Bonaire continues to honour its reputation as a never-ending source of outstanding windsurfing talent. However, it is not the freestyle kids but young slalom racers who are currently attracting attention. They are dominating several age groups at the PWA Youth World Cup in Aruba. In ideal Caribbean wind conditions of 15-22 knots, there were also many races with fin and foil slalom on the second day.
In the combined U15/U17 boys' class, Arxon Gomperts from Bonaire set an exclamation mark. The 15-year-old athlete won all five races of the day, impressively demonstrating his skills. The first race was particularly exciting, in which Gomperts and his compatriot Tycho Smits fought a neck-and-neck duel to the finish. Both young talents train at Frans Paradise on Bonaire and push each other to peak performances as team-mates at Point-7 and Future Fly.
De Jong sisters fight for podium places
Bobbi-Lynn De Jong retained the lead in the girls' U21 class, but was unable to continue her perfect series after a crash in the third race of the day. Nevertheless, the 15-year-old won four out of five races. Behind her, there was a fierce battle for the other podium places between her younger sisters Kit and Lone De Jong and Louise van der Meulen. After eight races, Kit De Jong is in second place, followed by van der Meulen and Lone De Jong. However, the points gaps are extremely narrow, meaning that anything still seems possible in the remaining races.
Brendan Lorho and Storm Nicolai fought thrilling duels in the U21 boys' category. Nicolai won the first race of the day by a wafer-thin margin to celebrate his first victory in the U21 class. Lorho countered with three wins in a row before Nicolai triumphed again in the eighth race. Tame Mondria proved to be Mr Consistent and consolidated his third place overall ahead of Mario Boekstegers from Germany with consistently good placings.
Foil slalom in changeable conditions
In the afternoon, the athletes switched to their foil equipment. Despite a brief lull due to a rain shower, three races were completed. In the boys' U21 class, there were three different winners: Kasper Nielsen, Benedikt Emser and Tycho Smits. Lorho maintained his overall lead ahead of Nielsen, while Smits moved up to third place, dropping Germany's Benedikt Emser to fourth. Bobbi-Lynn De Jong continued her dominance in the U21 girls' event, winning all three foil races. Her sister Kit De Jong proved to be the toughest pursuer with three second places. Lone De Jong improved with two third places and reduced the gap to Louise van der Meulen in the battle for the final podium place.
