PWA Freestyle World Cup

Sarah-Quita Offringa survives Super Final scare to earn 16th Freestyle world title and 27th overall, while Yentel Caers powers to victory in Men’s

The second day of Freestyle (Day 7) at the 2025 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam saw the Men’s and Women’s Double Eliminations completed to cap another explosive day of action in Sotavento as the world’s best Freestylers put on another epic display to provide an enthralling conclusion to this year’s official competition. Emotions ran high with the Women’s world title on the line, while both fleets continue to raise the bar on what is possible in the Freestyle realm...

Women’s
Less than a point separated Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) and Maaike Huvermann (Severne / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) in yesterday’s Single Elimination Final and today Huvermann threw the kitchen sink at Offringa in the Final to force a Super Final.

With a heat break between before the Super Final, Offringa used that time to compose herself and the Aruban once again managed to up her game when it mattered most as she landed culos and burners on both tacks, while also stomping a big, clean forward loop to deny Huvermann a maiden world title by 1.8 points. Offringa started the event with the aim of adding two world titles to her haul, and she has managed to accomplish her goals again, meaning she has now won 27 world titles and counting.

Huvermann cut a dejected figure upon hearing the result as she dropped to the ground in disappointment, but ultimately she should take great heart from this performance as this is the closest anyone has ever got to stealing the Freestyle crown from the Queen’s clutch.

Meanwhile, Lisa Kloster (MB Boards / Sailloft Hamburg) completes the event and overall podium as she reaches a new career high benchmark. The German produced several great performances as she has added some power moves to her weaponry and will be one to watch moving forwards.

Having been unlucky to draw Offringa in the opening round of the Single Elimination, Živa Batis (Flikka / GUNSAILS) was able to show her full potential today as she battled back from last all the way into fourth after winning three consecutive heats.

Men’s
Yentel Caers (JP / NeilPryde) spent most of the day waiting to find out who he would face in the Double Elimination Final as the Belgian looked to regain his Fuerte crown having relinquished it last year to Lennart Neubauer (Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins). In the end, Caers would face Jacopo Testa (WeOne / GUNSAILS / AL360) and the former two-time world champion had too much firepower on this occasion as Caers starts the season unbeaten after producing a huge port tack display with a bongka, massive shifty and a pasko.

Testa did well to climb two places from the single as he first denied Takumi Moriya (Severne / Severne Sails) a maiden podium on the World Tour before also managing to take down Steven Van Broeckhoven (WeOne / GUNSAILS) to progress into the top two. The Italian actually almost matched Caers’ port tack performance with a superb display of his own on starboard, which included a sick triple spock, but was heavily punished for not completing his port tack scoresheet - missing one move, while also counting a 3.2 point forward loop. Second place represents Testa’s best finish ever in Fuerte - bettering his third place finish in 2019.

Van Broeckhoven slips one place to third from the single, but will still be delighted with his start to the season as the Belgian earns his first podium since Sylt in 2023.

Moriya may be a little gutted to have lost his place on the podium, but fourth place in Fuerte still represents a huge result for the 18-year-old. The hugely talented Japanese sailor almost staged a late come back against Testa in the battle for the podium, but his late flourish came a little too late on this occasion. Moriya leaves Fuerte with his best result to date on the World Tour, which equals the best individual result by a Japanese sailor after Takuma Sugi (Tabou / GA Sails / Black Project Fins) also finished fourth in Fiji in 2023.

Lennart Neubauer (Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) managed to fight back from ninth in the Single Elimination to fifth in the Double. The reigning world champion posted the highest scoring heat of the entire contest against vice-world champion - Adrien Bosson (Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins) - in Heat 30b as he became the only sailor to break the 40 point barrier - eventually posting a huge total of 42.5 points. Neubauer then suffered a slender half a point loss to Testa.

Elsewhere, Dieter van der Eyken (Severne / Severne Sails) also staged a great come back as the Belgian won four heats on the bounce to secure sixth place in the Double Elimination, which is his best result in Fuerte since 2019.

Adrien Bosson shares seventh place with Bodhi Kempen (Severne / Severne Sails), with the latter earning his best result to date on the World Tour after producing a standout performance against Gollito Estredo (Tabou / GA Sails) in Heat 28a when he posted 36.8 points, but could’t reach those dizzy heights again as he bowed out against van der Eyken in the next round.

The top ten is completed by Niclas Nebelung (Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins), Antony Ruenes (Tabou / GA Sails), Gollito Estredo and Balz Müller (Severne / Severne Sails), who landed a cheeseroll into shaka today to continue his innovative ways.

That concludes the official competition at the 37th edition of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam, but that’s not necessarily the end of the action as if there is wind over the next few days then we are planning to run some Super Sessions. There will be an announcement at 12:30pm (GMT+1) on Friday, so depending on the wind, there may be more action to come tomorrow.

Sarah-Quita Offringa pushed all the way by Maaike Huvermann in arguably the best female Freestyle final of all time, while Yentel Caers wins ‘Battle of Belgium’ against Steven Van Broeckhoven to hold respective event leads

The contortionists of the windsurfing world served up an unbelievable spectacle on the first day of Freestyle at the 2025 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam with upsets, epic duels and huge moves being thrown down throughout the day. After an almost non-stop seven hours of competition Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) and Yentel Caers (JP / NeilPryde) head up the event rankings after claiming victories in the Single Eliminations.

Women’s Maaike Huvermann (Severne / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) made her intentions pretty clear before the start of the event that she wanted to challenge Sarah-Quita Offringa for the coveted top spot on the podium and she certainly wasn’t lying as she and Offringa put on, not only the best ever women’s Freestyle final in Fuerte, but quite possibly the best women’s Freestyle final ever on the World Tour, as both women pushed each other to raise the bar once again.

