The climax to an extraordinary four event season on the GKA Wave & Strapless Freestyle Tour concluded today on the last possible afternoon in epic conditions after light winds earlier in the contest period. Good things come to those who wait! Dakhla Event Results: 1st Keahi de Aboitiz (AUS) 2nd Airton Cozzolino (ITA) 3rd Paulino Pereira (POR) Overall GKA Wave & Strapless Freestyle Rider of the Year Rankings: 1st Matchu Lopes (CV) 2nd Airton Cozzolino (ITA) 3rd Paulino Pereira (POR)
Schlagwort
Angezeigt: 1 - 10 von 15 ERGEBNISSEN
2016 GKA
Tripping on the light fantastic – GKA Morocco Finals Day Five
Contrasting with Monday’s moody early morning lightning storm the Dakhla GKA Wave & Strapless Freestyle crew were greeted by blue skies but only a light cross shore wind on Tuesday morning. The swell was however bigger, much more promising and wouldn’t make it through the day without a good slaying. While the generally contestable wave kiting conditions have been evasive in consistency over four days, what has been abundantly clear are the very accomplished all-round wave riding skills that many of these top riders possess – whatever craft they’re riding, wind or no wind. Airton’s savage SUPing / PHOTO: Ydwer van der Heide The magician’s wand. Airton’s SUP riding was breathtaking at times in terms of the raw power and control he commands over such a comparatively big board, underlining just how much well-honed ability the man has in the surf / Photo: Ydwer van der Heide As sweet Moroccan tea was served in the event tent, riders traded afternoon sessions in SUPing, surfing and, in the case of Filippe Ferreira, pulling into a few waves behind the jetski. This coastline is refreshingly free of development and ‘Rocky Point’, as christened by the GKA crew, has offered unrestricted freedom for …
Big Wednesday – The GKA Wave Finals
And so draws to a close the 2016 GKA Wave and Strapless Freestyle Tour after a long day of back-to-back heats that whittled down the competitive field to just two riders, Keahi De Aboitiz (AUS) and Airton Cozzolino (ITA). Although there were a number of riders who could have held their own in the final, it was equally no real surprise that these two found themselves battling it out for the top spot. A real clash of the titans. The waves had been steadily improving as the tide dropped and as Keahi and Airton took to the water they ramped the level up, giving us one last 15 minutes of flair with the size-able sets coming through. Going wave for wave for the entire heat, they put on a show of astounding ability and vastly different styles. Going for broke, Airton threw everything at the final / PHOTO: Ydwer van der Heide Airton was all commitment and power, driving hard through bottom turns and attacking the lip with a vengeance while Keahi calmly sought out the best waves he could before carving them to pieces in his smooth, unfaultering style. At the end of the heat, to the onlooker, it …
Adaptation – GKA Morocco Finals Day Four
An early start this morning saw the riders yet to qualify for the main event heading to the beach at 8am to catch the predicted early morning winds. The first challenge however was to swerving a dramatic lightning storm during set up. A mandatory safety pause saw the winds fill in dramatically cross onshore and then fade out into a lighter cross-offshore direction that perked up the swell. The last two trials sparked into life with riders still being scored on 100% wave riding performance prior to the main event which would combine wave and strapless freestyle. The wind was noticeably stronger and more cross-off than yesterday’s first two trials heats. The waves were a touch sporadic but the sets were still coming through and first up Nicola Abadijev (BUL) and Pedro Matos (BRA) linked stylish turns on the better waves that pushed through and their talent was plain to see. Photo: Ydwer van der Heide Nicola Abadijev / PHOTO: Ydwer van der Heide Heat four concluded the trials. By then the wind had switched a little more offshore but had increased in strength. D’jo Silva (CV) and Evan Netsch (USA) sought out the best waves of the heat. D’jo’s …
Delivery at dusk in Dakhla at the GKA Morocco finals
Today, after a couple of days of waiting, we were able to get the competition underway in the late afternoon with the first two heats of the trials going ahead in light, but usable, winds. Prior to these pre-main event qualifying heats, the 15 riders hoping to make it into the main event were briefed on the judging criteria, which calls for each competitor to be scored out of ten for the variation and difficulty of their manoeuvres as well as the overall impression they make on the judges during their heat. Ideally, 50% of points are to be awarded for strapless freestyle riding and 50% for wave riding but, as the winds weren’t quite strong enough for strapless freestyle tricks, the decision was made to score the heats entirely on wave riding performance. There was a tentative start to heat one as the riders positioned themselves in line with the incoming swell and Spaniard Jhon Palacios had a strong start with an unhooked wave 360 before Brazilian Filippe Ferreira took command of the heat, squeezing everything he could out of the variable waves on offer and riding with the same unmistakably powerful style that we’ve seen in his regular …
