So it is that time of the year again, the Aloha Classic is about to start. It will be the final event of the combined IWT / PWA wavetour and at the end of the event there will be a world champion crowned. By the looks it will be between Marcilio Browne and Ricardo Campello in the men's division. In the women's competition it is a bit less tight but it will be between Sara Quita and Maria Andr?s.
The event will run from the 23rd October until the 3rd November so a 12 day competition window.
Bring it on!
Good run down on how the results influence the World Title.
www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=35&tx_news_pi1%5Bnews%5D=7371&tx_news_pi1%5Bcontroller%5D=News&tx_news_pi1%5Baction%5D=detail&cHash=6ae86475d67353ccd0e518f2ee467227
I know the forecast was for kona winds on the first day but it's a bit weird that we have no information coming out of Maui about what happened on Monday.
We love these IWT events but they are very good at not telling any of us potential viewers what is happening , or when live-streamed competition is likely to start.
I have yet to find a heat draw or even a competitors list, although apparently registration happened on Sunday.
Has anybody heard anything?
I'm guessing from Windguru that Wednesday might see some action , once the trade winds are in the right direction to possibly work.
I'm in the UK and, as for most European fans, the time difference means any heats are likely to happen overnight - so a bit of information would help us to know when it's worth staying up late - or worth getting up early - to watch the heats.
But let's hope they do get the conditions to allow for a worthy final event of the combined IWT/PWA wave tour.
Yesterday evening (European time) they put out a video witch Duncan (head judge) explaining that they had decided to not run the event that day. They seem to be ogling Wednesday and Thursday for contestable conditions.
You have to be looking for the updates but they are there (most of the times). This morning I've seen some beautiful pics of Kai Lenny and Robby Naish sharing a wave on Lanes. No clue how to share these pics here but you'll find them on the Instagram of Kai Lenny.
This pic is from Fishbowl Diaries:
Select to expand quoteBasher said..
I know the forecast was for kona winds on the first day but it's a bit weird that we have no information coming out of Maui about what happened on Monday.
We love these IWT events but they are very good at not telling any of us potential viewers what is happening , or when live-streamed competition is likely to start.
I have yet to find a heat draw or even a competitors list, although apparently registration happened on Sunday.
Has anybody heard anything?
I'm guessing from Windguru that Wednesday might see some action , once the trade winds are in the right direction to possibly work.
I'm in the UK and, as for most European fans, the time difference means any heats are likely to happen overnight - so a bit of information would help us to know when it's worth staying up late - or worth getting up early - to watch the heats.
But let's hope they do get the conditions to allow for a worthy final event of the combined IWT/PWA wave tour.
nothing like a bit of dead air to kick off a major event deciding a world title.
PWA site:
Monday 23rd October 23.55 Maui Time / 11.55 European time The 2023 Aloha Classic is the final of the Unified PWA / IWT Wave Tour and will decide the World Titles for this year, over a 12 day window, with 5 possible competition days, and a go or no go decision for the following day made the evening before. The event is being primarily run by the team from IWT, but we will bring you all the updates we can through PWA channels too. Live streaming will be available when running. The call for Tuesday 24th October is for a lay day, so check back later in the evening (Maui time) for the call for Wednesday.
Select to expand quoteChucufleta said..
Yesterday evening (European time) they put out a video witch Duncan (head judge) explaining that they had decided to not run the event that day. They seem to be ogling Wednesday and Thursday for contestable conditions.
You have to be looking for the updates but they are there (most of the times). This morning I've seen some beautiful pics of Kai Lenny and Robby Naish sharing a wave on Lanes. No clue how to share these pics here but you'll find them on the Instagram of Kai Lenny.
This pic is from Fishbowl Diaries:
Cool, but where did you see that?
I checked their site all evening, their Facebook page, and their Instagram, and I found nothing.
I can't be the only one not hearing or finding things, and maybe it's the algorithm, or some sneaky Facebook policy where everyone in a clique gets to hear stuff, but everyone else is excluded.
This lack of information has been a problem with every IWT event this year. All we really need to know is when the live stream is likely to go live, and that way they get the bigger worldwide audience and it serves their sponsors better.
