2015 Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup PWA

Der letzte Worldcup des Jahres steht an:

Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup PWA

Event Preview: The world’s fastest sailors head for the tropical paradise of New Caledonia for the grand stand finale of the 2015 PWA Slalom World Tour
After a furious season of slalom the 2015 PWA Slalom World Tour will reach its nail biting climax in the tropical paradise of New Caledonia, where this year’s world champions will be decided and crowned with the Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup running between the 24th-29th November.

Noumea, New Caledonia, is part of the French Polynesia, located deep in the southwest Pacific Ocean - 750 miles east of Australia. New Caledonia boats the biggest lagoon in the world and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008, making New Caledonia a magnet for recreational boaters and ocean lovers alike, and provides the perfect, yet challenging, slalom conditions thanks to its trade winds, which usually blow anywhere between 10 and 30 knots. The lagoon spans an impressive 44,000km — with crystal clear waters dotted with islets, which has seen Noumea becoming renowned for its outstanding marine biodiversity. Anse Vata beach will provide the perfect, pristine, stage for the conclusion of the 2015 PWA World Tour. With the wind frequently blowing all day this is as much a test of stamina as it is of top speed and the world’s fastest sailors will have to be on their toes throughout as the chop will be eagerly waiting to catch any unsuspecting sailors rail. Who’s going to come out on top?

Ones to Watch

Women’s

Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) enters the final event of the year with a commanding lead having won both events so far this season. The 24 year old has returned to the full slalom tour for the first time since winning it in 2011, due to finishing her studies, and is firmly on course to collect slalom world title No.2 — knowing that a 7th place finish or better will guarantee her the title and cap an outstanding year for her, which has seen her collect an incredible 8th freestyle world crown, while also securing her place on the prestigious podium in the waves for the first time in her career. Barring disaster you can expect to see Offringa completing 2015 in style.

Behind Offringa there is a ferocious battle for the remaining places on the overall podium with 4 women — Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360), Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Severne), Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne) and double world champion Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) — all currently tied for 2nd place with 4,002 points each.

With no discard available the pressure will be firmly on to consistently perform at the top of their game with any mistakes likely to be punished. Whoever beats who will likely be rewarded with a place in the illustrious top 3, although Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails), who finished 2nd in Alacati, will be hoping to have a say in the proceedings as she isn’t far behind in 5th with 3,936 points.

Also in the mix will be Maria Andrés (Fanatic / North), who finished 4th here last year, as well as Mio Anayama (Starboard / NeilPryde) and Ayako Suzuki (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic).

It’s also worth keeping an eye out for local sailors Stephane Bouquillard, Océane Lescadieu (Starboard / Loft Sails), Granier Lilou, Tuesday-Lou Judd and Delphine Riper, all of whom will be looking to take full advantage on home waters.

Men’s

Title Race

After a long, hard fought season only three sailors remain standing in the battle for the 2015 PWA Men’s Slalom World title — Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North), who leads the rankings heading into the final event of the year, reigning world champion Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North).

Iachino has been in scintillating so far this year and after winning his maiden event in Costa Brava the young Italian claimed another victory at the last slalom event in Sylt. Iachino is now on the verge of a first world title, but faces a stern final test if he wants to succeed with Albeau being his biggest danger.

Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North) looks ahead to the final event of the year: “I’ve been at home getting ready and relaxing trying to get in the best mood for the last event. I’m feeling good and prepared and I think this race will be really interesting. The forecast looks promising!”

The scenario for Albeau isn’t too dissimilar to the finale of last year’s world title race and AA still just about has his destiny in his own hands as victory in New Caledonia would guarantee him an incredible 4th world title in a row. In the event that Albeau was to win here and Iachino finish 2nd the two sailors would be tied on points, but Albeau would take the title on tiebreak. However, if Iachino is able to beat Albeau by just one place then the 25 year old will walk away from the 2015 season with top honours.

