Vietnam

“Windsurfing is one of the most popular of the water sports in Vietnam and enjoys a loyal fan following amongst both the locals and the tourists looking for some rejuvenating options for recreation in Vietnam.

In Vietnam, winds simply howl at Mui Ne Bay, situated near Phan Thiet. This is one of the windiest places in Vietnam and you can enjoy excellent windsurfing almost any time of the year. The temperatures are quite constant in these parts so you will be warm and comfortable throughout the year.

Vietnam beaches

CENTRE – WINDSURF CENTRE (BASED BY FULL MOON RESORT)

Boards ready!

The windsurf centre, open all year, is located 50 meters from the Hotel Full Moon Beach on a beautiful sandy beach blanc. This professionally run centre is managed by Pascal and has been running for over ten years. The team offer a great service setting up your equipment and then at the end of the day de-rigging and storing away for you; you just have to enjoy!

There are about 120 boards from Starboard ( range 2009-10) ready to go. There are also a good range for sails ( from 3.5 to 7.5 m… )

CENTRE – CENTRE AT SUOI NUOC WAVE SPOT

Boasting one of the nicest beaches in the area, flat clear and shallow water, side shore gentle wind, while in winter on shore wind make of Suoi Nuoc beach a near perfect wave spot with winds up to well above 30 knots.

Mui Ne, L'Anmien Mui Ne Resort & Spa

Planet Windsurf run holidays to the beautiful Vietnam beaches and this week they are running a special offer:

Check out the full details here.

The PWA recently held a Freestyle competition in Mui Ne, 220Km east of Saigon in the South East of Vietnam. The wind there has a deservedly good reputation!

Men and Women's slalom top 3

Adding a second Asian stop to the PWA’s globe trotting World Tour, the world’s windsurfing community shifted its focus to the south eastern Vietnamese province of Binh Thuan, where the picture perfect location of Mui Ne bay would play host to the first ever PWA Grand Slam in Vietnam.

The location had already been tried and tested with numerous local and regional events, but this was the first time Mui Ne would be projected onto the world stage to host an international competition.

When the time came to lift the curtain on the nine day freestyle and slalom extravaganza, it instantly became apparent that Mui Ne was going to deliver the goods in a big way. Cue seven days of howling thermal wind, and a collection of the world’s finest windsurfers battling it out for a piece of the event’s €85,000 prize purse.

February 25th – 28th: Men’s Freestyle

Inaugurating the South China Sea was the men’s freestyle fleet, who competed over the first four days of the event’s duration. Kicking off with a full single elimination, we were given glimpses of what was going to be possible over the coming days, as the fleet got dialed into the conditions.

As the single elimination progressed, the form-players slowly began to emerge. Mui Ne was proving to be a location that favoured powerful, aerial freestyle over sliding moves, and as a consequence, was going to favour the guys that trained in chop, over mirror-flat out-and-out freestyle locations.

As a result, it came as no surprise that the quarter finals consisted of the Frans brothers, Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra) and Jose Estredo (Fanatic / North); the four most consistent guys in the game right now.

With ramps aplenty and no shortage of wind to work with, the four went to town, nailing air chachoos, pushloops, one handed backloops and a selection of super-tech aerial rotations, ultimately rewarding Thode and Estredo with places in the final, leaving the Frans’ to go head to head for third.

This was to be first of many Thode versus Estredo finals, and saw the start of a combination move rally that continued for the next four days. This time round, Thode was the victor, handing him the early event lead ahead of Estredo. In the Frans show down, victory went to Taty (Starboard / MauiSails), placing him in third over sibling Tonky (Tabou / Gaastra) in fourth.

The ensuing double elimination saw much of the same, as the top four held off sustained attack from the likes of European Champion Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra) to once again battle it out for the podium spots.

Another Frans stand off saw Taty once again over-throw his brother with some savvy sailing, giving him a shot at Estredo, and the event’s number two spot. Unfortunately, cashed moves from Frans and a methodical Estredo meant Taty would have to settle for third in the elimination, teeing up another Thode against Estredo final.

In much the same conditions to the previous day, the pair threw down in 25 knots of cross-onshore wind, and building ramps. Despite a super close heat, a unanimous 5-0 judging decision awarded Thode another victory, and a conclusive event lead at the discipline’s midway point.

The event’s second single elimination started with the bad news that Belgium’s podium hopeful, Van Broeckhoven had injured his knee doing a pushloop, and would be out the running for the remainder of the event. Seizing the situation, Canada’s Philip Soltysiak (Starboard / Dakine), Dieter Van Der Eyken (Severne / Starboard), Yarden Meir (Fanatic / Simmer) and Davy Scheffers (Tabou / Gaastra) stepped up their games to challenge the top four in the quarter finals. But with four heats down, the Bonaire-Venezuela axis could not be broken, leaving Estredo to challenge Taty Frans, and Thode to take on Tonky Frans.

