The world’s best wave windsurfers are gearing up for the 2013
KIA Cold Hawaii PWA World Cup in Klitmøller, Denmark, from September 16-22 and
the spotlight will be even brighter with HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark
attending as the new patron of the event. The Crown Prince, a former Danish
Navy Seal, accomplished sailor and iron man triathlete, will try his hand at
windsurfing on Sunday, September 15, before the pros take over.
The new format of a 32-man field will be as strong as ever with
2012 champion, Thomas Traversa, from France, defending his title. The man he
beat in the final, Philip Köster, windsurfing’s wunderkind, will start as
favourite though, especially if the wind is up. Köster, the 19-year-old double
world champion, started the defence of his crown by winning in Tenerife in
August. He showed his all-round skills in beating arch-rival Viktor Fernandez
Lopez, the 2010 world champion, in the final with an astonishing stalled double
forward and super smooth taka. With the first round in July lost in an unusually
windless and waveless Pozo, Gran Canaria, the heat is on in Cold Hawaii to make
every move count.
“With only three events, if the ones after Sylt don’t happen,
there is no discard and people are committed to coming. Everyone will be
there,” Rich Page, the PWA tour manager, said. The PWA have been working
to expand the wave calendar but nothing is guaranteed yet.
“Quite feasibly we are looking at a Maui event and there is an
outside chance of another event in either Venezuela or Brazil and then also the
Chile event at the end of the year,” he said. “ We will probably have an idea
about Maui and possibly Brazil or Venezuela before Denmark is up. We’re not 100
per cent sure about Chile yet but it looks reasonably positive.”
As it prepares to host its fourth world cup, Klitmøller, for
decades a place of pilgrimage for windsurfers in the know, is an established
part of the professional tour. “It creates a focus of windsurfing in northern
Europe and for people to come and watch and, compared to some venues, be very
close-up and personal with what’s going on,” Page said.
The presence of the Crown Prince is another stage in the event's
organic growth out of the passion of the local windsurfing community. “We are
proud and honoured that His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik finds the KIA
Cold Hawaii PWA World Cup worth supporting,” Finn Jorsal, the president of the
Friends of Cold Hawaii, the association behind the event, said.
“It’s a boost, that gives us national as well as international
status. That can make it possible for us, to make this event even bigger.”
In its young history the Cold Hawaii world cup has driven
forward the evolution of windsurfing with the introduction of live streaming on
the internet in 2010 and live scoring in 2012. The effects of that have been
rippling through the sport and this season the field has been reduced to the
best 32, rather than 48, partly to allow for two sailor heats, rather than
having four sailors on the water, as was the case in previous years. “We
launched live scoring for the wave events in Klitmøller last year and it’s been
pretty successful,” Page said. “Putting that alongside the new format with just
two guys on the water, improves that whole experience for people watching, on
the internet particularly.”
Follow all the action here: http://worldcup.coldhawaii.eu
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