The cream of world windsurfing descended on the London boat show this weekend as the Professional Windsurfing Association took over the indoor watersports arena for the first competition on their world tour calendar for 2006. For three days the world’s best windsurfers showcased their skills to thousands of spectators in three disciplines: freestyle, slalom and jumping.

The format was a series of heats in each discipline and yesterday the atmosphere was electric as the final day of competition kicked off with more freestyle sorcery. Nicolas Akgazciyan was the first to secure his spot in the final pulling off some incredible moves including a flawless switch chacho diablo 450 and gaining maximum points. Not to be outdone Ricardo Campello impressed the judges with an incredible shaka also achieving the top mark 30pts. Jose Estredo came ridiculously close and was awarded 29pts for his flaka 720 but in the end it was the Frenchman Nicolas Akgazciyan who clinched the top spot with his puneta Diablo, coming switch stance down the ramp. The women’s freestyle followed and Daida Moreno once again wowed the judges and thanks to some impressive spinloops, took gold once again, with her sister Iballa in second place and Nayra Alonso third.

The men’s slalom finalists were next on the water with a close contest between Ricardo Campello and Cyril Moussilman in the first race. Campello cut it so close that he quite literally took the wind out of Moussilman’s sail and sending himself over the falls! The Venezuelan recovered well went down to the reigning slalom champ, Brit Nik Baker in the next race. Kauli Seidi took third. In the women’s event, Iballa Moreno’s skillfully executed turns earned her first place, taking down Junko Nagoshi in just two heats. Daida Moreno won her battle for third place against Nayra Alonso.

Following tradition, the evening ended with the jump contest where Kauli Seadi showed his outdoor waveskills work just as well indoors with a massive air chachoo and a huge one footed forward, ensuring him the evening’s jump victory. Alex Mussolini’s tabletop forward and tweaked table top was good enough for second with Yannick Anton in third. After some spectacular crashes in the ladies jump event, a massive forward proved enough to crown Daida queen of the jump with Junko second and Iballa third.

The overall results for the competition are as follows:

Overall London 2006 Men
1. Ricardo Campello
2. Nik Baker
3. Jose Estredo

Overall London 2006 Women
1. Daida Moreno
2. Iballa Moreno
3. Nayra Alonso