2004 Sylt PWA Grand Slam Preview
The Sylt Grand Slam, on the coast of Northern Germany is one of the longest running events on the PWA world tour and one of the most respected. The tour is scheduled to commence this year’s competition on the 25th of September with wave and race action running all the way through until the 3rd of October. Both men and women will be competing in the final event on this years PWA wave tour while just the men will be competing in the third stopover of the Nestea racing tour which concludes in Almanarre France between the 17th and the 23rd of October.
Sylt can be a truly radical venue with unpredictable conditions coming from rapidly changing weather systems that race across the Atlantic before unleashing themselves on the German North Sea. Recent years have seen anything from light winds and 30 degrees to 50 knot winds and temperatures threatening zero! When it’s howling, the infamous Sylt shore dump can be as gnarly as any wave in the world and has broken many a mast, as the best wave sailors in the world have attempted to challenge the power of the North Sea.
By contrast the quality of the organization in Sylt is second to none and its status as a party venue is legendary. Over 100, 000 people are expected to attend Sylt this year, braving all weathers to meet their heroes and check out some of the most radical performances in Northern Europe. The social program at night will no doubt be busy with Sylt’s abundant bars and infamous aircraft hanger housing the sailors and spectators for a week of extreme party action.
Aussie wave guru Scott McKercher (Starboard) currently leads the PWA men’s wave ranking after taking a surprise victory in Gran Canaria earlier this summer. McKercher has a proven track record at Sylt and he will be doing his utmost to fight off challenges from Vidar Jensen (North), Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Neil Pryde), Nik Baker (Mistral, North) and Alex Mussolini (JP, Neil Pryde) for the Overall title.
In the women’s wave rankings the current world title holder, Daida Moreno (Mistral, North) leads ahead of her sister Iballa (Mistral, North) with Karin Jaggi (F2, Arrows), Nayra Alonso (Fanatic), Silvia Alba (JP, Neil Pryde) and Anne Marie Reichmann (Naish, Naish) all in contention depending on the results in Sylt.
In the Nestea Racing tour Aussie race specialist, Steve Allen (Fanatic, Neil Pryde) holds the lead after one counting event in Gran Canaria over Micah Buzianis (F2, North) of America and Antoine Albeau of France (AHD, Neil Pryde). With wind almost guaranteed in Sylt we all likely to see a closely fought battle as the best in the world challenge for both the money and valuable ranking points towards the overall title.
The long range forecast for Sylt this weekend is already calling for wild winds and massive waves right from the word go…so be sure to stay tuned to the PWA website www.pwaworldtour.com for all the latest news, pictures and results brought to you daily when the event kicks off on Saturday.