PWA/IWT World Cup: Aloha Classic on standby, everything open in the title race

Ho'okipa Beach Park on Maui, Hawaii, is the home of windsurfing par excellence. A place that every windsurfer hopes, dreams and aspires to visit at some point in their life. What makes Maui so special are the trade winds that combine with some of the best and biggest waves in the world to provide spectacular windsurfing conditions - all against a stunning tropical backdrop.
The Maui Strong Aloha Classic 2023 has a special significance: after the devastating fires in Lahaina and the surrounding areas, it is a major international event that will hopefully have a positive impact on the economy and be important for the island's recovery.
The Aloha Classic will take place from 23 October to 3 November, with the best five days of the twelve-day period being selected to crown the 2023 Wave World Champions in the best possible conditions.
Today and tomorrow the conditions are not yet passable and so the first two days have already been labelled as rest days. We are curious to see when the first contest day is scheduled. According to the current forecast, the wind will not shift back to the north-east until Wednesday. Until then, let's take a look at the rankings and a few possible scenarios in the title race.

Ladies title race

Sarah-Quita Offringa goes into the final wave event of the year as the leader in the world championship race. The Aruban is also the defending champion of the event, having won here last time in 2019. She will definitely be looking to repeat that performance to win her third wave world title.

Maria Andrés is Offringa's closest rival this year - she comes to Maui with a deficit of 2,350 points. For the Spaniard to still have a chance of winning the title, Sarah-Quita would have to finish outside the top two places, while Maria Andrés herself would have to win the event.

Sarah Hauser, who lives on Maui, will also have a great chance of winning the event. The New Caledonian has a lot of experience in Ho'okipa and really comes into her own in high waves. It is therefore safe to assume that she will be fighting for another Aloha Classic title, while she is an outsider with hopes of winning the world title along with Jane Seman and Marine Hunter, who won her first event on Sylt last month. Germany's Lina Erpenstein has less pressure going into the final event of the year after her slip-up on Sylt and is looking to end the season on a high.

• A place in the top two at the Aloha Classic would guarantee Sarah-Quita Offringa her third world title in the wave and 22nd overall.
• Should Offringa finish third or fourth, Maria Andrés would have to win in order to challenge the Aruban for the world title and win the title herself.
• Should Offringa finish in fifth place, then things would really be wide open: Andrés, Sarah Hauser, Jane Seman and Marine Hunter would all still have a chance of winning the world title. In this scenario, whoever wins the Aloha Classic 2023 would also become world champion.

Men's title race

The battle for the men's world title is likely to be a three-way fight between Ricardo Campello, reigning world champion Marcilio Browne and Spaniard Marc Paré. As things stand at the moment, Campello is leading the race for the first wave world title, which has so far been difficult for him to win. The 38-year-old is currently 1,324 points ahead of Browne at the top of the rankings. We have broken down a few scenarios below to see who needs what to win.

• If Ricardo Campello wins the Aloha Classic, he will win his first wave world title. However, if he finishes second, Marcilio Browne would have to win to challenge Campello for the world title and take the title himself.
• Should Campello finish third, Browne would still have to win the event to challenge Campello for the title.
• Should Campello finish fourth, Browne would have to finish at least second and ahead of Paré to take the title. In this case, Marc Paré would secure the world title with a win.
• In the event that Campello finishes fifth, the scenario is the same, Browne must finish at least second and ahead of Paré.
• Should Campello finish sixth, a top-three finish would be enough for Browne to give him the title unless Paré wins the event.
• Should Campello finish seventh, Browne would have to finish at least fourth to overtake Campello, while Paré would clinch the world title with a top-two finish (or better).
• Only if Ricardo Campello finished in ninth place, Browne in fifth place (or worse) and Paré in third place (or worse) would Antoine Martin, the 2019 Aloha Classic champion, have the chance to snatch the world title, but would have to win the event to do so.

Also interesting:

• Aloha Classic is coming up, the best pictures from the warm-up
• Waveboards: These 2024 waveboards are included in the test
• Global & Hookipa - the new waveboards from Naish put to the test
• Interview with Sarah-Quita Offringa