Photos: Mauricio Brandão

James Geitens and Alexander Buneder, both Gouchos from the Rio Grande do Sul, made the final in the first stage of the Brazilian Championship Freeride Jet Waves 2010 in Imbé, with Geitens taking the winner’s podium.

The competition has three categories - Pro Stand-Up, Stand Amateur and Open Sit-Down. The championship is an opportunity for new riders to come and watch and take part in this extreme sport which just keeps on growing in Brazil.

In the category of Open Sit-Down, José Luis Silveira Remião, known as ISO, and André da Silveira were the highlights of the weekend.

The two reached the final beating all their opponents. ISO’s win was tight, with a different routine in the surf to André, who came second. Third was Alexandre de Abreu, with Vinicius da Silva in fourth position.

The judges evaluate the performance of the riders by their tricks and jumps in the surf, and the final score of each sequence is the average of the two ratings.

The Amateur Stand-Up category once again saw a tremendous display from André da Silveira, who had a remarkable weekend, making the podium in all his categories. This time André faced Jefferson Santos in the final, another rider who rode well, showing a high level of freeride skill. The two reached the final by winning all their classes and making the judges decision difficult. Jefferson showed  better balance in his moves and in the surf and so was the champion, leaving André again with second place. Carlos Cassiano came in third place after defeating Evandro Bickel, who finished fourth.

The main category, PRO Stand-Up, this year saw the Gauchos James Geitens and Alexander Buneder perform to a very high level, leaving no room for riders from other regions of the country to take away the trophy at Imbé.

The final between the two was exciting. Buneder performed one back-flip after another. Geitens in turn, also showed great moves and excelled again and again in the radical surf, with lots of air that the crowd on the beach loved. Despite a high-flying Buneder, Geitens once again produced more balanced routines and so lifted the cup. Jefferson Santos also had a great weekend and finished in third place, this time beating Andre da Silveira, who finished in fourth place.

Geitens won the International Freeride Championships in Peru last month, beating the American and Australian champions, and won again here, this time against his friend and countryman Alexander Buneder, who is proving a true adversary.

Over 250 riders gathered from all over the World and Pete Burgess was there to bring us the action.

Photos: Warren Brown

The Scenario: Britain was suffering its worst weather for 30 years, A number of roads were impassable, the kids were off school because the Health and Safety faction said it was just too treacherous to let them attend, and a number of airports had been closed through the sheer amount of snow that had fell on the runways – oh and of course the temperature itself had not been above freezing for nearly two weeks!!!

Our predicament: Would Manchester Airport remain open? Could we get there without being snowed in? Was Virgin flight VS075 going to be affected by circumstances outside our control? Do you pack board shorts, a steamer or both!

We needn’t have worried – the ground staff at Manchester had done a superb job and whilst security has been stepped up big style on transatlantic flights we were soon sitting on the plane watching it being busily de-iced ready for an on-time take off at 10:30am.

The weather had been watched with interest, as although we have visited Florida a number of times now, we’d never been to Daytona, nor had Florida suffered such extremes of cold in living memory of a lot of its residents.

Up to then we had been glued to the central heating or gas fire thinking if you wanted to go jetskiing you’d need to break a layer of ice as thick as a house-brick before you could actually launch. One eye was on the Internet checking for the temperatures over the pond. Oh dear – New York same as us, as was most of the US East coast with Florida suffering from frost and sub zero temperatures at night as well. This was not looking good. However American attention on the weather is even greater than ours, and all their forecasts showed a marked upward trend (thank God). This was born out in fact when on arrival at Orlando International airport a rush of warm air met us on the jetway into the terminal.

Not all plain sailing though. We got into the country (along with fellow Brit skier Warren Brown and his partner Lindsay who were there on holiday), but mine and Ant’s suitcase remained in Manchester. The wife wasn’t bothered hers was there. Ant wasn’t bothered – his wet-gear bag and helmet had arrived too! My question therefore was would the wife’s underwear stretch that far -  hmmm?? We were promised it would arrive the next day and would be sent directly to us to where we were staying in Daytona. The promise was kept and I only had to “go commando” for one day.

The Personal Watercraft Partnership’s Ultimate Clubs Event is now scheduled for 2010.

Taking place at Kingsbury Jetbike Centre, Midlands on the 13th and 14th March - and you are invited!

Places are now available to book and going fast, so be sure you don’t miss out on the biggest PW club event to hit the UK.

Highlights include a get together meeting of Britain’s personal watercraft clubs – a great opportunity for building nationwide relationships with other riders; 2010 watercraft demonstrations from both Sea-Doo and Yamaha; a PWP Village, competitions and prizes; launching - bring your own PW and ride on 42 acres of fresh water at Kingsbury Water Park; and evening entertainment with a delicious hog roast.

In 1998, the International Freeride Watercraft Association established an elite contest for the top percentage of its pilots. Its purpose was to encourage the lost art of aerial combat and to insure that the handful of men who graduated were the best jet pilots in the world. They succeeded. Today, the IFWA calls it Jet Waves. The riders call it TOP GUN.

Pippa-Jane Thomas reports from the 11th Jet Waves - the IFWA Freeride World Finals - in Florianópolis, Brazil.

Brazil would be one of the more exotic stops for any world tour, with its sunny climate, clean beaches and beautiful girls, so it comes as no surprise that it is a favourite stop of the IFWA freeride tour. The third and final round of 2009, incorporating the 11^th Brazilian Jet Waves Cup, has come to the town of Piçarras, Santa Catarina, who warmly welcomed the event for the first time. This contest was going to be interesting as the surf forecast was not big, and the waves break close to the beach risking some shallow landings, but offering a superb spectacle for the crowd who would be barely 30 metres away from the action.

The Brazilian round always attracts a good international entry, and with 10 Brazilian riders, five Argentinians, Graham Reid from the UK, along with five other Europeans, three Americans and one South African, this year was to be no exception.