Next week I will be heading down to Spain for a new RedBull event, The Battle of Trafalgar. I will be leading the British team of Sam Light, Tom Court, James Boulding, Tom Bridge and Steph Bridge. It is an event that will accumulate points over the course of the competition, 80% Freestyle and 20% Racing. There is one week left and I need your help to support our team and country. If you hit the ‘join in’ link in the top left of the website you can sign up for the chance to win prizes and help us win the event! You don’t even have to be a kiter, just enter as a ‘sailor’ and click your country or the country you want to support for the chance to win! Thanks for your time and hope you can take 2 minutes out to help my team. Click through HERE!
Second consecutive lay-day / play-day called for KSP One Eye Pro Mauritius.
A 10 am riders meeting has been scheduled for tomorrow, October 1, 2011. The KSP and it’s riders would like to respectfully acknowledge the incredible hospitality locals have shown towards the event by running a local’s expression session, in which all local riders will be photographed and cheered on by KSP tour riders as their session is streamed live via the KSP website. First possible start time will be 11 am.
The local’s expression session will be followed by a KSP Tour Rider’s Super Session, also broadcast live via the KSP website for the world to see. The swell is expected to be in the 8 - 10 foot range (16 - 20 foot faces).
Official prize giving and closing ceremony will be streamed live starting at 6PM Mauritius time.
Final results and heat-by-heat video clips of the Mauritius One Eye Pro can all be found online at kspworldtour.com/ladder. Watch the clip of the day at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK6uVgVdvHo.
The KSP Mauritius One Eye Pro 2011 is sponsored by the Indian Resort & Spa, MTPA (Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority), Air Mauritius, Mauritours, Le Gall, Habit, Club Mistral and Silent Partners. The KSP World Tour is supported by ION and Vitamizzer.
Don’t miss the live coverage of the remaining two 2011 KSP World Tour stops: Pasacamayo, Peru and Ponta Preta, Cape Verde — October 19 to 28 and December 2 to 11, respectively
We are now in the third week of our campaign to promote girls in kitesurfing.
For those who don’t know about it yet (where have you been?) we are searching for the “Most Influential Girl Kitesurfer” for 2011.
Why are we doing this?… well, not only do we want to do something positive to help grow kitesurfing and make our fantastic sport more accessible, but we want to shine the spotlight on the women who are already doing great things in the industry.
So far the response has been overwhelming! We have received nominations for so many really awesome girls doing really awesome things, and we are delighted to see how many women are pioneering kitesurfing in new areas around the world. This is very inspiring for us, and we are honoured to have you all on board.
Jemma Grobbelaar
We will feature an individual article on each of the top 10 finalists, and we are sure that you will enjoy each of their stories as much as we are enjoying putting them together. We can’t wait to share their stories about how hard they work and how much they are loved by the people around them. They are all winners in our minds!
Julia Brown | Kiteboarding Jamaica
Nominate Today
It isn’t too late to get in on the action though! We still have one week until the nomination round closes. So, if you are doing something extraordinary in kitesurfing, no matter how big or small, or you know someone who is, nominateyourself or a friend today. There are great sponsorships to be won… and who knows, this could be just the boost you need to empower you to achieve even more!
How you can Help
Even if you don’t have anyone to nominate, you can still help us make a difference in kitesurfing by spreading the word throughout your network. Share the competition page onFacebook, Twitter, your website / blog, or any other social network you engage in… We appreciate your support.
European Kiteboarding Elite to meet for the final stop in France.
It is less than four weeks to go until the European kiteboarding elite will gather at the beautiful beach of St. Gilles Croix de Vie to crown the European champions in freestyle and tour champions in course racing. From October 26th to November 01st, more than 30.000 spectators are expected to come to the small village at the Atlantic coast for holidays – the perfect environment to choose the winners!
73 Riders pre-registered for KTE France The pre-registration for the KTE France ended yesterday and 73 riders from 14 countries already signed up for the final tour stop. Until now, 35 riders will compete in the men freestyle division, 15 in women freestyle, 24 in course racing men and 7 in the women’s course racing fleet with more to come registering at the event site. Most of the top-riders on the tour have guaranteed their participation including local French rider Seb Garat, German freestyle leader Mario Rodwald, the fastest European Julien Kerneur from France as well as Asia Litwin (freestyle women) and Katja Roose, quickest European woman.
The 2011 KSP World Tour debuted on Friday with the world’s top pro kitesurfers arriving in Mauritius to compete for the prestigious Kitesurfing World Championship Title.
