man who could deny Philip Köster a 3rd world title heading into the final event of the year. The Spaniard would need to win the NoveNove Maui Aloha Classic, but after a 2nd round exit in the single Fernandez faced an even greater task to do just that. The 2010 world champion would need to win a gruelling 12 consecutive heats to prevent his German rival and Fernandez deserves a great deal of credit for the way he approached the double and made Köster sweat it out.
At the start of the double it seemed like an almost impossible task, but then Fernandez began to gather momentum and suddenly the impossible didn’t seem quite so impossible anymore as Fernandez linked gouging turns with radical goiters and an amazing forward loop off the lip, which he landed fully planing out into the flats. Fernandez’s epic comeback saw him win 6 heats on the spin, but ultimately Levi Siver (Quatro / Goya Windsurfing / MFC) proved one step too far as the American brought Fernandez’s title hopes to an end for another year, whilst Köster could bask in the glory of the world title No.3 and the German had this to say afterwards: “It’s feels great to win another world title, to be honest I still can’t quite believe it at the moment. After a long year of competing it feels really good, we were unlucky with the last couple of European events and there was a lot of waiting, which isn’t the easiest when all you want to do is compete. I’m super stoked and it feels special to win the title here in Hawaii.”
Completing the Podium
Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne) completes this year’s prestigious podium. Stone is only in his second full season back on the World Tour — after recovering from injury and completing his studies — and has quickly established himself as one of the major players and the 25 year old deservedly walks away from 2015 with his best result so far.
Double Elimination
Morgan Noireaux (JP / Hot Sails / Maui) became the first man in history to record back-to-back PWA Aloha Classic titles as the Hawaiian fended off the challenge of Kauli Seadi (99NoveNove / Hot Sails Maui / MFC), who was making his return to the competition scene for the first time in two years, in the Super Final to once again stand tall at the top of the podium after combining big vertical under the lip together with perfectly timed aerials to impress both the crowds and the judges over the course of the contest.
On winning back-to-back Aloha Classics Noireaux said: “It feels amazing, to be honest I thought I’d got a 1st and a 2nd there for a little bit, so it’s nice to find out I’d won. In the first heat I thought I sailed pretty consistent and then in that second heat I made a few mistakes. I managed to catch a pretty nice set wave to bring it back though. I thought I’d lost when I came in so it’s obviously a relief to find out that I didn’t.”
Kauli Seadi returned with a bang to secure second place as the former 3-time world champion laid down more of his instantly recognisable rail-to-rail wave riding together with goiters and aerials to return with a bang.
2013 PWA Maui Aloha Classic Champion — Levi Siver — won four consecutive heats in the double elimination as he showed the same kind of devastating form as when he won. The American stomped numerous frontside 3s and trademark roundhouse cutbacks to originally win Heat 43 before defeating Fernandez, Camille Juban (Quatro / Avanti / MFC), who finished 5th in Maui and completes the 2015 season in 11th place and last year’s world champion Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails), who ends the year in 4th place overall after an excellent showing at the NoveNove Maui Aloha Classic.
The 2015 NoveNove Maui Aloha Classic will live long in the memory as one of the best events in the history of windsurfing with the Pacific Ocean delivering the world class waves the Ho’okipa Beach Park is renowned for. Over the course of the last two weeks there has been plenty of carnage with the hungry Ho’okipa rocks claiming lots of victims together with their equipment. At times the world’s best were tested to their limits, but ultimately they all conquered Ho’okipa to provide us with a plethora of magic moments. Congratulations again to all of the winners’ and thanks to everyone who made the event possible — particularly NoveNove — and the people of Maui for their fantastic hospitality once again. We can’t wait to back next year for another epic edit of the NoveNove Maui Aloha Classic.
Where’s Next on the PWA World Tour?
Next up is the final event of an extremely busy 2015 season, which will see the slalom world titles decided in the incredibly beautiful paradise of New Caledonia. The Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup starts on the 24th November and runs until the 29th — Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com again to see the conclusion of the frantic slalom live via the PWA live stream and live ticker.
Result of the 2015 NoveNove Maui Aloha Classic: Women’s
1st Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Fiona Wylde (Starboard / Goya Windsurfing)
3rd Ingrid Larouche (Fanatic / North)
4th Sarah Hauser (Tabou / Simmer)
5th Vickey Abbot
6th Nayra Alonso (Fanatic / Severne)
7th Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)
8th Ann-Marie Reichman (Starboard / Hot Sails Maui)
9th Shawna Cropas (JP / NeilPryde)
9th Amanda Beenen (99NoveNove / Point-7)
Result of the 2015 NoveNove Maui Aloha Classic: Men’s
1st Morgan Noireaux (JP / Hot Sails Maui)
2nd Kauli Seadi (99NoveNove / Hot Sails Maui / MFC)
3rd Levi Siver (Quatro / Goya Windsurfing / MFC)
4th Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails)
5th Camille Juban (Quatro / Avanti / MFC)
6th Victor Fernández (Fanatic / North / MFC)
7th Ricardo Campello (Patrik / Point-7 / MFC)
8th Kai Lenny (Naish / MFC)
9th Kevin Pritchard (Starboard / Ezzy / MFC)
9th Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing / MFC)
Overall Rankings of the 2015 PWA Wave World Tour: Women’s
1st Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)
4th Amanda Beenen (99NoveNove / Point-7)
5th Ingrid Larouche (Fanatic / North)
6th Alice Arutkin (Fanatic / North)
Overall Rankings of the 2015 PWA Wave World Tour: Men’s
1st Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / North / MFC)
3rd Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne)
4th Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails)
5th Ricardo Campello (Patrik / Point-7 / MFC)
6th Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD)
7th Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing / MFC)
8th Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins / SWOX)
9th Dany Bruch (Starboard / Challenger Sails / AL360)
10th Klaas Voget (Fanatic / Simmer / MFC)