Bonaire is blessed with outstanding conditions for the opening day of competition seeing Sarah-Quita Offringa fly her way into first place.
Consistent cross-shore winds and blazing sun allowed the competitors to explode into action from the word go. Competition continued throughout the afternoon and the world best freestylers wowed the Caribbean crowds all the way through the first single elimination.
Once the formalities of registration were out the way and the skippers meeting completed, head judge Duncan Coombes wasted no time in getting the 8 women onto the water and the heats underway.
Women’s
The female fleet made up of 8 sailors got off to a flying start. Laure Treboux (Fanatic / North) looked dialed into the conditions from the very beginning steaming her way through her first and second heats taking down Mio Anayama (NeilPryde) and Yoli de Brendt (Fanatic / North) with her fully planning spock 540’s and Grubbys.
New girl to the world tour Maxime van Gent put up a great performance but it wasn’t quite enough to work her way past 3 times world champion Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic).
Arrianne Aukes (RRD / Simmer / Dakine) displayed a stunning array of slidey maneuvers securing herself a 4th place finish, behind experienced competitor De Brendt.
Women’s Final
Treboux and Offringa made their way to the winner’s final, having posted consistent performances throughout the competition. Treboux reeled out her moves like clockwork whilst Offringa went for the high-risk power moves. Crashing hard Offringa allowed Treboux to open the gap early on, and take the lead with her consistent spocks and switch stance maneuvers. However the high risk strategy came together when she bagged herself a perfect Kono and Bob in the closing seconds, squeezing her way through to seal the victory.
Competition continues into the double elimination tomorrow with another perfect forecast promised. Be sure to tune back in tomorrow for more radical freestyle action from 9:00am onwards (skippers meeting / first live ticker update @ 8:30am).
