Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup - Day 2
by Chris Yates 7 Jul 00:47 BST
5-13 July 2025
Köster survives a late scare to earn an eighth Pozo event title, and first 5-star victory since 2022, in even windier conditions than Saturday.
The second day of the 2025 Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup turned into more of a survival mission at times than anything else as winds well in excess of 50 knots pummelled Pozo Izquierdo to truly test the mettle of the world's finest wave sailors. Predominantly, Pozo is known for it's onshore winds, but today there was a lot more north in the wind, which gave Pozo a slightly different look with the wind being a lot more cross-shore, but ultimately after almost 10 hours of intense competition, nobody could prevent Philip Köster (Severne / Severne Sails) from returning to winning ways.
Wave Men's
Philip Köster ultimately survived a scare today, but the 5-time world champion was made to work extremely hard to defend his Single Elimination crown. In the Final against Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing / MFC), Köster had his rig ripped out of his hands when trying to initiate a forward loop, something you certainly don't see every day, which just illustrates the ferociousness of the wind.
That left Köster swimming for his gear before having to run back up the beach for a new set, all the while losing valuable time as Browne continued to rack up the points. Just prior to Köster losing his gear, the Brazilian launched into a huge 10-point pushloop forward, which deservedly put him in command of the heat to send us into a Super Final.
If Köster was rattled from losing his gear in the previous heat, then you'd have been hard pushed to notice as within seconds of the green flag in the Super Final he launched into a perfect 10 point pushloop forward, which set the precedent as the 31-year-old built a solid eight point cushion with just under half of the heat to go. However, you don't become a 5-time world champion (4x Wave & 1 Freestyle) without displaying plenty of fighting spirit and that's exactly what Browne did as he dug deep to land an eight point pushloop forward before quickly following it up with 9.38 point stalled double forward to haul himself back into contention heading into the dying stages. Unfortunately for Browne though, Köster linked together his best wave of the heat with two minutes to go - 7.38 points - to hammer the final nail in the coffin as he deservedly secured his eighth event victory in Pozo Izquierdo, which also marks his first 5-star win since 2022.
Differences in Approach
What was very evident was Köster's tactics in the finals... with the contest concluding during low tide, Köster definitely made a conscious decision to deliberately sail further upwind towards the judges tower, while Browne continued to hunt down by the bunker. Browne did indeed eventually find suitable ramps, but perhaps it was a telling factor of Köster using his additional local knowledge, which swung the tie in his favour as he certainly gave himself more scoring opportunities - the majority of Köster's points were scored further upwind. The German was extremely disciplined with his approach and ultimately it paid dividends for him.
For Browne this represents another top result and keeps him firmly in control of the world title race as he backs up his win in Chile with a solid second place here, while further reinstating him as quite possibly the best all round wave sailor in the world. The Brazilian is able to seamlessly switch from float and ride down-the-line to extreme onshore jumping conditions with consummate ease, which is again testament to his overall ability.
Windy, Windier, Windiest Ever?
After yesterday's nuclear winds, it was hard to imagine that it could possibly get even windier, but that it surely did. When the top four re-entered the water this afternoon, Köster was armed with a 3.4m, Browne a 3.5m, Marino Gil a 3.3m (JP / NeilPryde / MFC) and Marc Paré (Simmer / Simmer Sails / MFC) a 3.4m and all four sailors said they were fully lit and could've happily been on smaller equipment, which should again just give some context to just how windy it was really was. In fact, when asking them if today was windier than the opening day the answer was a resounding yes, and not just slightly, but by significant margins.
Marino Gil did his best to hang on to his 3.3m, and still produced some moments of magic, but also experienced some painful looking crashes as he tried to tame Pozo's winds. The 22-year-old couldn't quite defend his event title, but by securing third place today that now means that he has finished on the podium for the last three years in a row here in Gran Canaria, which is no mean feat given the current level.
Paré seemed slightly dejected after finishing fourth at this year's Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup, which is perhaps more just an indication of his ambition, but with a little bit of time he'll be able to look back at this as another solid result. I think it would be fair to say that the top four were a cut above the rest and tiny margins made the difference between progressing or tasting defeat. Against Gil in Heat 47, the Spaniard landed an insane 9.95 point double forward, but couldn't find another ramp for his pushloop forward. Sometimes it also just comes down to how lucky / in sync with the ocean you are on that particular occasion.
Liam Dunkerbeck (Duotone Windsurfing) gained four places from the single elimination as the local boy finishes in fifth place for the second year in a row here. The 21-year-old launched into some of the biggest jumps of the day, while he also brought Ricardo Campello's brilliant comeback to an end in Heat 45.
Campello will be left ruing his early exit in the single yesterday, which left him with a mountain to climb today and in such brutal conditions it was always going to be incredibly difficult to be able to sail the entire day at such a high level. The 40-year-old really started to pick up momentum as he posted a better heat total in almost every round he sailed to look like the threat everyone knows he is capable of being. Campello set the second highest scoring heat of the day in Heat 44 - 29.95 points - but couldn't quite replicate that performance against Dunkerbeck in the next heat. In fact it took until the Super Final for Campello's tally to be beaten when Köster posted 31.3 points. Campello fought back from 17th in the single to 6th in the double - and while that may not be the result he would've wanted it still represents an excellent result - particularly when you take into account that he hasn't been training as often as he used to.
With more wind and waves on the horizon, it looks as though Monday will see the women hit the water for the first time this week. The skippers' meeting has been called for 9:30am (GMT+1) with the action commencing from 10am onwards.
We'll take a look at the full results in the Event Summary at the end of the event.
Result 2025 Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup - Men's Wave:
1st Philip Köster (GER | Severne / Severne Sails)
2nd Marcilio Browne (BRA | Goya Windsurfing / MFC)
3rd Marino Gil (ESP | JP / NeilPryde / MFC)
4th Marc Paré (ESP | Simmer / Simmer Sails / MFC)
5th Liam Dunkerbeck (ESP | Duotone WIndsurfing)
6th Ricardo Campello (BRA / VEN)
7th Victor Fernandez (ESP | Duotone Windsurfing)
8th Alessio Stillrich (ESP | Bruch Boards / Bruch Sails)
9th Miguel Chapuis (ESP | Flikka / North Sails)
9th Moritz Mauch (GER | Simmer / Simmer Sails)
11th Antoine Martin (FRA | Goya Windsurfing / MFC)
11th Mike Friedl (ESP | Goya Windsurfing)
A must-see event for windsurfing enthusiasts. For those who can't attend in person to witness the best nautical acrobatics, the event can be followed via live streaming on www.pwaworldtour.com, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.