PWA Fuerteventura Slalom

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Schon am ersten Tag gab es richtig viel Action bei den Slalomracern. Anfangs wurde noch mit 7.0er Segeln gefahren, doch schon bald wurden die kleinsten Segel und Boards ausgepackt. Bei Windstärken von 25-35 Knoten über den ganzen Tag gab es spannenden High-Speed-Slalom. Die Bedingungen waren anspruchsvoll, extremes Kabbelwasser und kleine Wellen an den inneren Tonnen machte jede Halse tückisch und es gab eine Reihe von massiven Stürzen. Drei Eliminations wurden heute abgeschlossen. Der amtierende Weltmeister - Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) – baut seine Führung aus, er schaffte es in jeder Elimination in das Winners Final und gewann die letzte Elimination. Elimination One / Winners’ Final
Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun Sails) made the best start to the winners’ final, but couldn’t hold onto his lead into the first mark as Micah Buzianis (JP) came storming down the first reach to move into first place, however Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) was ruled out of contention after gybing into the buoy. The American’s lead didn’t last long though as he dropped his second gybe. Just behind Buzianis was Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North) and the Italian seized the opportunity presented before him to pick up exactly where he left off from in Costa Brava to claim the opening bullet of the week - after doing well to hold off Antoine Albeau at the third gybe. Meanwhile, Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails), continued his excellent start to the season as the Brit finished third, whilst Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails) came fourth.   Elimination Two / Winners’ Final
The second race of the day saw an amazing battle between Micah Buzianis and Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic) with only 30 centimetres separating the two sailors as they crossed the finish line. Frans had looked to have burnt the American off on the penultimate reach, but Buzianis came absolutely flying down the final leg to snatch victory from Frans’s grasp, which more than made up for his error in the previous final. Pierre Mortefon made no mistakes in his second winners’ final as he claimed third place with Antoine Albeau just behind in fourth.   Three of the contests youngest sailors also showed they are already capable of mixing it with the best in the world as Ethan Westera (Starboard / GA Sails) (17), Aron Etmon (Starboard / Severne / Dunkerbeck Eyewear) (17) and Miguel Bruggeman (RRD / RRD / Mystic) (19) all managed to advance into the quarterfinals.   Elimination Three /  Winners’ Final The French continued to dominate the slalom scene with six out of the eight sailors in the winners’ final being from France. Antoine Albeau capped off a great day with his first elimination victory of the year as he led from start to finish in the last race of the day. AA sailed with blistering speed and superb control in the choppy waters to blow the rest of his rivals away, whilst rising to the top of the event rankings. Behind him Matteo Iachino continued his fine form as he backed up his earlier bullet and sixth place with a second. The top four was completed by Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) and Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic), who sits fourth in the event rankings after the first day of racing. Pierre Mortefon was desperately unlucky after his mast snapped on the second leg resulting in a massive wipeout for the Frenchman.
John Skye (RRD / RRD / MFC) achieved his best single result in a slalom elimination today as the Brit finished second in the losers’ final to finish tenth overall in the third round. Skye produced a textbook third gybe to manoeuvre his way into the top two - with fellow countryman Ross Williams winning heat 15.
Tomorrow promises to be another action packed day with more strong wind being predicted on the latest forecast. The skippers’ meeting has once again been called for 10am with the action commencing from 10:30am. Don’t miss any of the adrenaline fuelled racing by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com. Here you’ll be able to follow all of the amazing action as it happens via the PWA live stream and live ticker.
Current Standings After Elimination 3 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Men’s Slalom
1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) 2nd Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North) 3rd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) 4th Ben van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) 5th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) 6th Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails)
7th Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) 8th Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Loft Sails / Mystic) 9th Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic) 10th Micah Buzianis (JP)