IWT X PWA: Preview of the Fiji World Cup and the best pictures from the war
Julian Wiemar
· 30.05.2023
"This contest really has to go off, that's what windsurfing needs!" Ben Proffitt shouts into his microphone on windsurfing.tv.
"A trillion dollars" is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but all the effort and funding for this exclusive competition at such a remote destination must pay off this year if windsurfing events of this kind are to be held in the long term.
The Cup in Cloudbreak feels like it's in a different league: for example, after an unrivalled journey, each of the riders has to pay a "reef fee" of over 1,000 euros to the local community in order to gain access to the waves. Then there are boat shuttles with all the equipment, accommodation for the riders and not forgetting the destructive, razor-sharp reef over which they surf. The effort is enormous, the cost and the risk high. But if everything comes together, we will see an unrivalled wave riding show that definitely has the potential to go down in the history books of windsurfing contests. All eyes are therefore on the forecast.
Forecast
According to the experts, the forecast doesn't look too bad. A similar swell to last week (see gallery above), for which some pros, such as Ricardo Campello, even brought forward their flights, is on its way. In combination with cross-shore winds, it could be pretty exciting, especially in the first few days. As a foretaste, you can click through the gallery above by photographer Maleen Hoekstra, who has already been on site for a week and captured the magnificent wave rides of the early-arriving pros from the boat. The photos are from the swell on 25 and 26 May 2023
Driver field
At the five-star event in Cooperation with the PWA The perfect conditions aside, this attracts many of the best worldcuppers such as Marcilio Browne, Philip Köster and wave world champion Sarah-Quita Offringa to Fiji. With thirty men, eight women and five former champions (including Björn Dunkerbeck, for example), this year's field is full to bursting. In addition to Philip Köster, the Germans are also very well represented with Leon Jamaer, Flo Jung and Julian Salmonn. Julian Salmonn was able to secure third place at the last event in Chile - riding waves with wind from the left is his strength
Livestream
There will be a livestream on the IWT website from 4 June as soon as something happens on the water. On the days leading up to this - when qualifications are more likely to take place - the action will be filmed and then posted online. There will also be live scoring.
The daily contest window runs from 12 noon to 6 p.m. in the evening. With the time difference of ten hours, this means that there could be something to watch from two o'clock at night until eight o'clock in the morning European time.
Until then, it is worthwhile for windsurfing fans to visit the Youtube channel of Paul van Bellen to keep an eye on. The enthusiastic windsurfing Youtuber from Australia is on site and posts daily videos from "behind the scenes". Rumour has it that he may well be going live on his channel during the event. Yesterday there was no wind in Cloudbreak and he accompanied Victor Fernandez, Marc Pare and Julian Salmonn to the reef to ride the waves. Afterwards, he took them to their accommodation and then went shopping - an honest, amusing insight into the life of the pros on Fiji.
Where is Cloudbreak?
The legendary Cloudbreak spot is located a few kilometres west of the main island of the Fiji archipelago. There, the wave breaks over a reef that lies just below the surface of the water. About two to three kilometres to the north are Namotu and Tavarua, two small islands with luxury resorts.
Cloudbreak is only accessible by boat, and boats are also the only base during the session. This is another reason why logistics are a major challenge in this contest.
We can hardly wait now and are already looking forward to the start of the event when the wind kicks in.
Finally, and to add to the anticipation, here are a few more pictures from last year:
