Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam
Day 7 of the 2023 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam started quite promisingly with the wind in the right direction and sunny skies, however, by the early afternoon the wind became funky as it began to swing before onshore and offshore, which for a long time meant it looked like we may not see any official competition. However, shortly before 6pm the wind switched offshore again and with winds gusting to around 25 knots the Women’s Single Elimination was completed to end the day on a high.
Freestyle
Women’s
Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) posted the highest scoring heat of the event so far in her semifinal against - Lina Erpenstein (Severne / Severne Sails) - as the 13-time Freestyle world champion displayed a full repertoire of polished moves, whilst she also landed her first backloop, which was textbook, in a Freestyle heat. With the Aruban looking in confident form it was always going to be a tall ask for anyone to pin her back. Offringa sailed a brilliant final, not crashing once on starboard tack, whilst she completed her scoresheet on port with her opening three attempts as well, before going down on a pasko attempt to deservedly win the Single Elimination and currently lead the event heading into the last three days. The 32-year-old takes a huge step towards Freestyle world title No.14, and 21 overall, after another hugely impressive display.
Oda Brødholt (Starboard / Severne Sails) may not have been able to stop Offringa in the winners’ final, but the Norwegian will still be delighted to claim her place in the top two at the end of the single elimination. Brødholt would reignite her rivalry with Maaike Huvermann (Severne / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) in the semifinals after Huvermann won her resail against Lisa Kloster (MB-Boards / Sailloft Hamburg) in Heat 13b. In recent years, Huvermann has often come out on top in their rivalry, but today, Brødholt was the one to turn the screw as she linked together an impressive array of manoeuvres to advance, much to the delight of Brødholt upon hearing the news.
Huvermann hasn’t looked quite as polished as we have become accustomed to at the start of this event, but the current vice-world champion was still able to secure third place in the single elimination ahead of Lina Erpenstein. However, it was a tight heat with just 2.7 points separating the two sailors. Erpenstein is predominately from a wave background and that was apparent in the b-final as she landed a stalled forward and tabletop forward to place Huvermann under all sorts of pressure. Huvermann rose to the challenge to see Erpenstein off, but the German will be left to rue missing a move on starboard tack as she completed Heat 16 with only two counting moves.
The forecast for tomorrow looks slightly lighter than today on paper, so we will just have to wait and see what happens. The freestyle fleets will meet at 11am (GMT+1) on Thursday morning for the skippers’ meeting with the action commencing from 11:30am onwards.
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Current Event Ranking 2023 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Women’s Freestyle
1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU | Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Oda Brødholt (NOR | Starboard / Severne Sails)
3rd Maaike Huvermann (NED | Severne / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins)
4th Lina Erpenstein (GER | Severne / Severne Sails)
5th Olya Raskina (JP / NeilPryde)
5th Lisa Kloster (GER | MB-Boards / Sailloft Hamburg)
5th Arrianne Aukes (NED | Fanatic / Duotone / Maui Ultra Fins)
5th Bijou Shahmirian (AUT | Starboard / Severne Sails)
Result 2023 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Women’s Slalom
1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU | Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2nd Marion Mortefon (FRA | Fanatic / Duotone)
3rd Blanca Alabau (ESP | Starboard / Severne Sails)
4th Justine Lemeteyer (FRA | FMX Racing / S2Maui / LOKEFOIL)
5th Jenna Gibson (UK | Fanatic / Duotone)
Result 2023 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Men’s Slalom
1st Nicolas Goyard (FRA | Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils / AL360)
2nd Johan Soe (DEN | FMX Racing / Point-7)
3rd Matteo Iachino (ITA | Starboard / Severne Sails)
4th Amado Vrieswijk (NB | Future Fly | Severne Sails)
5th Pierre Mortefon (FRA | Fanatic / Duotone / Phantom Foils)
6th Maciek Rutkowski (POL | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
7th Bruno Martini (ITA | JP / NeilPryde)
8th Daniele Benedetti (ITA | FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
9th Enrico Marotti (CRO | JP / NeilPryde)
10th Nicolas Prien (GER | JP / NeilPryde)