QATAR AIRWAYS GKA KITE WORLD TOUR 2024
GKA Kite-Surf Kite World Cup Cape Verde
16 – 25 February, 2024
Spot: Ponta Preta, Sal
Discipline: Kite-Surf
Judging Criteria: Best 2 waves to count from maximum of 10 attempts. Heat duration for the women is 17 minutes with a three-minute transition.
Day Four – Monday, 19 February (GMT-1)
12.40 That’s it for the GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Cape Verde. Join us again for the next stop.
12:10 Final Moona Whyte v Capucine Delannoy. Whyte wins with two perfect 10s right at the death, building on a dominant heat, giving her the win in the opening round of the season. Delannoy is fast improving her wave riding and clocked up some big numbers.
11.50 Mini-final Charlotte Carpentier v Camille Losserand. Losserand takes the third podium step in a tight heat. The Swiss athlete got the win with a buzzer beater on her last ride of the heat to give her victory by the finest of margins.
11.15 W S-F 2 Charlotte Carpentier v Moon Whyte. Carpentier puts up a good fight with some nice rides. But Whyte is in a class of her own. Her flowing style, open faced hacks and wave selection earn her an 18.23, including a remarkable 9.40 wave. She goes to the final.
10.50 W Semi-Final 1 Camille Losserand v Capucine Delannoy. Delannoy ekes out the win by the tightest margins, just 0.05 of point. Losserand’s last strong wave came very close to becoming a buzzer beater. But the 17-year-old Delannoy makes her way to the final.
10.30 W R3 H4 Daniela Moreno v Moona Whyte. Whyte moves forward to the semi-final with the biggest wave score and heat score of the day. The world champion looks comfortable in the double head-high faces.
10:10 W R3 H3 Charlotte Carpentier v Kesiane Rodrigues. Carpentier takes the win with some strong riding in the difficult conditions: heavy waves with a moderately strong offshore breeze. Rodrigues broke her leash and lost her but fought her way back and almost caught Carpentier.
09:55 W R3 H2 Julia Borghi v Capucine Delannoy. Delannoy surfs some big waves and puts 14.00 total on the board to take the win. Borghi dropped her kite and it got caught in the break.
09.42 Women’s R3 H1 Serena Luz v Camille Losserand. Losserand wins even though her leash snapped and she lost her board quite early in the heat.
09:30 Good morning. We’re planning to restart the women’s competition and hopefully crown our winners today.
Day Three – Sunday, 18 February (GMT-1)
18.25 That’s a wrap for today. Join us tomorrow for more women’s action.
18.05 R2 H4 Simona Schatzmann v Daniela Moreno. Moreno wins and moves forward.
17.45 R2 H3 Charlotte Carpentier v Sonja Bunte. Carpentier takes the win and advances up the ladder.
17.25 Women R2 H2 Julia Borghi v Barbara Sgardello. Borghi gets the win and advances to the next round.
04.20 Final Mitu Monteiro v Airton Cozzolino. After 30 minutes of intense riding in epic waves Cozzolino gets the win over his friend and mentor Monteiro. Cozzolino was on fire, dominating the heat with a massive 9.10 and 8.53 waves. His discarded scores were a clutch of 8 point-plus waves.
03.40 Mini-Final Pedro Matos v Gabriel Benetton. The battle of the Brazilians. Matos gets the win by a small margin, just 0.07 of a point ahead of Benetton. Matos 8.30 wave did most of the damage.
02.50 M S-F2 Airton Cozzolino v Garbriel Benetton. Cozzolino is hungry for the win. His 9.43 wave was a monster that took his heat total to 17.53 and booked him a place in the final.
02.35 M Semi-Final 1 Pedro Matos v Mitu Monteiro. Monteiro takes the win with two, big eight point plus scores that Matos was unable to match.
02:15 MR4 H4 Airton Cozzolino v Woodley Hall. Cozzolino lands the win with a huge outing that included a 9.0 waves and an 8.50 barrel right at the end of the heat.
