Fuerteventura Grand Slam - Day five


27.07.11 - by: Ed Sinclair

Fuerteventura Grand Slam

Day five: The fifth and final day for the freestyle fleet in Fuerteventura finished on a high seeing Taty Frans and Laure Treboux spin their way into first place in the super-session.

The sailors were greeted with 20-25 knots of wind for their final day in Fuerteventura. With a result secured, the victors crowned and not enough time to run another single and double elimination, the judges opted to run a crowd pleasing super-session to take advantage of the great conditions.

The Format

The rules were simple for the super-session, the sailors were provided with a small square to perform their moves on the inside close to the crowds. They were allowed three attempts to perform their most radical maneuvers to wow the judges. The two sailors with the highest scoring moves would advance into the final.

Men's heat one

Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra) opened the men's heat with an enormous crash on a fast willy skipper attempt. Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra) was first to land an incredible burner into flaka seeing him earn particularly high scores from the judges. Yegor Popretinskiy (JP / NeilPryde / MFC) was close behind landing a super smooth double spock. Next to wow the crowds with a huge crash was Israel's Yarden Meir (Fanatic / Simmer) with his huge no-handed burner attempt. Tonky closed the heat with a fifty meter willy-skipper planing the whole way across the beach, but it wasn't enough to beat Thode and Popretinskiy, who were awarded their passes into the final.

Men's heat two

Bonaire's Bjorn Saragoza (Starboard / Hot Sails) pulled the first move launching into a high switch kono. Phil Soltysiak (Starboard / Dakine) was close behind landing one of his own. It was then up to Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) to up the game, landing a perfect spock-culo. Loic Spicher (JP / NeilPryde / MFC) tried to match him with a floaty kono, however Soltysiak snuck through at the end with a really fast burner. Taty and Soltysiak were granted access into the final.

Men's heat three

The action really stepped up in the third heat, Dieter Van der Eyken (Starboard / Severne) landed a planning kono, Quincy Offringa (Starboard) nailed a culo, and the new world champion Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra) flew around a no-handed burner, closely followed by Paul Zeper's (Patrik / Hot Sails / Dakine) monster shaka. The next round of moves saw Van Broeckhoven attempt his double burner and Van der Eyken and Offringa land perfect burners. Van Broeckhoven and Van der Eyken were awarded their places in the final for their efforts.

Men's heat four

Four times world champion Jose Estredo (Fanatic / North) spun around a super clean spock-culo to open the heat. Anthony Ruenes (Tabou / Simmer) went for his trademark regular chachoo but crashed hard, closely followed by Brit Andy Chambers (JP / NeilPryde) going for a double spock. Ian Mouro Lemos (JP / NeilPryde) upped the game landing a super technical switch chachoo diablo, and Florian Wegerer pulled an ankle dry one-handed burner. Chambers pulled off his double spock, planning out on his third attempt, however it was not enough. Estredo and Wegerer were awarded with their entry into the final.