The highlight would be Taty Frans, who defied both gravity and convention to pull the first double forward of the event, and arguably ever in Vietnam. Unfortunately, his mind blowing antics didn’t match Estredo’s technical ability, and Estredo advanced to take on Thode, who’d defeated Tonky Frans with a near impeccable score sheet.

The Frans versus Frans battle for third witnessed a changing of the guard, when Tonky put together a styled out routine to topple his uncharacteristically out of form brother. And, further cementing his supremacy on the Mui Ne Grand Slam, Thode again outshone Estredo to stamp his authority on first position.

That left the freestylers the fourth and final day’s double elimination to climb the ranks, and state their claim on the event. Mounting their attacks, Scheffers and Van Der Ekyen came through the double in defiant style to go head to head. In the grudge match, it was Scheffers who dominated, but his advance was quickly halted by the super-slick skills of Frans, who categorically outclassed the Dutchman????.

That meant that the final heats of the second double elimination would mirror those of the previous double elimination on day two. The Frans versus Frans bout gave Tonky a shot at settling the score against his brother, but in what was dubbed ‘the closest heat of the event’, Taty edged victory by a minute margin, leaving Tonky in fourth overall, and Taty to advance one final time to challenge Estredo.

The ensuing heat saw a missed move from Frans on port tack open the door for Estredo to level the scores with Thode in the final heat of the event. As the heat ran it course, it was an unexpected, and rare spectacle to witness Estredo being categorically outclassed by Thode. When the judges announced their verdict, a humbled Estredo graciously accepted second place overall for the event, handing Thode the unanimous event victory, and early lead in the 2011 PWA Freestyle Rankings.

Kiri Thode

The 2011 Vietnam PWA Grand Slam Freestyle Results

1st Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra)

2nd Jose Estredo (Fanatic / North)

3rd Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic)

4th Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra)

5th Dieter Van Eyken (Starboard / Severne)

March 1st – 5th: Men’s and Women’s Slalom

Handing the baton over to the slalom crew, there was barely a breath between the fleet registration, and the first heats hitting the water to christen the opening race elimination. However, progress was to be short lived after Mui Ne’s usually super consistent thermal breeze began to falter, halting progress just short of a result in the men’s elimination, but crowning Alice Arutkin (Starboard / North) the early event leader in the women’s fleet.

The ensuing two days acted as a slow torture, as the Mui Ne micro climate felt the effect of a rogue low pressure system that plagued the local thermal wind cell, and brought hot, humid conditions that killed any hope of resuming racing.

All hopes of securing a conclusive slalom result ultimately boiled down to the competition’s final day, but a mediocre forecast and two windless days sitting fresh in the memory were anything but a positive start to proceedings.

Casting forecasts and sceptics aside, the Mui Ne wind machine chose to defy even the seasoned locals’ predictions, and graced the competition’s final day with a solid 25 knot breeze to wrap the contest up in style.

Opening the action was the men’s winners final from race one, which was won in convincing fashion by Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic) after he took the lead at the first gybe mark, and cruised to an early event lead.

The second slalom elimination saw upset for both Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North) who false started, and Finian Maynard (RRD), who both failed to qualify for the final, leaving them to battle it out in the losers final for eleventh position. In the winners final, it was business as usual for Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde) at the front of the fleet, with Dunkerbeck in hot pursuit in second, and a strong performance from Spaniard Ludovic Jossin (Starboard / Loft) in third. The heavyweight losers final was won by Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun), with Maynard recovering to take second, and Pieter Bijl (JP / NeilPryde) in third.

In the women’s second race, Karin Jaggi (Severne / Patrik) rose to the challenge to take a convincing elimination victory ahead of Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic), who was beginning to seriously threaten taking the top spot, and a consistent Alice Arutkin (Starboard / North) in third.

Moving into the men’s third elimination, the drama really began to unfold when Dunkerbeck was taken down on the start line by a catapulting Cedric Bordes (Tabou / Gaastra), crushing his chances of making the winners final. Also stumbling, Maynard uncharacteristically stuttered for a second time when he missed out on qualifying for the winners final by one position.

The men’s winners final saw yet more of Albeau’s methodical work as he one again dominated the fleet to notch up his second elimination win of the event. In his wake, the Netherlands Peter Volwater (Fanatic / MauiSails) sailed a near text book heat to award him second position, and Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) make amends for his previous eighteenth and tenth position finishes with a solid third in the race.

The losers final saw yet more back luck for Dunkerbeck who crashed en route to the start line and snapped his mast, ruling him out of the heat. Following suit, Australia’s Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne) also came unstuck in the super choppy Mui Ne conditions, taking him out the running, leaving Benoit Moussilmani (Starboard / Simmer) to capitalise on his opponents mistakes and secure victory.

The women’s third elimination saw Offringa continue her run of form right through to the winners final, where she pieced together a stunning heat to award her victory ahead of Turkey’s Lena Erdil (Patrik / Loft), who was looking like she’d found her form after posting a disappointing ninth and eighth in the previous eliminations, leaving World Champion Jaggi in third.