While it may be an outside chance, Pierre Mortefon, is still just about in the title race. If the Frenchman was to win the event and Iachino finished 6th or worse and Albeau 5th or worse then Mortefon would pip both of his rivals to the world crown.

Meanwhile, Mortefon, almost has the final place on the heralded podium sewn up with Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) being the only sailor who has the potential to overtake him. A 4th place finish or better would guarantee Mortefon 3rd place, whilst if Mortefon was to finish 6th Williams would still need to finish 2nd or better in order to claim the final place on the podium. In simple terms Williams has to beat Mortefon by 4 places or more to secure 3rd, if Mortefon finishes outside the top 4.

Away from the title race and battle for the podium, Ben Van Der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails), will be hoping to defend his event title. The flying Dutchman claimed his maiden event victory here last year and will be looking to end the season with a bang. Van Der Steen currently lies in 6th place with the potential to overtake fellow teammate Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) in 5th.

The top 10 is currently completed by Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne), Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde), Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails) and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7), although the likes of Malte Reuscher (JP / NeilPryde) and last year’s vice-world champion Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) will be hoping to force there way into the top 10.

The final event of the year promises to be an enthralling affair with the world’s fastest sailors battling it one last time for 2015 and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Who do you think will reign supreme and capture the glory? And who will crash and burn? There’s only one way to find out and that’s by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com — here you’ll be able to follow the warp speed slalom as it happens via the PWA live stream and live ticker.

Das war Tag 1:

Day 1: Close but no cigar on the opening day in New Caledonia
Hopes and expectations were high on the inaugural day of the 2015 Noumea PWA Dream Cup, but after a promising looking morning the wind failed to properly materialise as conditions remained on the edge throughout the afternoon.

After the sailors registered for the final event of the year during the morning, several attempts were made to begin the opening elimination of the week between 2pm-3pm, but unfortunately with too much east in the wind the breeze remained too unstable for competition — meaning the sailors spent the first day on hold.

Over the course of the afternoon the majority of the fleet made it out onto the water at some point for some last minute tuning, which may give them the crucial edge when the green flag goes up.

After a low key day, the evening saw a spectacular finish with the opening ceremony being held at the fantastic Chateau Royale as the sailors were presented before the organisers and local crowds.

Attention now turns towards tomorrow, which should hopefully see the start of the action and we’ll see who out of Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North), Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) can make the best start in their bid to be crowned world champion, while also seeing whether Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) can hold her nerve as she goes in search of slalom world title No.2.

Make sure you stay tuned into www.pwaworldtour.com to stay up to date with all of the latest developments from the event. Here you’ll be able to follow everything as it happens via the PWA live stream and live ticker.

Tag 2:

Day 2: Men’s world title race turned on its head after a dramatic first day of racing
After a low key start to the event yesterday the trade winds returned with a vengeance on Day 2 of the Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup to provide an exhilarating day of racing in 20-30 knots of wind, which was packed with drama and massive upsets that could have massive repercussions with regard to the men’s title race.

Women’s

Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) took a giant step towards slalom world title No.2 today as she made a solid start to the event with two 2nd places. The Aruban gem only needs a 7th place finish or better to achieve just that and after an excellent first day it looks somewhat of a formality that she will be regaining her slalom world crown for the first time since 2011 come the end of the event.

Coming into the event 4 women — Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360), Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Severne), Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne) and double world champion Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) — were tied in joint 2nd place, but after the opening day in Noumea, it is two-time world champion, Delphine Cousin, who has taken control of a now clear 2nd place. The 24 year old had been slightly disappointing in the opening two events of 2015, but today she proved why she has earned 2 world titles with an immaculate display, which saw her claim back-to-back bullets — sending her to the top of the event rankings with a perfect record.

Lena Erdil was equally consistent and if the event were to finish now she would complete the prestigious overall podium having recorded two, 3rd place finishes as the Turkish beauty showed tremendous straight line speed to burn off many of her rivals. Erdil currently has a bit of room for error as she holds a 4 point advantage over Cagla Kubat, but you can expect the intriguing battle for the podium to continue as each woman fights as hard as they possible can for that illustrious top 3 finish.

