GKA Kite World Cup Dakhla: Day 6
by Jim Gaunt 10 Oct 12:14 BST
Westpoint conditions - GKA Kite World Cup Dakhla, Day 6 © Ydwer van der Heide
The big news yesterday was that Dakhla resident for the last few years, Kirsty Jones, who is originally from Wales and has a vast amount of competition experience, including World Titles under her early career belt, won the women's single elimination.
As the tour visits some really core kiteboarding locations through the year, there are always going to be some highly skilled riders motivated to enter certain competitions who are capable of causing an upset and disturbing the fight for the title. We saw the same with Jalou Langeree and Ninja Ricot taking the top two spots at Mauritius in the last round, while Kirsty showed an undeniable comfort and class here in these conditions at Westpoint, suiting her natural stance.
Tour leader Carla Herrera-Oria's highest seeding meant that she was drawn against the event's wildcard rider, but unfortunately for her, that wildcard was a previous world champion with amazing local knowledge as early as round two. Carla now has it all to do in the double elimination coming over the next few days.
Kirsty meanwhile went on to beat one of the tour's most improved female chargers, Australian Peri Roberts in the semi-final and then France's Charlotte Carpentier in the final, who is currently lying in second on the tour.
So, Kirsty left a real trail of destruction in her wake on Wednesday and in winning the single elimination has projected herself straight to the double elimination final.
Women's single elimination results:
1st Kirsty Jones (UK)
2nd Charlotte Carpentier (FRA)
3rd Catharina Edin (SWE)
4th Peri Roberts (AUS)
Men's
We left the competition yesterday halfway through round one of the men's single elimination.
The big news for today will be the return of Keahi de Aboitiz to GKA competition this year - you may remember he holds somewhat of a lucky charm over this spot! The live page's live ticker will have the info and updates from the beach and details of when the conditions are filling in for the start of the livestream.
Quick update on men's single so far:
HEAT 04 B
L Millard V P Afonso
One of the tours rapidly improving talents from Australia, Luke Millard took a good scalp here in the form of Pedro Afonso, and by a good margin of 9.53 to 4.34.
Millard wins
HEAT 04A
J Carew V H Bouceta
Tour number two ranked rider Australian James Carew eased his way into this event, catching just five waves but amassing a relatively big 13.14 from his two best waves.
Carew wins
HEAT 03 B
C Delannoy V O Perrineau
Battle of France was won by Perrineau in a surprise to many, 8.8 to 4.6 in light conditions.
Perrineau wins
HEAT 03 A
F Capuzzo V M Mansour
Typical workman's performance from tour regular Capuzzo with 8 waves to 5 and a score of 9.96 from his two best waves to the Moroccan's 4.68.
Capuzzo wins
HEAT 02 B
G Harney V C Martin
A tricky one for the judges here with two up and coming riders. Graham Harney from Canada has done every event this year, while Charly Martin from Reunion Island massively impressed everyone with his full tilt wave approach in Mauritius. This battle went in Martin's favour 10.73 to 9.13.
Martin wins
HEAT 02 A
M Monteiro V R Lafdali
The tour's third ranked rider and previous Dakhla winner cruised through this heat, 12.5 to 5.33
Monteiro wins
HEAT 01 B
Anderson Reboucas V J Fernandez
The Brazilian showed his greater experience here having performed to a high level already this year, especially in Mauritius last time out. He took a comfortable 9.63 to 3.13 win.
Reboucas wins
HEAT 01 A
M Maji V S Joosten
Moroccan local M Maji pulled off a big win over one of the GKA Kite-Surf Tour's major players here. It was a tightly contested heat with six waves to Simon and five to Maji, but local knowledge snuck it, 11.23 to 10.06
Maji wins