Kirsty and Mario took home first place at the KPWT in Sylt. Check out Kirstys report:

The first KPWT World cup of the season kicked off to a great start on the Island peninsula of Sylt in the North of Germany, and I’m pleased to announce I managed to secure a 1st place in the Waves at this 5 star Grand Slam event!
The freestyle was run over the opening few days and saw an excellent victory for fellow North and ION rider Mario Rodwald who took first place on the podium in the freestyle.
For me the freestyle event offered a fantastic warm up for the waves. Unfortunately my draw was a tough one, up against the incredible 5x world champ Gisela Pulido in the first heat!. Despite a fierce battle out on the water, I was relegated to an early shower! Undeterred, the soap spuds were quickly washed off and I was back out in the double elimination the next day where I fought my way back up the ladder almost making it to the freestyle semi final.
   By the end of a long day of freestyle heats I was encouraged by a strong personal performance and excited by the prospect of hitting the waves
The Wave Masters began as the freestyle drew to a close, and with it came the wind and waves peaking to their maximum during the week. Conditions were challenging with the wind blowing between 20 – 30 knots cross onshore from the left, waves that were a choppy and punchy 1.5m, with temperatures that tested the riders wetsuits and their mental and physical toughness!
With strong winds for much of the wave event I opted to stay on my 7M North Evo and 5’8 Kontact which proved perfect for the conditions.

In the final of the Men’s wave masters was Mitu Monteiro from Cape Verde and Jan Marcos Riveras (DOM) .As always both put on an incredible show but finally Mitu dominated with his extraordinary talent in the waves coming into fore.

After proceeding through the first few rounds I found myself in a tough heat for the semi final, up against my good friend Ainhoa Garcia from Spain.
Only one of us would go to the final and we both really wanted it! Ainhoa rode really powerfully in the challenging conditions and both of us were forced to focus on battling against the elements rather than each other as squalls of over 30knots came through during our heat. Alas, only one of us could advance on further and it was me that proceeded to the final against Kari Schibevaag (Norway).
As the final loomed on queue the sun began to shine through the heavy grey clouds carrying rain and strong squalls. I really enjoyed the final but had no idea what the result would be as I just focused on my own riding, trying to stay in sync with the wild stormy conditions. The results were announced quickly and I was so happy to hear I had won!