Marion Mortefon is a further 2 points behind in 5th place, but is not out of the running yet for a place in the top 3 after finishing 4th in the Race 2. Mortefon finished 2nd overall in Turkey and is more than capable of going on a run and fighting her way back into contention.

Men’s

The men’s title race seemed as though it would realistically be a two-horse race between Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North) and Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz) coming into the final event of the year, but today showed how quickly things can change in the world of the slalom as the title race was turned on its head by the end of the day with Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) blitzing his way through to assume control at the top of the overall rankings.

Matteo Iachino had barely put a foot wrong so far this season, but today really wasn’t the Italian’s day as he took early exits in both of the eliminations completed. In the opening race Iachino was completely in control and seemingly cruising to victory in Heat 8, but as he went to cross the finish line he inexplicably went downwind of the finish mark and crashed out in the opening round as Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne), Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Loft Sails / Mystic), Julien Ventalon (Starboard / Severne) and Robert Teriitehau (RRD / NeilPryde) all advanced in his place.

Iachino’s day then went from bad to worse as he jumped the gun to be disqualified in the quarterfinals of Elimination 2. After a below par performance today Iachino’s title challenge is now in tatters and his only hope is that at least 7 races are completed — allowing 2 discards, but the Italian will now be under immense pressure — knowing that any further mistakes will surely bring his world title challenge to an abrupt end.

Meanwhile, Iachino’s main rival coming into the event — Antoine Albeau — also endured a torrid day. AA was extremely unlucky in the opening elimination, suffering two broken masts right before his first round heat, and despite his best efforts Albeau couldn’t make the start line in time as he too suffered the worst possible start to the day with an early exit from Heat 4. The reigning world champion then made a slight recovery in Race 2 by finishing 11th, but he too will be looking to discard both results over the coming days in order to get his title challenge back on track.

Pierre Mortefon probably couldn’t quite believe, either his luck or his eyes, after witnessing both Iachino and Albeau crash out in the first round and the Frenchman was able to take full advantage of his rivals, misfortune and mistakes, as he stole the opening bullet of the week from under the nose of Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / Point-7) after an intense finish to the first final.

Mortefon then compounded his place at the top of not only the current event rankings, but also the overall rankings by the end of Day 2, as he effortlessly navigated his way into the next winners’ final, where he was able to claim 2nd place — with only Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7) proving faster than him on this occasion. The 26 year old is suddenly the man that everyone else has to beat after a dramatic day in Noumea, New Caledonia.

With the title race now turned on its head It will be fascinating to see the remainder of the title race plays out. The emphasis is now firmly on Iachino and Albeau to come out and perform with both sailors under the cosh. As things stand with Mortefon leading the event — Iachino will need to fight his way back into the top 5 from 40th, while Albeau requires a top 4 finish in order to deny Mortefon a maiden world title.

Away from the title race Gonzalo Costa Hoevel enjoyed a fine day as he qualified for both winners’ finals. The Argentinian finished 7th in the opening elimination before producing a commanding performance in Race 2 to claim his first bullet of the season, which sees him sitting in 2nd place at the end of Day 2.

The French are continuing to dominate the world of slalom and at the moment 5 of the top 10 are Frenchman — after Mortefon, Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) occupies 3rd followed by Alexandre Cousin in 4th, Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails) 8th and Valentin Brault (Exocet / XO Sails) in 10th, while Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails) is right on the cusp in 11th.

Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic) and Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Mystic) have both made a strong start to the event and find themselves in joint 5th come the end of the day with both sailors recording 3rd and 10th place finishes, respectively in each race.

Meanwhile, last year’s event champion — Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails) — sits in 7th place, whilst the top 10 is currently completed by Mateus Isaac (Starboard / NeilPryde), who is the youngest sailor in the top 10 at just 21 years old.

