Tenerife PWA World Cup
After a three week break, the best wave sailors in the world are ready to return to action for their second battle of the season, which sees them heading for El Médano for the 2017 Tenerife PWA World Cup (6th-12th August). Since beginning in 2011 Tenerife has produced a result every year, enhancing its reputation as one of Europe’s premier wave sailing destinations and hopefully, over the next 7 days we’ll see more phenomenal action.
El Médano is situated on the Southeast coast of Tenerife, just minutes away from the airport. Furthermore its beautiful golden sand beaches are blessed with glorious sunshine, regular trade winds and pumping waves year round, which make this amazing spot a windsurfers haven. The week ahead is guaranteed to be packed with unbelievable action, as the world’s most radical sailors prepare to take full advantage of the world class conditions to wow both the crowds and the judges with more gravity defying stunts and radical wave riding.
Wave
Women’s
Since the Tenerife PWA World Cup started in 2011 the Moreno twins have never finished outside the top 2 and given the way they both started the season in Pozo it's hard to see anyone breaking into the top 2 this time around. Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) continued her dominance of Pozo to take the early season lead, but Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) - the reigning world champion - comes into the event as the defending event champion. Over the last couple of seasons, there’s only been a couple of points separating them, so it will be intriguing to see who comes out on top this time around. If Daida was to secure victory here it would be a massive step towards securing her 19th world title, while if Iballa was able to win it would setup a grand stand finale to the season.
Lina Erpenstein (Patrik / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) will come into the second event of the year full of confidence having broken into the top 3 for the first time in her career in the opening event of the season. The young German showed off her no fear approach to jumping and aggressive wave riding to make an impressive start to the year and you can expect to see more of the same over the next 7 days.
However, Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer / Mystic) will be wanting to exact revenge again Erpenstein after a narrow loss in the single elimination in Pozo. The Pole was fighting her way back through the double - which included an impressive victory against last year’s world No.3 Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) - before the conditions fizzled out and she’ll be chomping at the bit for another shot at a podium run.
The first event of the year was somewhat of a disappointment for Sarah-Quita Offringa. The 26-year-old finished 2nd in Pozo in 2016, but could only muster a 5th place finish this time around. However, Offringa will come into Tenerife on a high having just captured her 10th PWA Freestyle World Championship and you can expect to see her charging for the podium again.
Steffi Wahl (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg) missed the opening event of the season, but the German is raring to go in time for Tenerife and she’ll be a massive threat here. Last year Wahl caused a major upset in the single elimination as she defeated Daida Moreno to finish 2nd before finishing 3rd for the event. Expect to see more powerful wave riding as she looks to kick off the season with at least a top 5 finish.
Elsewhere, the likes of Nicole Bandini (Fanatic / NorthSails), Arrianne Aukes (Fanatic / NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins), Sarah Hilder (Simmer / Simmer Sails) and Caterina Stenta (RRD / RRD Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) will be hoping to make their presence felt, while Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) and Maria Andres (Fanatic / NorthSails) are also in the lineup.
Men’s
Two men have dominated in Tenerife since 2011 as well - reigning world champion Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / NorthSails / Shamal) and 3-time world champion - Philip Koster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins). At certain points, both have been outside the top 2, but never at the same event and in the past 6 editions of the Tenerife PWA World Cup one of these two have won and it’s difficult to see that trend stopping here. Especially given the fact that they finished 1 and 2 in the opening event of the year. Koster produced an impeccable return from injury to head up the event rankings, while Fernandez was his usual slick self and there could be another epic battle on our hands here.
However, as Pozo showed the level on the world tour is currently at an all time high and the margins are almost too close to call, so as a result there’s plenty of other sailors in the running.
Firstly, Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails) produced an outstanding display in Pozo to finish 3rd and the Frenchman will now only get stronger throughout the season. TT finished 2nd here in his title winning year of 2014 and you wouldn’t want to bet against him replicating that form - especially if there’s a decent swell.
Ricardo Campello (Point-7) and Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing) met each other in just the 3rd round of the single in Pozo and both are certainly capable of going all the way here in Tenerife. Campello racked up a perfect jumping heat in Pozo (20 points out of 20) and if he can sustain that level he’s in with a great shout, while Browne appears to have perfect doubles on lock down, while he also landed a perfect double off the lip in Pozo during free sailing and he looks hungry to add another world title to his mantle piece.
Elsewhere, event organiser Dany Bruch (Starboard / Flight Sails / AL360 / Shamal) and local hero Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails) are likely to be serious contenders on their home waters, but they’ll be having to battle it out against the likes of Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / SWOX), who started the season with a solid 6th place, Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX), for whom Tenerife is like a second home and Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne / Shamal Sunglasses / SWOX), who started the season with a relatively quiet joint 9th place, but you can expect to see him bounce back immediately - especially since he won the single elimination here in 2015.
Moritz Mauch (Severne / Severne) could also pose major threat - especially if there is only one jump to count, while the usual suspects of Omar Sanchez (Carbon Art / KA Sail), Jules Denel (JP / NeilPryde), Leon Jamaer (JP / NeilPryde), Alessio Stillrich (Fanatic / NorthSails) and Antoine Martin (JP / NeilPryde) should be in the mix.
One other name that catches the eye on the entry list is that of 7-time PWA Freestyle World Champion - Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / NorthSails) - who returns to the waves. The Venezuelan has been spotted busting out perfect double forwards and he could well be one to cause a few upsets against the pure wave sailors.
The current forecast looks as though it may be a relatively quiet start to the event, but Wednesday and Thursday currently offer plenty of potential to run the contest as Tenerife looks to maintain its 100% results record. Make sure you stay tuned into www.pwaworldtour.com between the 6th-12th of August to follow all the fantastic action from the second stop of the 2017 PWA World Tour as it happens via the PWA live stream.
To stay up to date with all the latest developments from Tenerife — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.
Day 1 Schedule: (All Times GMT+1)
Registration - 10-11am
Skippers’ Meeting - 12:30pm
First Possible Start - 1pm