WORLD KITEBOARDING LEAGUE – NEW CALEDONIA DAY THREE
Day three commenced with some promising wind, sunny skies and ideal tide conditions. The event commenced at 11am, with Men’s Round 1 Heat 2. The full round was completed for the Men, as well as Round 2 for the Women.
For the start of Heat 2 the wind conditions were still fairly light, with the competitors using 13m and 14m kites. The athletes struggled to go big but 2x World Champion Youri Zoon dominated the heat with a powerful KGB5, 317 and Backside 315. He was followed closely by French rider Val Garat who also nailed a nice KGB5 but couldn’t back it up with his Slim7 that he crashed. Fortunately, he nailed a nice Front Blind Mobe and Crow Mobe 5 meaning that it was him who would be joining Youri Zoon and passing directly to the third round.
Local rider Guillebert rode extremely well. He was powerful and stylish finishing 3rd in his heat, and joining him in Round 2 is Sebastian Garat.
For Men’s Heat 3 the athletes were still using large kites and struggling to find enough height to score doubles. Marc Jacobs from New Zealand scored the top position, opening with a massive Hinterberger 5, backed up with a good KGB5. Brazilian rider Set Teixeira also landed a nice Slim7 and Backside 315, gaining second place and joining Jacobs in Round 3. Paul Serin and David Tonijuan rode solid heats and will both pass through to Round Two.
Men’s Heat 4 saw Brazilian man of the moment Carlos Mario land a massive Slim 7 that gave him an easy win. He also nailed a Heart Attack 5 to jump through to Round 3. Jerome Cloetens came in second just 0.02 points in front of newcomer Simone Lamusse. Cloetens landed a clean Front Blind Mobe and KGB while Lamusse scored a Hinterberger 5 and perfect Double Heart Attack. Sergey Sotov from Russia will also be joining Lamusse in Round 2.
On the Women’s side, it was Pauline Valesa who was victorious in her battle with fellow local rider Marine Duprat. They both landed S-bend to Blind, Back to Blind and 313‘s but Valesa rode with slightly more power and scored the win.
We saw a great heat between Rita Arnaus from Spain and local rider Maureen Castelle. Rita was on fire and landed her 7 trick attempts including a great Slimchance and S-bend to Blind. Castelle rode with a lot of style and landed a nice Back to Blind but she unfortunately suffered too many crashes and lost her lead, leaving Rita to pass through to the next round.
Competition was called of as the tide became too low. Skipper’s meeting has been called for 10 am tomorrow with the first possible start at 10.30 am.