The forecast for tomorrow looks promising and should result in another enthralling day of racing. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 9am with the action commencing from 9:30am — if conditions allow. After an astonishing first day of racing make sure you don’t miss any of the drama by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com — here you’ll be able to follow everything as it happens via the PWA live stream and live ticker. Can Iachino and Albeau fight back? Will Sarah-Quita Offringa continue to hold her nerve? Find out tomorrow right here.

Women’s Current Standings After Elimination 2 — Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

1st Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails)

2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)

3rd Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360)

4th Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Severne)

5th Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails)

Men’s Current Standings After Elimination 2 — Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

1st Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North)

2nd Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7)

3rd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne)

4th Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Loft Sails / Mystic)

5th Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic)

5th Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Mystic)

7th Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails)

8th Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails)

9th Mateus Isaac (Starboard / NeilPryde)

10th Valentin Brault (Exocet / XO Sails)

Tag 3:

Day 3: More upsets and epic racing as Noumea continues to deliver and Albeau begins to battle back
Day 3 of the 2015 Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup saw another exhilarating day of racing as winds of 15-25 knots greeted the competitors. After yesterday’s dramatic racing today saw further upsets and surprises as Noumea continued to put the cat among the pigeons with it’s challenging choppy conditions testing the mettle of the world’s fastest sailors.

Women’s

Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) recovered from a slow start, which saw her finish 9th in the opening elimination of the day, to maintain her position at the top of the event rankings. The two-time world champion was able to claim 3rd in Race 4, before ending the day on a high as she claimed the final bullet of the day, which is her 3rd victory out of the 5 eliminations completed so far and her victory in Race 5 was enough to take her back to the top of the event rankings after Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) had temporarily held the lead during the afternoon.

However, Cousin does not have much margin for error to maintain her lead with Sarah-Quita Offringa, just 0.3 of a point behind the leader after enjoying a fine day, which saw the Aruban gem claim two bullets and a 2nd place. After today’s performance Offringa is now surely unstoppable in her quest for a 2nd slalom world title as she now holds a 20.6 point advantage over Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne) in 7th — A 7th place finish or better guarantees Offringa the title and based on how she has been performing so far this week it is hard to see her finishing the final event of the season outside the top 2.

Meanwhile, Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / AL360 / Mystic), still occupies a solid 3rd place, which would currently see the Turk complete the overall podium. Erdil was disqualified from the opening winners’ final of the day, but responded perfectly as she secured a 2nd and 3rd place in the remaining two eliminations.

As things stand Erdil holds a 7 point advantage over Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails) and an 11 point advantage over Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Severne), both of whom are Erdil’s biggest rivals for the podium, so Erdil is currently in the driving seat.

Men’s

Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) started his recovery to get his title challenge back on track in the perfect fashion as he claimed his first bullet of the event in Race 3. However, after taking a step forwards it was then a case of two-steps back for AA in the very next race after being eliminated in the quarterfinals. Albeau was not willing to lay down without a fight though and he hauled himself back into contention by clinching another bullet in the final race of the day, which could prove crucial in deciding the title race. At the end of Day 3 Albeau rises to 8th in the overall rankings and is only 6.2 points off 4th place, which is the minimum result he requires to deny Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North). After Race 7 Albeau will be hoping to discard his result from Elimination 4 (22.5 points) and could easily be back in business if he can maintain the form he showed today.

Mortefon is still doing everything in his power to secure a maiden world title and the Frenchman heads the event rankings at the close of play today after recording 2nd, 9th — which he discards — and 3rd place finishes in the 3 races completed. Mortefon holds a significant lead at the top of the rankings and the onus is still on Albeau to produce a massive performance over the next 3 days to deny him a first world crown.

Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North) can still mathematically win the title, but the likelihood of that happening is becoming less and less likely. The Italian produced a better performance than yesterday as he qualified for his first winner’s final — where he finished 5th — before being eliminated in the semifinals of Eliminations 4 and 5. In Elimination 4 Iachino was involved in a photo finish in Heat 14 between himself, Valentin Brault (Exocet / XO Sails), Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / Point-7) Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) and Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne), but in the end Brault and Algret were given the verdict — with Algret producing an astonishing comeback after dropping his 3rd gybe. The margin between success and failure in that heat were a matter of centimetres for Iachino and that decision could yet prove crucial in deciding the title. Iachino then wasn't impressed with Gonzalo Costa Hoevel in Heat 14 of Race 5, after an incident as they approached the start line, but the result stood to leave Iachino disgruntled. All hopes will now be pinned on gaining 3 discards — obtained after 12 races — to keep his faint title chances alive.

Away from the battle for the title — Micah Buzianis (JP) — enjoyed a fine day as he came out on top in Race 4, while also securing a 3rd and 9th place finish in the other two races, which sees the American climb to 4th place in the event rankings.

Meanwhile, Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne), moves up one place into 2nd after qualifying for 2 out of the 3 winners’ finals today — where he finished 6th and 4th respectively.

However, Moussilmani, will face stiff competition to hold onto 2nd place with Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic) just 3 points behind him in third after backing up an excellent 2nd place in Race 4 with 10th and 7th place finishes. The Bonairean’s aggressive approach to gybing saw him continually out manoeuvre his rivals in and around the buoys and his bravery was deservedly rewarded.

Elsewhere, 17 year old local boy Basile Jacquin (RRD / Point-7), deserves a mention after once again navigating his way into the quarterfinals on two occasions today — including winning Heat 2 of Race 3.

The forecast looks as though there will be plenty more racing in store tomorrow and the sailors will meet again at 10am for the skippers’ meeting — before the action kicks off from 10:30am onwards. Make sure you don’t miss any of the warp speed slalom by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com — here you’ll be able to follow all of the action as it happens via the PWA live stream and live ticker

Women’s Current Standings After Elimination 5 — Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

1st Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails)

2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)

3rd Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360)

4th Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails)

5th Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Severne)

Men’s Current Standings After Elimination 5 — Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

1st Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North

2nd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne)

3rd Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic)

4th Micah Buzianis (JP)

5th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7)

6th Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne)

7th Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails)

8th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz)

9th Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails)

10th Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic)

Das war Tag 4:

Day 4: Offringa on the verge of world title while men’s title race heads for nail biting finale
The wind arrived late on Day 4 of the Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup to provide a fascinating conclusion to the day as further drama unfolded. With light winds — 8-20 knots — and a shorter run up to the start line there were a number of premature starts as the sailors pushed the timing to its limits.

Women’s

Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) extended her lead at the top of the event rankings as she took full advantage of Sarah-Quita Offringa’s (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) premature start in the final to add bullet number 4 to her tally. If the former two-time world champion continues her scintillating form then she has the potential to hold a perfect record when the 2nd discard comes into play at the end of the next race. — having won 4 out of the 6 eliminations completed. At the end of Day 4 Cousin now holds a 1.6 point advantage over Offringa, but the pressure will be on to perform at the top of her game with Offringa still very much within striking distance.

Meanwhile, Offringa is almost guaranteed to collect slalom world title No.2 at the end of the week as she now holds an almost unassailable 30.6 point lead over 8th place and she will be looking to end the season with a bang by battling it out with Cousin over the coming days.

Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360) consolidated her 3rd place in the event rankings with another excellent performance in Race 6 as she claimed 2nd place and with a 13 point advantage over her next closest rival — Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails) — it seems as though she has the final place on the overall podium all but sewn up.

Meanwhile, Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne), produced her best display of the week so far as she secured 3rd place in Elimination 6, which sees the Turk rise to 5th in the event rankings, overtaking fellow Turk — Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Severne) — who drops to 6th after missing out on the winners’ final for only the second time this week.

