Pkra 2013 start to Dahkla Marocco!
DAY 1
The 2013 PKRA season officially started this morning with the opening ceremony in Dakhla, Morocco. The ceremony was opened with the presence of the wali of Dakhla and all the riders. The 4th edition of the Dahkla PKRA is going to be one of the best ones yet with 47 men freestylers, 11 women freestylers, 18 men and 6 women in the wave event.
The registration started early this morning with over 75 men and women from 21 countries coming to compete in the lagoons and waves of Dakhla. Everyone has had four month to train to learn new tricks and hone in their skills to prepare for this first event. All the top men and women are here to claim the first title of the 2013 season and take home a piece of the 47,000$ in prize money.
This event marks the return of the wave competitions on the PKRA with many of the top wave riders here to compete. Pedro Henrique, Nuno Figueiredo, Abel Lago, Kevin Langeree, Jalou Langeree, Kirsty Jones, Kari Schibevaag, Ines Correira and many more. With competitors of this caliber on the perfect right hand break of Dakhla, the action is going to be top tier.
The wind picked up late afternoon and the first 10 heats of the trials were run. The ladder was set up with a first round of 13 heats, all the heats were very important due to the fact that the winner would advance directly into the main event and the others would have to battle for the last 3 spots. We saw spectacular action right from the start, with Borisov having a solid heat advancing into the main event.
The second heat was dominated by Eudazio Da Silva, who was able to land repeated technical tricks and double handle passes. The third heat featured the return of Alvaro Onieva to the PKRA and showed that he is still a top contender. The first close heat of the day was between Victor Hayes and Teixeira; it came down to a 3 to 2 decision by the judges with Teixeira moving straight into the main event.
In heat five Johnno Scholte showed his solid repertoire of tricks and secured a place into the main event. The most exciting heat of the day was heat six in between Ariel Corniel, Forest Baker and Valentin Marvyle. All three riders were landing KGB’s, slims, back mobes and other technical passes, the main factor in the end came down to power and Marvyle was able to defeat Ariel and Forest with a better kite position and power.
In the next heat Madson from Brazil came out and dominated with massive maneuvers. In heat eight and nine, Ewan Jaspan and Patrick Blanc easily advanced into the main event. The final heat of the day was between Hutter, Rodwald and Ed-Derkaoui. It was a close battle between hutter and Rodwald, but hutter had more power with cleaner execution on his grabbed 313 and other tricks.
We could not have asked for a better way to start the event with a beautiful opening ceremony and 10 action-packed heats. Tomorrow will be nonstop action with the end of the trials and the start of the main event. Check out www.prokitetour.com for the live feed and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay informed.
DAY 2
After the first round of men, 13 men were qualified for the main event and 26 competitors remained for the ultimate three spots. After around two was completed, 12 men remained for the last three spots and three heats had to be run to pick the top three riders. Heat 20 was between Soussi, Hays, S. Garat and Guias. Sebastian Garat’s experience proved to be too much for the other riders consistently landing powered tricks and switch tricks. Garat was stoked to qualify for the main event after recovering from a serious shoulder injury. Heat 21 was between Barker, Corniel, Boulte and Schitzhofer. All four men are seasoned veterans of competitions and anyone could have won this heat; however Ariel Corniel’s explosive riding and 317 got him into the main event. The final heat of the trials was dominated by Mario Rodwald, whose down loop slim and technical riding got him into the main event.
After a short lunch break at Dakhla Attitude we started the main event in perfect 20 knot side shore conditions. With all the riders training over the winter, each rider became a contender to win his heat. The first heat was between Liam Whaley and Set Teixeira, Liam’s training was obvious from the start being able to land solid blind judges and 313’s. Teixeira was late getting to the heat but was able to quickly gain ground but in the end Liam took the win. Another exciting heat in round one was in between Alvaro Onieva and Eudazio da Silva. Onieva being a season competitor took a more conservative approach but da Silva came out throwing 317’s and blind judge 5’s. In the end da Silva’s technical tricks proved too much for Onieva even with all his experience.
Heat number six was between Mario Rodwald from Germany and Sam Light from the UK. Both riders came up through the qualifiers and were stoked to be in the main event. Sam Light went for some very technical moves like the Crow-Mobe but Mario was going for broke on every move, he put on a great display of power and took the win.
The first heat of the second round was between the eighth-seeded Christophe tack and Liam Whaley. Christophe tack set the pace with his first move landing a powerful slim 5, Liam landed a perfect 360 back mobe but it was not enough to defeat Christophe. The next heat was between Ewan Jaspan and Alberto Rondina. Alberto started the heat with a perfect back mobe, but Jaspan battle back with a great grab KGB an excellent S mobe and upset the number three rider in the world. The first heat between Alex Pastor and Eudazio da Silva was very close. At the end of the heats the judges missed a trick from Alex Pastor and the heat had to be rerun to make sure that we have a fair result. When the heat was started again both riders came out strong but the number two in the world had too much experience for the young Brazilian, landing a great front blind mobe and a 317. Da Silva landed a blind judge seven but it was not enough, we can be sure he will be a threat in the double elimination.
n heat 13 Marc Jacobs had a grab KGB and a grab back mobe and a few more big moves to defeat Borisov. The following heat was with Mario Rodwald and Kevin Langeree who came out on fire. Every move he sent was big and powered, this is what he had to say about that heat and is training: “I did a bunch of training this winter but I wasn’t super focused on learning new tricks, I went with a super mellow approach to the first event of the year and that strategy seemed to work pretty well. I’m also pretty stoked on my KGB were I scored a 7.8 which was my high score.” Kevin Langeree. Mario had already done four heats and ran out of steam, but put on a great show for the crowd.
