After a calm first few days to start this year’s Tenerife PWA World Cup the wind and waves finally kicked in to provide a fantastic day of competition. As the day progressed the conditions slowly improved and by the evening the wind and waves were pumping with winds excess of 35 knots guaranteeing an impressive showing from the world’s best sailors. By the end of day 4, only the top 4 men and women remain standing ahead of finals days tomorrow, which should see even better conditions.

Aleix Sanllehy going all out

Women’s

In the Single Elimination, only the top 4 women remain standing. The first name into the semifinals was Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins), who looked to be back to her best today after a disappointing 5th place in the opening wave event of the year in Pozo. The 26-year-old sailed with superb power and style to blow Nicole Bandini (Fanatic / NorthSails) out of the water and is on course for a return to the podium.

Sarah-Quita Offringa

Offringa will now meet reigning world champion – Iballa Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) – in the semifinal after she defeated Arrianne Aukes (Fanatic / NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins). Iballa looked her usual fluid self on the wave but didn’t look as comfortable as she usually does in the air, which could potentially leave her vulnerable against Offringa.

Iballa Moreno

Current world tour leader – Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) – continued her fine start to the season as she recorded the two highest scores of the day in her two heats as she landed a massive stalled forward and a trademark one-handed backloop, while looking very consistent on the wave.

Daida Moreno

Daida will now meet Lina Erpenstein (Patrik / Severne) after the German staged a late comeback against Justyna Sniady (Simmer / Simmer Sails / Mystic).

Lina Erpenstein

Men’s

Adam Lewis (Fanatic / NorthSails / SWOX) enjoyed his best day to date on tour as he booked his place in the top 4 – building upon his fine start to the season, which saw him equal his best ever result – joint 7th – in Pozo and he’s already guaranteed at least 5th place in the double elimination. Earlier in the week, the Brit had spoken about how he didn’t want to place too much pressure on himself here, as he often feels he should perform better than he has done here in the past with the amount of time he has spent training here. Today, the 29-year-old managed to do just that with a combination of doubles, one-handed and one-footed backloops, while on the wave he linked together his usual explosive turns with radical frontside 3s and takas to first take down Antoine Albert (Goya Windsurfing), before claiming the scalps of Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne / SWOX / Shamal Sunglasses) and Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing).

Adam Lewis

Sailor of the Day

Next up for Lewis will be the ominous figure of Philip Köster (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins), who was the standout sailor of the day as he landed trademark ankle dry double forwards, while seemingly being able to do whatever he wanted on the wave with a blend of powerful gouges, frontside 3s, one-handed goiters and slick takas all being thrown down at some point, which saw him earn the highest score of the day – 27.63 points out of a possible 30. Against Camille Juban (Quatro / Goya Windsurfing) there was a slight concern that the former 3-time world champion may not be 100% fit as he left it until the latter stage of Heat 21b to perform a jump, an unusual tactic for Köster who’s normal routine is to start with jumping so his knee may not be perfect, but he still landed two textbook double forwards to dispel any major fears and now has a night to rest and recover ahead of tomorrow’s finals.

Philip Köster tweaked air

Alex Mussolini (RRD / RRD Sails) is a local legend in Tenerife and the Spaniard effortlessly navigated his way into the semifinals with victories over Marc Paré (Simmer / Simmer Sails), Jules Denel (JP / NeilPryde) and lastly Alessio Stillrich (Fanatic / NorthSails), who will be pleased to have bounced back from a slightly disappointing result in Pozo – joint 17th – with a strong display to sit in joint 5th in the single elimination.

Alex Mussolini goiter

The final heat of the day saw the fireworks fly as reigning world champion – Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / NorthSails / Shamal Sunglasses) – lined up against Ricardo Campello (Point-7) for a rematch of their Pozo bout, which proved to be the closest heat of the day with just 0.13 of a point between them by the end. Both sailors landed double forwards, but it was Fernandez who scored higher after hitting a bunker bomb to launch into a perfectly executed massive double, but Campello landed the only pushloop forward of the contest so far, while they were almost inseparable on the wave.

Victor Fernandez

In the end, the decision went to Fernandez and Campello felt aggrieved that his pushloop forward had not been better rewarded, but he will now have to wait until the double for another shot at Fernandez, who will face Mussolini in the second semifinal.

Ricardo Campello

The Brit Slayer

Elsewhere, Arthur Arutkin (Fanatic / NorthSails) sailed well to advance into joint 9th in the single elimination as the Frenchman defeated Ben Proffitt (Simmer / Simmer Sails), before claiming his most impressive victory to date against Robby Swift (JP /NeilPryde / Mystic / SWOX) – although the Brit will be disappointed with how he sailed. The 20-year-old then had opportunities against Camille Juban, but couldn’t take them on this occasion.

Arthur Arutkin

As previously mentioned Alessio Stillrich enjoyed a fine day today he progressed into joint 5th and he claimed some of the biggest scalps of his career so far, as he first survived a tricky first round heat against 7-time PWA Freestyle World Champion – Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / NorthSails) – before taking down Klaas Voget (Fanatic / NorthSails) and former world champion – Thomas Traversa (Tabou / GA Sails).

Alessio Stillrich trademark tweaked pushloop

Thriving Talent

14-year-old Marino Gil (Goya Windsurfing) claimed the biggest win of his young career so far as he knocked out John Skye (RRD / RRD Sails) by landing a big one-footed backloop and an outstanding frontside 360.

Marino Gil

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Julian Salmonn (Severne / Severne Sails) was the standout sailor in the first round with the young German’s powerful and dynamic wave riding really catching the eye. Salmonn almost defeated Philip Köster here in the first round in 2015 and today he came incredibly close to almost causing another major upset against Jaeger Stone, but he snatched a famous victory away with his final wave to edge through. However, heading into the double it’s unlikely that anyone will fancy facing him.

Julian Salmonn