Pouring rain, the worlds complete windsurfing elite and a hundred and sixty thousand spectators. These ingredients can only mean one thing; the PWA has arrived on the German island of Sylt for the final stop on the 2005 tour calendar. After a short break in the touring schedule, Canarian sunshine and waving palm trees were traded in for dark cold fronts and horizontal downpours for ten days of wave and slalom action on the German North Sea.

The grande finale
In both waves and Slalom 42 this year’s world champions were yet to be decided on Sylt. In the men’s wave rankings Brazilian Kauli Seadi (BRA-253, Quatro/ Naish) was holding the best cards for the gold medal after his victory in Pozo and his second place in Guincho and on Maui earlier in the year. Things would have to take a bizarre turn for Seadi to ruin his shot at the title, but at the same time the final outcome was far from decided upon arrival on Sylt. All top 6 riders still had a chance of snatching the crown from Seadi’s head.

In the women’s wave contest Daida Moreno (E-64, Mistral/ North Sails) was leading the pack as always, but as ten days in Sylt’s unpredictable conditions still stood between Moreno and the overall title, anything could happen and nothing was decided.

In the brand new discipline Slalom 42 Micah Buzianis (USA-34, F2/ North Sails) was in the lead going into the Nivea World Cup Sylt after winning the first slalom contest on Fuerteventura earlier this year. Slalom master Bjorn Dunkerbeck (E-11, North Sails) had to settle for second best after the Canaries, but that too could all be about to change in Sylt.

Showtime
After two days of waiting for wind, the action finally kicked off on the third day of the event. As the rain was pouring down, but the wind was well up at around twenty knots, Bjorn Dunkerbeck demonstrated he is still the king by nailing every single final of the day without breaking a sweat. Other running up podium points were Peter Volwater (H-24, F2), Antoine Albeau (F-192, Neil Pryde), Micah Buzianis (USA-34, F2/ North Sails), Kevin Pritchard (US-3, Starboard/ MauiSails) and Steve Allen (AUS-0, Fanatic/ Neil Pryde), all taking second third positions at some point throughout the four finales.

The following day brought more slalom action to the gathered crowds, but the weather gods were making life hard on the race committee. After several heats had been cancelled in the course of the day because the wind either dropped, shifted or sometimes both, the first heat was only finished around three in the afternoon. At this pace just two rounds of Slalom 42 could be completed on the second day of racing. In the predominant lighter winds it became apparent that Dunkerbeck clearly prefers the stronger winds of the day before, as the Terminator didn’t make it into the final of round five. Neither did Kevin Pritchard and another big gun, Antoine Albeau (F-192, Neil Pryde), snapped his mast minutes before the start. Micah Buzianis (USA-34, F2/ North Sails) took advantage of this absence of greatness and won round number five, before France’s Cyril Moussilmani (F-71, Fanatic) and Dutchman Peter Volwater (H-24, F2).

Dawn riders
Early Thursday morning a wind field swept across the island, hitting the event site at daybreak. To make optimal use of the conditions, skippers’ meeting was scheduled for 07:30, before the sun was even properly up. As everyone gathered in the breakfast tent (some more awake than others), the wave contest was announced to kick off at 08:30 in twenty-five knots sideshore winds. An hour later, Thomas Traversa (F-3, Tabou/ Gaastra) stuck the first and only textbook double forward of the day before most Sylt residents had even gotten out of bed.

The first round of the men’s contest was wrapped up in the morning without any surprising events and exactly as forecast, the wind eased off in the course of the morning, swinging onshore picking up strength again the afternoon. Again, no upsets as the competition progressed, except for the German crowds that is, as local heroes Bernd Flessner (G-16, F2/ Neil Pryde) and Klaas Voget (G-4, Fanatic) were taken out by Orjan Jensen (E-19, North Sails) and Xavier Huart (F-33, Mistral/ North). Leading man Kauli Seadi (BRA-253, Quatro/ Naish) did what was expected of him and moved on into the next round by beating Eyal Shelef (ISR-43, Quatro/ Neil Pryde), determined on his path to victory.

Range Rovers
After the completion of men’s round two, the competition area was moved up the beach several hundred meters as wave conditions appeared to be better there. The judges got to swap their harsh jury container for several luxurious Range Rovers parked on the beach, provided by event sponsor Land Rover. First up to test the new playground were the women. In virtually dead onshore winds, all top players progressed into the next round without a problem. After women’s round one was completed, it was back to the final sixteen men fighting it out in the year’s final and all decisive wave contest.

