Monday, May 23, 2011
PWA and ProKids Windsurfing Competitions To Be Held on Bonaire in June
After a seven year break, the Professional Windsurfers Association (PWA) will return to Bonaire to hold the world championships on June 12 through June 16, 2011, followed immediately by the ProKids windsurfing competition, on June 17 through 19, all to be held at Lac Bay. It’s an opportunity to view Bonaire’s best windsurfers competing against other top international contenders, to determine the world freestyle champions, while enjoying a week of excellent windsurfing and fun.
The PWA competition on Bonaire is the final event of the season and will determine the world freestyle champions, in both the men’s and women’s categories. Bonaire’s own Kiri Thode, Taty Frans and Tonky Frans competed in Vietnam in January and Austria in April and placed first, third and fifth respectively. They will now defend their positions in their home waters of Bonaire. There will be some new young talent competing from Bonaire, moving up from the ProKids competition as Amado Vrieswijk and Youp Smith bring new talent to the field.
The ProKids competition will follow the PWA, with the top kids in the world competing for the freestyle title. The ProKids competition was a concept which came from Bonaire’s Elvis Martinus, who has long promoted kids windsurfing on Bonaire, along with major sponsor Starboard, and many others offering assistance through sponsorship. Several successful international PWA competitors came up through the ProKids tournament including Kiri Thode, the current leader of the 2011 PWA competition, Sarah Quito Ofringa of Aruba, who has won three consecutive PWA titles, and Bjorn Saragoza, who has been competing in PWA events since he was eleven.
This year’s ProKids event includes the family Halank from Australia who have two children ages six and nine who will be competing. They won a promotion to participate in last year’s ProKids tournament and they enjoyed Bonaire and the event so much that this year they have returned to compete again. They have been here training for two months already, and they are looking forward to the competition. (Source: TCB-Bonaire)
