GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Cape Verde 2023

Day 2 showed a true battle of the generations, as the more experienced wingfoilers did their best to stand their ground as a whole new fleet of young riders came in to give them a run for their money. Women: The strong levante started to kick in at the start of the women's quarter finals, reaching up to 25 knots. Experience in these tough Tarifa conditions, together with consistency proved to be key elements to advancing through this round. There were no surprises as all of our top seeded riders advanced through this round to the semi-finals. Nia Suardiaz, Paula Novotna, Flora Artzner and Bowien van der Linden all remained in the competition for an opportunity to take the win at this event. Bowien put on the best female performance of the day, with her toeside frontside 3 scoring her 5.30 points. Men: There were some stand-out performances for round 2, particularly from the younger riders who showed amazing determination and capability in the strong, difficult conditions. Axel Gerard rode a great heat, landing a 6.30 point front flip that allowed him to advance to Round 3. River Moore, 14 year old local rider, lost a very close heat with Xavi Corr in Round 1, so for Round 2 he showed even more determination, closing his heat with an impressive backflip scoring 7 points and giving him the opportunity to remain in the competition for Round 3. The highest scoring heat of Round 2 went to Frenchman Bastien Escofet, who achieved an overall score of 8.30 for his spectacular front flip. Round 2 finished with an outstanding performance from one of the youngest local riders, Nathan Berger, who defeated Riccardo Zorzi with an unstoppable display of riding which included a massive frontside 7 scoring him 8.4 points and allowing him a well-deserved spot in Round 3. The wind unfortunately dropped during the final heat of round 2, which will be continued tomorrow, as the levante wind is once again in the forecast for the coming days. River Moore is a local 14 year old competitor who is competing at a World Cup event for the first time here at his home spot. "To compete here at my home spot is just incredible", said River. "The wind today has been tricky, and it definitely picked up throughout the day. I just missed out on my first heat, but in my second heat I was fully powered on my 3 meter wing, and managed to land my tricks. The thing with wingfoiling is that we have race and freestyle, and it's always fast no matter what. You can go high, the landings are awesome, and it's just a great sport. It's bringing a community together, joining people from kitesurfing and windsurfing together."

The wind dropped just before the end of round three, but winning their heats and already advancing directly to round five were Juan Rodriguez, Maxime Chabloz, Gianmaria Coccoluto, Arthur Guillebert, Manoel Soares and Posito Martinez. Juan Rodriguez (COL), currently lying in third on tour, was the first big name to test the waters against Belgian Goetgebuer and Egyptian Moussa. Maxime Chabloz banging home a win in R3 heat two that contained a high trick score of 8.33 for a massive 319. Only he and Coccoluto would break heat scores of 30 points on day one. Gianmaria Coccoluto was up next in heat three, but had a testy fight on his hands against Luiz Alberto Cruz who can always bring the biggest tricks. The Domincan looked over powered and just couldn’t add in the extra poise and style we know him for. Cocco kept the pressure on and remained in control throughout. The wind dropped too much to continue the event around 1pm local time, but having already reared up and looking in very relaxed form, doing just enough to also win their R3 morning heats were current tour leader Manoel Soares, 2021 World Champion Arthur Guillebert and powerful all-round kiter Posito Martinez.