For those of you that missed out on seeing or watching the 2012 Maui Makani better start googling and check out the intense action and amazing sailing. The awards party was a rager and very well done. Tour organizer Sam Bittner put on and incredible show to end an awesome season. There were 126 competitors from 24 countries and 5 different divisions that all had unbelievable Hookipa conditions! It was almost painful to be watching from the beach..... But in the end all worth it!
Picking up where I left off on Kev winning the single elimination, the double bracket was equally impressive! On the last day, we had a lot of heats to run and all the pro's (except Kev- Ha ha sorry Kev) came up to me saying let's go, let's GO! The conditions were there and seeing the burning desire for these guys to get out there and compete fired me up..... so we worked them in to the Amateur heats and ended up getting done with everyone by 5:30!
The man of the day was definitely Bernd Roediger! He sailed like he owned the place and could barely do any wrong. He took down some big names and did it with authority!! The semi final against Brawzinho was probably the most difficult one for him and he didn't falter! It was awesome to see him shine like that. When he went up against Kev, the wind had dropped off quite a lot giving him a pretty big advantage but it was no easy picnic. Kev put up a great fight and in true champion form, he made it look good out there. Bernd kept up his momentum and went on to beat Kev twice and really earn the number one spot! It was a battle of David and Goliath out there and one that will go down in history!
Bernd Roediger is now on the "short list" as he put it in his very impressive speech on the podium and will forever be recognized as one to watch whenever he hits the water.
Congratulations Bernd, your hard work as paid off and you have graduated into a new era..... Keep it rolling!