Really? No actual guesses for the top 5 from anyone. It's a race, people have to win. It's not a crime to compete. Let's see some guesses and NO "I told u so's" afterward.

I just watched most of the PWA event in Aruba. Great live coverage and commentating. I hope Germany is half as good. It was pretty exciting. Good job PWA. Coverage like this will keep you moving forward. Kiteboarding has a long way to go in this area.

I sure hope everyone gets there equipment in Germany. I know Brian Lake and Melissa Gill are still looking for their bags. I hear that the French went on strike again resulting in some baggage problems for those traveling through. Good luck.

Delayed bags and stolen gear is the worst for pros...I hope it all works out!

Fuerte is known for that...bags late up to a week and in 2007 my whole bag got stolen. I had nothing for the worldcup!

OK I'll guess that Steph Bridge will win the ladies.

Its going to be windy - really windy, so I think they will maybe do better with smaller boards. I dont know if Adam Koch still has his Aguera 59 available, so I'll choose

Johnny Heineken to win
Adam Koch because he handles tough conditions.
Bruno because he has been training recently in Hawaii and is used to winning on a 59
Damien Leroy would be higher if the conditions were lighter
Oliver Dansin

Unfortunately I see no signs of good coverage for the event.

Good guesses! I'm also interested to see how the 70 cm board will do. I just talked to Alex and it sounds like he dominated the Naish series on a 70 over the weekend. It was 6-7 meter conditions!

I'm not sure that we will see any real windy races as they have imposed a 25 knot max. This will really be around 28-29 when taken from a drifting boat. This is only 9-10 meter stuff and is pretty common.

Damo seemed to struggle (2nd places), in the stuff above 30. It's clear that Johnny is the guy to beat though.

I also think that the 70 board starts will play very well into Adam, Johnny, Damo, and even Bryan Lake. These guys have the racing knowledge and board skills to take advantage of leverage and avoid the crowds. In the end, I'm sure each of them will be involved in some pretty close calls.

Anyone else with some dark horse riders? Let's see the lists!!!

Well if they can handle 25 knots on the 70 cm board, then they dont need the 25 knot limit.

I suppose though that it means the costs can be kept down, and we have a good chance of seeing some slalom, which I'm more interested in than the course racing as a discipline.

Im so gutted cant make it but real pleased its going to be windy.
I think this will be a real help for gear selection and its going to be great to see how the big boards go or will the top guys only be on smaller 59s?
this is really going to be a choice of registering the right kit, 3 kites 1 board and I hope we will see all the good guys on their 69s and 70s and changing fins for windy instead of making it that you still need 2 boards?
i reckon there will be many different race winners in the mens.
J heineken will take the win being most consistent and most 1sts around 5.
2 nd adam koch, 3rd J kerner
in the womens Steph will clean up with double figure 1sts probably only losing if dsq or breakage.

cant wait to hear about it

Ok, so my guesses are pretty good so far. Total USA vs French event. all top 10 spots are currently held by American's and the French.

1st Johnny Heinkien USA
2nd Adam Koch USA
3rd Sky Solbach USA
4th Bryan Lake USA
5th Julien K. FRA
6th Damien Leroy USA
7th Chip Wasson USA
8th Oliver Dansin FRA
9th Bruno Sorka FRA
10th Maxime Nocher FRA

3 Ozones, 3 Cabrinhas, 3 Norths, and 1 Takoon in the top 10

Great job guys!!!

San Francisco Crissy Boy's are killing it
Johnny (1), Adam (2) , Brian(4), Chip(7), Adam (11), Andrew(12) and Joey (18)
The SF Thursday Night race is not going to be the same this week!

Hey Gang,
The new wider boards are much easier to ride in strong winds than the older 59 models so the 25 kt maximum should be avoided at most venues.
But at Sylt, I ran very many big PWA events as the head race director and the problem is not so much the course racing boards not being able to do the course but actually getting the bigger courserace starting vessel(s) out and not getting into danger. We could launch the much smaller slalom starting and support vessels right from the beach (with a great crew) but the bigger boats came out of the harbor and waves are breaking everywhere at Sylt in the usual Onshore conditions. I mean you can be outside one kilometer off the beach and take a breaking wave in Sylt once it hits 25-35 kt westerlies !. The North Sea is not real deep so waves can break all over the place. Anchoring a big boat there in those conditions is not a good idea and should be avoided unless you are a good swimmer and don't mind the boat sinking or washing up the shoreline when you flood the engine compartment with water and can't start it..
The new course race boards are not the problem in 25 kt.++ conditions at Sylt.
AA

wow, amazing performance from the US boys! Impressed!!!

Let's see what other conditions with more wave and onshore winds will change. Winds will change on Wednesday