The final day of the 2015 Lord of the Wind (LOTW) Showdown started in the morning with local school kids at the event site flying toy kites they had created at school. The previous evening, over $1000 USD was raised for charity at the beach party as DJ Guacamole and Pro Leezure kept everyone dancing all night long. Proceeds from the party were given to help the kids’ orphanage in La Paz.
By mid-morning, the wind was averaging in the mid-20’s and continued to increase throughout the day, ideal conditions for the much anticipated Big Air competition after an exciting Freestyle finals the day before.The crowd witnessed some amazing hang time, especially in the final heats as the Elite Men’s and Women’s event came to a close, where foil boards and foil kites dominated. Plenty of cheers from spectators arose in amazement from the jumps being performed by the contestants as their masts, bodies and kites seemed to be in slow motion, held in suspension over the waters of Los Barriles.
In the finals of Men’s Elite Freestyle, Naish’s Drew Christianson landed a Big Slim along with plenty of old school grabs and rolls, scoring him a third place finish on the podium. Airush’s Julien Kerneur’s 313 on a foil in addition to unhooked and technical tricks got him second while Cabrinha’s Evan Netsch had plenty of style and variety, landing a KGB and BJ3, thus propelling him to win the event.
In the Woman’s Elite Freestyle division, Best Kiteboarding’s Kris Kinn displayed a plethora of technical freestyle that propelled her to take home a first place finish with both regular and switch tricks. Cynbad Brown, was on a foil kite and board then half way into her heat, switched her gear to bust out some old school moves with a surfboard. Slingshot’s Laura Maher, no stranger to competition, wowed beach goers with tons of tricks and huge airs.
The Men’s overall points winner, crowned “Lord Of The Wind” for 2015 was awarded to Airush team rider Julien Kerneur (1st in Course Racing, 2nd in Slalom, 2nd Freestyle and 1st in Big Air).
Women’s 2015 Lady Of The Wind was Cynthia” Cynbad” Brown (1st Course Racing, 2nd Freestyle and 2nd Big Air).
Final Results
LORD OF THE WIND (Elite)
1 Julien Kerneur 54 points
2 Bryan Lake 45 points
3 Adam Withington 43 points
4 Ty Reed 42 points
LADY OF THE WIND (Elite)
1 Cynthia Brown 28 points
2 Astrid Bertz 27 points
3 Kris Kinn 26 points
LORD OF THE WIND (Open Men)
1 Bille Kipling 23 points
2 Willi Oliver 18 points
3 Fritz Otiker 17 points
LADY OF THE WIND (Open Women)
1 Jennifer Friday
2 Justi Vonada
3 Fiona Wylde
3 Diana Salom
LORD OF THE WIND MASTERS
1 Gabor Vagi
2 Jim Naylor
COURSE RACING
MASTER’S MEN
1 Gabor Vagi
2 Nevin Sayre
3 Jim Naylor
WOMEN’S OPEN
1 Justi Vonada
2 Jennifer Friday
3 Adrienne Ackerman
MEN’S OPEN
1 Mac Scaggs
2 Oliver Willi
3 Drew Christianson
WOMEN’S ELITE
1 Astrid Bentz (Tie)
1 Cynbad Brown (Tie)
3 Rachel Callahan
MEN’S ELITE
1 Julien Kerneur
2 Adam Withington
3 Ty Reed
SLALOM
SLALOM MASTER’S MEN’S FINALS
1 Gabor VaÌgi
2 Jim Naylor
SLALOM WOMEN’S OPEN
1 Justi Vonada
2 Fiona Wylde
3 Jennifer Friday
SLALOM MEN’S OPEN
1 Bille Kipling
2 Oliver Willi
3 Jacob Olivier
SLALOM ELITE WOMEN
1 Astrid Bertz
2 Rachel Callahan
3 Kris Kinn
SLALOM MEN’S ELITE
1 Bryan Lake
2 Julien Kerneur
3 Adam Withington
FREESTYLE
FREESTYLE MEN’S OPEN
1 Fritz Otiker
2 Jaime Ancira
3 Nemo Taylor
FREESTYLE WOMEN’S OPEN
1 Justi Vonada
2 Fiona Wylde
3 Diana Salom
FREESTYLE MEN’S ELITE
1 Evan Netsch
2 Julien Kerneur
3 Drew Christianson
FREESTYLE WOMEN’S ELITE
1 Kris Kinn
2 Cynthia Brown
3 Laura Maher
BIG AIR
BIG AIR MEN’S ELITE
1 Julien Kerneur 7.63s
2 Ty Reed 7.50s
3 Adam Withington 7.19s
BIG AIR WOMEN’S ELITE
1 Astrid Bertz 7.65s *(Longest overall hang time of the event)
2 Cynthia Brown 5.66s
3 Laura Maher 4.09s
BIG AIR MEN’S OPEN
1 Fritz Otiker 5.50s
2 Nemo Taylor 4.90s
3 Cosmonm “Guacamole” Noonan 4.81s
BIG AIR WOMEN’S OPEN
1 Jennifer Friday (Tie) 4.25s
1 Diana Salom (Tie) 4.25s
3 Justin Vonada 3.25s
BIG AIR MASTER’S MEN
1 Gabor Vagi 4.96s
2 Jim Naylor 4.78s
STOKE AWARD
Cosmonm “Guacamole” Noonan
WORST WIPEOUT AWARD
Diana Salom
SPORTSPERSON AWARD
Rachel Callahan