Winds reaching well over forty knots and waves breaking over mast high thrashed the Klitm?ller coastline for three days of epic competition. The ferocious storm brought with is some of the fiercest conditions witnessed on the world tour in 2011. The combination of the amazing conditions and the world's most radical wave riders led to an insane show and the third stop on the men's wave tour to be completed in record time. The crowds were treated to monster jumps, huge forwards and super-aggressive slashes as the sailors battled their way through each heat.
As the most interactive event on the tour, the 2011 KIA @coldhawaii world cup has broken records in the way that windsurfing is shared online, with live scoring for each heat, a live chat roll and all the action streamed live for thousands of people to tune in a catch the amazing show.
Single elimination
After a gentle morning spent registering and rigging on the first day, Klitm?ller came alive, the waves started to peel over the reef and the wind blew up to twenty knots allowing the first seven heats of the single elimination to be completed.
PWA legend Lars Petersen (JP / NeilPryde), made his return to the competition scene with his perfect wave selection allowing him to sail past his opponent, along with Phil Horrocks (JP / Gaastra), Mikkel Asmussen (RRD / Simmer / MFC), Andreas Olandersson (Simmer, MFC), Adam Lewis (Point-7), Kevin Mevissen (Mystic) and Germany's Florian Jung (RRD / Gun / Dakine). The sailors looked super comfortable sailing on the North Sea and ready to face their higher seeded opponents.
The storm had really kicked in for the second day of competition, bringing with it really extreme conditions and forcing the sailors out on their smallest equipment.
With two wave rides and two jumps counting towards their scores, the sailors were fired up and quickly pulling their most impressive moves to fend off their opponents. The second round of competition saw many of the top seeded sailors quickly take their positions in the following heats and a few surprise exits from major players, Peter Volwater (Fanatic / MauiSails), Eleazar Alonso (Naish / Naish) and Camille Juban (Gun / MFC).
The third round of competition saw exceptional sailing from Thomas Traversa (Tabou / Gaastra) to dispose of his team mate Alex Mussolini (Tabou / Gaastra). Traversa went on to face the Brazilian Kauli Seadi (JP / NeilPryde), and despite his enormous jumps, it wasn't enough to stop a very on form Seadi.
Also reveling in the crazy conditions and working his way past his opponents on his home ground, local legend Kenneth Danielsen (F2 / Simmer) was flying high throughout the day, and ripping the waves to pieces to secure a well-earned fifth place. It took the might of Ricardo Campello (JP / NeilPryde / MFC) and his extreme double forward loops to put an end to Danielsen's advances in the single elimination.