The final race elimination of the final day stood poised to deliver some seriously intense race action, as the men’s event title lay wide open for numerous challengers to make their bid. Things got even more heated when the number one challenger for the event title, Albeau, fell during his semi final, placing him in the losers final and his title hopes at the mercy of Dunkerbeck’s performance in the winners final.

Following a scramble to get a calculator and compute exactly what implications Albeau’s fall would have on his event title hopes, it was deducted that if Dunkerbeck finished eighth or above, he’d steal the title from Albeau, ninth or lower, and Albeau secured it for himself.

Cue arguably the most exciting race final witnessed in recent years, as the normally collected Dunkerbeck had a catastrophic error and went down mid race, placing him at the back of the fleet, and leaving Albeau rubbing his hands together. But, Dunkerbeck remained defiant, and proceeded to systematically reign in eighth place, leaving a final charge to the finish line between him and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Fanatic / North). With barely inches in the call, Dunkerbeck had secured the vital eighth position, in turn handing him the event title, and early season lead ahead of Albeau.

The winners final was won by Maynard, his best result of the event, with Cyril Moussilmani in second, and Jimmy Diaz (Starboard / North), who rounded off a consistent performance in third, securing him third overall for the event. The subsequent losers final was taken by Albeau, who was no doubt reeling from his previous semi final crash.

The women’s final elimination saw Offringa cement her reputation as a serious slalom World Title contender when she scooped another race victory, ahead of Jaggi in second, and Morane Demont (Starboard / Severne) in third, handing her the event victory by a comprehensive points margin. The women’s losers final marked the final heat of the event, which was won by France’s Delphine Cousin (JP / NeilPryde).

The 2011 Vietnam PWA Grand Slam Men’s Slalom Results

1st Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic)

2nd Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde)

3rd Jimmy Diaz (Starboard / North)

4th Ludovic Jossin (Starboard / Loft)

5th Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne)

Bjorn Dunkerbeck

The 2011 Vietnam PWA Grand Slam Women’s Slalom Results

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic)

2nd Karin Jaggi (Patrik / Severne)

3rd Alice Arutkin (Starboard / North)

4th Morane Demont (Starboard / Severne)

5th Lena Erdil (Patrik / Loft / Mystic)

The PWA circus now moves onto Austria, where the men’s freestyle fleet will take to the waters of Lake Neusiedler from the 29th April – 4th May. For more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Bjorn Dunkerbeck

Following the frustration of the two previous windless days, all hopes boiled down to the competition’s final day to deliver suitable conditions for the racers to take to the water. With a mediocre forecast and talk of pressure systems interfering with the local thermal effect, the outlook looked bleak.

Roll on 10.30am, and the trusty Mui Ne thermal breeze was back in full effect, teeing up a climactic final day of slalom competition in winds gusting up to 25 knots. Opening the action was the men’s winners final from race one, which was won in convincing fashion by Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic) after he took the lead at the first gybe mark, with Sylvain Moussilmani in second (Tabou / Simmer), and Steven Allen (Starboard Severne) in third. Also completed was the women’s losers final which was won by Lena Erdil (Patrik / Loft / Mystic), to finish race one.

The second slalom elimination saw upset for both Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North) who false started, and Finian Maynard (RRD), who both failed to qualify for the final, leaving them to battle it out in the losers final for eleventh position. In the winners final, it was business as usual for Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde) at the front of the fleet, with Dunkerbeck in hot pursuit in second, and a strong performance from Spaniard Ludovic Jossin (Starboard / Loft) in third. The heavyweight losers final was won by Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun), with Maynard recovering to take second, and Pieter Bijl (JP / NeilPryde) in third.

In the women’s second race, Karin Jaggi (Severne / Patrik) rose to the challenge to take a convincing elimination victory ahead of Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic), who was beginning to seriously threaten taking the top spot, and a consistent Alice Arutkin (Starboard / North) in third.

Moving into the men’s third elimination, the drama really began to unfold when Dunkerbeck was taken down on the start line by a catapulting Cedric Bordes (Tabou / Gaastra), crushing his chances of making the winners final. Also stumbling, Maynard uncharacteristically stuttered for a second time when he missed out on qualifying for the winners final by one position.

The men’s winners final saw yet more of Albeau’s methodical work as he one again dominated the fleet to notch up his second elimination win of the event. In his wake, the Netherlands Peter Volwater (Fanatic / MauiSails) sailed a near text book heat to award him second position, and Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) make amends for his previous eighteenth and tenth position finishes with a solid third in the race.

The losers final saw yet more back luck for Dunkerbeck who crashed en route to the start line and snapped his mast, ruling him out of the heat. Following suit, Australia’s Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne) also came unstuck in the super choppy Mui Ne conditions, taking him out the running, leaving Benoit Moussilmani (Starboard / Simmer) to capitalise on his opponents mistakes and secure victory.

The women’s third elimination saw Offringa continue her run of form right through to the winners final, where she pieced together a stunning heat to award her victory ahead of Turkey’s Lena Erdil (Patrik / Loft), who was looking like she’d found her form after posting a disappointing ninth and eighth in the previous eliminations, leaving World Champion Jaggi in third.

