Ulsan PWA World Cup - Day 3
Light and gusty winds make for a tricky afternoon of racing
The better forecast for today never quite materialized, which led to a rather frustrating afternoon of racing as light and gusty winds made for a stop-start affair. Over the course of 4 hours it was only possible to complete a further 6 heats in the men’s division, while the opening 2 heats in the women’s fleet were also completed before being the sailors were released for the day with conditions continuing to deteriorate. Women’s Elimination One Mio Anayama (Starboard) made the best start to the opening women’s heat of the year and led as they rounded the first mark, however, by the time the fleet approached the third mark it was Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) who had moved to the front of the pack and she went on to win the heat ahead of Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Point-7), Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails), Anayama and Valerie Ghibaudo (Tabou / GA Sails). A result was finally gained for Heat 2, an hour and a half after the first attempt as the wind continually fluctuated between being suitable and unsuitable. Unfortunately, on what proved to be the penultimate start Marion Dusart (Patrik / Gun Sails) was disqualified for a false start. Upon the restart reigning world champion — Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) — safely booked her place in the first winner’s final of the year as the Aruban gem won the heat ahead of María Andrés (Fanatic / North), Fulya Ünlü — last year’s youth world champion — Esther de Geus (JP / Point-7) and Fujiko Onishi (Starboard / Point-7). Men’s Elimination One Matteus Isaac (Starboard / NeilPryde) made a winning start in the first heat of the day as he secured a place in the quarterfinals alongside Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne), Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne) and Vincent Langer (Fanatic / North), who fought back to knock out Finian Maynard (99NoveNove / Gun Sails). Both Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails) and Laurence Carey (Fanatic / North) were disqualified from Heat 9 for premature starts, which left 6 sailors battling for the top 4 qualifying positions. Ultimately, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7), Bruno Martini (Starboard / Point-7), Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) and Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / Challenger Sails) advanced. Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) made a winning start to life on his new equipment in Heat 10 as he fended of competition from Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North). Meanwhile, Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails) overtook teammate Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) as they completed the heat in third and fourth place respectively. Arnon Dagan led from start to finish in Heat 11 as the Israeli showed tremendous speed in the light winds to build a significant advantage over his closest challengers — Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic), Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails) and Malte Reuscher (JP / NeilPryde), who did well to see off the challenge of Josh Angulo (Angulo). In the last quarterfinal — Heat 12 — Marco Lang (Fanatic / North) was extremely unlucky as the Austrian caught a plastic bag around his fin just before to the start to ruin any chance of him qualifying for the next round. Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) won the heat ahead of Amado Vrieswijk — who advanced through is third consecutive heat — Steve Allen (Patrik / Severne) and reigning world champion — Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde). Many of the sailors who competed in Heat 13 were not overly happy with the conditions in which they raced, but the result stood despite a protest. Matteo Iachino showed he has had no problem adjusting to his new equipment — Starboard and Point-7 — as the Italian booked his place in the winners’ final alongside Julien Quentel, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel and Pierre Mortefon. The second semi-final was started, but had to be cancelled with the wind being deemed too light. With the conditions failing to improve the sailors were released at 6:30pm. The forecast looks similar for tomorrow and the sailors will meet at 8:30am again for the skippers’ meeting — with the action commencing from 9am (GMT+9) if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to follow all of the action live. To see all the latest from the event — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.