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Gisela Pulido wins the PKRA International Kitesurf Festival in Hainan and regains the PKRA Freestyle World Champion title. Alex Pastor came back from a third place finish in the single, to win the event and show why he is the new world champion.  The conditions were quite challenging with strong onshore wind and waves.  Alberto Rondina landed a spectacular Moby Dick 5 in one of his heats, many great double handle passes, and beautifully executed tricks were landed throughout the day.  Now that both the world champions have been decided, the riders will meet tomorrow for an expression session.


The double elimination offers riders who did not do well in the single elimination the opportunity to come back. Aaron Hadlow and Alex Pastor are two riders who took advantage of this by moving up many heats in this event’s double elimination. Alex Pastor defeated Liam Whaley twice to win the event.  Hadlow defeated Sebastien Garat, Alberto Rondina and Reno Romeu before being stopped by Marc Jacobs.  Alex Pastor defeated Marc Jacobs, Christophe Tack and Liam twice. The heat between Jacobs and Pastor was extremely close and the final came down to just .19 between Pastor and Whaley.  Liam had a great BJ5 and double Hinterberger mobe, but needed one more trick to claim his first title. Many unbelievable tricks were landed throughout the day. Alex and Marc , however, clearly had the most power.

On the women’s side no changes took place in the rankings, Paula Novotna tried to beat Annabel Van Westerop but fell short for the second consecutive day.  The final battle was a classic between Pulido and Winkowska.  Their first heat was canceled due to a drop in the wind but second one had perfect conditions.  Gisela came out fire with a 313, Blind judge, Back Mobe, S-mobe and 315, never giving Karolina an opportunity to take the lead.  The victory allowed Gisela to regain the world title from Karolina who was Champion in 2012.

“This year I really enjoyed kiting on the tour, I did not feel the pressure to win every event; I really just wanted to kite better because it is my passion and what I love to do.”- Gisela Pulido

The past two events have clearly shown a changing of the guard with Liam Whaley and Christopher Tack proving to be the next generation of riders. The island of Hainan, China has delivered some great conditions to hold a PKRA world tour event, and a new champion was crowned on the Island.  Tomorrow will be a much more relaxed day for the riders with an expression session and the closing ceremony.  Congratulations to Gisela Pulido and Alex Pastor for winning the PKRA Hainan event and becoming the 2013 World Champions.  For more details and on-going coverage, visit the PKRA website at www.prokitetour.com.