The last two heats of the day were run as the sun was setting, the first heat between Reno Romeu and Sebastian Garat was very close, both riders had very similar tricks but in the end it was Reno who put an end to Garat’s streak. The final heat of the day was with the world champion Youri Zoon against Louis Hutter from France who had just performed a beautiful heat against Patrick Blanc. Youri was riding extremely well and on his way to victory but in the final minutes of the heat he crashed into Hutters kite and was disqualified. Youri he was not happy with the decision, but he knows he has to focus on the doubles to win this event.
Tomorrow the women will take to the water first, we asked to Gisela Pulido as she prepared for the season and how she feels about tomorrow. “I was training in South Africa all winter, I was able to train in different conditions. Then I went to Orlando to train on the cable park. I feel really well prepared for the season and ready to start the year. “Gisela Pulido
The forecast looks great for the rest the week, we should be switching over to her wave kites are discipline Friday morning. Check out the live feed on www.prokitetour.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates.
DAY 3
The third day of the PKRA Dakhla, Morocco once again brought perfect 20 knot winds with men riding 9 to 11 meter kites and the women on 7 to 9 meter kites. The action was intense right from the beginning. We started the competition with the women’s single elimination and right from the start we could see that the women had been training hard over the winter.
In the first heat of the day Annabel Van Westerop from Aruba came out and really impress the judges by landing a blind judge, a 313 and other handle passes. The second heat featured Marie Switala from France who was able to land enough tricks to defeat Karpuk. The final heat of the first round featured Novotnno and El Jouhavi. Novotnno landed a nice 313 and an air back to blind to secure a place in the next round. The second round of the women’s single elimination featured the top women in the world with Pulido, Kajiya, Winkowska and Jungo. All four women were able to win their heats and advanced to the semifinals.
The first semifinal was in between Gisela Pulido and Bruna kajiya, Bruna Kajiya was able to land some technical passes but her execution was not as good as Gisela’s. Pulido was kiting really well and was able to execute flawless tricks and an excellent slim chance. The second semifinal was between Karolina Winkowska and Manuela Jungo, the world champion’s power and execution was too much for Manuela. Karolina finished her heat with a perfect front blind mobe securing a place in the final.
The battle for the third place on the podium was won by Bruna Kajiya, whose experience and powerful riding beat Jungo who landed some nice handle passes. The final was really exciting with both girls being powered on 9 meter kites. The heat was very close with the girls landing a full repertoire of handle passes, but in the end, Karolina’s execution secured her win in the singles and gets her closer to her fourth PKRA event victory in a row.
We started the men’s competition with the quarterfinals without the current two time world champion Youri Zoon who had been disqualified in the last heat of day 2. The first quarter final featured Tack and Jaspan. Jaspan was still on fire from yesterday, once again landing his grab KGB and a nice Tootsie Roll. The next heat Alex Pastor easily defeated Corniel with flawless execution of a blind judge five and some powerful tricks. The third heat of the quarters between Kevin Langeree and Marc Jacobs, was won by Marc Jacobs whose go for broke attitude was able to defeat Kevin Langeree who was not able to find his rhythm. The last heat of the quarters featured Reno Romeu from Brazil and Louis Hutter from France. The heat was extremely close with Hutter landing a grab 313 and other nice handle passes but Reno’s experience and big moves were able to defeat the Frenchman.
The first semifinal between Jaspan and Pastor was probably the most exciting heat of the day. A couple of tricks into it, Pastor lost this kite and had to swim back to shore. Meanwhile Jaspan was able land some tricks and advance his lead. Luckily for Pastor the world champion Youri Zoon brought him a kite but without a safety leash and then the last minute and a half of the heat Alex Pastor landed four perfect tricks to regain the lead and advance to the final. The second semifinal featured Reno and Jacobs. Once again Marc’s powerful riding and grabbed handle passes got him into the final. The battle for the third-place was won by Reno, who trick after trick kept going bigger and bigger, Jaspan was unable to land all the tricks that I had gotten him this far and had to settle for a fourth place.
The final of the men’s single elimination was a high-scoring affair for both riders and was won by only half a point. For most of the heat Marc Jacobs and Alex Pastor were evenly matched on the tricks, landing excellent front blind mobes, powered grab slim chances and flawless KGB’s. The difference was made when Alex Pastor in the final minute of the heat landed a blind judge five and took the singles title.
Everyone took a lunch break at Dakhla Attitude and by 15:30 everyone was ready to start the double elimination. By four o’clock the wind was gusting to 25 knots and all the riders were really powered. The first heat of the doubles was between Liam Whaley and Patrick Blanc. They set the tone for the doubles. Whaley and Blanc were throwing the most massive tricks one after the other, but it was Liam’s back mobe five that made the difference and gave him the victory. The other two riders that really stood out in the double elimination were Nico Suriel from Dominican Republic and the world champion Youri Zoon. In the strong winds Youri Zoon put on his 11 meter and landed some of the biggest blind judge fives and 317’s that we have seen on tour recently.
The day was action-packed with many riders performing at levels that we have never seen before. It is exciting to see new talent come on tour and challenge the veterans. The double eliminations are not finished yet and with so much talent on tour, anyone can still win this first PKRA stop in Dakhla Morocco.
Friday, March 22 will feature the return of wave riding to the PKRA, with a forecast of 3 meter waves and 25 knots on the perfect right hand break of Dakhla, we can expect some great action. Check out our live feed, Facebook and Twitter to get the latest information and images.
