Sal Island, Cape Verde ”” December 4, 2011: Strong wind and small, inconsistent surf greeted competitors at the primary contest venue of Ponta Preta for the 8:00a.m. riders meeting. KSP Head Judge Brad Price quickly made the call to move competitors to the back-up location at “Secret Spot” along Sal’s rocky and dusty North Shore.
The conditions proved to be more consistent at Secrets with waves in the waist to head-high range and strong, gusty side-offshore wind. However, KSP officials deemed the less than ideal conditions non-contestable and opted not to run heats. Instead, a Super Session got underway with men’s and women’s competitors being split off into groups of six for 20 minute “heats” in order to capture images and video of the world’s best kitesurfers ripping apart the small waves. KSP judges were also on hand to rank the riders based on overall impression.
Local boy and KSP ratings leader Airton Cozzolino (North ITA) put on a great show for his “home” crowd with powerful snaps in the pocket and fluid style, but it wasn’t enough to take the win over the regular-footer from the USA, Bear Karry, who showed lots of variety, picked off the best sets and linked together a string of critical maneuvers to take the win. Another regular footer, fellow American Sky Solbach, (North) came in third.
On the women’s side, Adriana Harlan (BRA) was on fire, picking off great set waves and linking fluid turns with precise execution. Adriana took the win over Kirsty Jones (North UK) who also rode incredibly well and showed great control and style in the challenging conditions. Kristin Boese (Best GER) came in a close third on her natural stance.
The forecast for the week is predicting a decrease in swell and it is unlikely that competition will resume given the poor outlook. However, Sal offers many great spots even when the surf is small and KSP contest directors do expect to run more Super Sessions in the coming week.
Tomorrow morning, event directors will re-assess conditions and make the first call at 9:30a.m. via the live webstream (broadcasting on kspworldtour.com/live).
For the video of the day, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Men’s Super Session Results:
Women’s Super Session Results:
Follow the KSP World Championship Tour on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KSPworldtour or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/KSPworldtour.
The KSP 2011 Ponta Preta Kite Surf Pro is supported by Camera Municipal do Sal, Cape Verde Investment Promotion Agency, CVTelecom, Melia Tortuga Beach, Villaggi Bravo, Cabocan, TAP Portugal, ASA, APP, Sal Affitti and BoinxTV. The KSP World Championship Tour is sponsored by ION and Vitamizzer.
PONTA PRETA KITE SURF PRO ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS