Stand out new move, the rumours say for Koester is a cheese roll into back loop, a move first done by Boujmaa Guilloul, we wonder if he’ll manage to land one in competition?!?

Who’s your outside bet for the world title in 2013? Traversa? Browne? Post your thoughts in the comments below!

Morenotwins_Episode 2 2013_Winter Sessions from morenotwins on Vimeo.

VF-Pozo from VFCenter on Vimeo.

Justin Denel – POZO HIGH TECH from Lion Production Justin Denel on Vimeo.

canaries from marcilio browne on Vimeo.

Boards caught up with Robby in Tenerife, chatting about Pozo, training, equipment, looking forward to the next competition, and of course the injury!

Robby Swift. Image PWA/JC.

Boards: First of all massive congratulations for a great result in Gran Canaria, did you have any aims/expectations of where you thought you could finish?

RS: I was hoping for top three and I thought that was a realistic expectation. Anything can happen in the contest but I felt like I was sailing well enough to come top five, and if you can come top five you can come top three! I was a bit gutted to sail worse in the heat against Dario than I had been sailing in the previous heats but sometimes you just don’t get the waves. I was happy with fourth and pleased that the effort and money I put in to go there a month early and train paid off.

Boards: You were out in Pozo for a while before the event, how long were you out for and what did you have to change most about your sailing for the conditions?

RS: I arrived there on the 4th June so had a month to get ready. I didn’t have to change much. I came fifth there the year before and sixt last year. This year I had to get over my foot operation and didn’t start sailing again till March but I went to Chile twice (March and May) and had plenty of port tack training there, I had new boards and sails this year, which  helped a lot.

One special thing that I did this year was to order the 3.4! In the month I was there before the comp I had 3.7 as my smallest sail and there were five days when it was too windy to use that. I emailed Robert Stroj, the NeilPryde designer to see if he could make me one in time and he did so that was a big advantage. I think we will put that sail into production next year too, as currently we only make a 3.2 and for my size that is a little small.

Robby Swift. Image PWA/JC.

Boards: You lost to Brawzinho in the first round, then faced him again in the double. Did you think you could beat him second time around?

RS: Yes, I thought I could. I knew it would be hard as his waveriding is amazing there. He is so good at the freestyle tricks. I knew I could jump as well as him and so I needed to get some solid waves. I did a good 360 and forward of the lip combination and another wave with a forward off the lip and a taka. He was unlucky to fall on a lot of waves in that heat, but he went on 3.7 while I was on 3.4 and the wind was extremely strong so that probably helped me in the end.

Boards: Did you have a specific plan for each heat, i.e. an order of jumps to do?

RS: Yes, I wanted to do a double and a push loop forward in every heat! That only worked out in two heats but I did a good double in every heat and a push table top and a back loop so that was solid. I also wanted to do two waves with at least a forward off the lip and a taka on them. I did that in every heat except he one against Dario where I simply couldn’t find the waves and that is why I lost.

Boards: What equipment were you using most of the time?

RS: 3.4 2013 Combat prototype and 75L JP Single Thruster prototype for 2014. That is pretty much the exact board that will go into production so it definitely works!

I had a Maui Ultra Fins X-Thruster set up with a 16.5cm fin in the back and 11.5cm fins in the sides.

Boards: And finally how is your toe? Do you think you’ll be fit for Tenerife?

RS: Toe is pretty sore still. I can walk now which is an improvement on the last couple of days but will be very hard to sail. I will compete though for sure and hope that I can make the podium here!

Find out more about Robby Swift on Boards here. 

Robby is entered into the Red Bull Storm Chase and definitely deserves your vote! Head to http://www.redbullstormchase.com/#voting where you have ten votes to send through who you would like to the final 10. 

Boards caught up with Olya to see how her recovery is going:

Olya Raskina

“Thank you all very much for your concern and support. Well, I’m still in Pozo, on the crutches, I can’t walk for a week, cos my knee’s very swollen and I’m not supposed to move it.

The orthopedic specialist saw me the next day after the accident and he said that it’s a concussion of the front ligament and a damaged interior meniscus. He also said that in 4-5 weeks, if I’m lucky (if ligaments are not severely damaged) I’ll be totally fine.

Well I have two days to wait more, then I go to see the specialist again and I hope he’ll be able to tell a bit more. By this time my knee shouldn’t be swollen anymore and he’ll have a better picture of what happened and what’s the best to do.

I know there are a few good physio therapists here in Gran Canaria, so I hope I can get hold of them as well. Thanks again to all the people who are helping me out and supporting me, especially here. Thanks a lot, friends.”

Laure Treboux. Image credit Dani Miquel.

Laure Treboux. Image credit Dani Miquel.

We’ve just had a mad week in Pozo. The first PWA wave event of the year, the “Wind and Waves Festival 2012″, was a massive success. The wind was stronger than I’ve ever seen it so the action was simply insane, and the event was well put together, with lots of windsurfing promotion going on (like the 400 kids who came over form different schools to discover windsurfing) and side activities, music, etc.

Daida and Iballa Moreno did a great job with organizing it, big up to you two girls!

The comp started pretty well for me, with a 4th place in the single elimination. The conditions were hard core though – I couldn’t hold onto my 3.0, apparently it was gusting over 60 knots – and I was struggling to show what I can do. In the double elimination I lost against Steffi Wahl and ended up 5th.

