It was a spectacular fourth day of competition here in Lake Nahuel Huapi. The men’s and women’s freestyle double eliminations got underway exactly on time at 11:00am this morning.
The wind was yet again in full force and competitors were out on their smallest kite sizes, mostly on 7m. Dutch rider Youri Zoon (Slingshot, NED) had nothing less than a successful day defeating fellow slingshot teammate and single eliminations winner, Andy Yates (Slingshot, AUS) twice in the men’s double elimination final. Zoon wins his first  … Details
The 2010 BWA UK Wave Tour has once again delivered with many top places going down to the wire at in the final round in some of the most spectacular and challenging conditions seen at Gwithian, Cornwall.
Spurred by his fantastic PWA results, Ben Proffitt (Simmer) finally took the crown he has worked so hard for with consistent wins in Ireland and Scotland. Chris Murray and George Shillito (Tushingham, Starboard) delivered consistent performances to take well deserved  … Details
Wakeboarders “slided” white water UpStream!
More than 1,500 spectators lined along the Sava river in Tacen / Slovenia today to witness the birth of a new sports discipline.
After most of them clashed with whitewater during yesterday’s training, today the 12 most courageous European wakeboarders competed against each other on the kayak route in Tacen at the very first wakeboard contest on whitewater called Red Bull Upstream. Let us remind you again this was a world premiere!
Injuries were, of course, unavoidable, but not too painful. Already yesterday, the best Slovene rider Robert Pokovec injured his shoulder but today he set his teeth, gulped a couple of tablets, and appeared at the starting line. This morning, after sliding nicely over one of the artificial objects in the water, the Belgian Quentin Delefortrie managed to plough even more nicely in the concrete wall, and thus brought some blood into the otherwise crystal-clear river. But humans were not the only ones to suffer Pokovec proved once again that his name suits him perfectly (pokovec = naughty boy) when his wakeboard literally cut off one of the cameras’ lens. Even this accident had a happy ending as the cameraman swears the last shot was the best shot ever! The lens, though, needs a new leg.
But let’s return to the competition. During the qualifications, each contestant had three runs, whereas for the final result only the best two were regarded. The jury gave points for the Choice of Line, Tricks, Style and Aggressiveness&Creativity. The lucky 6 who showed the most, and thus made it to the Finals were Nico Lerchenfeld, Norbert Vasko, Dominik Gührs, Robert Pokovec, Balász Bakró and Emilio Epstein. In the Finals they had two runs on whitewater, and they certainly did not hold back it was a really fierce fight. The spectators witnessed everything, from wild sliding across rocky or concrete obstacles to creative use of all kinds of objects that the organizers placed in the riverbed especially for this purpose. One of the most interesting ones was undoubtedly the high arch across one of the islands, in the free-sports terminology known as a rainbow.
At the end, the decision was according to the judges very difficult, but the spectators approved the final results with a big applause. Nico Lerchenfeld (GER) slid himself the first place, followed by the Hungarian Balász Bakró and the German Dominik Gührs. The Slovene rider Robert Pokovec had a bit of bad luck due to the camera accident but was at the end more than pleased with his fourth place, also because he helped prepare the whole contest and today the new chapter of the sports history was written indeedÂ
It was yet another spectacular day in Lake Nahuel Huapi for the Kitesurf World Cup Bariloche 2010. The wind was yet again in full force this morning at the mandatory skippers meeting. Freestylers took the back seat today for most of the day and were released in the early afternoon due to the weather conditions which were more favorable for the racers.
Race director, Erik Troostheide rushed to re-arrange and set the racing course for today. A total of four races were completed under sunny blue skies and moderate winds. Racers were … Details