Huvermann has an inner belief, which most people don’t possess, that she can beat Offringa as she is the only woman since 2008 to have taken a heat off the Queen of Freestyle, and you could sense that in the final as she unloaded her full artillery of moves in the final consisting of; a shaka, skopu and massive burner on port, while she landed a regular kono, culo and the first ever spock into kono in competition to place Offringa under all kinds of pressure.

The problem for Huvermann was that she was up against one of the greatest female athletes of all time in Offringa, and no matter the discipline, the Aruban has an uncanny knack of raising her game when it matters most, which is what she did once again to fend off Huvermann’s attack by just 0.8 of a point, which is made all the more impressive given Offringa’s seamless transition from Slalom X to Freestyle.

By the looks of things, and with no disrespect, Offringa and Huvermann are a cut above, and it’s more than likely that they will lineup against each other again in the Double Elimination, which should provide an intriguing conclusion to the Women’s Freestyle.

Meanwhile, third seed Lisa Kloster (MB-Boards / Sailloft Hamburg) claimed her place in the top three for the first time in her career as she comprehensively saw off Elena Dominick (Severne / Severne Sails) in the b-final and she will now look to defend that position in the Double Elimination. Kloster should take plenty of confidence from her performances today as she continually improved heat-by-heat and was head and shoulders above the rest of the competition.

Men's
Yentel Caers survived a potential injury scare to deservedly claim the top spot on the podium in the Single Elimination. The Belgian came out of his straps mid-trick in his quarterfinal against Antony Ruenes (Tabou / GA Sails) and suffered a nasty cut to his leg after landing on his fin, but didn’t let that affect his focus as he laid down the highest scoring heat of the event thus far against Jacopo Testa (WeOne / GUNSAILS / AL360) in the semifinals - 39.5 points. Caers sailed with his usual clinical, powerful style and was the only sailor to land a double air culo throughout the day. The Belgian last won here in 2023 and will look to regain his Fuerte crown by successfully defending his top spot in the Double Elimination, which will start tomorrow.

They say that Freestyle is a young man’s game, but Steven Van Broeckhoven (WeOne / GUNSAILS) continues to seamlessly deny Father Time as the 39-year-old still manages to keep his younger peers at bay after delivering another polished display. Van Broeckhoven edged an incredibly close Round of 16 heat against Sam Esteve (JP / NeilPryde) with just 0.4 of a point separating them by the end of their fight. The Belgian then went on to win the battle of the veterans as he defeated former 9-time Freestyle world champion - Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Tabou / GA Sails) - in a matchup that was often a Winners’ Final little more than a decade ago, before taking down 18-year-old Takumi Moriya (Severne / Severne Sails) in the semifinals.

Today marks a massive day for Takumi Moriya as the hugely talented Japanese sailor qualified for the semifinal of a Single Elimination on the World Tour for the first time in his youthful career. Moriya has been on the radar for a couple of years already, but today he truly announced himself as a face that will carry Freestyle for years to come. Not only did Moriya qualify for the semifinals, but he then won an epic duel against Testa in the battle for third and fourth after staging a phenomenal late comeback to claim the last place on the podium - for now at least.

Jacopo Testa was on song throughout the day as the Italian only posted one score below 36 points as he sailed with his usual silky style - he was just unlucky to lose out in the dying stages against both Caers and Moriya - but don’t be surprised if he still challenges for the event title in the Double Elimination.

Fifth place is currently shared by the French duo of Antony Ruenes (Tabou / GA Sails) and Adrien Bosson (Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins), Germany’s Niclas Nebelung (Duotone Windsurfing / Maui Ultra Fins) and Venezuela’s Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo. Bosson and Nebelung both lost extremely close quarterfinals against Testa and Moriya, respectively, with Bosson losing out by just 0.3 of a point, while Nebelung missed out by just half a point and all of the current joint fifth places are more than capable of breaking into the podium positions during the Double Elimination.

Last year, Gollito made his first appearance on the World Tour since 2019, and while he showed glimpses of what he’s still capable of, he didn’t look quite like the 9-time Freestyle world champion winning machine that he once was. However, today, the 35-year-old rolled back the years with a couple of unbelievable performances as he oozed his usual ‘Gollito’ style that has made him such an iconic Freestyle figure through the years.

No-one was quite sure of what to expect from him this year, but his first round performance soon made everyone standup and take notice as he posted the third highest score of the opening round - 34.5 points. With Gollito being unseeded, that would setup a mouthwatering, but extremely unlucky draw for reigning event and world champion - Lennart Neubauer (Starboard / Severne Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) - who would be forced to face the Freestyle legend in the Round of 16 and fireworks ensued as they produced one of the heats of the day in Heat 12b. It’s hard to call it an upset when the reigning world champion loses to the 9-time Freestyle King, but ultimately in today’s day and age it is, as Gollito prevailed by 0.2 of a point.

Neubauer is nursing an ankle injury, which impacts him more on port tack, but even so, he was humble enough to admit that he was happy enough with his sailing and that he was just on the wrong side of the outcome this time around. Neubauer is more than capable of coming all the way back through the double, but that ankle injury does still leave question marks about whether he can really push that hard for the 10 heats it would require to comeback. As a spectator it should make for great viewing either way.

The forecast for Thursday looks as equally windy as today, so tomorrow promises to provide another blockbuster installment of Freestyle. With the forecast looking dodgy for the closing weekend it’s likely that we will push to finish both the Men’s and Women’s Double Eliminations if the wind plays ball. The Freestyle fleets will meet again at 09:30am (GMT+1) tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 10am onwards.