The final day of La Ventana WindFest was forecasted to be light wind.  Only Big Air Finals for women remained and the final Course Races for hydrofoils and Slalom Races for twintips were scheduled. Ejder Ginyol took first after a series of eleven hydrofoil Course Races during the four days.  For the Slalom events, Craig Asher took first place for the Twintip category, and Jose Cabrera won first place for the windsurfers. 

Seventeen year old La Ventana local Luis Diego Geraldo had amazing results in the Freestyle, Big Air and the Downwinder Twintip category.  During the Freestyle finals, Luis Diego grabbed first place after landing an S3, followed by an F16, then wowed the crowed with a Blind Judge 3, and topped it off with an L3.  He also took first in Big Air after a 6.16 second hang time during the finals, and had the longest hang time of the entire event at 7.44 seconds.

Fifteen year old, Fred Hope won first place overall for the downwinder on his hydrofoil, and earned the Excellent Sportsmanship Award when he stopped to check on a downed racer who’s lines snapped far out into the channel, then after finishing the race, went back out to mark  the kiter’s spot for the rescue boat with his kite in the air.

Rita Kneib took first for the women’s Big Air competition with a 3.97 second hang time during the finals on the last day, and took first for the women’s category in the Downwinder on her twintip.    Fresh off the podium at the Classic, Min Kim took first place for the women’s freestyle competition for WindFest.

Here are your La Ventana WindFest Winners for all categories:

​FREESTYLE:
1st, 2nd , 3rd  for each category:
 
Overall Freestyle (and also for the National Category)
1)  Louis Diego Geraldo Chavez
2)  Miguel Tamayo
3)  Andres Tapia

Women’s Freestyle
1)  Min Kim
2)  Diana Salom

BIG AIR:
1st, 2nd , 3rd  for each category:
 
Overall Big Air
1)  Louis Diego Geraldo Chavez
2)  Agustin Tapia
3)  Fritz Otiker

Women’s Big Air
1)  Rita Kneib
2)  Diana Salom
3)  Mandi Browning

Foil Board Big Air Category
1)  Fred Hope
2)  John von Tesmar
3)  Xantos Villegas

National Big Air Category
1)  Louis Diego Geraldo Chavez
2)  Agustin Tapia
3)  Sebastian Tron

​​SLALOM:
1st, 2nd , 3rd  for each category:

Slalom Open category, Kite - Twintip
1)  Craig Asher
2)  Agustin Tapia
3)  Fritz Otiker

Slalom Women’s Open Category
1)  Mandi Browning

Slalom Open category, Windsurf
1)  Jose Cabrera
2)  Moises Monteverde
3)  Tyson Poor

Slalom National Category – All
1)  Jose Cabrera
2)  Moises Monteverde

HYDROFOIL COURSE RACING:
1st, 2nd , 3rd  for each category:
 
Course Racing Open Category, Hydrofoil
1)  Ejder Ginyol
2)  Fred Hope
3)  Bitna Kim

Women's Course Racing Open Category, Hydrofoil
3)  Bitna Kim
4)  Terry Hung

MASSIVE DOWNWINDER:
1st, 2nd , 3rd  for each category:
 
Overall
1)  Fred Hope
2)  Luis Diego Geraldo Chavez
3)  John von Tesmar

Open Category, kite - Twintip 
1)  Luis Diego Geraldo Chavez
2)  Paco Cabildo
3)  Rita Kneib

Open Category, kite - Surfboards
1)  Tanner Rawlines
2)  Gary Parseghiam
3)  Jack Byck

Open Category, kite - hydrofoils
1)  Fred Hope
2)  John von Tesmar
3)  Clark Beckstead

40+ Master Category, kite - all
1)  Rita Kneib
2)  Gary Parseghiam
3)  Jack Byck

Women's Open Category
1)  Rita Kneib
2)  Debi McGinn

National Open Category, kite - all
1)  Louis Diego Geraldo Chavez
2)  Paco Cabildo
3)  Misa Betancourt

Open category, windsurf
1)  Arnie Hettman
2)  Moises Monteverde

OTHER AWARDS:
Longest jump of the whole event:  Luise Diego Geraldo at 7.44 seconds.

Best Tangle:  Juan Pablo Tron and Agustin Tapia at the start of the Freestyle Semifinals.

Best Crash:  Mantas Zemgulis for crashing into a bunch of dogs on the beach.

Excellent Sportsmanship Award:  Fred Hope for stopping to check on downed kiter who’s lines snapped far out into the channel.  Then after advancing to first place, went back out to mark the spot for the rescue boat with his kite.

We will be posting photos in the coming days on our Facebook page.
​
Full brackets are below:

The 2016 La Ventana WindFest kicked off on Tuesday evening with a pool-side party with local DJs for competitors.  After the recent competitions, the La Ventana Classic and the Lord of the Wind in Los Barrels, competitors were eager to sign up and battle for medals out on the water.  

