PKRA - KiteRacing Brazil Day 4

Barra Do Cunha?, RN, Brazil, August 15. Today’s weather condition was much better than the last three days of the Kite-Racing Brasil 2009. The sun was up all day long so the blue, clear sky coupled with a jam-packed crowd on the beach plus some of the most extreme kiteboard racers on the water were a spectacular sight to behold. The wind blew at an average speed of 14 to 18 knots and most of the racers were on their 11 and 13-meter kites.

The race course set up by the PKRA crew led by race director Olaf Van Tol was a slightly different course but they used the same 3-buoy setup similar to yesterday’s course. Today’s course was shorter but the competitors had to complete an extra lap around the marks before finishing in front of the cheering crowd lined up at the beach.

The mandatory riders meeting went right on schedule at 10:00 am and after two practice starts, race #11 pushed ahead at 10:30 am. The second race followed at 11:25 am and the racing event wrapped up at 12:00 pm. After a short lunch break, the Brazilian National Championship freestyle competition took over the event area.

After 12 races, it’s still Bruno Sroka at the top of the scoreboard with 6.3 points followed by Pedro Montenegro with a total of 14.1 points. Trailing but maintaining his overall third place is Sebastien Salermo (Gin Kites, FRA) with 32 points after hitting the rocks in day 3 and ripping out 3 of his 4 fin boxes on his board. Charging and could possibly overtake 3rd place is Victor Adamo (Naish, BRA) , however, Victor is still in fourth place overall with only 2 points separating him from Sebastien. Nayara Licariao (Best, BRA) continues to lead the ladies after winning both races today while teammate Carol Homsi (Best, BRA) trails in second with 16.7 overall points.

Tomorrow’s riders’ meeting is at 10:00 am with first possible start at 10:30 am. The Freestyle event is scheduled in the morning followed by the racing events with plans for two more races depending on the wind condition.

Kite-Racing Brasil 2009 is organized by the Gest Group led by event coordinator Eduardo Piloni. The PKRA Course Racing events in Brazil and the 2009 PKRA World Tour are sanctioned by the International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) - the worldwide governing body of kiteboarding under the flagship of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).