On paper, the forecast for the fourth day of the 2019 Mercedes-Benz Aloha Classic was relatively poor with only light onshore winds on offer. As always though you can never truly trust any forecast and upon arriving at the beach there were already signs of the wind trying to kick in and by 11:45am there was enough wind and enough angle on the wind to begin the Youth contest.
The next generation of windsurfers were sent out at an over mast high – at times – Ho’okipa and they were given between 18-22 minutes to link together their top 2 wave scores. As in the pro divisions the contest was run as 4-man heats, which saw Jake Schettewi and Takara Ishii become the first two to seal their place into the winners’ final – followed by Takuma Sugi and Z Schettewi, who advanced through the second semifinal.
In the final, Sugi produced a brilliant display of sailing as he excelled in the light wind conditions – with the wind dropping in the final – to post a total heat score of 14.17 points – which was the joint highest heat total with Ishii, who also posted 14.17 points during his opening heat. To earn an excellent 8 point score in the final Sugi took a high line before launching into a stylish aerial. The 17-year-old racked up a total of 5 waves in the final and was able to find a 6.17 point backup to deservedly win the Single Elimination.