The first day provided strong winds with the wind speed increasing throughout the day. Five Course Races were successfully run in the morning for hydrofoils with Ejder Ginyol placing first in all races.  Fifteen year old Fred Hope was right on his heels as a close second in all races.  

Slalom Racing commenced immediately after the foil races, with three slalom races for each of the three fleets. The races were quick and intense, filled with kite tangles as riders got aggressive around the buoys.  Augustin Tapia from Guadalajara was consistently battling with San Francisco Bay Area rider, Fritz Otiker for first place.  

With the wind peaking mid-afternoon in typical La Ventana style, Freestyle took centerstage of the competition and 5 heats were completed. Juan Pablo Tron of Puerto Vallarta, wowed the crowd with KGBs and  Blind Judge 3s.  Mantas Zemgulis had the best crash of the day when he landed onto the beach taking out a group of dogs that were playing near the shore.  La Ventana local Luis Diego Geraldo was throwing down with an F16 as well as a Back Move to top off all his other tricks.  

Day two began with a lighter wind that was steadily building out of the north. In the long distance Downwinder, 33 competitors raced from the Hot Springs Beach to the event site. Top competitors finished the 7 mile race in 30 minutes as the wind slowed a bit during competition. Event Organizer, Xantos Villegas, broke a line on his final tack of the race. A fine display of sportsmanship was exhibited by Fred Hope in checking on a downed competitor before resuming racing to take first place riding a hydrofoil.  Luis Diego followed in second place, and also taking the first for the twin tip category.

Big Air was the main event in the afternoon with 18 competitors, and the wind didn’t disappoint.  Fritz Otiker took centre stage with an impressive 6.43 second hang time, advancing him into the finals.  Luis Diego came from behind and was able to hit a 7.44 second hang time in the semi-finals, the the longest of the whole competition.  Rita Kneib took the ladies heat with 4.75 second jump, and safely headed into the finals.   After recent controversy about foil boards and foil kites in Big Air, the WindFest judges created separate category and required a minimum of three entrants to compete.  Xantos Villegas, Fred Hope, and Jon Von Tesmar rallied to put on a foiling Big Air show.  

Day three will began with three Course Races for the hydrofoils while the wind was still building, with Edjar Ginyol leading the pack.  By the time Slalom Races began, the wind was huge and stayed the rest of the day.  Agustin and Craig Asher were fighting for first place in all the heats.   

The Freestyle finals began immediately after the races, with Agustin and Juan Pablo getting into the most dramatic tangle of the day in front of the judging station.  Luis Diego, Miguel Tamayo, Fritz Otter, and Andres Tapia from Guadalajara, all made it into the final round to be the champ.  Fritz, Miguel, and Andres threw out a few Back 2 Reverse tricks among many.  Luis Diego pulled out all the stops with an S3, filled by and F16, then wowed the crowed with a Blind Judge 3 and topping it off with an L3.  Miguel impressed the judges with a Shifty 3 and a Late Back Mobe.  We will see who wins the finals at the awards ceremony tonight.

The strong winds remained strong for the Big Air Men’s finals to commence.  Guacamole, Agustin Tapia, Fritz, Luis Diego, and Sebastian Tron from Puerto Vallarta, all made it to the Final round and were giving it their all.  The women’s category will be held Saturday before the awards ceremony along with the finals.

The final day of WindFest is today.  Course Racing and Slalom will be first, and followed by the Women’s Big Air Finals.  Join the Proyecto X After Party at Marlin Azul.  Awards start at 7pm, followed by the hottest Salsa band in La Paz, with DJ Zeling, closing out the evening with a dance party.  Gifts and prizes will be given out, so don’t miss it!

​The Lord of the Wind just wrapped up in Los Barriles today,  and we are on the scene reporting the final winners of this competition below.

This also means we are only a couple days away from the start of La Ventana WINDFEST!  Join us for the kick-off party at Marlin Azul this Tuesday evening, the 18th, at 6pm for hula dancers, beers, and awesome food.  Register to compete get your gift back on the spot.  See you there!

