Costa-Hoevel, Ellis contend for lead in Boracay Funboard Cup

Top windsailers Gonzalo Costa-Hoevel of Argentina and Dan Ellis of the United Kingdom battled it out for the lead Thursday at The 2005 Enervon Boracay International Funboard Cup.

Costa-Hoevel, ranked sixth in the world, took the second round of the slalom race but Ellis, U.K.'s top windsailer, won the third round.

Also topping the two rounds were Guam's Keiichi Kobayashi and Conrad Kerber, Korea's Jae Cheol Lee and Dae Poong Jun, Denmark's Juel Pierre, and the Philippines' own Mark Chandler, Gilbert Gelito, and Bobby and Geylord Coveta.  

The Boracay Funboard Cup is on its third day at the Kite Beach in Boracay, Aklan with 67 windsailers and 22 kiteboarders from all over the world participating in the Cup.

In the first round of Wedneday’s slalom race, Costa-Hoevel ruled the waves against the top 15 windsailors in the competition. Placing second and third respectively were Kobayashi and Ellis while U.K. windsailer Lucy Horwood, ranked second in the world, placed tenth.

The Filipinos were led by Xavi Gonzales at fifth place while Immanuel Cabili, Nenette Graf and Bingo Moreno were at eighth, eleventh, and thirteenth respectively.

Meanwhile, the kiteboarders are leading in the speed trials against the windsailers as of Wednesday with the German kiteboarders, Angel Parzhuber and Winnie Levai, beating the windsailing Kerber.

Backed by a number of sporting companies like Rudy Project, NeilPryde, JP Australia, and Cabrinha, the Philippines' Boracay Funboard Cup is a part of the Asian Windsurfing Tour that includes legs in Malaysia, Indonesia, Saipan and Korea. Another major sponsor is Foster's Beer.

The event is also supported by the Philippine Tourism Authority as well as local companies like philstar.com , Globe Telecoms, Enervon, Philippine Airlines, and Asian Spirit Airlines.