Achill Island, Ireland – October 21, 2012: Solid 4 foot surf, sunshine and moderate wind graced day 3 of the Aer Lingus Kite Surf Pro’s 10 day holding period. Brazilian riders dominated the action as contest directors finished the first 7 heats of men’s round 1.
“This is some of the best that Ireland has to offer”, said local contest organizer Eoin O'Connell. “The waves are pumping, the sun is out and we’re really happy to be able to share it with the best riders in the world.”
Standouts today included Brazilian riders Sebastian Ribeiro, Guilly Brandao and Felippe Ferreira who all scored 14 plus point heat score totals. The on-fire Brandao not only scored the highest single wave, but also the highest heat total of the event so far of 15.9 with his vertical back hand attack in the clean side-offshore wind conditions.
The opening heat of the day saw a highly anticipated rematch of the semi-finals of the second stop of the KSP World Tour in Mauritius between Luke McGillewie (RSA, RRD) and current KSP points leader Patri McLaughlin (HI, North). The young South African took down the tour leader to secure a spot in the 4th round of the event. Mitu Montiero (CPV, F-One) dominated the second heat of the day and yet again established himself as one of the riders to beat on tour this year.
Heat 3 began the Brazilian rampage through the first round that saw the Ribeiro, Brandao, Ferreira as well as Pedro Henrique (BRA, Best) take home a Round 1 victory ensuring a strong presence from Brazil in the later rounds of the event.
Wind speeds were unreliable as heats ran into the afternoon, resulting in delays and heat postponements. Etienne Lhote (FRA, F-One) took home the victory in the final seconds of heat number 7 to end the day.
A riders meeting will be held early tomorrow morning to get the event underway as soon as conditions allow. Tune in to www.kspworldtour.com/live at 10:00am Ireland time.
The Aer Lingus Kite Surf Pro 2012, organized by Freeride Ireland, is sponsored by Aer Lingus, ION Essentials, Pure Magic, Hertz, Achill Tourism, Cully & Sully, IKSA, Leader, NDP, EAFRD, SW Mayo Development, DECLG and as well as The Strand Hotel and the Teach Cruachan B&B.
AER LINGUS KITE SURF PRO MEN’S ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 8: Airton Cozzolino (ITA, North), Keahi De Aboitiz, (AUS, Cabrinha), Mark Barry (IRL)
AER LINGUS KITE SURF PRO WOMEN’S ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Ninja Bichler (GER, North), Suzanne Kuiper (NED, F-One), Celina Guardati (ARG)
Heat 2: Ines Correia (POR, RRD), Melissa Gil (USA, Cabrinha), Jade O’Connor (IRL)
Heat 3: Kirsty Jones (GBR, North), Kristin Boese (GER, Best), Kari Schibevaag (NOR, Ozone)
Heat 4: Milla Ferreira (BRA), Jalou Langeree (NED, Naish), Lilian Malschaert (NED)
Here's the wrap up video of the day 3
