Start of the 2013 Season and Trials
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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.