“Today I got my gear, and I was doing a little better. It’s actually a brand new board that I was riding. I’m not even that used to it but I was improving on my angle although it’s not even closed to Charles’ angle and I’m below Sami’s angle as well. Overall, speed over course I think I’m pretty fast on that board so I was able to catch up quite a bit on the downwind run.

The first race I was in third most of the way until the last downwind leg and that’s where I passed Sami so I came in second behind Charles. On the last race, I got ahead on the downwind leg since the beginning then I led pretty much the second or third part of the race. Towards the end Charles caught back up going upwind and he came in for the win towards the end,” said Farley.

“Unfortunately I only went from being third on what was not my gear to second today, but that’s good enough as long as I keep jumping up a position and hopefully tomorrow there will be two first at least,” continued the current overall PKRA World Course Racing points leader.

Best Kiteboarding’s Sami Gali (ESP) finished 3rd and 4th in today’s two races respectively but still maintains second position overall. Takoon racer Bruno Sroka (FRA) did a better performance in today’s last race compared to his previous races so far, finishing 3rd ahead of Gali after failing to finish in the first round.

The women’s division is still dominated by North’s Steph Bridge (GBR) who crossed the finish line ahead of the other women in the pack. Best Kiteboarding’s Gina Esteva (ESP) finished 2nd and 3rd while Cabrinha’s Fabienne D’Ortoli (FRA) finished 3rd and 2nd in both races respectively. Overall, Bridge is still leading the tally sheet with 4.1 points, followed by Esteva with 5.4 points and D’Ortoli with 10 points.

During race number one, the wind steadily picked up speed which prompted the riders to rig or change to smaller kites for the second race.

After the course races, the Freestyle event started at 4:30 pm. Seven heats for the men and three heats for the women were ran in the first round-robin round then another seven heats for the men and another three heats for the women were completed before the day was called off at 7:30 pm.

In the Freestyle event, the competitor had to do a board-off trick to qualify. For the men, both feet had to be off the board (complete board off) and one foot off the board for the women to earn points.

In the first heat of the first round, Sebastien Garat (FRA) won against Fabio Martins (POR) with higher technical difficulty level and better board off tricks, including 2 board-offs, front side with aerial handle pass, mobe, kiteloop handle pass and KGB. Martins had a kiteloop, front roll, one board-off and front roll board-off. In Heat #2, course racing champion and freestyler Charles Deleau (FRA) scored 2-0 against Danilo Nacarato (POR) with a front roll tail grab board-off and slim. Nacarato did not manage to do a board-off trick but landed a 313, indy glide, kiteloop and KGB. Ironically, Deleau lost to New Caledonian Tom Hebert in heat #6 who did 3 board-offs plus a kite loop air pass compared to Deleau’s 2 board-offs while Nacarato succumbed to the riding ability of PKRA top-seeded Kevin Langeree in heat #7.

The match between Nick Jacobsen (DEN) and Gonzalo Gomes (POR) in heat #3 did not produce any points as both riders did not manage to land a board-off trick. Meanwhile, Joao Fontainhas (POR) defeated Forest Bakker (ESP) in heat #4 with a kung fu, board-off, back to blind kiteloop, raley to blind and kiteloop. Baker landed three kiteloops, raley to blind and back to blind kiteloop.

In the fifth heat, Borja Rodriguez (ESP) landed only two kiteloops without any board-off and lost to Rui Meira (POR) who landed a board-off, mobe, front mobe 180.

In the second round robin, Jacobsen managed to redeem himself with a win against Martins with a blind judge, one board-off, board-off and mobe against Martin’s 3 one footer board offs and kiteloop.

Nacarato managed to seal a win in heat #9 against Baker who landed a raley, kiteloop and tail grab with no board off against Nacarato’s indy, slim, blind judge and board off. Jacobsen also lost to Meira in the 10th heat with a slim board-off against Meira’s one footer, board off, blind judge, KGB and an s-bend with front side handle-pass 360 on the way down.

Baker also lost to Hebert in heat #11 with Herbert winning with higher technical difficulty doing three board-offs with the board in between legs and overhead, plus a kiteloop. Baker managed an indy, kiteloop and back roll transition with no board-off. Rodriguez also lost in the 12th and 14th heat against Gomes and Garat respectively because of lack of board-off tricks.

In the women’s division, Johara Sykes-Davies defeated Steph Bridge 2-0 in the first heat with Davies landing a front roll with tail grab, raley and one board-off against Bridge’s one board-off and front one footer.  Ironically, Davies lost to Cabrinha’s Susi Mai (GER) in the 4th heat, landing a front roll, tail grab one footer. Mai surpassed Davies in technical difficulty, landing a front roll, board-off, tail grab and front one footer.

Naish rider Jalou Langeree (NED) lost to Mai in the second heat with less variation and power. The German ace kiteboarder landed one footer, board off, front roll, raley and blind judge against Langeree’s indy, krypt and one footer. However, Langeree managed to win heat #5 against Bridge with a raley and krypt surface pass against Bridge’s indy grab, back to blind with kiteloop, and krypt tail grab. In contrast, Angela Peral (ESP) lost both of her heats today, one against Laura Fernandez (ESP) in heat #3 and another against Sykes-Davies in heat #6, finishing the last heat with no board-off trick.

Source: PKRA