Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam
The 2018 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - sponsored René Egli - didn’t always see Fuerte producing its trademark strong winds this time around, but it still produced enough of the conditions we were hoping for with the Men’s and Women’s Freestyle Double Eliminations and the 4 Eliminations in the Men’s Slalom being completed in world class conditions.
Over the opening 5 days Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) and Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / Duotone) came out on top in the Freestyle with Offringa extending her unbeaten record to 11 years on her way to collecting an 11th PWA Freestyle World Championship, while Gollito takes the lead in the Men’s Freestyle title race. Meanwhile, in the Slalom, Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) was untouchable as AA won all 4 eliminations completed.
Slalom
Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) extends his remarkable record in Fuerteventura - winning every year here since 2006 except 2012 - with one of his most dominant performances in recent years as the 24-time world champion won all 4 eliminations completed. You have to go back to Alacati in 2012 for the last time someone won 4 consecutive eliminations and that man was Albeau again - which perhaps shows you how great of a feat that it is to have repeated it. Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne / Shamal Sunglasses) was the most recent sailor to have come close to doing the same when he won the opening 3 races during the 2016 Sylt PWA Grand Slam, before finishing 2nd in the 4th elimination.
Victory here sees Albeau level things up with Matteo Iachino on 40,700 points with one event to go, but the Italian still leads the title race having recorded better results in 3 out of the 5 events, but ultimately it looks like it will come down to a straight fight between the two heavyweights in the final battle of the season in Sylt, Germany, 28th September - 7th October.
Iachino, qualified for every Winners’ Final, but a bit of bad luck and one mistake on the opening day saw him have to settle for a 4th and an 8th. The 2016 world champion then bounced back with two solid seconds but couldn’t deny Albeau, but he should be happy enough leaving with a second place here given Albeau’s killer record.
For the 4th time this season - Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins) - completes the podium to cement his place on the overall podium, in a result which means the ‘Big Top 3’ have also completed the top 3 in 4 out of the 5 events this season. The title probably looks out of the question for Mortefon this season unless Albeau and Iachino both have shockers in Sylt, but he’s been right at top of his game again over the last 5 days with a 2nd, 3rd and 2x 4th’s from 4 eliminations.
Pascal Toselli (JP / Loftsails / Chopper Fins) remains in 4th in the overall rankings but discards the result here in Fuerteventura after finishing outside the top 10 for the first time this season.
Toselli’s result here combined with Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / Duotone) recording his best ever result in Fuerte - 4th - and also his best result of the season sees the Flying Dutchman close to within 100 points of the Frenchman, while Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) is just a further 100 points back in 6th overall after also finishing 6th here.
Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Shamal Sunglasses) remains 7th in the overall rankings after recording his best result of the season - 5th. The Brit recovered well from a quarterfinal exit in the first race with an 11th, 5th and then a 3rd, but the wind then ran out of steam to give him a shot of recording a 4th podium finish in a row here.
Meanwhile, Cyril Moussilmani (RRD / Severne) and Finian Maynard (I-99) move into the overall top 10 after 8th and 10th place finishes respectively, while Mateus Isaac’s (JP / NeilPryde) 12th place is enough to see the Brazilian keep his spot the overall top 10 - 10th.
Elsewhere, Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde) records his first top 10 finish - 7th - since the opening event of the year, while Antoine Questel (Starboard / S2Maui) follows up his first top 10 of the season in Portugal with a 9th place here - showing the form that he showed last year, while Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / GA Sails / Chopper Fins) also earns his best result of the season - 11th.
Ethan Westera (Tabou / GA Sails) also deserves a mention. The 20-year-old suffered a potentially career-threatening injury here this time last year, but showed he’s back somewhere close to his best by claiming 13th place here - qualifying for the top 16 in 3 out of the 4 races completed.
Freestyle
Women’s
Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) extends her incredible unbeaten run on the Women’s PWA Freestyle World Tour to 11 years after winning both events this year to claim her 11th Freestyle world title. The 27-year-old continues to raise the bar for women’s freestyle, and in a year where it was thought she would face her biggest test yet to regain her world title, Offringa has more than risen to the occasion and is still undoubtedly the Queen of Freestyle.
Maaike Huvermann (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) and Oda Johanne (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) have both raised their level again, but even though they threatened Offringa in Portugal, neither could really land a telling blow here to trouble the now 15-time world champion (11 Freestyle & 4 Slalom).
This season there has been almost nothing between Huvermann and Johanne, but it is Huvermann who walks away with second place to be crowned vice-world champion for the 3rd time in her career, but a coin flip could’ve almost decided that, such was the closeness of their battles.
Arrianne Aukes (Fanatic / Duotone / Maui Ultra Fins) couldn’t trouble the top 3 this time around, but the 31-year-old proved far too strong for the rest of the fleet, which sees her secure 4th place in the overall rankings ahead Johanna Rümenapp (I-99 / Gun Sails / Maui Ultra Fins), who finishes 5th in her debut season.
Men’s
8-time Freestyle World Champion - Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / Duotone) - proved himself to still be the man that everyone else has to beat as the Venezuelan once again showed that he has that killer instinct of a champion, while still oozing his usual style. And with his main rival - Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne) - only managing to finish 4th here you would have to think that victory here is a massive step towards Freestyle World title No.9 - especially given the fact that either Gollito or Vrieswijk have won the last 6 Freestyle events between them.
