With the skippers' briefing taking place at the crack of dawn, the wave fleet smothered the beach with kit and hit the water from the early hours. The wind was often gusting over 40kts, a strong current was running, and plenty of North Sea growlers were hitting the shoreline, meaning kit choice was critical.

In the early rounds, many fell foul to taking gear which was too small, leaving them struggling to get planing and out past the shore break. Those more experienced with these typical Sylt conditions headed out early and played a tactical game from the word go.

12 minute heats, with 2 wave rides and 2 jumps were the order of the day. With the strong onshore wind with a slight starboard bias, this was going to be a tough call for even the best competitors out there.

Men

With some of the old guard already in the second round, the new guys on tour went out there to show them that getting their automatic place in front, in no way meant they'd stay there. Jason Polakow (JP, NeilPryde) failed to make it through his first heat when an on form Alex Mussolini (Tabou), who was taking no prisoners today, stamped his authority on the contest.

Then came a slight reversal, first with old time racing legend Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde) flying through his first heat to then meet Dany Bruch (Exocet, Severne) in his second. Bruch failed to get out the back throughout his entire heat, giving Albeau an easy ride into the next round. Then came wonder kid Philip Koster (Starboard, NeilPryde, Dakine). Having won in Gran Canaria, we were expecting big things from the youngster. He made it through his first heat, but failed to impress the judges in the same way that he had done earlier in the year and was taken down by tour veteran Peter Volwater (F2, MauiSails) in his second.

Going into the last 16 there was a real mix of old school versus new. Victor Fernandez (Fanatic, North, MFC) upped his game to see off Volwater, whilst Josh Angulo (Angulo, MauiSails, Dakine) notched up some awesome wave scores, which helped him take out Nik Baker (Fanatic, North). Angulo's riding in this heat was some of the finest seen throughout the competition making it near on impossible for Nik to recover, even with his impressive jumps. Ricardo Campello (JP, NeilPryde, MFC) was also putting in some excellent turns on the waves, but these moments of glory were often followed with an absolute pounding which allowed an on form John Skye (RRD, Naish, MFC) to pass. Other notable performances in this round came from UK powerhouse Robby Swift (JP, NeilPryde), who opened his heat with an impressive fully planing push loop, and Albeau, the 2009 Slalom World Champion, who steam rolled ahead with an equally impressive aerial display.