The first stop on the 2011 Kitesurfing World Pro Tour calendar will run from 23 to 29 September 2011, at the famous wave riding spot One Eye in Le Morne, Mauritius.
The world’s top 24 male and 12 female kitesurfers are competing for the coveted KSP (Kitesurf Pro Tour) World Title, with the Mauritius One Eye Pro being the first of three World Championship Wave Riding Tour stops.
We will be updating this article with the latest competition results and kitesurfing news from One Eye on a daily basis, so refer back to this article or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to keep up to date with this prestigious kitesurfing event.
Due to the light winds forecasted for the first day of the Mauritius One Eye Pro, the event organizers have decided to wait for better conditions, so no competition will be run today.
KSP One Eye Pro | Photo by John Bilderback
“Conditions for the rest of the week look excellent,” says Head Judge Brad Price.
The outlook for epic wave riding conditions couldn’t be better, with both wind and swell expected to build over the next few days. It looks like conditions will peak on Tuesday, with a forecast of 4.5-meter swell, at a period of 15 seconds, along with strong winds.
As the final competitors arrived last night at the Indian Resort & Spa, the 36 competing kitesurfers completed registration at the rider’s meeting, where they met with event staff, the media crew, local organizers and the judging panel. All ISA-accredited (International Surfing Association), the six-person judging panel is comprised of Brad Price (Hawaii), Carla Twelkemeier (Germany), Felix Pivec (Hawaii), Johno Hutchinson (South Africa), Jose Luengo (Spain) and Lex Donse (Holland). Yesterday afternoon, the judges spent a portion of the day judging dummy heats out at One Eye. At the rider’s meeting, the judges fielded questions from competitors, laid out the rules for wave possession and interference, as well as announced a maximum number waves (15) that can be scored per heat.
The local event organizers, Patrick Desvaux Marigny, Matthew Buzza and Benjamin Draper-Bolton, who have done an incredible job of making the One Eye Pro happen, were also introduced.
KSP One Eye Pro | Photo by John Bilderback
The official line-up of riders for the One Eye Pro includes: Airton Cozzolino (Cabo Verde), Bruno Bordowsky (Brazil), Etienne Lhote (France), Guilly Brandao (Brazil), Gunnar Biniasch (Germany), Gustavo Foerster (Brazil), Herve Boure (France), James Donaldson (USA), Jeremy Eloy (France), Jesse Richman (Hawaii), John Amundson (Hawaii), Juan Pabloo Diban (Chile), Lee Harvey (United Kingdom), Marc Ramseier (Switzerland), Mauricio Pedreira (Brazil), Max Bonieux (Mauritius), Mitu Monteiro (Cabo Verde), Nans Laviolette (La Reunion), Nuno Figuereido (Portugal), Oswald Schmith (South Africa), Patri McLaughlin (Hawaii), Patrick Desvaux (Mauritius), Sebastien Schmitt (La Reunion) and Sky Solbach (USA). The female roster includes: Elsa Saintville (Mauritius), Erika Lindberg (Sweden), Ines Correira (Portugal), Kelly Wren (USA), Kristin Boese (Germany), Maayke Tadema (Netherlands), Marie Gautron (France), Melissa Gil (USA), Muriel Vandenbempt (France), Ninja Bichler (Germany), Steph Bridge (United Kingdom) and Suzanne Kuiper (Netherlands).
The 2011 One Eye Pro will be broadcast live, and an archive of today’s events is available for immediate viewing. Stay tuned and follow the action via the live webcast and live scoring.
The Mauritius One Eye Pro 2011 is sponsored by Indian Resort, MTPA Mauritius, Air Mauritius, Mauritours, Le Gall, Habit, Club Mistral and Silent Partners. The KSP tour is supported by ION and Vitamizzer.
With winds in the 10 to 12 knot range, and 3 to 4 meter swells throughout the morning and early afternoon of day two of the KSP One Eye Pro, competitors were on standby, waiting for the wind to pick up a bit more. “The wind hasn’t come up quite enough yet, but this is the best conditions I’ve ever seen,” commented KSP Event Photographer John Bilderback. “It’s retarded.”
As the wind slowly picked up, event organizers ran 30 minute Expression Sessions for the men and women to see if the wind would hold and to set the judging scale for the huge waves, and the side-offshore winds.