Adrien Bosson (Fanatic / Duotone / Maui Ultra Fins) walks away from the opening event of the year with his best ever result on the PWA World Tour - 2nd. The Frenchman has previously finished 3rd in both Austria and Sylt, but went one time better this time around and looks incredibly dangerous.
Yentel Caers (JP / Point-7) completes the podium here after producing a series of explosive displays and is firmly in the hunt for his first world title. Caers has not finished outside the top 3 here since 2016 and is now unquestionably one of the main threats on the world tour.
Amado Vrieswijk will be incredibly disappointed with 4th place here as with just 2 events on this year’s freestyle tour it looks as though his wait to earn a first world title will go on for at least one more season. And although it seems only a matter of time before the 22-year-old will get his hands on the freestyle world title - the longer he has to wait, the more problematic it could become to shake the monkey off his back.
The top 5 is completed by Antoine Albert (Goya Windsurfing), Dieter van der Eyken (Severne / Severne Sails), Steven van Broeckhoven (JP / Gun Sails) and Jacopo Testa (RRD / RRD Sails / AL360). Albert and Testa both earned their best ever results last year - 7th and 3rd overall - while the two Belgian’s are former world champions who can clearly still mix it with the best in the business.
Philip Soltysiak (Starboard / Sailworks), Nicolas Akgazciyan, Balz Müller (MB Boards / Severne), Davy Scheffers (Tabou / GA Sails), Sam Esteve (JP / NeilPryde), Francesco Cappuzzo (RRD / RRD Sails / AL360), Mattia Fabrizi (Patrik / Challenger Sails) and Tonky Frans (RRD / RRD Sails / AL360) complete the overall top 10.
Where’s Next on the PWA World Tour?
In under 17 hours time, we’ll be coming to you live from El Médano for the 2018 Tenerife PWA World Cup - which runs between the 5th-11th August, so make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com between those dates to watch the best wave sailors in the world battle it out again.
You can revisit everything that happened in Fuerteventura— including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply by clicking HERE and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
Result 2018 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Men’s Slalom
1st Antoine Albeau (FRA - RRD / NeilPryde)
2nd Matteo Iachino (ITA - Starboard / Severne / Shamal Sunglasses)
3rd Pierre Mortefon (FRA - Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins)
4th Jordy Vonk (NED - Fanatic / Duotone)
5th Ross Williams (GBR - Tabou / GA Sails / Shamal Sunglasses)
6th Julien Quentel (SXM - Patrik / Avanti)
7th Arnon Dagan (ISR - RRD / NeilPryde)
8th Cyril Moussilmani (FRA - RRD / Severne)
9th Antoine Questel (FRA - Starboard / S2Maui)
10th Finian Maynard (KV - I-99)
Overall Ranking 2018 Women’s PWA Freestyle World Tour
1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU - Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Maaike Huvermann (NED - Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Oda Johanne (NOR - Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
4th Arrianne Aukes (NED - Fanatic / Duotone / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Johanna Rümenapp (GER - I-99 / Gun Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
Result 2018 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Women's Freestyle
1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU - Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Maaike Huvermann (NED - Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Oda Johanne (NOR - Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
4th Arrianne Aukes (NED - Fanatic / Duotone / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Johanna Rümenapp (GER - I-99 / Gun Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Nicole Bandini (ITA - Fanatic / Duotone)
5th Birgit Rieger (AUT - Flikka)
5th Lina Erzen (SLO - Flikka / Hot Sails Maui)
Result 2018 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Men's Freestyle
1st Gollito Estredo (VEN - Fanatic / Duotone)
2nd Adrien Bosson (FRA - Fanatic / Duotone / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Yentel Caers (BEL - JP / Point-7)
4th Amado Vrieswijk (NB - JP / Severne)
5th Jacopo Testa (ITA - RRD / RRD Sails / AL360)
5th Steven Van Broeckhoven (BEL - JP / Gun Sails)
5th Dieter Van der Eyken (BEL - Severne / Severne Sails)
5th Antoine Albert (NC - Goya Windsurfing)
9th Philip Soltysiak (CAN - Starboard / Soilwork)
9th Nicolas Akgazciyan (FRA)
9th Balz Müller (SUI - MB Boards / Severne)
9th Davy Scheffers (NED - Tabou / GA Sails)
9th Sam Esteve (FRA - JP / NeilPryde)
9th Francesco Cappuzzo (ITA - RRD / RRD Sails / AL360)
9th Mattia Fabrizi (ITA - Patrik / Challenger Sails)
9th Tonky Frans (NB - RRD / RRD Sails)
Result Youth’s U20 Freestyle 2018 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam
1st Euginio Marconi (ITA - Challenger Sails / AL360)
2nd Lucas Nebelung (GER - I-99)
3rd Kango Iketeru (JPN)
Result Youth's U17 Freestyle 2018 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam
1st Corto Dumond (NC)
2nd Lennart Neubauer (GER - Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
3rd Takuma Sugi (JPN - Tabou / GA Sails)
4th Stefan de Bell
Result Youth's U15 Freestyle 2018 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam
1st Lennart Neubauer (GER- Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Val Erzen (SLO)