The final race elimination of the day stood poised to deliver some seriously intense race action, as the men’s event title lay wide open for numerous challengers to make their bid. Things got even more heated when the number one challenger for the event title, Albeau, fell during his semi final, placing him in the losers final and his title hopes at the mercy of Dunkerbeck’s performance in the winners final.

Following a scramble to get a calculator and compute exactly what implications Albeau’s fall would have on his event title hopes, it was deducted that if Dunkerbeck finished eighth or above, he’d steal the title from Albeau, ninth or lower, and Albeau secured it for himself.

Cue arguably the most exciting race final witnessed in recent years, as the normally collected Dunkerbeck had a catastrophic error and went down mid race, placing him at the back of the fleet, and leaving Albeau rubbing his hands together. But, never rule the terminator out the running; Dunkerbeck proceeded to systematically reign in eighth place, leaving a final charge to the finish line between him and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Fanatic / North). With barely inches in the call, Dunkerbeck had secured the vital eighth position, in turn handing him the event title, and early season lead ahead of Albeau.

The winners final was won by Maynard, his best result of the event, with Cyril Moussilmani in second, and Jimmy Diaz (Starboard / North), who rounded off a consistent performance in third, securing him third overall for the event. The subsequent losers final was taken by Albeau, who was no doubt reeling from his previous semi final crash.

The women’s final elimination saw Offringa cement her reputation as a serious slalom World Title contender when she scooped another race victory, ahead of Jaggi in second, and Morane Demont (Starboard / Severne) in third, handing her the event victory by a comprehensive points margin. The women’s losers final marked the final heat of the event, which was won by France’s Delphine Cousin (JP / NeilPryde).

Sarah Quita-Offrgina

The 2011 Vietnam PWA Grand Slam Final Standings: Men’s Slalom

1st Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic)

2nd Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde)

3rd Jimmy Diaz (Starboard / North)

4th Ludovic Jossin (Starboard / Loft)

5th Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne)

The 2011 Vietnam PWA Grand Slam Final Standings: Women’s Slalom

1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic)

2nd Karin Jaggi (Patrik / Severne)

3rd Alice Arutkin (Starboard / North)

4th Morane Demont (Starboard / Severne)

5th Lena Erdil (Patrik / Loft / Mystic)

The PWA circus now moves onto Austria, where the men’s freestyle fleet with take to the waters of Lake Neusiedler from the 29th April – 4th May. For more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Cyril Moussilmani and Antoine Albeau being interviewed

A promising start to competition’s eighth day had the race crew scrambling to set the slalom course, and seize the afternoon’s thermal wind. While the slalom fleets patiently waited for the required minimum of 7 knots to fill the race course, it became apparent that the wind wasn’t following its usually clockwork cycle, as it persisted to change angle and teeter on the edge of competition strength.

After waiting on hold for the whole afternoon, race director Juan Antonio Aragon eventually called an end to competition’s eighth day with no further progress made on the slalom eliminations, pinning all hopes of completing the opening races on the event’s final day, day nine.

Over the course of the afternoon, we took the opportunity to pin down the top three ranked men’s racers; Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde), Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic) and Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North), and female counterparts; Karin Jaggi (Severne / Patrik), Alice Arutkin (Starboard / North) and Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic), for a live Q&A session on the sofa with commentator Ben Proffitt.

To check out what the cream of men’s and women’s slalom racing have to say, check out PWA TV on pwaworldtour.com, where you’ll find both sets of interviews available in the highlights section of the live player.

Current Women’s Slalom Rankings On Day 8

1st Alice Arutkin (Starboard / North)

2nd Morane Demont (Starboard / Severne)

3rd Delphine Cousin (JP / NeilPryde)

4th Fujlko Onishi

5th Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic)

* NOTE: The men’s slalom fleet are still to complete the winners final of race elimination 1, and subsequently all sailors in that heat are tied on equal points until it is completed.

Competition’s final skippers meeting has been scheduled for 10.00am (GMT +7), with a first possible start to racing at 10.30am. Tune into www.pwaworldtour.com then, where we’ll be picking up with the men’s winners final, and women’s losers final from race one.

Here you can use our:

Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

Check live elimination ladders

View results

Read daily news summaries

Browse awesome action photo galleries

Follow the event live, with top class commentary from pros and industry insiders.

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.pwavietnam.com

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Sunrise in Vietnam

A building thermal wind towards the end of the afternoon on competition’s seventh day showed signs of promise, allowing race director Juan Antonio Aragon to summon the slalom fleets to the water to complete the remaining women’s losers final and men’s winners final from race one.

Despite prolonged efforts to run both heats, the wind simply wasn’t playing ball, and persisted to drop below the PWA’s seven knot minimum wind requirement during the attempted finals. The only result to stand from the day was a premature start from Finland’s Marianne Kaplas (Starboard / Severne) in the women’s losers final, meaning she will be excluded from tomorrow’s re-run.

