DECIDED IN DECIMALS

El Cabezo turned on for the Playa Sur Wind & Waves Festival, and the pro fleets of the 5-star PWA World Wave Tour event settled some of the closest wave sailing of the season. Team SEVERNE walked away with two runner-up finishes, a fourth, two equal fifths, and a junior title. Almost every one of those results came down to fractions of a point.

Tenerife has a way of separating the field. Cross-shore wind, ramps off El Cabezo, and a scoring format that rewards the rider who can back up one big move with another. The Playa Sur Wind & Waves Festival is a 5-star stop on the PWA World Wave Tour, recognized as a World Sailing Special Event, so the fleet that showed up was deep on both sides of the draw. Over the pro fleets, team SEVERNE put five names inside the results and pushed the women’s final to the wire.

Köster runs the table to second

Philip Köster did not lose a heat until the final. Every round, he took the win and moved on; by the semifinal he was sailing at a level the sheet struggled to contain. That heat held a perfect 10.00 double forward, a 9.88 push loop forward, and an 8.12 wave, the kind of scoreline that usually ends the conversation.

It did not, quite. Marc Paré (ESP) took the event win, with Marino Gil Gherardi (ESP) third. Philip finished 2nd. But look at the semifinals, where the two men won separate heats: Philip posted 35.00, Paré 35.11. Those were the two biggest heat scores of the entire men’s event, one tenth of a point apart. That is how tight the top of this fleet has become.

Neubauer reaches his first 5-star final

Lennart Neubauer made his first ever final at a 5-star Wave World Cup and finished 4th. The grom has been building toward this for a couple of seasons, and Tenerife was where it landed. His quarterfinal carried a 9.00 push loop forward; a full-power move, stuck clean, that put him through to the business end of the event.

Reaching that final is the marker. For a rider still stacking his first senior results, a top four at this level says the next step is close.

Erpenstein second by less than a point

Lina Erpenstein finished 2nd in the women’s fleet, behind winner Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU). Her semifinal produced an 8.00 wave score, tied for the highest single wave of the entire women’s competition. In the final she landed a push loop for a 7.60, and that ride edged Alexia Kiefer Quintana (ESP) by less than a point. Kiefer Quintana took 3rd; Justyna Sniady (POL) was 4th.

Under a point across a full final. That is the margin Lina held.

Same number, two outcomes

Here is the line the whole event turned on. Pauline Katz matched Lina’s exact 8.00, a back loop in her own semifinal, one of the standout rides of the women’s draw. It was not enough to reach the final. Pauline finished equal 5th, level on points with teammate Sol Degrieck.

Same score, opposite side of the result. That is wave sailing at El Cabezo when the fleet is this deep; the decimal that carries one rider into a final sends another home.

Degrieck takes the Pro Junior Girls

Sol Degrieck backed up her equal-5th in the Pro Women by winning the Pro Junior Girls over teammate Helena Derya Lale, sealed with a 10.00 wave ride over a breaking section. Two SEVERNE names, first and second in the division, with Sol on top. For a rider still finding her feet in the senior fleet, a junior title is the kind of result that carries into next season.

Five riders on the sheet, a final decided by fractions, and a junior title. Wave sailing rarely gives you clean margins, and El Cabezo gave almost none. Tenerife gave team SEVERNE plenty to build on as the PWA World Wave Tour rolls on.

Photos: John Carter

The gear behind the results

El Cabezo was full power all week. This is the 026 wave gear team SEVERNE rigged for it.

Blade Pro. Built entirely in CarbonFusion for a lighter, more responsive feel, this five-batten wave sail keeps its power neutral and drives it down through the board for control. A premium all-conditions choice for both riding and jumping.

S-1. A four-batten wave sail built for maneuvers, lightweight and responsive with a spring you can load up and release on demand. Ten sizes from 3.0 to 5.6 cover waves from knee-high to as big as they get.

Pyro. Philip Köster’s pro wave board, shaped with a single concave to a Vee through the tail and 3D rail curves for surf-inspired turns. Eleven sizes with thruster or quad fin options.

Stone. Developed with two-time Margaret River Wave Classic champion Jaeger Stone in premium Carbon and S-glass, with a reduced nose width and a concave bottom built to jump. Nine sizes from 60 to 112, with quad or thruster fins.

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