KSP One Eye Pro | Photo by John Bilderback
The wind remained a bit light at the start of the men’s heat, making it challenging for some of the 24 competitors to ride One Eye top to bottom. Nevertheless, the athletes put on an incredible show, catching waves up to triple overhead. With his fluid, powerful riding, 2008 Kite Surfing World Champion Mitu Monteiro (Cabo Verde) won the Men’s Expression Session with some seriously committed turns and barrels. And Mauritian resident Ninja Bichler (originally from Germany) — who caught some incredible waves and used her local knowledge to ride better than some of the men — won the Women’s Expression Session.
The first two of three heats of the Men’s Round 1, comprised of three competitors per 15-minute heat, were won by strapped riders Max Bonieux (Mauritius) and Mauricio Pedreira (Brazil) respectively. In the most action-packed heat of the three, Pedreira had the highest scoring wave of the day. 2010 Kitesurf World Champion Guilly Brandao, who rode in heat two, pulled into a deep tube on a massive closeout set, resulting in the most spectacular wipe out of the day and a shredded kite. Heat three was the closest heat of the day, and was won by Airton Cozzolino (Cabo Verde).
With a solid breeze and 4 to 6 feet (Hawaiian), 8- to 12-foot faces, competitors once again had phenomenal waves as round 1 of the men’s division resumed. Judges rated each wave ridden on a scale of .1 to 10 and combined each rider’s two top waves for a total potential score of 20, on up to 15 waves per heat.
KSP One Eye Pro | Photo by John Bilderback
Indonesian resident Marc Ramseier (Switzerland) showed a lot of commitment with his powerful, full rail turns in the pulsing surf to score an impressive 9.27 and 8.77 — totaling 18.04. This was the highest score of Round 1. Jesse Richman (Hawaii), Patri McLaughlin (Hawaii/North) and Sky Solbach (USA/North), all riding strapless, scored in the 14- to 16-point range, exhibiting a high degree of speed, power and control with top to bottom surfing. John Amundson (Hawaii/North), Bruno Bordowsky (Brazil) and Oswald Smith (South Africa), riding in straps, also scored in a similar range.
KSP One Eye Pro | Photo by John Bilderback
Up next was Round 1 for the Woman. Murdering 12 waves during her 15-minute heat, local wave slayer Ninja Bichler (Germany) scored a remarkable 18.1 for seamlessly linking big arching turns, big hits under the lip, long rides and even some switchstance surfing.
Ines Correira (Portugal) earned the second highest score in the Women’s first round with an impressive total score of 16.06.
Before the day’s end, the Men’s Round 2 kicked off, featuring head-to-head competition between riders who didn’t advance from Round 1. Of the five heats completed (out of 8), Jeremy Eloy (France/North), 2010 Kite Surf World Champion Guilly Brandao (Brazil), Juan Pabloo Diban (Chile), 2008 World Champion Mitu Monteiro (Cabo Verde) and Bruno Bordowsky (Brazil) advanced. Eloy, Monteiro and Brandao, all riding strapped, were the standouts with scores in the 14.2 to 16.3 range. Brandao attacked the lip with his patented backhand snaps while Eloy opted to keep busy, picking off as many set waves as possible. Monteiro found one of the few cover-ups of the day through the inside bowl on his forehand.
The forecast is looking great for tomorrow and promises another day of good wind and swell (likely a bit smaller than today, but building in the late afternoon).
Round 2 of the men’s division resumed today in 25 to 30 knot winds and overhead surf. The One Eye Pro has now past the halfway mark, with the completion of the Men’s Round 3 Heat 20 and Women’s Round 3 Heat 10, out of a total of 54 scheduled heats (36 men’s and 18 women’s).
KSP One Eye Pro | Photo by John Bilderback
A new highest score for a single wave was set today, when Sky Solbach (USA/North) beat Marc Ramseier’s (Switzerland) 9.27 from Round 1. Exhibiting superb control and flow with his powerful top-to-bottom strapless surfing, Solbach rode 14 waves in his Round 2 heat, earning him a 17.93, the second highest score of the entire men’s event and only the third to surpass a 16-point heat total.
In the closest women’s heat of the day, Kelly Wren (USA) and Elsa Saintville (Mauritius) battled it out in Round 2 with a final score of 12.67 to 14.67 respectively. Suzanne Kuiper (Netherlands) and Marie Gautron (Netherlands) earned the other two highest scores of the day, 12.64 and 14.66, respectively.