Tomorrow we’re planning to host a live Q&A session with the top three men’s slalom sailors; Antione Albeau (JP / NeilPryde), Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic) and Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North). YOUR questions will be posed to the sailors by the PWA’s guru commentator, Ben Proffitt, and answers will be aired over PWA TV, where we’ll pin the guys down on the sofa and grill them with whatever you fire their way.

To pose your question, email andy@pwaworldtour.com stating 1 – Your name – 2 Your location 3 – The sailor you’d like to answer your question and 4 – Your question. Then tune into PWA TV to check out what the pros have to say. Please write ‘Q&A Session’ in the subject line of your emails.

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting has been scheduled for 10.00am (GMT +7), with a first possible start to racing at 10.30am. Tune into www.pwaworldtour.com then, where we’ll be picking up with the men’s winners final, and women’s losers final from race one.

Here you can use our:

Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

Check live elimination ladders

View results

Read daily news summaries

Browse awesome action photo galleries

Follow the event live, with top class commentary from pros and industry insiders.

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.pwavietnam.com

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Peter Volwater

The slalom fleet’s second day of competition in Mui Ne was met with uncharacteristically light conditions at the morning’s skippers meeting, placing the sailors on standby with rolling hourly announcements.

Despite the thermal wind showing signs of promise in the afternoon, as the light breeze switched to the prevailing north east direction, the conditions never built sufficiently to complete any more of the previous day’s eliminations, leaving the event standings unchanged.

During the afternoon’s standby period, we caught up with the Netherlands’ Peter Volwater (Fanatic / MauiSails) to see what he’s made of the conditions so far, and what gear he’s got racked up for the next three days of racing:

PWA: Can you describe what the conditions are like in Mui Ne, and do they compare to any of the other tour destinations?

PV: “I’d say Mui Ne compares to Pozo, in a sense that Pozo is also onshore, and at high tide there, there’s also a backwash from the rocks in the shoreline, so it gets extremely bouncy when you’re sailing. It makes things really tricky here, as there’s usually enough things to concentrate on, like getting your timing right on the start line, so the chop definitely adds a new dimension to things. Also, when you have 12 people at the start line, and wind is right on the edge, say 7-9 knots, the back wash makes it really technical.”

PWA: What gear have you chosen for the event?

PV: “With my sails, i’ve registered my 9.2m, 8.4m, 7.6m, 7.0m, and 6.3m. My boards are my 134, 111, and 85.”

PWA: Did you do any specific training for this event?

PV: “This event is earlier on in year than what we’re used to, normally the first slalom event of the season is later on, so it’s been a challenge to get all my gear together, and tune everything. I was in Maui at the end of January to test my gear, and spend a month tuning everything in preparation for the event, but it wasn’t as windy as i’d hoped out there, so i didn’t get quite the preparation i’d hoped for.”

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting has been scheduled for 10.00am (GMT +7), with a first possible start to racing at 10.30am. Tune into pwaworldtour.com then to pick up the action where it left off on day five.

Here you can use our:

Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

Check live elimination ladders

View results

Read daily news summaries

Browse awesome action photo galleries

Follow the event live, with top class commentary from pros and industry insiders.

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.pwavietnam.com

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Womens Final

With the freestylers handing the baton over to the slalom fleets, day five of competition in Mui Ne gave a brief insight into what’s in store over the following five days of race action.

To open the action, a four buoy downwind slalom course was set, allowing racing to commence in the afternoons 7-14 knot thermal breeze. The first drama of the day came when the Netherlands’ Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard / Loft / Mystic) was sailed into mid gybe, sustaining a large fin gash to the underside of his foot. The collision not only crushed Van Der Steen’s chances of advancing within the race, but could also jeopardize his chances in subsequent eliminations if the injury affects his sailing.

The next upset came in the second round of heats, when the usually methodical pairing of Ross Williams (Tabou / Gaastra) and Benoit Moussilmani (Starboard / Simmer) went over the start line early, fast tracking both of them to losers final where they’d battle it out for positions 11-20.

As the racing progressed late into the afternoon, Mui Ne’s usually super consistent thermal breeze began to falter, allowing only the men’s losers final to be completed before the race committee were forced to call a halt to the day’s proceedings. In that heat, Williams and Benoit Moussilmani made the best amends they could for their previous blunder, securing first and second respectively, followed by Cedric Bordes (Tabou / Gaastra / Mystic) in third and Pieter Bijl (JP / NeilPryde) in fourth.

In the women’s first elimination, both Karin Jaggi (Patrik / Severne) and Alice Arutkin (Starboard / North) made strong starts by winning their opening heats. Continuing her run of form into the winners final, Arutkin dominated from the start line to secure a decisive victory, and early event lead. In her wake, stellar performances from Morane Demont (Starboard / Severne) and Delphine Cousin (JP / NeilPryde) in second and third ensured that day five’s podium was an all French affair.

Mens Slalom

Tomorrow we pick up the slalom where it left off today, completing both men’s finals, and the women’s losers final before going into the second race elimination. Tune in from the 10.00am (GMT+7) skippers meeting to follow all the action live @ www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our:

Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

Check live elimination ladders

View results

Read daily news summaries

Browse awesome action photo galleries

Follow the event live, with top class commentary from pros and industry insiders.

