Ricardo Campello (V-111, JP/Neil Pryde) and Daida Moreno (E-64, Mistral/North Sails) prolong their London titles.

It’s a wrap; the first event of the 2006 PWA World Tour is history, producing the years first winners. For three days, the world’s best windsurfers showed thousands of spectators what they are made of in freestyle, slalom and jumping. When the smoke cleared after a long weekend of fierce competition, Ricardo Campello (V-111, JP/Neil Pryde) and Daida Moreno (E-64, Mistral/North Sails) took centre stage and went home with the overall 2006 London Boat Show title.

The final was a showdown between Ricardo Campello (V-111, JP/Neil Pryde), Nicolas Akgazciyan (F-400, Neil Pryde), Jose Estredo (V-1, Fanatic/North Sails) and Thomas Traversa (F-3, Tabou/Gaastra). Traversa set the bar on his first run out with a sick shaka. The other finalists responded in style with a range of stunning moves including one-handed switch chachoos, punetas, flakas and more shakas. For two more rounds the fireworks continued full force, in which Nicolas Akgazciyan (F-400, Neil Pryde) once again proved to be the most inventive sailor even going for a clew first puneta Diablo, coming switch stance clew first down the ramp. Such freestyle magic earned the Frenchman first place today, before Thomas Traversa (F-3, Tabou/Gaastra) in second, Jose Estredo (V-1, Fanatic/North Sails) in third and Ricardo Campello (V-111, JP/Neil Pryde) in fourth place.

The women’s freestyle final Daida Moreno (E-64, Mistral/North Sails) threw some impressive spin loops to successfully convince she was the best trickster on the water today. Iballa Moreno (E-63, Mistral/North Sails) finished second, demonstrating her dedication to the freestyle cause by launching herself out of the pool in a high-speed grubby attempt. Nayra Alonso (E-4, Fanatic/Severne) got her hands on third position. After the freestyle contest was finished, the indoor spectacle continued with the final elimination of slalom.

After the first round was completed, things got hot and heavy in the semis as Ricardo Campello (V-111, JP/Neil Pryde) and Cyril Moussilmani (F-71, Fanatic/North Sails) proved by cutting it so close, Campello literally took the wind out of Moussilmani’s sail causing the Frenchman to fall backwards, sending Campello over the falls. Campello recovered however and managed to beat Moussilmani to the punch and advanced to the final. In the other semi-final Nik Baker (K-66, Mistral/North Sails) disposed of Kauli Seadi (BRA-253, Quatro/Naish) to meet Campello yet again in the final for the third day in a row. Again it was a two wins out of three format that would determine the winner. In the first heat, Baker stayed ahead of Campello from the start with only about 2 meters room between the two. One nil for Baker. In the second heat, Campello took the lead rounding the first buoy, but the Venezuelan went wide at the second mark, something the experienced Baker took advantage of straight away, bringing him his second third slalom victory in three days. Kauli Seadi earned himself third place by beating Cyril Moussilmani (F-71, Fanatic/North Sails) in the losers’ final.

The women’s slalom final was between Junko Nagoshi (J-11, F2) and Iballa Moreno (E-63, Mistral/North Sails). Moreno only needed two heats to take down Nagoshi, winning her first slalom victory at the 2006 London Boat Show. Third place went to Daida Moreno (E-64, Mistral/North Sails) who managed to fight off Nayra Alonso (E-4, Fanatic/Severne) in the battle for third place.

Closing off the 2006 London Boat Show was the jump contest. Jumping into the men’s final were Alex Mussolini (E-30, JP/Neil Pryde), Nik Baker (K-66, Mistral/North Sails), Kauli Seadi (BRA-253, Quatro/Naish) and Yannick Anton (F-8), who was responsible for the biggest one footed forward of the entire contest. Campello was not having his way and had to miss out on the final. Kauli Seadi showed his outdoor wave skills work just as well indoors with a massive air chachoo and a huge one footed forward, bringing him today’s jump victory over runner up Alex Mussolini’s tabletop forward and tweaked table top. Third place went to Yannick Anton, while fourth was for Nik Baker. In a complementary super session afterwards, things really started cooking as Anton pulled off a sky high double forward, Seadi went for the superman, Mussolini landed the sickest arched back loop of the event and even Baker went for the double forward. To be continued at the next PWA indoor event.

Iballa Moreno (E-63, Mistral/North Sails) opened the women’s jumping final with a huge 23 point forward. Nayra Alonso (E-4, Fanatic/Severne), Junko Nagoshi (J-11, F2) and Daida Moreno (E-64, Mistral/North Sails) stuck their forwards as well. As it would turn out, the first jump produced most points for the women, as the second two runs were less successful. Both Iballa Moreno and Nayra Alonso didn’t get their approach right and had to settle for a regular jump. Daida Moreno went for the one footed forward, but went completely over the handle bars treating the crowds to a spectacular crash. On the final run, it was Nayra Alonso who pushed it too hard and got rocketed over the ramp as she hit it head on. The twins and Nagoshi went for the forward, proving to be enough for Daida Moreno to take first place in the jump for the second night in a row. Junko Nagoshi secured second place, Iballa Moreno third and Nayra Alonso fourth.

Daida Moreno (E-64, Mistral/North Sails) wins every single discipline this year in London, bringing her the overall 2006 London title as well. Men’s 2006 London freestyle champ is once again Nicolas Akgazciyan (F-400, Neil Pryde), while in the men’s slalom contest Nik Baker (K-66, Mistral/North Sails) wins the gold medal. The men’s jumping crown deservedly goes to Ricardo Campello (V-111, JP/Neil Pryde).

1. Ricardo Campello (V-111)
2. Nik Baker (K-66)
3. Jose Estredo (V-1)

1. Daida Moreno (E-64)
2. Iballa Moreno (E-63)
3. Nayra Alonso (E-4)

The full results per discipline are posted on the PWA website. The 2006 PWA season has been opened, so stay tuned to www.pwaworldtour.com for all news on upcoming events.

© PWA/van Weel