01.55 MR4 H3 Sebastian Ribeiro v Gabriel Benetton. Benetton pulls off an upset to take the win over his mentor, Ribeiro. Ribeiro had the biggest score of the two, but Benetton’s backup score was beterr.
01.30 MR4 H2 Matchu Lopes v Mitu Monteiro. Monteiro won that insane heat. Mitu was trailing but got on the swell in the final seconds and did enough with a bomb that earned him the win. Matchu got a barrel on one of the following waves, but was out of time and it didn’t count.
01.10 Men’s R4H1. Hendrick Lopes v Pedro Matos. Matos goes big to take the win. His 9.28 ride was a banger of linked turns on a long wave. Even Lopes barrel wasn’t enough to upset the form books.
12.20 Women’s R2H1 Serena Luz v Sofia Monti. Luz gets the win after several decent waves. But Monti’s kite went down and she ended up on rocks. The Italian rider was unhurt, but the decision has been taken to switch back to the men’s heats after consultation with the women athletes.
12.00 MR3 H8 Airton Cozzolino v Arsenio Dias. Cozzolino was going for it and landed a big 8.23 wave to take his winning total to 15.16. The action’s hotting up, just like the conditions.
11.40 M R3 H6 Sebastian Ribeiro v Djo Silva. The heat is back on after it was cancelled through lack of wind. Big heat here. Wow! Ribeiro is on fire. Two massive nine-plus waves. 9.80 and 9.53 are the biggest waves of the competition. His 19.33 is the largest total by a long way. Ribeiro wins.
11.15 MR3 H7 Woodley Hall v Theo Demanez. We’re back on. Hall just gets the win by a small margin. The sets are big but the wind is tricky for the athletes to get up wind to the top of the box.
10:45 MR3 H6 is back on. But the wind has dropped back once again to just 10 knots and we’re on standby.
10.35 M R3 H6 Sebastian Ribeiro v Djo Silva. The heat is cancelled as the wind has backed off a little.
10.15 M R3H5 Gabriel Benetton v Gray Foster. Benetton. Benetton, riding backhand, takes the win with a big 6.50 wave that helped to end Foster’s run.
09:55 M R3 H4 Artur Morais v Mitu Monteiro. Monteiro opened with a bomb and even got a little cover-up, but struggled to find a second wave. Morais got a couple of waves that would have give him a slight lead, but for Monteiro’s final 4.0 wave that got him over the line and the win.
09.35 M R3 H3 Charly Martin v Matchu Lopes. Lopes, last year’s winner in Cape Verde, get the win. His 8.0 wave takes his total to 14.07 and lands him a convincing win.
09.10 Men’s R3H2 Pedro Matos v Clément Roseyro. It’s on! The breeze has filled in and the swell is pumping. Matos gets the with two seven-plus waves.
08.45 The AP (postponement) flag is up right now. We have a great swell, but we’re waiting for the wind to fill in at Ponta Preta. Stay tuned. Head over to the GKA Livestream to see all the action.
08:10 Good morning. The skippers’ meeting is on now and we’re looking at a first possible start at 08:30. We’ll get back to the heat with Pedro Matos and Clément Roseyro, R3 H2.
Day Two – Saturday, 17 February (GMT-1)
18.02 That is the end of the competition for today. The swell never quite developed as predicted. Tomorrow looks better and it appears we will start at 08:00 local time. Join us then.
16.50 M R3 H2 Pedro Matos v Clément Roseyro. The heat was cancelled when the swell failed to present itself. Pedro Matos scored a couple of waves and was hunting down any smell swells. But Roseyro had failed to put numbers on the board.
Earlier in the day, Rui Meira, one of the GKA judges, explained the situation as the wait for suitable conditions went on.
“Day 2 and we are waiting for the swell to pick up. Looking at the forecast this should be an epic afternoon for the riders to compete here.
