GKA Kite-Surf World Tour Torquay | DAY 3
It was an early start today at Point Danger where the women battled through the single eliminations before we kicked off the men’s singles!
Round Seven: Torquay, Australia
GKA Kite-Surf World Tour 2018
Friday 14th December
Photos: Ydwer van der Heide
Report: Matt Pearce
Videos: Mintautas Grigas
THE WOMEN’S DIVISION REACH THE FINAL AND THE MEN TEAR INTO ROUND TWO
FIND THE WOMEN’S ACTION HERE AND THE MEN’S ACTION BELOW
Early doors at Point Danger / Photo: Ydwer van der Heide
It was an early start today at Point Danger with the riders on the spot and rigging up at 05:30 ready to pitch back into the women’s division single eliminations.
The first heats were rolling by 07:00 and Carla Herrera kicked things off beating Anna Williams as she began her push for a shot at the top of the podium (remember, this is a winner takes-all-event between Carla and Jalou Langeree – who finishes on top wins the Championship!)
Carla carves / Photo: Ydwer van der Heide
Next up, tour number four Johanna Catharina Edin from Sweden narrowly edged past Duotone teammate Lyde Heckroodt from South Africa in a tight heat. Both riders had to work hard to find point scoring sections but they made it work with well executed cut backs, milking the waves for all they were worth. It was hard to tell which one of them was going to take it but JC had the upper hand and made it through to the next round.
She sought out the better waves on offer, regularly managing three to four turns per wave with some stretched out cutbacks and gauging assaults on the face as well.
She went through to the semis where she would take on, and beat, Johanna securing her route to the final against none other than the only threat to her 2018 World Title bid – Carla Herrera Oria.
Jalou finding diamonds in the rough / Photo: Ydwer van der Heide
When when the horn sounded for the start of the final, Jalou struck first with well linked turns and her wave selection was fully on point. The conditions were fluctuating, with the bigger sets not holding up long enough for more than a hit or two at a time, but Jalou was right there every time right before the waves detonated on the reef.
She was giving Carla a lot of work to do if she was to stand any chance of catching her but Carla wasn’t backing down and she picked off a number of the cleaner waves on the inside, showing how much she’s improved her wave riding game this season to match her rapidly developing strapless freestyle level.
Carla steps up / Photo: Ydwer van der Heide
Both riders were giving it everything with the tour title on the line but the results haven’t yet been announced so we’ll have to see who came out of that one on top tomorrow!
In the mini-final, Johanna met Jen Milton and they went head to head for third place. The heat started, was postponed due to faltering winds, and then started again and the tension was palpable – particularly for JC who’s followed the tour all season and has been super consistent to retain fourth place overall.
Catha squeezes the swell for all its worth / Photo: Ydwer van der Heide
However, when the heat finally got underway JC was firing from the off linking up four turns on her first wave. She kept up the pace and was steadily stacking up the points while Jen found herself way down in the righthand corner of the contest area for much of the heat with fewer waves to work with.
Results for that heat coming up tomorrow!
The men hit the water / Photo: Ydwer van der Heide
The wind was now more onshore but holding steady with most riders opting for 11 to 12 metre kites as the swell continued to build. Some heavy sets were cropping up out the back with a few double overhead sets rolling in on the far left of the competition area and Aussie wildcards Jared Snow and Beau Pilgrim made a beeline towards them during their heats to take the wins and progress through to round two.
Mauritius – Idan Kaplan // Strapless kitesurfing