PWA Cold Hawaii World Cup 2011
The World Cup here in Klitmøller just ended and I can look back on an awesome event and the best PWA result for me so far.
On the first day of the competition the wind kicked in, in the evening, and the single elimination started. I was sheeted trough to the first round so I didn't compete on the first day.
On the second day the wind was howling and the waves were massive. Out the back the waves sometimes reached 6 meters and that combined with onshore wind and a lot of current, made it really difficult to sail in.
In my first heat I was against Aleix Sanllehy Cat-555. I played it a bit save as I knew crashing could result in a lot of swimming and maybe spending the whole heat getting back to your gear. The heat went well and I came out on first.
Next up was Danny Bruch from Tenerife. He was ranked 5th, so I knew it was going to be a really tough heat. I stuck to the same plan as before, but I new I had to step it up a bit, to get through this heat. I got both my jumps and some good waves and in the last few seconds of the heat I managed to boost out an aerial, which in the end gave me the highest score.
Now I was up against Ricardo Campello who was ranked 2nd in the world. This time I didn't have the best heat as I was missing a jump in the end. Although I won on the wave score and the heat was super tight, Ricardo secured the victory with a perfect dobbeltforward. I was now out of the single elimination but I finished on a satisfying 5th place. Ricardo continued on winning and ended up on a first place in the single elimination.
The double elimination started in the evening on the second day. I was a long way in the double elimination ladder because I was on 5th place, so I didn't have to sail more that day.
The third day the conditions had changed a lot, the wind was now more onshore and more moderate in strength. My first heat was against my Simmer teammate Dario Ojeda from Gran Canaria. Dario just won his last heat so he was back on fire. My plan for the heat was just to go for it and don't make any mistakes. Everything came together and I ended up winning the heat even though it was super close.
Next up was my F2 teammate Kevin Mevissen from the Netherlands, who hadn't competed for a while and absolutely ripped his way through this contest. I didn't start out that well as I crashed my first wave ride and had to swim for my gear. But luckily I came back strong and I advanced to the next heat.
Thomas Traversa was now my opponent and I knew that this was going to be difficult. I had a hard time finding some decent ramps but I manage to get my two jumps although none of them was really high scoring. In the last minute of the heat I had the best wave of my day; both a backside air, taka and some decent frontside hits. Just like in the single elimination I won on the highest wave score but I lost on the jumps. That meant I ended up on a 6th place which is the best result so fare in my windsurf carrier. Allover I finished 11th on the PWA 2011 Wave ranking.
This year it started out a little bad with an injury on Gran Canaria but it turned out with a super satisfying result and I'm super stocked and happy about it.
Kenneth Danielsen
Simmer, F2, Chocofins, Skishop, PLASMA
