Hot atmosphere on the beach of the Méridien today for this 5th day of the Alcatel Kitesurf Pro! Full sun, strong wind and overexcited crowd during the Best Tricks contest and the Hang Time : the best way to start this crazy week end…| Hot atmosphere on the beach of the Méridien today for this 5th day of the Alcatel Kitesurf Pro! Full sun, strong wind and overexcited crowd during the Best Tricks contest and the Hang Time : the best way to start this crazy week eThe festivities or rather the hostilities started at noon with the Best Tricks session. Simple rules for this event, the points of which are taken into account for the overall Alcatel Kitesurf Pro ranking : riders go 4 by 4 during successive heats; they have to perform starboard and port tack jumps. Technicity, height and originality are judged, the result must be the as powerful and esthetic as possible. An amazing show offered by both men and women, who are gradually catching up wih their male colleagues. To speak broadly, this contest was a festival of handle pass kite loops, slim chances, peter roses, 360°, F16, 911 and so on and so forth, the list is long!…Some riders feeling creative tried to invent new tricks, but with no success…how high the level was among the riders, and even though the sport evolves fastly, we didnt witness any novelty today. The first session of the full contest (which is likely to follow for a second round if next week end conditions are favorable) was eventually won by the french Guillaume Mariani, present 3rd of the 2004 world ranking, who performed a handle pass kite loop with at the same time a strong power and perfect easiness. The second place was won by the local Thomas Roger with the same trick, yet maybe less impressive in terms of power and esthetic. The canadian Rich Stenning got the third place with a toside double spin kite loop powerfully carried out. On the women side, Fabienne dOrtoli won the contest thanks to her perfect double loop kite loop. 2nd place for Sandrine Maunier who performed a nice toside take off kite loop with back loop, while Gisela Pulido was third with a helside take off kite loop with back loop. Same principle for the hang time : the riders go 4 by 4 and jump as high as possible, the purpose of which is to stay high in the air as long as possible. Present world records are 887 (Sebastien Cattelan) for men and 640 (Julie Gilbert) for women. These records were not beaten today, but at least the caledonian Manolo Barlet approached them with a 744 time giving him victory. Mickael Siret got the 2nd place in 675, and Antoine Jaubert is third with a hang time of 666. Its definitely a good day for Fabienne dOrtoli, who won the Hang Time women contest with a 456 time. In the second place, Coralie Imbert with 450, the third place goes to Gisela Pulido in 441. See you tomorrow for the last step of the Alcatel Kitesurf Pro with the end of the freestyle men and women double elimination! KPWT Team 2004 Exclusivity : Kiteboard Pro Photo Live!!! We are glad and proud to announce the setting up of a LIVE! Kiteboard Pro Photo gallery. This world premiere in the domain will be launched during the final of the KPWT World cup In Noumea, New Caledonia from november 1-7, 2004. Located more than 10.000 miles away from Paris, our photographer will take “live” shots that will be streamed in real time over the Internet. The photos will be available for viewing or downloading on a webserver with only a slight 60 second delay after the action ! Web Link : www.kiteboardprophoto.com/live Thanks to our Title sponsor : Alcatel To our official sponsors : Toyota, OPT, Despé Glisse To our institutional partners : New Caledonia Government and Congress, The South Province and the City of Nouméa. To our official suppliers : Teri, Surf Rider, Océanias, Lagoon To our media partners: Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes, NRJ, Télé Nouvelle Calédonie And our magazine partners : Stance International, Freesail Magazine, Wind & Kite Mag, Kitesurf mag France, Kitesurf Mag Italy, Kiteboarder Magazine, Gravedad Zero, Windsurfing Poland And to our World Tour sponsors : Gaastra, Takoon, Julbo, Hawaï Surf FFVL, Ligue Calédonienne de Vol Libre, Association Calédonienne de Kiteboard