KSP One Eye Pro | Photo by John Bilderback
In one of the most anticipated heats of the day, pitting two Kite Surfing World Champions against each other in an elimination round, Mitu Monteiro (Cabo Verde) and Guilly Brandao (Brazil) went head to head on 5-meter and 6-meter kites. Pulling off the move of the day, Monteiro executed a committed strapless re-entry and scored a 7 and 7.77 for his best two waves. Brandao, who lost precious time after dropping his kite, fell just 5.1 points short.
With a receding tide and building swell, the Men’s and Women’s Round 3 concluded, bringing the day to a close.
Tomorrow’s forecast looks incredible, calling for yet another massive, long-period swell in the 10- to 15-foot range to coincide with strong southeasterly winds at One Eye.
Today set the stage for some career-making heats, with strong winds, and the long-anticipated mega swell hitting One Eye today! The Men’s Round 4 resumed, with 10 to 12-foot faces (and the occasional 15-footer) getting the day off to an exhilarating start at the KSP One Eye Pro.
Riding strapless in Heat 23, Jesse Richman (Hawaii) pulled into the sickest and longest barrel of the event so far, but was knocked off his board as he exited the tube. Had he ridden out of it, “I would have given him a 10,” commented KSP Judge Felix Pivec. “He was so close.” Scoring an 8.5 for his best wave, Richman advanced to the Quarter Finals.
KSP One Eye Pro | Photo by John Bilderback
Heat 24 pitted North teammates Patri McLaughlin (Hawaii) and John Amundson (Hawaii) against one another. Demonstrating his progressive, unstrapped surf-influenced style, McLaughlin beat Amundson.
Next, as Women’s Round 4 Heat 11 started, the swell ramped up to 15-foot sets (faces), the biggest of the day so far. Both catching some bombs, Kristin Boese (Germany/Best) rode strapped against the unstrapped Steph Bridge (United Kingdom/North). After Bridge’s kite went down early in the heat, Boese went on to ride a couple monsters, advancing to the Semi Finals.
KSP One Eye Pro | Photo by John Bilderback
Standing out from the rest of the women’s pack, Mauritian local Ninja Bichler (originally from Germany) exhibited stellar flow in Heat 12 as she rode the triple-overhead waves top to bottom. Riding 11 waves, Bichler scored an 8 on a set wave, the second highest women’s score of the day — which she later destroyed.
As the wind ramped up a notch and the swell continued to grow in size, Round 5 saw standout riding from Sky Solbach and Mitu Monteiro with 8 and 8.83 respectively.
Riding rail to rail on macking waves in Round 5, Bridge advanced to the Semi Finals, where she faced One Eye wave slayer Bichler in Heat 16. Tremendously familiar with the break, the unsponsored Wild Card winner Bichler beat out Bridge with some mind-blowing riding. As the surf jacked up to 20-foot faces, and the Coast Guard rescue boat disappeared deep into the trough, Bichler wasn’t the least bit shy of the quadruple overhead monstrosities. Picking off set wave after set wave, she scored a 9.6 on one bomb, securing her a place in tomorrow’s finals against Marie Gautron (France).
KSP One Eye Pro | Photo by John Bilderback
Action-packed, the Men’s Quarter Finals shook the ground of the sport as well. Receiving 10s across the board from the five judges, Airton Cozzolino (Italy/North) scored the first perfect wave of the event with his strapless performance in Heat 30. Smashing set waves with clean, dynamic turns in the most critical sections, Cozzolino nudged out the unstrapped Solbach and fell just half a point short of a perfect heat score of 20.
Then in the last Men’s Quarter Final, Heat 32, Monteiro (Cabo Verde/F-One) with his innovative and smooth style faced McLaughlin’s surf-influenced grace, making for one of the closest matchups of the day. With a heat score of 18.5, Montiero knocked out McLaughlin by 2.5 points.
Conditions permitting, the Men’s Semi Finals (Pedreira v. Cozzolino and Richman v. Monteiro) will be held tomorrow, followed by the Women’s and Men’s Loser’s Finals and Finals.
Kicking off the last six heats of the 2011 KSP One Eye Pro in Le Morne, Mauritius, Airton Cozzolino (Italy/North) faced Mauricio Pedreira (Brazil) in the first of two strapless semifinals. Early in the matchup, the 17-year-old Cozzolino was called on interference, resulting in his second highest wave score to be slashed in half. Nonetheless, his progressive kite surfing advanced him to the finals by a slim margin of .47 points.