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.pwavietnam.com

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Kiri Thode

The fourth day in Vietnam would mark the final day of competition for the freestyle fleet. Having already completed a full double elimination, and a single elimination over the course of the previous three days, the ensuing double elimination would determine the final event standings, and crown the event winner.

With conditions slightly lighter than the hammering winds witnessed on day three, most sailors opted to take 5.0m – 5.3m sails to power them through their routines. Head judge, Duncan Coombs also opted to lower the required amount of moves from four, to three on each tack.

The stand out sailor from the outset was Israel’s Yarden Meir (Fanatic / Simmer), who put in a stunning performance to take down France’s Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard / Gun). With expectations running high, it was unfortunate to see the pressure get to the Israeli when he came up against Davy Scheffers (Tabou / Gaastra), and failed to deliver anything like his previous heat’s performance.

Scheffer’s advanced to take on Dieter Van Der Eyken (Severne / Starboard) in a grudge match which has been sailed many time before in the past, and historically favored Van Der Eyken. This time round, however, would see Scheffers turn the tables, giving him a chance to try his luck against Bonaire’s Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails) in the following round.

Despite Scheffers showing great potential, when the time came to face off with Frans, it looked more like a battle of the master and his understudy than a battle of equals. On the score sheets both sailors had thrown down similar moves, the difference being Frans’ were almost without exception, perfectly executed, in contrast to Scheffers’ heavily marked down imitations.

Frans’ victory meant he had to endure another bout of sibling rivalry with brother Tonky (Tabou / Gaastra). This one was to be an absolute treat for those lucky enough to watch it, yet posed an almost impossible task for the judges to separate the pair. Following much deliberation, Taty was ultimately awarded the victory, in what was dubbed the closest heat of the event.

Advancing to face Jose Estredo (Fanatic / North), Frans would have one last shot at avenging his previous days‘ losses against the Venezuelan before the competition had run its course. On the water it was difficult to separate either rider on the quality of moves, but on the score sheets, a missed move from Frans on port tack had opened the door for Estredo to clinch victory.

So the stage was then set of the fourth and final Estredo versus Thode (Starboard / Gaastra) stand-off. Estredo was statistically going to be the stronger man, but the reality of the situation placed a dialed in Thode as very much the odds on favourite.

As the heat ran it course, it was a rare spectacle to witness Estredo being categorically outclassed by Thode. That’s not to say Estredo performed badly, in fact far from it, but Thode was picture perfect. Everything from his air bobs through to his improvised one handed culo-pirouette, the execution was sublime. When the judges announced their verdict, a humbled Estredo graciously accepted second place overall for the event, handing Thode the unanimous event victory, and early lead in the 2011 PWA Freestyle Rankings.

Kiri Thode takes first place

The 2011 Vietnam PWA Grand Slam Freestyle Results

1st Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra)

2nd Jose Estredo (Fanatic / North)

3rd Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic)

4th Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra)

5th Dieter Van Eyken (Starboard / Severne)

Tomorrow we hand over to the the men’s and women’s slalom fleets, for their first day of competition. Racing is scheduled to commence from 2.00pm, following the 1.00pm skippers meeting (all times are GMT +7).

Keep up to date with every piece of the action @ www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our:

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Check live elimination ladders

View results

Read daily news summaries

Browse awesome action photo galleries

Follow the event live, with top class commentary from pros and industry insiders.

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.pwavietnam.com

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Courtesy of Kuma Movie.

Taty Frans

Day three in Mui Ne saw the freestylers unleashed onto the South China sea once again, to compete in the second full single elimination of the event. With a thermal wind you can quite literally set your watch by, it was business as usual when the fleet took to the water shortly after one o’clock.

As the opening heats ran their course, it became obvious that all the sailors were beginning to get fully dialed into the tricky conditions that prevail in the Mui Ne bay. Cue three hours of the most progressive aerial freestyle professional competition has ever seen.

The first upset of the day was the unfortunate news that Belgium’s Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra) would not be competing in the day’s elimination after he sustained a knee injury. With the event’s fifth ranked sailor out of the running temporarily, the door was left wide open for the void to be filled by the chasing pack.

When the dust had settled after the super charged second round of heats, it was the familiar faces of Dieter Van Der Eyken (Starboard / Severne) taking on Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic) and Philip Soltysiak (Starboard / Dakine) challenging Jose Estredo (Fanatic / North) in the first set of quarter finals. Underdogs Van Der Eyken and Soltysiak were always going to have their work cut out to topple their decorated rivals, but this was not to be their day, despite a super close 2-1 judging decision for Taty Frans over Van Der Eyken, and a spirited performance from Soltysiak.

In the second set of quarter finals, there was an easy ride for Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra), who met little resistance from Yarden Meir (Fanatic / Simmer), and Davy Scheffers (Tabou / Gaastra) came up against a brick wall when we went head to head with the man of the moment, Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra).

