Ulsan PWA World Cup - Day 5
Attention turns to the final day after a lay day
As predicted the wind remained light on the penultimate day of the Ulsan PWA World Cup meaning no further racing took place. With the sailors on hold until 4pm we caught up with a few of them to see what they made of yesterday’s racing in tricky conditions. Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360), who won the opening race of the year: “Still reliving the excitement of yesterday’s final in my mind! What an epic race with the top 4 changing constantly! Light wind mixed with a seaweed obstacle course made this into one of the most exciting races I have ever sailed in I think! So happy to have been able to come out on top for this first final in 2016! Thanks to everyone cheering me on and sending me messages! Now fingers crossed for more, hopefully, better wind and more racing!” Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7), who claimed an emphatic victory in the opening men’s race: “I had an amazing start. When there was 3 seconds to go I closed my sail and just decided to go for it. The guys upwind from me were a little bit late and the guys at the boat were also hitting the start perfectly. I had a better line which allowed me to reach the first mark in the lead, which made life a lot easier. I’ve trained the whole winter, but you never know until you come to the first event exactly where you are — so it feels good to get the first bullet." Reigning world champion - Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde): “What a day yesterday. Light wind and the committee was pushing a lot. We tried to run the semifinal 5 times and I made 5 good starts. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to another good start in only final we did. Not bad at the end to finish 7th as it was easy to get bad luck in these tricky conditions. 1 more day to go.” Malte Reuscher (JP / NeilPryde): “Yesterday we finally managed complete elimination one. I was lying in 4th place in the final, but sadly caught some seaweed which made me drop back to 6th. Not the result that I was hoping for but it's still okay! Hoping for more races tomorrow to finish the event.” Reigning world champion — Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins): “AWO! A second place finish in the first race got me smiling, since it's quite tough on the water! It was a proper fight where there were 4 of us that took over the lead for a little while until Lena sealed the deal. Exciting! I sailed 8,6m and 114L board. Looking forward to some more! Vamooosss.” Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails), who could almost taste victory yesterday, before the first attempt to run the final was cancelled: “Again light conditions yesterday, but we finished the first race! Little bit upset because I was leading the race, but it has been canceled because of "not enough wind "... For the second try, it was a very big fight with Lena Erdil at the first mark and at mark 3 I got seaweed around my fin and so eventually I finished 3rd... Not so bad with those tricky conditions where anything can happen! Fingers crossed for action on the final day!” Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Point-7): “Yesterday in Korea we continued to have quite difficult conditions which were again on the limit and with the challenge of avoiding the seaweed. Due to the limited winds we have been only able to finish one round here in four days. In yesterday’s hotly contested final, I finished fourth. The last days forecast looks quite difficult for wind, but we are continuing to pray for it and trying to stay relaxed and have fun.” After a day on hold attention now turns towards tomorrow, which currently has forecasts predicting winds between 10 and 28 knots, which could provide a grand stand finale to the event. However, the only cause for concern is the amount of rain accompanying the wind, which could potentially make the wind extremely squally. The sailors will meet again tomorrow at 8:30am for the skippers’ meeting with a first possible start of 9am. 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.