Day 2 : Master of the ocean 2020 (English)

Overall Competition

3rd DAY OF THE MASTER OF THE OCEAN FESTIVAL WITH CHALLENGING CONDITIONS!

CABARETE, Dominican Republic— 25th of February, 2020

The third day of the Master of the Ocean 2020 started at 8 am with three rounds of high level Overall SUP. Waves were mediumi-sized from 5 to 7 feet and nicely lined up for the big manoeuvres from the SUP riders. A humpback whale approved of the action and breached next to the SUP competitors during their first heat. Zane Schweitzer from Hawaii, Anthony Collar from Spain and Luciano Gonzalez from the Dominican Republic all placed first in their heats with solid SUP riding. Zane Schweitzer pulled off an impressive 360 manoeuvre to wow the crowd and a frontside aerial to spice up the SUP category. This was followed by a second round of solid Overall surfing in which Anthony Collar, Christopher Buenger and Maarja Kivistik placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The tropical sunshine and good beats continued into the later morning as the wind picked up. The wind remained gusty and sideshore from 15 to 25 knots and wave sets were 8 feet and closed out with strong westerly currents. This made for challenging conditions for the Overall Kite Category. In spite of Neptune's moodiness, it was a great show with athletes battling for their places in the challenging conditions. It was a close call between Zane Schweitzer from Hawaii and Brian Talma from Barbados with solid wave riding from both. Sammy Perez Hults squeezed every second out of his heats. Diego Anta (Spain), Samuel Perez Hults (Dominican Republic), Brian Talma (Barbados) and Francis and Luciano Gonzalez (Dominican Republic) all advanced to the semi-finals of the Overall Kite Category.

As the partially sunny early afternoon advanced, conditions became more gusty and they were difficult for the Overall Windsurf Category with very light winds on the inside and closed out waves on the outside. Zane Schweitzer, from a Hawaiian family that invented modern windsurfing, Samuel Perez Hults, the 2020 Dominican Olympic hopeful, and legendary Brian "Actionman" Talma all placed first in their respective windsurfing heats with solid wave riding. Anthony Collar from Spain made a remarkable comeback placing 3rd in his 1st heat, then 2nd in his 2nd heat and then making it into the semi-finals with Zane Schweitzer, Samuel Perez Hults, Brian Talma and Christopher Buenger! The crowd really got a kick out of his exemplary resilience! Our waterwoman from Estonia, Maarja Kivistik, made an admirable effort, despite the ocean's many challenges, coming in 3rd in her heat.

In the later afternoon after lunch, tropical conditions remained partly sunny, choppy and gusty but not windy enough for Overall Kiting or Windsurfing to continue and organizers called it a day for competitions. Despite conditions being difficult, spirits continued to be high at the contest site with a good crowd turnout, great food and rotating DJ's spinning continuous contagious beats all day long.

Excitement is at an all-time high for the 4th day of the Master of the Ocean 2020 which will start early with Overall SUP and Surf. On the 26th, Windsurfing and Kite Teams will be called to meet and compete as well SUP and Surf Teams will compete on the 27th. Many of the semi-finals and finals will take place on the 26th so do not miss anything as it promises to be an epic day with great conditions with many of the athletes still having a chance at grabbing the Master of the Ocean Title! Stay tuned for a very exciting day where every rider is an all-time favourite!

Special thanks to our photographers: Sebastiano Massimino (@chameleon_creative_arts), Ramon Perez (@ramonperez5617)

Photo Credits: Sebastiano Massimino (@chameleon_creative_arts)