That meant that the semi final comprised of exactly the same competitors as the first single elimination, but this time round Taty Frans challenged Estredo, and Tonky Frans sparred with Thode.

First up was Taty Frans versus Estredo, in what was perhaps the most memorable heat of the day. Not only did Estredo pull far and away the biggest air chachoo of the event thus far, but Frans defied both gravity and convention to pull the first double forward of the event, and arguably ever in Vietnam. It was a shame to have to see one of the pair eliminated, but on a super close judging decision, Estredo advanced.

When Tonky Frans met Thode, the fire works continued to explode. Highlights include a monster shaka from Thode and a perfect tweaked pushloop from Frans. Again, the call was close, but several crashed moves from Frans allowed Thode and his near impeccable score sheet through to face Estredo, in their third show down of the event. That left yet another Frans on Frans battle for third place.

First to sail was the losers final, which saw a changing of the guard as Tonky Frans raised his game in the howling afternoon winds, and finally defeated his brother with a styled out display of new school freestyle moves. The uncharacteristically inconsistent Taty later admitted that he loathes competing against his brother.

That left the third manifestation of the Thode versus Estredo final to be run in winds that had both sailors fully powered on sub 4.5m sails. With both sailors vying for super technical moves to pad out their score sheets, it was going to be the man who could push the boundaries the furthest that would be rewarded with the victory. On the final horn, it was anyone’s guess who’d won over the judges, but ultimately Thode continued his unbeaten winning steak, to firmly cement himself on the top of the event’s podium.

Andy Chambers

Event Standings After Day 3

1st Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra)

2nd Jose Estredo (Fanatic / North)

3rd Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic)

4th Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra)

5th Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra)

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is scheduled for 11.00am local time (GMT +7), with the second double elimination commencing shortly afterwards.

Keep up to date with every piece of the action @ www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our:

Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

Check live elimination ladders

View results
Read daily news summaries

Browse awesome action photo galleries

Follow the event live, with top class commentary from pros and industry insiders.

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.pwavietnam.com

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Kiri Thode

After waiting patiently for Mui Ne’s thermal wind to kick in, the double elimination roared into action shortly after one o’clock on day two. Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra) had proven himself the man to beat after securing victory in the previous day’s single elimination, leaving him the task of defending his position when a challenger arrived through the double.

In conditions mirroring the single elimination, competition got underway in a steady 25 knot cross onshore breeze, with moderate sized chop over most of the sailing area. First to mount their attack on Thode’s thrown was Israel’s Yarden Meir (Fanatic / Simmer), who looked defiant as he toppled Tilo Eber (JP / NeilPryde) and Russian heavy weight Yegor Popretinskiy (JP / NeilPryde) before finally succumbing to the skills of Canadian Philip Soltysiak (Starboard / Dakine), and settling for a well deserved ninth position in the double elimination.

On the opposite side of the draw, Anthony Ruenes (Tabou / Simmer) bulldozed his way through his opposition with some stunningly executed moves, leaving Arthur Pollet, Max Rowe (Fanatic / North) and Davy Scheffers (Tabou / Gaastra) in his wake before conceding to European Champion, Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra). Ruenes’ run meant he settled in seventh position, an impressive come back after bowing out in the second round of the single elimination.

With Soltysiak falling at the hands of Dieter Van Der Eyken (Severne / Starboard), there was an all Belgium showdown as Van Der Eyken went on to face compatriot Van Broeckhoven. The super charged heat went down in testing conditions, and despite Van Der Eyken’s spell of form, he could not match the impressive magnitude Van Broeckhoven was exerting in his moves. Van Broeckhoven advanced to take on Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra), meaning the final heats of the double elimination would be a carbon copy of the previous day’s heats.

The sailing standard had been impressive through out the day, but the Tonky Frans vs Van Broeckhoven stand-off would raise the bar to dizzying new heights. The pair put on a freestyle master-class of culos, ponch 360s and konos in a heat that had the judging panel’s work cut out. Sadly for Van Broeckhoven he couldn’t make amends for his previous day’s loss to Frans, and for the second time he fell to the Bonaire style maestro.

So once again, there was to be a Frans vs Frans showdown. From the beach Tonky was the more polished of the sailors, but Taty (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic) proved to be the more competition savvy, filling out his score sheet with a mix of both aerial and sliding moves that trumped his sibling’s styled out, but ultimately less calculated efforts.

Taty moved on to try and avenge Estredo (Fanatic / North) for his previous day’s loss. The heat started badly for Frans, who failed to stick a clean move for the first couple of minutes. In the meantime, Estredo was methodically working through his routine, and filling out his score sheet on both tacks. Frans’ nerves soon subsided though, and he stuck some stellar moves, including a super technical double spock on the outside, but it was too little too late, and Estredo once again stole the victory from his grasp.

