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APP World Tour 2019: Poenaiki Raioha continues his momentum from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to take victory at stop #1

Wednesday 20 February 2019Redaction SSS [Source RP]

After an incredibly tricky holding period filled with storms, incessant rain, devil winds, thunder and lightening, the APP World Tour was blessed with a pristine final day of action today to wrap what has been, when all is said and done, a spectacular event.

With clean lines and offshore winds finally contrasting the seemingly neverending onshore pattern of the last few weeks, the World’s very best put on an exciting display of performance surfing at Sunset Beach.

Poenaiki Raioha from Tahiti has looked like the man to beat throughout the holding period, with flawless, and powerful rail surfing that has been turning heads all week, and coming into Finals Day, he seemed focused and ready for the job at hand.

However, through Round 4 and the Quarters, he was looking a little less alive than he has been previously, not able to find the waves he was looking for, but still putting together a solid performance.

In the semi finals, the waves went a little slower, but Poenaiki found enough to win the heat and earn his spot in the final. Once there, the conditions turned on and he put on a performance for the ages, unleashing full power rail turn after rail turn, posting a near perfect score and backing it up with another score in the excellent range, comboing the other 3 athletes in the heat to take his first victory here at the Sunset Beach Pro presented by Local Motion.

Today, Poenaiki once again made Tahiti proud, and also made his intentions for the 2019 season very clear: he wants the World Title and he has the first notch in the belt on his way there with 3 more events to go this year....

Bernd Roediger once again demonstrates his comfortability at Sunset Beach to take a well deserved 2nd place

Bernd Roediger from Maui is no stranger to the Finals here at the Sunset Beach Pro presented by Local Motion, with multiple appearances over the past few years as a testament to this. However, this year, his surfing has been on point, as he has drawn clean, fluid lines across the Sunset walls throughout the week, finding the right sections to hit and making it count to progress all the way to the Finals.

While he was unable to overcome the mighty Poenaiki Raioha in the Final showdown of the event, he put on a solid performance, and was able to secure 2nd place for the event, a result that will prove incredibly valuable as we embark on the 2019 Title Race with 3 more events to come this year in New York in September, Barbados in November and of course ending once again in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in December.

There is no doubt that Bernd Roediger is one of the most well rounded athletes on Tour and is certainly a major threat to look out for through the 2019 season.

Wellington Reis puts on a masterclass in surfing Sunset on his backhand to take 3rd place at the Opening stop of the Tour

Wellington Reis turned heads back in New York with a mindblowing display of flawless surfing in the tricky beachbreak line ups. While he had a good showing in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and was able to finish in 5th overall for the year in 2018, coming into Sunset Beach, the unknown was how his surfing would adapt to the powerful and tricky Sunset Beach line up.

Wellington well and truly answered that question today after a putting on a masterclass of performance surfing on his backhand at Sunset Beach and making it all the way to the Final at an event that is notoriously difficult to do well in on your backhand.

As we look past Sunset to the year ahead, it is hard to put a finger on Wellington’s weaknesses, as we look forward to see what is setting up to be one of the most exciting Title Races yet unfold in 2019 in which, Wellington Reis will no doubt feature heavily.



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