Cerveza Presidente Kiteboarding World Cup Cabarete 2006 – Day 4
From Kiteboarding.be
- Cerveza Presidente Kiteboarding World Cup Cabarete 2006 – Day 4
The fourth day of competition at the Cerveza Presidente Kiteboarding World Cup Cabarete 2006 dawned sunny and partly cloudy. The press tent was full to the brim in anticipation of the completion of the main event. Around noon, dark clouds started to roll in, turning the skies to gray. The wind fluctuated between 15 to 20 knots for the start of the day’s sequence, and ended up dieing off as afternoon storms approached Cabarete. One of the few riders to take to the water, Alvaro Onieva (Best, Spain) described the conditions as choppy, with fluky and inconsistent wind; “I struggled one moment to hold the kite down where the wind was strong on the outside, but in closer to the beach, it would just disappear leaving me with nothing.” Despite the lack of wind, competitors kept their spirits up by hanging out in the Red Bull tent savoring fresh fruit provided by the event organizers, or watching World Cup soccer matches as they draw towards the finals at nearby local establishments. Others enjoyed the atmosphere of Marabú’s beachside restaurant, thumping DJ and cool chill-out bar next door to Laurel Eastman Kiteboarding – A BEST kiteboarding school and test center. The media took advantage of the downtime to hold interviews with the riders, event organizers and PKRA officials.
The first of only two complete heats of the day featured the re-run of the extremely close match-up between the two Frenchmen, Etienne Lhote (F-One) and Mallory De la Villemarqué (North). Mallory, with his expert timing and well rehearsed trick sequence, came out with a big slimchance right on the starting horn. He continued to pound out a variety of other moves including a beautiful slim to blind and a KGB with his kite extremely low, while Etienne struggled, seeming underpowered. Etienne showed of a nice slim also and several mobe variations, however he crashed many of his landings, losing too much time downwind, leaving the door open for Mallory to advance. Etienne did not remain disappointed for long as both he and Mallory celebrated the victory of the French World Cup soccer team over longtime rival Brazil later in the afternoon.
Alvaro Onieva (Best, Spain) and Petr Tyushkevich (Cabrinha, Russian Federation) hit the water next. In spite of the poor kiting conditions, Alvaro pulled out his usual bag full of tricks such as a front mobe, double front to blind, blind judge, and a kiteloop frontloop with a grab. Petr, much larger than his opponent, struggled in the failing wind, but did manage to nail a KGB 180 and a kiteloop slim however, he lacked the variety that Alvaro displayed and will have to settle for a 9th place finish overall. North teammates Cesar Portas (Spain) and Mallory De la Villemarqué made a valiant attempt to start their heat but eventually, after being continually forced downwind and struggling to land a trick, it was abandoned because the wind was not up to PKRA standards. The AP flag went up and the competition went into a holding pattern until 4:30 pm when the event was finally cancelled for the day.
Tonight a special VIP and Beach party is planned at Marabu’s, starting around 9 pm. Adding to the evening’s festivities will be the beautiful Presidente girls and Puerto Rican models flown in just for the event. There will be plenty of refreshing Presidente beer and dancing to hip electronic vibes from top Ibizan DJ, José de Divina, as well as Canadian DJs, Maus and Scoy.
The Skippers meeting is planned for 10 am tomorrow morning with a first possible start at 10:30 am. The Freestyle Main Event is scheduled to wrap up and the Best Trick Contest will be held with an emphasis on kiteloop and downloop maneuvers
Labels: Best Kiteboarding, Cabrinha, Competition, Contest, North, Red Bull
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