“With the swell building, hopefully we should see barrelling sections of Ponta Preta coming to life. We are looking for the most fluid, connecting riders, taking it to the barrel, to the air, and big round house turns here in Ponta Preta.
“Hopefully the swell will be big enough that the wave potential is full on and wave becomes a little bit longer and wave bigger than yesterday. The wind is here, so we are just waiting for the conditions to come to life.
16.15 Men’s R3H1 Hendrick Lopes v Pablo Amores. The Swiss-Cape Verdean Lopes gets the win with a couple of good waves. One included 5.70 ride that took his heat total to 10.53. That helped him ease the Spaniard Amores who couldn’t find good enough waves and scored 5.56. That was the end of Amores’ run, though he was delighted to get into the competition on a wildcard after the Moroccan Mohamad Ali Beqqali had travel difficulties.
14.48 The race director says we are ready to start at any time after 15.15.
14.36 The athletes are still on hold. We’re still waiting for the swell to build. The race director has said the next call is 14.45 for a first possible start at 15.15. We’ll keep you posted.
09:21 Good morning. At the moment we are on hold waiting for the swell to build and the breeze to kick-in. The forecast conditions have not quite materialised yet. The plan for today is to start with the men’s Round 3, and then switch to women’s Rounds 2 and 3. Stay tuned for further updates.
Day One – Friday, 16 February (GMT-1)
18.42 That’s a wrap for today. On day two we are hoping to conclude the Kite-Surf contest with a epic forecast in prospect. Join us then with the plan of 09:00 local time as the first possible start.
18:15 WRH4 Julia Borghi v Sonja Bunta v Moona Whyte. Reigning world champion Whyte gets the win throwing down a 5.40 wave score in extremely tricky conditions. Borghi takes second with Bunte in third.
18.00 WR1 H3 Daniela Moreno v Serena Luz v Kesiane Rodrigues. The Brazilian Rodrigues got the win convincingly with a big 5.60 wave that took her total 9.17.
17.35 WR1H2 Simona Schatzmann v Sofia Monti v Capucine Delannoy. Delannoy got the win with a solid 5.73 wave score in the difficult conditions and got the win. Monti and Schatzmann took second and third spots.
17:15 Women’s R1H1 Barbara Sgardello v Charlotte Carpentier v Camille Losserand. Losserand wins over Carpentier in second and Sgardello in third.
16:45 MR3 H8 Jordy Sanca v Arsenio Dias. Dias gets the win over Sanca in a battle of the Cape Verdeans.
16.25 MR3 H7 Titik Lopes v Woodley Hall. Australia’s Woodley Hall just squeezes out the win over Titik Lopes.
16:00 MR3 H6 Djo Silva v Yaris Dell’omo. Silva, the local organiser in Cape Verde books his ticket to Round 3, getting the better Dell’omo.
15.40 MR2 H5 Gray Foster v Luís Brito. The US athlete Foster finds some reasonable waves and chalks up some solid scores to give him the win over the local rider Brito.
15.15 MR2 H4 Mitu Monteiro v Matt Maxwell. A tight heat in tricky conditions, but Monteiro does enough to get through with a clutch of solid scores that Maxwell could not quite match. Last year’s runner-up, Monteiro, advances.
14:55 MR2 H3 Nicola Abadjiev v Matchu Lopes. Lopes found enough waves and used them for all their worth with a couple of solid scores to give him the win over Abadjiev.
14:34 MR2 H2Clément Roseyro v Robertney Barros. Roseyro, the finalist in Dakhla, Morocco, takes the win to advance ending Barros’ hopes.
14:15 MR2H1 Pablo Amores v Kelton Lopes. Amores gets the win and advances Round 4, while the local athlete Lopes is out.
13.45 Woodley Hall v Mitu Monteiro v Airton Cozzolino. Cozzolino wins the heat the of the day so far. The Cape Verde-bred Italian landed the biggest wave score with an 8.23 bomb that gave him the highest combination of 15.33. Monteiro took second with third highest heat total of the day, while Hall got third.
