| Kevin Pritchard beats kiteboarders in Mexico |
| Monday, 17 January 2011 10:49 |
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The revenge came, after several lost events. Windsurfers have finally beated kitesurfers. It all happened in the Lord of the Wind Showdown, held in Los Barriles, Mexico. The fastest rider competed for $3500 in cash and absolute glory. US windsurfer Kevin Pritchard was the grand winner of the Lord of the Wind Showdown. In the end, he was totally stoked. "This was a memorable victory. The kiters were so confident that they were going to win, it put a fire under me. I really was just down in Baja to hang out with my brother and his family and do some windsurfing. When they started talking it up, I was like ok, lets do this. I went, got my 8.5 two cam sail, and my slalom board and put it down", says Pritchard. The conditions were ideal. "The wind was perfect and they must feel pretty bad getting beat by not even a race sail! It was great, the whole beach was cheering for me and i think they had heard enough of the kiteboarders talking it up. Even some of the kiters were stoked to see the windsurf still hold the edge! It was really fun in the end, especially since the windsurfing took the victory. I felt like it was a victory for all windsurfers, not just for myself. It felt great!" At the start of the race, the kiteboarders opened up with all the confidence in the world with John Hieneken out in front. Kevin Pritchard was the windsurfer's ace card and had a reasonably safe start but gave up some distance. As the kiters battled against the windsurfers, inch by inch, the crafty Pritchard started turning up the speed. With a bit of an extra drive from the earlier riders meeting, Pritchard was holding down his board and sail as best he could to prove to the world who still could make it around a course faster. Knowing that the kites could make up some time on the downwind, Pritchard put the hammer down and went flying off the wind. It was three miles down wind to the finish. Pritchard claimed victory over some of the worlds best kiteboarders by around a minute faster. In fact, the first kiteboarder pumped his fist going across the line in stoke for his victory, not even being able to see the young Pritchard, cause he was so far out in front.
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