Great pic from Fishbowl Diaries, as usual.
And great coverage today (Tuesday) from Windsurfing.tv
Indeed great coverage by Windsurfing.tv, got to love the live podcast!
I saw the Duncan video in an Instagram story, either IWT or PWA..... I agree that it is not always easy to find the latest..... however with the state that windsurfing is in nowadays I am already very happy that we still have an Aloha Classic to watch. Let's hope that they will get some wind and waves....
The live ticker on the main PWA site gives the latest updates. I tried to copy it here, but the formatting went askew.
The next call will be made at 9am Maui Time (GMT-10) on Wednesday 25th October
Live heat scoring might appear here. liveheats.com/events/72455/schedule
Heat draw here www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=38&tx_pwaevent_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=348&cHash=36ce8c16a928cc5322fc34f415c27bb2
Livestream on IWT UT channel **
Weather forecast here www.windguru.cz/208798
That forecast gives the waves coming from NNW. Guess its down to winds elsewhere, there is a massive low to the north of Maui. That seems to be meandering around for the duration of competition. If it was a high we would have been in business. Will it affect the wave riding much?
www.windy.com/?35.210,-153.457,4,i:pressure
You'll have to find the IWT UT channel yourselves, as trying to copy/paste the link doesnt work, for me.
Select to expand quotePhilUK said..
That forecast gives the waves coming from NNW. Guess its down to winds elsewhere, there is a massive low to the north of Maui. That seems to be meandering around for the duration of competition. If it was a high we would have been in business. Will it affect the wave riding much?
I remember from previous year's livestreams them saying different swell directions produces different waves. NNW swell might mean the wave breaking at once as the swell hits the beach head on, where as NE would mean the swell wraps around the headland and hits the beach at an angle and gives a nice peeling wave. 
The Aloha Classic is not a PWA-run event, but they have started posting daily live ticker updates on the PWA site.
If you see a link to a live stream on some social media platforms, then watch out that is a scam that is going around, and someone will ask you for money - when the actual live stream will be free.
That IWT livestream will only happen when the competition is on, and this event runs for 12 days, with a licence to run heats on any day but only for five days in total of the waiting period. This five day ruling is so as not to annoy the local surfers by blocking out their wave break.
The lack of information so far is down to the organisers not yet knowing which day they will compete on, and they need waves and some wind. The Windguru forecast (pictured here) shows a 1.6m swell arriving for today, Wednesday, but not much wind. The wind will however be in the E/NE tradewinds direction, so there may be more wind than forecast. it could happen today - and I think they have yet to run the men's trials heats, to determine the final placings for the competition heat ladders.
Windguru then shows a bit more wind for the weekend onwards, but maybe with less swell and/or with the swell in the 'wrong' direction, and so it's a tricky call for head judge Duncan Coombes. It's also a gamble to rely on a forecast that comes in at the end of the waiting period, especially when that forecast is still a week away.
So they probably will start today (Wednesday) if they can, and we may hear that soon, once it's breakfast time or later, on Maui.
If you are reading this in Mainland Europe then Hawaiian time is ten hours behind, whereas in the UK it's an 11 hour time difference - so any action won't happen until mid evening for us, at the earliest. In Australia, you get to watch any live heats from breakfast time, at the earliest, I think.
(If it's 9am on Maui then it's 8pm on the same day for London, or 9pm in Paris - and 3am the following day in Perth. )
No contestable conditions yet, next call Thursday 26 at 09:00 (Maui time)
Windprediction for Maui: www.soest.hawaii.edu/MET/Faculty/wrf/arw/arw_maui_loop_10mw.html
So supposedly it is on, but I have to agree with Basher, it is not easy to get info. Let's hope for a good one!
Yeah, I watched it live a few times today.
Hey I can understand the contest of 5 full days from 12. But if it isn't windy enough the contest should cherry pick the best times and isn't windy enough then free surfing.
Probably a lot harder to do in reality! A pulse in the swell and then white caps that it's on but they have to wisely choose the best 5 forecast days from the 12.
What I watched was a contest is very average conditions.
looks like they picked the best days for wind and waves going off forecast. Can't see a double elimination happening.
of course I could be looking at the wrong forecast lol..