As the battles were getting tougher, Robby Swift (K-89, JP/ Neil Pryde) took out Bjorn Dunkerbeck (E-11, North Sails) and Nik Baker (K-66, Mistral/ North Sails) beat Orjan Jensen (E-19, North Sails). Vidar Jensen (N-44, North) kept up the family name by knocking out Antoine Albeau (F-192, Neil Pryde) and Alex Mussolini (E-30, JP/ Neil Pryde) raised some eyebrows by eliminating no one other than reigning wave world champion Scott McKercher (KA-181, Starboard/ Severne). In a superclose heat, the young Spaniard beat McKercher by only half a point on waveriding. Meanwhile, Victor Fernandez (E-42, Fanatic) pulled off a massive stalled forward and outsailed his compatriot Jonas Ceballos (E-40, Fanatic) and Kauli Seadi (BRA-253, Quatro/ Naish) had his hands full on Xavier Huart (F-33, Mistral/ North), but came out victorious in a spectacular, but very tight battle. In the final heat of the day, Peter Volwater (H-24, F2) brought down John Skye (K-57, F2) and Greg Allaway (KA-38, Mistral/ North) knocked out Kevin Pritchard (US-3, Starboard/ MauiSails).

Buzianis is gaining
The next day waves and wind had decreased and it was back to slalom racing. For a minute it seemed Dunkerbeck would be at it again as he won the day’s first final. Antoine Albeau got second, Jimmy Diaz (ISV-11, North Sails) third. Buzianis got caught up in a major traffic jam at the first buoy, which ruined his chances of winning round number seven. In the two following rounds, the American retaliated however, by sailing away with first place in both rounds. In round number eight Albeau got another second place, while veteran racer Phil McGain (AUS-7, MauiSails) nailed third place. In round nine, Albeau again had to settle for second place while Dunkerbeck got no further than third place.

Last chance for waves
The next morning was a repeat from Thursday’s scenario. Strong winds at night and in the early morning called for another daybreak skippers’ meeting, this time at 07:15. As the morning light slowly crept over Westerland beach it became apparent that conditions unfortunately were not yet suitable due to lack of waves caused partially by too offshore winds and an unfavorable tide. Now, besides battling each other for the title, the riders were also up against the clock as winds were indicated to die down in the course of the morning.

At 09:15 the first attempt at wavesailing of the day was made with the women’s quarter finals in small and sketchy conditions. While the wind was not the problem at 20-25 knots, the waves refused to play ball, turning the quarters’ into a complete lottery. Some girls caught solid rides and decent jumps, while others were sailing back and forth without finding any waves for either riding or jumping. After trying to run the wave contest several times throughout the morning, the decision was finally made to cancel, possibly leaving the Nivea World Cup Sylt without a winner in waves in both the men’s and women’s field as the forecast wasn’t looking too hot for the remaining days of the event.

The day continued with more Slalom 42 racing, as three more rounds were completed in 10-12 knot winds. Two out of three rounds went to Israeli Arnon “The Dragon” Dagan (ISR-1, Fanatic/ Neil Pryde), who was simply flying over the course leaving everyone in his wake. Dagan even managed to overtake Dunkerbeck on a straight line in the final of round eleven. The last final of the day, round number twelve, turned out to be the most exciting one of the contest. Dunkerbeck was looking good on the first leg, reaching the first mark in first position, followed by Dagan and Buzianis. Right before the buoy, Buzianis overtook Dagan and went into his gybe in second position. Dunkerbeck however didn’t manage to keep up speed coming out of the turn and Buzianis squeezed past him to first place, sending Dunkerbeck back to second and Dagan to third position. Buzianis and Dunkerbeck raced down the course board to board until the last buoy, where Dunkerbeck took a chance by heading upwind right before the turn trying to overtake Buzianis on the inside. The gamble didn’t pay off for Dunkerbeck unfortunately as he stalled after the gybe and wasted valuable time getting back on a plane. Dagan immediately took advantage and overtook Dunkerbeck on the final reach towards the finish. Micah Buzianis (USA-34, F2/ North Sails) was well out of reach by then, winning the final before Arnon Dagan (ISR-1, Fanatic/ Neil Pryde) in second, Bjorn Dunkerbeck (E-11, North Sails) in third, Daniel Ellis (GBR-52, Fanatic/ Naish) in fourth and Kevin Pritchard (US-3, Starboard/ MauiSails). Antoine Albeau (F-192, Neil Pryde) crossed the line in a disappointing 11th place, losing his second place in the 2005 Sylt ranking to Buzianis.

