Day 2 - PKRA 2008 FRANCE – Mondial Du Vent
Leucate, France, April 13, 2008 - Day 2 of the 2008 PKRA World Tour started with light winds as forecasted. The temperature was a little warmer than yesterday and saw the mercury rising up to 17°C in the afternoon. The mandatory skippers meeting was held at exactly 9:30 a.m. but the competition immediately went into a wind delay because the wind was below PKRA standards. Mother nature finally let the winds loose at around 2:00 p.m. with a sustained windspeed of 12 to 14 knots which gave way to the start of the course racing event.
There were a total of three races completed but this time, the courses were longer than usual which challenged the competitors with their endurance. Each race lasted roughly 17 to 20 minutes for the first person to cross the finish line and roughly another 20 minutes for the last of the women (who's start sequence is after the mens start). North Kiteboarding's Sean Farley (Mexico) won all three races in the men's division and is back on top of the ranking after finishing 12th in yesterday's second race. Sean's North teammate Charles DeLeau (France) dropped to second place overall after finishing third in todays first race and finishing second in the other two races. Sami Gali (Best, Spain) maintained his third overall ranking, trailing Charles in the last two races but managed to defeat him to the finish line in today's first race.
In the women's division, Steph Bridge (North, UK) won the today's last two races which maintained her overall lead ahead of Gina Esteva (Best, Spain) who won today's first race. Another North kiteboarder, Angela Peral (Spain) is still in a modest third position overall after finishing third in today's first two races but failing to start in the third race.
Tomorrow's skipper meeting is set to start at 8:00 a.m. with first possible start at 8:30 a.m. The wind forecast for tomorrow is very strong so the game plan is to finish the double elimination as the forecast for the rest of the week is not looking very good.
Race Results (After 5 Races - Overall Ranking):
Men:
1. Sean Farley (North, Mexico)
2. Charles DeLeau (North, France)
3. Sami Gali (Best, Spain)
4. Raphael Salles (F-One, France)
5. Mickael Fernandez (F-One, France)
Women:
1. Steph Bridge (North, UK)
2. Gina Esteva (Best, Spain)
3. Angela Peral (North, Spain)
4. Fabienne D'Ortoli (Cabrinha, France)
5. Caroline Adrien (Naish, France)
Yesterday Extreme Elements managed to interview a few competitors after the single elemination event asking them how they faired and how they feel regarding the games. We started off with Bruna Kajiya (Best, Brazil) who won yesterday's single in the women's division and got a really good idea at how professional these talented, young kiteboarders are.
"It was great, It couldn't get any better. The wind was blowing the whole day and it was really gusty. There are times that there's no wind, and then there's too much. It was hard, but you've got to ride in all sorts of conditions. At the beginning, my first and second heats were horrible, I couldn't get it together but I did some tricks that counted and then I advanced to the final. It was really difficult in the final but I landed a really powerful slimchance and I think that won my heat," said Bruna. A job well done for a first-timer here in France. Congratulations Bruna!
Extreme Elements also interviewed kiteboard racer Gina Esteva (Best, Spain) who is currently in second place overall in the race ranking. She's only been into kiteboard racing since last year and already making a name in the sport. "It was really gusty and the wind was switching a lot so it was just all the time trying to find the closest way to the buoy. In the first race, I got tangled with another racer before the starting line and I was very sure that I couldn't race because it was too late but the guys helped me and luckily I finished on time. I was more focused on everything in the second race and was fighting to stay upwind so I finished first." When we asked her about her plans for today's race, "We'll see, I don't know really. I'll just try to do my best and improve my skills and then if I will not make any mistake then I will feel happy", remarked this humble Spanish athlete.
Jalou Langeree (Naish, Netherlands) who was very nice, also allowed us an interview. Her brother Kevin, who's been kiteboarding two years more than her, took Jalou into the kiteboarding world and since then has been hooked into the sport. Extreme Elements asked how she felt regarding the competition. "Today was very nice, a lot of sun and good wind. I was pretty stoked. Everyone was riding very well. The weather here is my kind of condition, cold with strong winds. My first heat went very well but after that it didn't go so good but I hope I'll do good in the doubles." Extreme Elements wish you good luck, Jalou and to all the competitors in the double elimination.
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