And now for the Lord of the Wind winners:

Hydrofoil Racing Men
1 Joey Pasquali 
2 Julien Kerneur
3 Nico Landauer
4 Zack Marks
5 Adam Withington 

Hydrofoil Racing Women
1 Astrid Berz
2 Cynthia “Cynbad” Brown
3 Bitna Kim 

Slalom Men's Pro
1 Bruno Ferreira 
2 Mac Skaggs
3 Julien Kerneur
4 Reed Brady

Slalom Women Pro
1 Justi Vonada
2 Jennifer Friday
3 Vasilisa Zaytseva

Slalom Men Open
1 Agustin Tapia
2 Harry Andrews
3 Guacamole Noonan & Bille Kipling

Freestyle Men
1 Rocky Chatwell
2 Anthar Racca
3 Evan Netsch
4 Drew Christianson
5 Reed Brady

Freestyle Women
1 Kris Kinn
2 Min Kim
3 Cynthia “Cynbad” Brown

Big Air Men Pro
11.6 Julien Kerneur 
11.5 Jacob Olivier
11.0 Anthar Racca

Big Air Women Pro
10.0 Cynthia “Cynbad” Brown
8.4 Kris Kinn
8.1 Astrid Berz

Big Air Men Open
9.7 Guacamole Noonan
7.5 Peter Rhymer
6.8 Matt Andrews

Big Air Masters
8.4 Harry Andrews
7.7 Uwe Wessbecher
6.7 Brad Benter

Boarder Cross Pro Handlepass
1 Anthar Racca
2 Drew Christianson 
3 Reed Brady

Boarder Cross Pro Strapless 
1 Mac Skaggs
2 Taylor Mehan
3 Hayden Fischer

Boarder Cross Pro Men Racer
1 Andres Tapia
2 Jon von Tesmar 

Boarder Cross Men Open
1 Agustin Tapia

Boarder Cross Women
1 Astrid Berz
2 Min Kim
3 Vasilisa Zaytseva

Boarder Cross Men Master
1 Harry Andrews
2 Brad Benter

Lord of the Wind
Julien Kerneur

Lady of the Wind
Cynthia “Cynbad” Brown

​World renowned race director, Rob Dean, will be joining La Ventana WINDFEST on January 20-23 for the second year in a row.  As a member of the American Kiteboarding Association, many of you have seen him leading the top kiteboarding regattas such as the Kite Foil Gold Cup races, the North American races, and the Lord of the Wind.  He is also behind world class sailing regattas such as Big Boat Rolex. This is a great chance to experience a professionally run event.  Give Rob a warm welcome back! 

Be sure to register for WindFest before Jan 14th to get a $10 discount on the 4 day All Access pass.  

We are reporting live from the Award's Ceremony in La Ventana for the Classic (not to be confused with the La Ventana WINDFEST that starts in 10 days! Register here to get Early Bird Discounts!)
These are not official results published to any forum, but we are reporting what is announced from the ceremony.  Here are the results:

Men's freestyle 
1 Anthar Racca
2 Evan Netsch
3 Adam Withington 

Women freestyle champ
1 Marie Leclerc
2 Min Kim
3 Vasilisa Zaytseva

Men's amateur freestyle 
1 Tie: Jaime Ancira and Phil Schonger
3 Eric Vanek

Freestyle amateur lady
1 Astrid Bertz
2 Pamela Glendinning

Strapless freestyle men
1 Evan Netsch 
2 Mac Skaggs
3 Grom Gormley

Windsurfers short
1 Tyson poor
2 Wyatt Miller
3 MacRae Wylde

Criss-crossing men's
1 Adam Withington
2 Nico Landauer
3 Oliver Willi

Criss-crossing women's 
1 Astrid Bertz

Men's Pro island crossing
1 Mac Skaggs
2 Guacamole DJ
3 Mark Bavis

Sportsmen island crossing
1 Jaime Ancira
2 Dave Beddows
3 Phil Schonger

Womens island crossing 
1 Marie Leclerc 
2 Vasilisa Zaytseva
3 Pamela Glendinning

Men's twin short
1 Evan Netch 
2 Grom Gormley
3 Mac Skaggs

Women sportsman
1 Vasilisa Zaytseva

Sportsman short course
1 Eric Vanek 
2 Jaime Ancira 
3 number 59 (name?)

Female short course
1 Ashley Burnside
2 Pamela Glendinning

Mens Kite-foil
1 Nico landauer 
2 Adam Withington 
3 Ejder Ginyol

Female Kite-foil
1 Astrid Bertz

SUP awards - Men
1 Anthony Vela
2 Jeramie Vaine
3 MacRae Wylde

SUP awards - Womens 
1 Bonnie Fromm
2 Terri Plunkett
3 Diana Stevens

Mini SUP downwinder - Men
1 Anthony Vela
2 Jeramie Vaine
3 MacRae Wylde

Mini SUP downwinder - Women
1 Bonnie Fromm
2 Terri Plunkett
3 Diana Stevens

SUP Women’s Las Cruces
1 Terri Plunkett
2 Bonnie Fromm

SUP Men's Las Cruces
1 Matt Trager 
2 Ed (Last name?)

Sportsman award: Dave Beddows
Best crashes: Guacamole DJ
Most stoke: Grom Gormley
Lifetime award: Neil Hutchison
Captain Ceralvo most inspirational: Julio Cesar Lucero 

Be sure to register for the La Ventana WINDFEST that will be held on January 20-23 (in less than a week and a half!)