Head to Laure’s personal blog for the full report…http://www.lauretreboux.com/en/news/2012/7/10/pozo-madness

Koester wins ahead of Fernandez, and Ojeda keeps his third place safe in insane winds, Koester on 3.7, Fernandez on 3.4 and Ojeda on 3.7, doesn’t get much windier than that!

Koester wins

Stand out sailor of the day, putting together the perfect heat to beat Browne was the UK’s Robby Swift. Swift pulled a perfect double and excellent push forward right at the start of his heat to put the pressure on Browne, who couldn’t quite recover and struggled through the heat. Swift looked like he could go on to really push Koester, but unfortunately things did not go his way against Ojeda where he struggled to find the ramps and solid wave rides.

Iballa wins

In the women’s heats Daida came back with a solid heat in the first one up against Iballa, but in the resail Iballa seemed fully focussed, putting down the aerial of the day (better than the boys!) plus a clean backie to take the overall title. Stand out on the women’s side was Steffi Wahl who progressed through an incredible amount of heats, putting in solid wave riding and a good range of jumps to take her into fourth.

Top 4s:

Men – 1st Koester, 2nd Fernandez, 3rd Ojeda, 4th Swift.

Women – 1st Iballa Moreno, 2nd Daida Moreno, 3rd Jaggi, 4th Wahl.

Check more action from day five on the next page…

Gran Canaria Wind and Waves Festival 2012 – Day 04 from morenotwins on Vimeo.

PWA Highlights from day four…

Most pulled move all day must have been the floaty jump, making a comeback due to Proffitt training diaries – check them out here - every sailor pulled off a good few floaty jumps, insane crashes, catapults and massive unintentional vulcan, really showing how windy it was.

Koester 1st, Fernandez 2nd, Ojeda 3rd, Bruch 4th. Image PWA/JC.

Koester and Campello on 3.7, most other guys on 3.4 and those lucky enough to have 3.0s were on those, to say it is windy is an understatement and a half. Gusts well over 50knots came through the bay, making it tricky for all competitors.

This morning Koester stormed to victory in the final of the single, beating Fernandez in the final first thing. Fernandez’ style was incredible, seeming to have a lot of control in the conditions, but he didn’t land the moves we all know he is capable of.

Dario Ojeda took third place over Dany Bruch, both sailors getting some incredible wave rides, 360s and takas. Ojeda seemed to just have a better heat, getting more ramps and decent waves than Bruch.

As the double got going Adam Lewis made it through his heat with Levi Lenz with ease, but then there was controversy in his heat against local youngster Alessio Stillrich. Lewis pulled a one handed backie in the middle of the heat, seen by many on the beach but not the judges. Lewis protested, but as it was not seen by any judge there was no way back for him. Stillrich beat him by 0.5, so the jump would have taken him through, however Lewis will have to wait now until the PWA heads to his home beach in Tenerife to show what he is made of.

Skye then faced Stillrich in the heat after Lewis, and the young Canarian reigned supreme again taking down Skye too. Stillrich was finally stopped by Klass Voget in the following round.

Brawzinho. PWA/JC.

Phil Horrocks was sailing well today, making it through his heats convincingly, until coming up against an even more on form Mussolini. Mussolini is on a roll and had already taken out fellow Brit Jamie Hancock in an equally close heat the round before.

Phil Horrocks “In my last heat I lost out to Musso, I had a bit of a shocker! It was super windy and choppy, it didn’t go well, I just struggled for waves. I’m happy with 13th to start the year, could be worse, could be better!”

The man behind the mic, Ben Proffitt, took his 3.4 for the whole day saying he was insanely overpowered right from the start. Proffitt still managed to make it through a couple of heats, taking out Ceballos before meeting and narrowly missing out to Seadi.

Robby Swift. PWA/JC.

Ross Williams and Robby Swift were both massively on form today, going through heats with relative ease, until they met each other in heat 44. Swift took the victory, and now goes through to face Voget tomorrow.

There were injuries a plenty today, with Swifty getting a contest threatening injury:

Robby Swift from facebook “I dislocated my little toe but thanks to all the help from my friends I was able to sail the rest of my heats and I am still in the contest!”

Later in the day the ladies were sent onto the water, many being on the same sized sails as the guys as there isn’t an option for anything smaller! The crazy conditions saw another injury from Olya Raskina, who has damaged an old knee injury.

Olya Raskina. PWA/JC.

Olya Raskina from facebook “I’m in a cast now, all leg, the ligaments are damaged, but how seriously I will know tomorrow morning when I go to the specialist. Very sad and disappointed about the 60knots heat sailing conditions, I would never ever free sail in such wind. But anyway hoping it’s not too bad, gonna know exactly tomorrow, thanks everyone very much for all the help and support.”

On the mic on the Live stream, we have as ever had Ben Proffitt who has entertained the masses both on and off the water. While Ben was competing guest commentators have included Ricardo Campello, Laure Treboux, Dany Bruch, John Skye and Adam Lewis, who have been answering all of your questions on the message board.

Tomorrow the conditions looks incredible yet again, and with Voget, Swift, Browne and Mussolini advancing, to face Bruch, Ojeda, Fernandez and Koester it will of course be an action packed day.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for all the live action – www.boards.co.uk/live – Skippers meeting 10:00, first possible start 10:30.

Check the next pages for the final’s score sheets plus much more.