Heroes
The remaining two days of the Nivea World Cup Sylt passed without any sailable wind and so the new champions could be announced to the world. In the Slalom 42 discipline the Sylt event title went to Bjorn Dunkerbeck (E-11, North Sails), which caused an unprecedented situation. For the first time in PWA history, the season ended with two world champions on the same discipline as Buzianis had won the previous Slalom 42 event on Fuerteventura earlier this summer. Third place in the overall rankings went to Frenchie Antoine Albeau.

“This has never happened before”, joined world Slalom 42 champion Bjorn Dunkerbeck explains.” In the past there were regulations that ruled out this occurrence. A multi-discipline event would count more than a single discipline event or the winner of the last event would be the champion and so on, but all these rules have now changed. So it’s a bit strange, but I’m still happy about winning.”

While this victory means an amazing 34th world title for Dunkerbeck, it is his first on in Slalom 42 as it is a brandnew discipline. He’s sharing it with Micah Buzianis (USA-34, F2/ North Sails) who comments on his path to the top in Sylt:”Bjorn started off very strong, taking four bullets on the first day. I pretty much thought I had lost it right there and then, but then I had some good heats and on the last day I did pretty well. In the last final it was all or nothing, so I went for it at the start and it paid off. Luckily for me, Antoine didn’t have a very good race and it was enough for me to take the title together with Bjorn. It’s a little weird, but since we’re both on the same team, it’s really a great team victory as well.”

As unfortunately the wave performance could not be finished in Sylt, the final event score saw eight men in joined first place. In random order Sylt’s best wavesailing men are Greg Allaway (KA-38, Mistral/ North), Victor Fernandez (E-42, Fanatic), Nik Baker (K-66, Mistral/ North Sails), Vidar Jensen (N-44, North Sails), Kauli Seadi (BRA-253, Quatro/ Naish), Alex Mussolini (E-30, JP/ Neil Pryde), Robby Swift (K-89, JP/ Neil Pryde) and Peter Volwater (H-24, F2).

This outcome means Brazilian wonderboy Kauli Seadi (BRA-253, Quatro/ Naish) is the new wave world champion, following Scott McKercher (KA-181, Starboard/ Severne) in his footsteps. With a large grin on his face the brandnew champ explains what this means to him: “For me this is the ultimate goal. To become world champion depends on so many things and the level of the competition is so high. You have to have the right equipment, the right technique and lots of support. This year it finally all came together for me. To achieve all that in Brazil is pretty hard, since windsurfing is very small there. But I’ve always had confidence I could do it and a lot of support from people to whom I own a great deal of this title. I did the sailing, but without them I would probably not have been able to do it.”

The rest of the 2005 overall wave podium is a British affair, as Nik Baker (K-66, Mistral/ North Sails) proves he’s still way up there with the best of them in second place and Robby Swift (K-89, JP/ Neil Pryde) landing an impressive third overall spot in the 2005 wave rankings.

With no counting result on waves in Sylt for the women, Daida Moreno (E-64, Mistral/ North Sails) lands her sixth world wave title. “I’ve been coming in Sylt since ’97 and it’s almost always been windy here, so it’s a shame we didn’t get to finish the wave performance this year”, as Moreno comments on her title.” I will try to keep winning of course in the years to come, but the level of the other girl is rising really fast now, so it will become more difficult every year. For me, my goal is to keep improving myself and helping the other girls in the process.”

As the Nivea World Cup Sylt 2005 comes to a close, so does the 2005 PWA world tour. All results and pictures from Sylt and other events can be found on www.pwaworldtour.com. The PWA riders will now scatter all over the world again looking for the best conditions to train their hardest to take on each other next season, as no doubt the level will be cranked up another notch over the winter break. First showdown of 2006 will be the London Boat Show, where the PWA fleet go all out indoor style.