That left a familiar final of Thode, the previous day’s winner, versus Estredo, the reigning World Champion. From the outset, Thode threw down with venom in his moves. Kicking off with a burner, followed by a huge air flaka and then a sickeningly perfect air bob, Estredo had a challenge on his hands to match the Bonaire local. In response, Estredo stuck a no handed air flaka, one handed air funnel 360 and a burner. It was always going to be a close call, and when move of the day and arguably the competition so far went to Thode, for an epic fully planing Kono landed onto the face of a rolling swell, it sealed Estredo’s fait. Despite a super close heat, Thode took the win, and in turn the double elimination victory with a unanimous 5-0 judging decision.

Anthony Ruenes

Event standings after day 2

1st Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra)

2nd Jose Estredo (Fanatic / North)

3rd Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic)

4th Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra)

5th Steven Van Broeckhoven (F2 / Gaastra)

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is scheduled for 11.00am local time (GMT +7), with the second single elimination commencing shortly afterwards. Keep up to date with every piece of the action @ www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our:

Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

Check live elimination ladders

View results

Read daily news summaries

Browse awesome action photo galleries

Follow the event live, with top class commentary from pros and industry insiders.

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.pwavietnam.com

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Kiri Thode wins the Single Elimination

With expectations running high regarding Mui Ne’s potential as a competition freestyle location, the event’s opening day was anything but a let down. Cue blue skies, warm water, stunt ramps and 25 knots of the finest Vietnamese thermal wind, and the stage was set for Asia’s first ever PWA freestyle Grand Slam.

Most of the freestyle fleet made the call to get to Vietnam a few days ahead of the competition so they had a chance to get a feel for the conditions, but from the outset of the first single elimination it became obvious that Mui Ne was going to take a bit of getting used to. The location is fairly unique in that the beach shelves at such a steep angle, the shore break actually back washes into the open sea producing a double-up effect for several hundred meters out into the competition area.

On the way out many of the sailors were putting the double-up to good use to launch into pushloops and backloops, but on the way in, when you’d typically expect to see multiple rotation sliding moves, it made it near impossible to find a suitable launch zone. As a result, the majority of the fleet quickly adapted there routines to focus heavily on high magnitude, aerial moves as a preference to the sliding stable of moves.

Competition Time

Following the 1.00pm skippers meeting, it was decided that the 22 man fleet would compete, man on man, in 7 minute heats. Each tack had a cap of 7 moves put on it, of which the four highest scoring moves (from each tack) would be counted towards their final score.

First scalp of the day went to Belgium’s Dieter Van Der Eyken (Severne / Starboard), who took down the usually stellar French freestyler Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard / Gun) to make the third round for his first time in a PWA competition. Unfortunately for him, his subsequent pairing against Bonaire’s Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails/ Mystic) in the semi finals proved a task too big, but Van Der Eyken had already proved himself a worthy adversary amongst the PWA’s elite.

Firmly stopping any additional advance from the Belgium contingent, Tonky Frans (Tabou / Gaastra) took it upon himself to hand Steven Van Broekhoven (F2 / Gaastra) an early departure with the aid of both a back loop and a pushloop off the afternoon’s building ramps.

Also advancing in the quarter finals were Jose Estredo (Fanatic / North), who defeated Davy Scheffers (Tabou / Gaastra) with a defiant aerial display, and Kiri Thode (Starboard / Gaastra) who progressed into the semi finals ahead of Canadian Philip Soltysiak (Starboard / Dakine).

This meant that Thode and Taty Frans, and Estredo and Tonky Frans would face off to decide who would make the final. With ramps aplenty and no shortage of wind to work with, the four went to town, nailing air chachoos, pushloops, one handed backloops and a selection of super-tech aerial rotations. On the final horn it was Estredo and Thode who were rewarded for their more diverse and cleanly stuck moves, leaving the Frans brothers to fight it out for third in the losers final.

Frans showdowns are always entertaining, the pair show no mercy and are always guaranteed to go for make-or-break moves that the majority of other competitors wouldn’t consider. This losers final was no exception, with the pair letting loose their full arsenals on each other. Hats off to Tonky Frans, who was relentlessly nailing pushloops and backloops, but third position was eventually awarded to Taty, for his choice of technical, smoothly executed sliding moves on the inside, and explosive aerial moves on the way out.

We’ve seen Estredo vs. Thode finals many times before, but Vietnam’s new and unique set of variables made this one utterly unpredictable. Both sailors were firing on all cylinders en route to the final, perhaps Thode more so than Estredo, but Estredo’s a big game player and thrives on the pressure of finals.

When the gloves came off, both sailors threw down in true world-class style. We’d seen combination moves in previous heats, but Thode and Estredo were churning out multiple combinations with machine like precision. In the end, Thode was awarded the victory. Both score sheets looked very similar, but Estredo was defeated by Thode’s consistently greater magnitude, and a sustained period off the plane in a lull, which cost him dearly.

Kiri Thode

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is scheduled for 10.30am local time (GMT +7), with the first double elimination commencing shortly afterwards. Keep up to date with every piece of the action @ www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our:

Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins

Check live elimination ladders

View results

Read daily news summaries

Browse awesome action photo galleries

Follow the event live, with top class commentary from pros and industry insiders.

There’s also a dedicated event website which can be found at www.pwavietnam.com

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com