The forecast was calling for plenty of wind from sunrise to sunset, so head judge Duncan Coombs made the call to meet for a 07:00 skipper's briefing. Unfortunately for the wave sailors, the swell had failed to build, giving the freestylers a chance to wow the crowds. Both the competitors and spectators were not disappointed as both a single and double elimination of freestyle were completed.

With the difficult freestyle conditions that the sailors were up against, the higher ranked competitors played it fairly safe in the first round to ensure they made the cut and advanced through. There was still plenty of action on the water, with huge shaka's and stylish eslider's from the World's best, pleasing the huge number of spectators on the beach. Unfortunately Canadian sailor Philip Soltysiak (Starboard, Dakine) pushed a little bit too hard and dislocated his shoulder during his first round heat against Thomas Traversa (Tabou, Gaastra). The crew had to help him off the water and take him to hospital to have it put back in place.

Highlight's form the second round included the battle between 2008 Freestyle World Champion Jose 'Gollito' Estredo (Fanatic, North) and light wind freestyle master Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2, MauiSails). Both of these guys were fully going for it and landing numerous combination moves and big power moves. It could have well been the World Championship final, but it was only the second round. Estredo dug deep and nailed a few more stylish moves to take the win and move into the quarterfinals. The Russian sailor Yegor Popretinskiy (JP, NeilPryde, MFC) had an easy second round due to the fact that Antxon Otaegui (JP, NeilPryde, MFC) was still suffering from an ankle injury which he picked up earlier in the year. Otaegui tried to make it out for his heat but was in too much pain to compete.

The quarterfinals were very tight in both halves of the draw with difficult decisions being made by the judges. Taty Frans (Starboard, MauiSails) sailed an extremely impressive heat to take down the current World Champion Estredo. And his brother Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra) sailed an equally impressive heat to take the scalp of 2007 Freestyle World Champion, Marcilio Browne (Fanatic, North, MFC). On the other side of the draw, Kiri Thode's (Starboard, Gaastra) technical superiority helped him get ahead of Four Dimension's director, Andre Paskowski (Fanatic, North). And Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard, Gun) took down the young Russian, Popretinskiy.

The Frans brothers' success meant that they met in the semi-final. Taty managed to style his way through the heat with a huge shaka diablo and an awesome culo. His brother Tonky put every effort in to match him with a nice backloop and a shaka, but it wasn't quite enough.

Thode stopped his French rival Akgazciyan dead in his tracks with a super smooth funnel and an amazing culo, amongst other high scoring moves. Thus putting himself in the final of the single elimination alongside Taty Frans.