Today saw an increase in swell with light winds for the quarter and semi finals of the Pro Men’s, and redemption round of the Pro Women’s.
Maria Andres (Spain) dominated the women’s redemption round with multiple, well selected waves, good speed and aggressive turns for a strong heat total of 13.80. Making her way into a tightly fought battle for second place was fifteen year-old, Sarah Kenyon (Australia). Kenyon has impressed all event with wins in the Juniors & Pro Juniors, but had slipped to third after Denise Blondet (Peru) had a long wave with multiple turns. In the last three minutes, Kenyon turned on a decent set and cracked a critical snap under the lip to cement her second place. Kenyon and Andres will now face Sarah Hauser (France) and Jane Seman (Australia) in the Pro Women’s final.
In the first Pro Men’s semi final, Antoine Martin (Guadaloupe) showed the results of relentless practicing of light wind tricks on warm up days. Along with powerful turns, he pulled both a taka and a goiter with ease on a good set to take the lead with an 8.23. He backed this up with another well ridden wave and a taka to finish with a strong heat total of 14.40. Morgan Noireaux (France) rode with impeccable style to take second, always seeming to find the most perfect waves the ocean had on offer. Despite the light conditions, he skilfully rode just behind the section to get multiple aerials and lip hits on his best waves. Yoav Omer (Israel) still had a great heat, selecting excellent waves and riding them with good speed, aggression and powerful turns to make his way into third and finish the event with a 5th place.
The second semi-final was late in the day and suffered dropping wind. Lightweight wave maestro, Camille Juban (Guadaloupe) took a comfortable win with a mix of tight snaps, aerials and even a one-handed aerial rail grab. Despite the light conditions, he still managed to throw a good amount of spray on his turns and retain good speed on the face. A wave hungry Federico Morisio won the first battle for the set wave and rode with power, making impressive aerials and powerful snaps. The eternally speedy Italian set himself up well early on, with some solid, consistent rides, which put pressure on Koster and Frennet to catch up. Training for much of the past couple of years in Chile, Morisio continues to improve every year and is now one of the stand outs at Pacasmayo. Philip Koster (Germany) had sailed with trademark power to win his heat in the quarter finals, but struggled in the dying wind of the semi. He pulled an air taka on one of his last waves, but without much else on offer, it wasn’t enough to progress to the top two and he finished the competition in 5th place.
Just Pro Men and Pro Women’s finals remain and are likely to be held tomorrow. Tune in to the live broadcast on the IWT event page, as well as the IWT YouTube channel.