The story I heard is that county of Maui is pro surfing / anti windsurfing so their permit doesn't allow them to pick and choose days. Once they start they get 5 days in a row, even if the forecast changes for the better later in the forecast period.
Yesterdays stream can be found on internationalwindsurfingtour.com
It was very laggy and at time frustrating to watch but hey, beggers can't be choosers.
Now with Antoine winning the Aloha (single elimination, don't know if the forecast allows for a second elimination), Browne getting third and Campello taking 5th, does that mean Campello is overall World Champion?
Title Race Connotations - Men's
*Based on Double Elimination points- If Ricardo wins the event he wins his first wave world title, however, if he were to finish second then Marcilio Browne would be required to win the Aloha Classic to deny Campello and claim the world title himself.
- In the event that Campello was to finish third - then Browne would still be required to win the event to deny Campello.
- In the event that Campello was to finish 4th - Browne would need to finish second, while beating Par? as a victory for the Spaniard would see him pip both Browne and Campello to the world title.
- In the event Campello finishes 5th - The scenario is the same with Browne needing to finish at least second and ahead of Par?
- If Campello were to finish 6th - A top 3 finish for Browne would be enough to secure him the title as long as Par? didn't win the event.
- If Campello were to finish joint 7th - Browne would need to finish at least 4th to overtake Campello, however a top 2 finish or better for Par? would see him steal the world title.
Some insights by Ben & Paul (going live in a bit):
Select to expand quotephiln said..
The story I heard is that county of Maui is pro surfing / anti windsurfing so their permit doesn't allow them to pick and choose days. Once they start they get 5 days in a row, even if the forecast changes for the better later in the forecast period.
If that is true then get local shops and businesses related to windsurfing to lobby local government for better terms. This is meant to be the prime event of a professional sports tour. Rules like this make look like an amateur event.
Select to expand quoteChucufleta said..
Now with Antoine winning the Aloha (single elimination, don't know if the forecast allows for a second elimination), Browne getting third and Campello taking 5th, does that mean Campello is overall World Champion?
Who knows. I have looked both the PWA Tour web site and IWT web site and can't quite figure it out. My recommendation would be for the organisers to look at a way to communicate the rankings, scoring and how results in a particular event effect standings better. At the moment it's lacking the nail biter moments you had in the past were it felt the final event was a real decider.
Select to expand quote515 said..
What I watched was a contest is very average conditions.
Not much you can do about that unfortunately. Probably the most difficult job for the event organisers, piking an an event window and then deciding which days to run the heats. Hats off to them.
The IWT are still not telling people what they are doing haha, but, from the PWA site, they are holding Masters and then Pro Men's heats today, Monday.
As I write this, they have already started, and the Men's double elimination is already through the first round.
There is no live streaming, due to budget considerations, but there is live scoring so we can follow the heat results here:
liveheats.com/events/72455/divisions/338059
Ok I understand more on the 5 days in a row issue!
I watched some of yesterday's action and much better waves.
The quarter finals had the best wind and then kept on dropping to a real drifter but awesome talented riders
Great that they had guest commentators for Semis and final of Goya, Polakow and Naish 
Funny how they all referred to the "old days" when it was part of the world cup and the 'racers' (for the overall) protesting and heats getting cancelled from lack of wind.
It would be great if they could run a double so Richardo could win his first Wave World Title
So, indeed the LiveHeats being the only way to follow the double elimination, they've made it through 3 rounds (8 heats) with now 12 riders left in the mix. If they were to get decent conditions for completion the next heat will be were the work starts for Campello.
Round 4 (heat 1):
Mark Pare (who is by the looks having a good streak)
Ricardo Campello
Thomas Traversa
Levi Siver
Round 4 (heat 2):
Takara Ishii
Morgan Noireaux
Kai Lenny
Jake Schettewi
The two winners of these two heats will have to battle it out in round 5 (4 men round), after that the number one and 2 go against each other in round 6.
Quite an uphill battle for Campello.
liveheats.com/events/72455/divisions/338059?fbclid=IwAR2kp22jtjLCogNzERFf18qcxFoV8Q25wmiqlarlm0-fKeEeEn6DwB-PY5A
