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| 30|03|2005 | day 3 heats
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| We have a winner! Of the single elimination at least. Any guesses? Well he won the single elimination last year and does sick one-handed back loops. Yes, Josh Angulo ruled the day and just got better and better as each heat progressed. But there is more to the story than that...
Like yesterday it was 5-meter sail weather, waves had increased head to logo high and the sun was starting to show!
Top 16 men's Highlights
Matt Pritchard (Tabou, Gaastra) sailed out of his skin today showing up his younger brother Kevin (Starboard, MauiSails) with wave 360's and high push loops. He took out Josh Stone and Keith Teboul in this round.
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|  | | | Angulo - Backloop | |
The next heat saw Kevin Pritchard the younger against Kauli Seadi (Naish), Francisco Goya & Baptiste Gossein (Neil Pryde, JP). It was a close affair between Goya and Seadi and although Kevin Pritchard did a one-footed back loop, his wave riding scores just weren’t enough and along with Baptiste Gossein, he was out. Polakow (Neil Pryde, JP) versus McKercher (Starboard) was another nail-biting heat but Jason has those wave 360's nailed and that racked up the points for him and took him into the last 8.
Top 8 men's Highlights
Eyal Shelef (Neil Pryde, JP) from Israel has had the competition of his life and made it through to this stage. All he had to do was beat Matt Pritchard, Kauli Seadi and Francisco Goya to progress - a tough call! Pritchard was ahead very quickly and Goya spotted this and started throwing wave 360's and big cutbacks. Kauli started off badlly -- but got his act together and just had more tricks up his rash vest than Goya -- like the magical goiter and the spellbinding planing wave 360!
The other heat was just as exciting with plenty of snappy cut-backs and wave 360's. Polakow (Neil Pryde, JP) clearly beat Levi Siver (North, Starboard) whilst Sean Ordonez spent the last 5 minutes of the heat arguing with the infamous Hookipa rocks after he broke his mast. Angulo, however, was just warming up for the final and kept pushing out one-handed aerials, one-handed back loops. In fact, we’re not sure if Angulo can do two-handed maneuvers any more!
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|  | | | Kauli Seadi | |
The Semi Finals
Angulo beat Polakow fairly convincingly as Angulo pick off much better sets than the Aussie. Kauli then beat Matt Pritchard who had finally run out of steam. Kauli's fan club was hollering from the beach as it came apparent that he would be progressing to his first ever PWA Wave Final at Hookipa.
The Final
So showdown time: old school versus new school. Kauli looked tired and just couldn't bring himself to do yet another wave 360. He didn’t have the best heat. But then how could you, when Angulo pulled off a stunning and almost perfect wave heat. He rode the largesst waves and got the biggest air. By the time he pulled off a sweet 360, the beach knew who had won hands down.
So what does this mean?
Well Josh now gets to hang out on the beach for the next two days while everyone else goes back into the draw to compete in the double elimination. We do it all again and the winner has to beat Josh twice to win overall. That's what happened last year when Polakow did just that. Could it happen again? Keep posted here!
THE LADIES
All the women sailed beautifully today, plenty of ripping and slashing on the biggest sets with some nice stalled forwards and tabletops.
Anne-Marie Reichmann (Naish) was sailing solid all day: big waves and nice aggressive turns. She scored well on waves but in the jumping, the Morenos excelled. Daida (North, Mistral) did a one-footed forward and Iballa (North, Mistral) executed huge stalled forwards. The other girls just can’t beat these moves.
But Anne-Marie made it to the top 4 along with Jennifer Ellefson who is a local standout and really does rip up the waves, and of course the Moreno Twins made it as well.
THE FINALS
The Twins won their respective places in the final and it was very close. But Daida came out top again with Iballa in second. Anne Marie finished off a good day with third in the Losers Final and Jennifer in fourth.
Tomorrow.
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|  | | | Mens Winners | |
More wind, but they say more rain for tomorrow. Everyone gets a second chance, so expect great things from Robby Swift (Neil Pryde, JP), Pete Volwater (F2), Ross Williams (Gaastra, Starboard) and Robert Teriitehau and many more sailors who want a chance to meet Josh Angulo in the final.
Report courtesy of Boardseeker Magazine.
» MEN’S SINGLE ELIMINATION LADDER
» WOMEN’S SINGLE ELIMINATION LADDER
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Autor: pwa, Pix: Carter | |
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