KSP One Eye Pro | Photo by John Bilderback
Next up, in the side-offshore winds and overhead surf, Jesse Richman (Hawaii) faced 2008 Kite Surfing World Champion Mitu Monteiro (Cabo Verde/F-One). Displaying an unrivaled degree of flow, diversity and innovative strapless riding, Monteiro’s seemingly effortless style and 19-year background in surfing really shone through. While the 19-year-old Richman put up a good fight, Monteiro bagged a near-perfect score of 19.16 — the second highest of the whole competition (next to Cozzolino’s 19.5 in yesterday’s Quarter Finals). Redefining the standard of top shelf kitesurfing with his highest scoring wave, Monteiro rode super vertically top to bottom — switching stance mid-ride — while staying in the pocket, smashing the pitching lip, tucking in for a barrel, and linking progressive maneuvers together.
One Eye in Mauritius | Photo by John Bilderback
The Women’s Finals was next, which saw Steph Bridge (United Kingdom/North) facing Kristin Boese (Germany/Best) in a strapless showdown for third place. By a margin of 3.94 points, Bridge won. Then, with a fairytale ending, women’s kite surfing concluded with the unsponsored KSP Wild Card winner Ninja Bichler (Mauritian local, originally from Germany) taking home the 2011 One Eye Pro title as she faced off with Marie Gautron (France). Reaching the 15-wave limit, the 29-year-old Bichler left no set wave unslayed while scoring a 17.16 in her first ever final.
Bringing a week of spectacular competitive kitesurfing to an end, the all-strapless Men’s Finals began with a matchup of two great kitesurfers: Richman verses Pedreia for third place. With a tuck under the lip, good flow and some great top-to-bottom hacks, Pedreia beat Richman by 2.76 points.
Airton Cozzolino | Photo by John Bilderback
Then in Heat 36, the very last showdown of the event, Cozzolino rode against an injured Monteiro who took to the water wearing a knee brace after buckling his back knee at the end of Heat 34. Nonetheless, the Men’s Finals ended on an exhilarating note — first and second place separated by less than three-quarters of a point. Riding an 8-meter kite, Monteiro demonstrated a wide variety of surf-influenced and innovative moves, lots of switch riding, impeccable wave selection and even a great cover-up. However, Cozzolino won a majority of the judges over with his performance as he rode top to bottom more vertically, with a super-committed and crisp flow, progressive moves (including an aerial re-entry) and his signature move, squaring up off his bottom turns with an unparalleled amount of control and power when setting up for his radical hacks.
Final One Eye Pro Results – Men
Airton Cozzolino (Italy/North)
Mitu Monteiro (Cabo Verde/F-One)
Mauricio Pedreira (Brazil)
Mauricio Pedreira (3) | Airton Cozzolino (1) | Mitu Monteiro (2) | Photo by John Bilderback
Final One Eye Pro Results – Women
Ninja Bichler (Germany)
Marie Gautron (France)
Steph Bridge (United Kingdom/North)
Marie Gautron (2) | Ninja Bichler (1) | Steph Bridge (3) | Photo by John Bilderback
Don’t miss the live coverage of the remaining two 2011 KSP World Tour stops: Pasacamayo, Peru and Ponta Preta, Cape Verde — October 19 to 28 and December 2 to 11, respectively.
The KSP Mauritius One Eye Pro 2011 is sponsored by the Indian Resort & Spa, MTPA (Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority), Air Mauritius, Mauritours, Le Gall, Habit, Club Mistral and Silent Partners. The KSP World Tour is supported by ION and Vitamizzer.
inMotion Kitesurfing would like to congratulate the KSP and the One Eye Pro event organizers who worked so hard to make all this happen. We think this opening event was very well executed, and a huge success! We can’t wait to bring you guys daily coverage of the next KSP World Tour stops.
One Eye Pro Live Web Broadcast
If you are lucky enough to be at One Eye, or if you have been following the action via the live broadcast, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below… What do you think of the event so far and who do you think is going to dominate?
Next week I will be heading down to Spain for a new RedBull event, The Battle of Trafalgar.
It is less than four weeks to go until the European kiteboarding elite will gather at the beautiful beach of St. Gilles Croix de Vie to crown the European champions in freestyle and tour champions in course racing. From October 26th to November 01st, more than 30.000 spectators are expected to come to the small village at the Atlantic coast for holidays – the perfect environment to choose the winners!
73 Riders pre-registered for KTE France
