Keahi de Aboitiz takes the win at the GKA final in Torquay
Congratulations to Keahi de Aboitiz for taking the win at the first-ever GKA Kite-Surf World Tour stop in Torquay, Australia. Keahi showed it's his home spot and beat Sebastian Ribeiro in a world class final to take the KSWT Torquay title - on his birthday! Keahi's victory at the final tour stop in Torquay also secured his second place in this year's GKA Kite-Surf World Tour.
After a few days of faltering winds, a fair bit of waiting and consistent but mostly onshore surf, Point Danger delivered cross-off winds and peeling waves for an epic final round in the men’s single eliminations.
Keahi won the first semis heat with a shuvit into a wave 360, the most technical move so far at the KSWT Torquay, and he was through to the super-final.
The super-final was up first and Keahi opened on a double-up on the left hand corner of the reef. Riding on his backhand, he was throwing the cleanest, most stylish backside top turns of the comp driving huge fans of spray with every hit.
Sebastian was also riding on his backside and, like Keahi, was showing an excellent tactical understanding of the waves. Every time before he committed to a wave you could see him eyeing down the line to see how it might unfold but he seemed to focus more on smaller sets on the inside while Keahi stayed out the back picking off bombs.
Both Keahi and Sebastian are at the top of their game when it comes to waves, but Keahi had the measure of Sebastian and even managed to stall his way into the first barrel of the event before the buzzer went.
Congratulations to Keahi de Aboitiz for finishing runner-up in the 2018 GKA Kite-Surf World Tour!
PHOTOS: GKA / Ydwer van der Heide