Steven Van Broeckhoven proved to be one of the top contenders of PWA in Fuerteventura, after secutring fourth place. In Lanzarote he already scored 6th place. Gollito Estredo won the event. Tonky Frans of Bonaire sailed brilliant in second place and Marcillio Browne of Brasil was 3rd. Steven was the best scoring European. Taty Frans was also on fire and the heats between Steven and Taty were very close with a resail in their first equal scoring heat in the double elimination.

Both MauiSails sailors showed the world their obvious talents and they proved to be the best freestyle embassadors for MauiSails worldwide. Official event results are available on www.pwaworldtour.com website.


Here is the Fuerte event report from Steven:

On day 1 the wind was perfect for the F2 chilli 99 with the MauiSails Legend 4,0 and I had a nice entry without any crash. So I felt ready for the big job. The first heat was immediately a tough heat against the Italian Mattia Pedrani, so I had to try my very best. We were both sailing well and scored about the same moves without any crash. But my perfect kono made the difference.

The next heat was against the french man Bosson, who beat Taty in the previous heat. Taty didn't have a good start, so we didn't compete against each other. I didn't sail very well in this heat, because I was a little bit nervous and I had no idea how Bosson sailed. But I advanced. Then I lost from Tonky, who was sailing very well. After the single they started with the first half of the double, so I was released for that day. Meanwhile Taty scored very strong in the double and he sailed brilliant. I had to face him the next day, a hard target.


On Day 2 the wind kept blowing strong for 4,0 sails. In our heat Taty and I looked to perform equal and Taty sailed very smart behind me. I had a great heat with moves like shaka-flaka, ponch, shovit-spock, clew-first-flaka,... on the way out, and burner, trippel gozada, double puneta, toad, kono,...on the way in. I had a good feeling about victory but our scores were equal. So we had a resail.

Again we seemed to perform equal but I was not sure about winning this game. But I was very happy to go to the next round. I sailed solid against Soltysiak and I eliminated Paskowski (I won against him 10 times out of 12 this year). Then I had to face Kiri Thode. I had nothing to lose and I gave the best the very best of me. I opened with a burner into puneta and my second pop was high to score very well. I saw Kiri ended in some crashes, so I got more confident. I made all my moves without a single mistake. When they told me that I had won, I couldn't believe it.


I wanted to copy my performance against Tonky but after two moves with my 4,0 the wind died completely, so Tonky and I had to struggle ten minutes to get back to the shore. They didn't cancel the heat and Tonky earned the victory for sure, as he sailed great. In the evening the wind returned and Tonky kicked out Browne. Gollito defended his first place to win the first double elimination. Tonky was second and for sure the most impressive sailor.

Steven Van Broeckhoven B-72
www.stevenb72.com

Photos : PWA/Carter