Hvide Sande PWA Day 4+5
Warten auf Wind...
Eine schwache Windprognose für Tag 4 des Hvide Sande PWA-Worldcups – leider traf sie auch zu. Die Starter blieben in der Warteschleife, der Wind wurde den ganzen Tag über nicht ausreichend stark. Einige sind dann doch noch etwas aufs Wasser, die Mehrheit entschied sich jedoch fürs Foilsurfen. Auch am fünften und vorletzten Tag des Events ließ der Wind auf sich warten. Für eine kurze Zeit sah es am Morgen nach etwas Wind aus, leider war es auch nur eine leichte Brise die die Starter einen weiteren Tag im Standby-Modus verbrachten. Earlier in the day we caught up with a couple of the sailors to reflect on yesterday's racing: Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde) had this to say upon reaching his first winners’ final during yesterday’s racing: “First of all it was a big surprise for me as I’ve had some injuries over the summer and haven’t been practising that much. From the beginning of the day my gear felt great — we have some new masts now — offering a lot of control and they felt good in the gybes. In the end I managed to make the winners’ final and I almost couldn’t believe it — it was a great feeling. I’ve been here before to coach a few junior camps, but haven’t spent much time on the water here myself. Of course I’m aware of how the weather can be and we’ve been quite lucky during the event with the temperature. I knew the place a little bit but not really enough to offer any sort of advantage I think.” The 24 year old also holds some hope for the possibility of racing tomorrow, adding: “The local forecast actually looks OK for tomorrow — a little bit less than on Tuesday, but more from the southeast, which is a better direction for clean wind here.” Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) on giving herself a fighting chance of clinching a maiden slalom world title: “After the first day didn’t go so well I was really happy to win the final which we ran yesterday as it gives me more of a chance of doing well over the remainder of the event. At the moment though we are waiting for wind and I’m just crossing my fingers that we are able to get some more racing in.” After a quiet day the sailors were released at 5:30pm and they will meet again tomorrow morning at 10am for the skippers’ meeting with a first possible start of 10:30am. The best prospect for racing tomorrow looks as though it will be in the afternoon again. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream. Women’s Title Race If things were to remain as they stand then Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) would be crowned the PWA Women’s Slalom World Champion for the second successive season — which would be her 3rd slalom world title. Offringa had this to say when asked about the title race: “At the moment I’m just trying to keep all that at the back of my mind because it’s not over until its over. Of course I’m aware that I’m in a really good position, but I’m not celebrating anything yet. I’d also love to go racing, but lets see what happens.” The title race isn’t quite over yet though with Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) still in with a chance of winning a maiden world crown. However, the 27 year old would need to finish in at least 2nd place here. In the event of one further race this would mean that Erdil would need to beat Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) by at least one place as this would see her rise into 2nd place, which would then mean Offringa and Erdil finish the season level on 4,167 points. Erdil would then be crowned champion on count back — having beaten Offringa more times this season with Erdil also winning the sole elimination completed in Korea earlier this year. Men’s Meanwhile, in the men’s division if things were to finish as they are now then Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) would be tied on 6,201 points after 4 events with two more to go in Sylt, Germany, and La Torche, France. Iachino, would actually regain a narrow lead for the first time since South Korea with the 26 year old edging ahead on count back with two victories this season. The forecast for tomorrow looks very similar today with a moderate breeze being predicted, but from the west. The best chance for racing looks as though it will come in the morning so the skippers’ meeting has been called for 9am with the action commencing from 9:30am (GMT+2) — if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream. 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. Current Rankings Hvide Sande PWA World Cup — Women’s Slalom 1st Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) 2nd Delphine Cousin Questel (Starboard / Gun Sails) 3rd Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) 4th Maja Dziarnowska (RRD / RRD) 5th Fujiko Onishi (Starboard / Point-7) Current Rankings Hvide Sande PWA World Cup — Men’s Slalom 1st Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) 2nd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) 3rd Sebastian Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails) 4th Vincent Langer (Fanatic / NorthSails) 5th Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) 6th Andrea Cucchi (Starboard / Point-7) 7th Sebastian Kornum (JP / NeilPryde) 8th Mateus Isaac (JP / NeilPryde) 9th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) 10th Marco Lang (Fanatic / NorthSails)