13.25 MR1H7 Arsenio Dias v Theo Demanez v Nicola Abadjiev. The Frenchman from Martinique Demanez lands the win with the biggest wave score of the heat in tricky waves that were few and far behind. Abadjiev from Bulgaria takes second with local rider Dias in third.
13:00 M R1 H6 Luís Brito v Clément Roseyro v Sebastian Ribeiro. Brazil’s Ribeiro gets the win, with Roseyro second and Brito in third place.
13:07 The plan is to carry on through Men’s Round 2 and then start the opening Round of the women.
Brazil’s Sebastian Ribeiro, who finished fourth overall in last year’s world championship, told of his hopes and expectation just before his heat.
“I’m feeling good, the waves are pumping. I know there’s a big swell coming, but I just hope the wind is more side[shore], like it is now. My boards are good, and the kites are working pretty good.
“I prepared a lot for this event. I came early to Cape Verde to train in these waves to train surfing and kiting. I think it will be good. For sure the locals know this waves better than anyone.
But it’s not my first time here. I really like this wave. Every time we are here I try to train in the small days and big days to try to understand how the wave works. I think I have an advantage also and understand how this wave works and try to bring my surf style to this.”
12.35 M R1 H5 Pablo Amores v Yaris Dell’omo v Gabriel Benetton. The young Brazilian Benetton wins with two strong scores, including a 6.23 that took his total to 12.10. Pablo Amores, the late entrant after Mohammad Ali Beqqali’s travel was delayed. Italy’s Yaris Dell’omo was third and also fights for survival in Round 2.
Paulino Pereira, GKA head judge, explained the priority rule that has been refined this season.
“There is a mark upwind of the pointbreak. The rider needs to cross the buoy and tack or gybe to have the priority.
“At the start of the heat, no one has priority. As soon as a rider crosses the mark, we raise a flag to give them priority so they can choose on the point, which wave they can take.
Then after he surfer, the priority goes to the next one who has tacked or gybes at the buoy. They have a better decision and a better way of competing.”
12:15 MR1 H4 Jordy Sanca v Artur Morais v Matchu Lopes. The Brazilian Morais gets the biggest scores of the contest so far with a 6.37 wave to take the win with a 12.17 heat total. Jordy Sanca took second while Matchu Lopes, last year’s winner here, didn’t manage to put any score on the board and will fight it out in Round 2.
11:45 M R1H3 Titik Lopes v Matt Maxwell v Charly Martin. The Reunion island’s Charly Martin squeezes out the win, with local Titik Lopes in second, and South Africa’s Matt Maxwell in third.
Paulino Pereira, GKA head judge, explained what the judges are looking for.
“For the judging criteria we are looking for wave selection. It’s really important here. The connection between manoeuvres: speed, power, flow and variety.
“It’s really important to connect well between the tricks. Don’t do all the same tricks. This is long wave: no smack, smack, smack all the way. You can do floaters, vertical turns, round houses.
“If you see the wave breaking, and you do a floater over the top and land down, it’s way better than riding around the front of the wave. So in the end it’s the way to connect, all the way from the beginning to the end.”
11:26 M R1H2 Djo Silva v Kelton Lopes v Pedro Matos. The winner of the tour stop in Dakhla, Morocco, last year, Matos gets the win to get straight to Round 3. Djo Silva, one of the local organisers, is second, and Lopes is third.
11:02 Men’s R1H1 Robertney Barros v Gray Foster v Hendrick Lopes. Cape Verde-based Lopes takes the win with a total of 10.30 heat score and the best wave for 5.50. Barros and Foster will fight again in Round 2.
10:57 We’re set to start Round 1 Heat 1 at 11:00.
10:36 Next call at 10:45 for FPS 11:00.
10:25 Good morning. We are about to start shortly with the men’s Kite-Surf contest. There are 24 men in the draw and the hope is to move through Rounds 1 and 2 today.