Costa Teguise World Cup - Day 2


01.07.11 - by: Ed Sinclair

Costa Teguise World Cup

Day 2: A day of contrast in Lanzarote, marginal conditions kept the sailors on hold throughout the day until a sudden burst of breeze stirred up a frenzy to finish.

A calm morning in Costa Teguise ensured the sailors we placed on standby from the word go, and the judges were left with the task of monitoring the wind.

As the morning progressed the trade winds kicked in allowing Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra), Remko De Zeeuw (F2 / Gaastra) and Yarden Meir (Fanatic / Simmer), to hit the water to take advantage of the occasional gust to pull switch chachoos and the occasional culo. However large patches of light wind ensured the conditions were unsuitable for a fair competition to take place.

The sailors spent the afternoon waiting for the wind to fill in, listening to the tunes on the beach and relaxing in the main tent. As the sun dipped down it was all change, Kiri Thode (Tabou / Gaastra), Jose ' Gollito' Estredo (Fanatic / North) and Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails) were first to test the waters, pumping into spock culos, shakas and double funnels, providing the crowds with a taste of the action to come.

Head judge Duncan Coombs announced competition would commence from 5pm, allowing three heats to be completed before the conditions died off.

Three heats full of excitement saw the demise of Meir and Yegor Popretinskiy (JP / NeilPryde) to world champion Estredo and Bjorn Saragoza (Starboard / Hot Sails).

Davy Scheffers (Tabou / Gaastra) took on the mighty Thode in heat 21. Scheffers opened the heat with full force knowing it would take a lot to defeat his opponent. Thode fought hard however the light winds were causing a few problems in Thodes routine, seeing a surprised Scheffers work his way into the semi-final. Meanwhile Van Broeckhoven was going about landing his perfect power moves in the challenging conditions, whilst Phil Soltysiak (Starboard / Dakine) looked to be struggling to find enough power to complete his maneuvers.

Heat 22 saw Anthony Ruenes (Tabou / Simmer) take down Taty Frans with his collection of carefully polished maneuvers, displaying his one handed shaka, that saw him defeat Taty's brother Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra) yesterday. On the other side of the heat Estredo flew past Saragoza who was struggling to deal with the complex conditions.

The PWA took advantage of the down time during the day, and caught up with four times world champion Jose 'Gollito' Estredo (Fanatic / North) to find out his thoughts on the 2011 tour.

How are you feeling, entering this event after a slower start to the year than usual?

"It feels great to be here in Lanzarote for my sixth time. I always feel good when I am here, the conditions are great and the people are really friendly, I feel confident that I will sail well here."

Do you prefer the Canary Island leg of the tour?

"I think the Canary Islands are great for freestyle, the wind is really strong and I really like the waves here and in Fuerteventura."