Photo Credits to PWAWorldTour.com
Last Tuesday the “Aruba Dushi Tera” of Aruba’s national anthem was heard along the beaches of Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, when Aruban Sarah Quita Offringa took the title of Women’s Freestyle Champion at the PWA Grand Slam. With the Aruban flag lifted, Sarah Quita maintained her incredible unbeaten run to collect freestyle world title No.9.
The competition started out strong for all participants, who for five days of intense combinations and power moves survived various elimination rounds. Sarah Quita’s strongest rival, Dutch windsurfer Maaike Huvermann, ended the year successfully as vice-world champion. Sarah Quita claims that even though competition keeps getting more challenging, she is happy to see the overall competitive level increase.
This is not the first time that the 25- year-old windsurfer competes in Fuerteventura. Sarah Quita has been competing in this location for over ten years, the first time being at 15 years of age. Coming from a small island has not stopped her from following her dreams, and traveling abroad to win world titles. According to a Skype interview from 297 Sports, the young athlete’s message to all the dreamers is promising. “I want to tell all young people to keep working hard on what they love. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something”.
According to the official PWA World Tour website, weather conditions changed throughout the week, with the fifth day concluding with light winds. These changes allowed everyone to show their level of skill. “I feel like I had a good event and it was fun to sail in a different range of conditions varying in wind strength and waves”, said Sarah Quita.
Aruba is proud of Sarah Quita for holding Aruba’s name up high, and for her wonderful international representation of the island. By always setting challenges for herself, she has been able to constantly surpass all obstacles, and show that hard work does pay off. Congratulations Sarah Quita!
Overall Ranking 2016 PWA Women’s Freestyle World Tour:
1. Sarah Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
2. Maaike Huvermann (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
3. Oda Johanne (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins)
4. Arrianne Aukes (Fanatic / NorthSails / Maui Ultra Fins)
5. Maxime van Gent (JP / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