Elsewhere Japan’s Fujiko Onishi (Starboard / NeilPryde), recorded her best result so far as she sailed an excellent final to secure 4th place and finish just ahead of fellow Japanese sailor — Ayako Suzuki (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic).

Men’s

Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) had a chance to really consolidate his place at the top of the rankings, while pouring further pressure on Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz), who missed out on a place in the final, however, the 26 year was a little to eager and jumped the gun — resulting in his disqualification from Heat 16. Mortefon, though is continuing to edge towards a maiden world title and holds a significant 9.3 point lead over his next closest rival Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) and in terms of the title race there is nothing more he can do to prevent Albeau from fighting back.

After missing out on the winners’ final it was a case of damage limitation for AA in Heat 15 and he managed to do just that as he won the heat to record a 9th place finish in Race 6. Albeau’s latest result sees him rise one place to 7th, but he still has 3 places to find — as only a top 4 finish will guarantee him a 4th successive world title. At the moment Micah Buzianis (JP) occupies 4th on 32.7 points, so Albeau has it all to do as he currently has 43.9 points. If AA is able to get back on the bullet train then he will be right back in the thick of the action and he will be looking to discard his 22.5 point finish in Race 4 after the first elimination tomorrow. The final two days promise to be a nail biting affair with more twists and turns in what is proving to be a fascinating end to the 2015 PWA Men’s Slalom World Tour. Can Albeau battle back?

After Mortefon was disqualified from the winners’ final Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) seized the initiative as the Brit led from start to finish to record a well deserved bullet, which is the first time Williams has won an elimination in 3 or 4 years. This was Williams’ first winner’s final of the week and sees him rise into the top 10 after holding off a stern challenge from Malte Reuscher (JP / NeilPryde), who recorded his best result of the week in 2nd, while the same is also true of Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails), who finished 3rd which sees the Frenchman rise to 5th in the event rankings.

The home crowd made their feelings felt again today as they continued to show superb support for their local sailors and today saw a big performance from 17 year old Damien Cervera, who earned his place in the semifinals, before taking home an excellent 13th place, while 19 year old Frenchman Nicolas Goyard (RRD / Loft Sails) also received cheers after finishing 11th.

Eco-friendly and Being Green

While windsurfing of course takes centre stage the Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup also prides itself on being an Eco-friendly and green event, which is only possible thanks to the help of all the helpers and Acotred Pacifique + CSP Fidelio. Recycling is still a relatively new concept in New Caledonia, but already in the space of a few years its popularity has grown exponentially, and has been adopted by all age groups, with the locals recognising the importance of recycling and being green in order to protect and preserve the beauty of New Caledonia and its diverse marine ecosystem, A prime example of this is the simple yet effective idea of providing refillable water bottles — which reduces the amount of litter and plastic bottles needed during the event.

After a relaxed start to today’s proceedings it looks as though the wind will be back in the morning with an excellent looking forecast, so the plan will be to complete at least 2 more eliminations. Skippers’ meeting tomorrow at 10am with the action commencing from 10:30am. Don’t miss any of the high octane action by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com — here you’ll be able to watch all of the exciting racing as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Women’s Current Standings After Elimination 6— Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

1st Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails)

2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)

3rd Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360)

4th Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails)

5th Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne)

Men’s Current Standings After Elimination 6 — Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

1st Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North

2nd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne)

3rd Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic)

4th Micah Buzianis (JP)

5th Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails)

6th Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails)

7th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz)

8th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7)

9th Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne)

10th Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic)

Albeau vor dem nächsten Titel?

Day 5: Noumea delivers again as Offringa wins 2nd world title, Cousin performs perfectly & Albeau hits back
Noumea delivered more world class racing today as trade winds between 20-30 knots provided another exhilarating day of slalom, which saw the women’s world title decided, while there was another swing in what is turning out to be an epic fight for the men’s world crown.

Women’s

Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) produced another imperious display as she claimed a further two emphatic victories to hold a commanding lead at the top of event rankings as the 24 year old now holds a perfect record — having won an incredible 6 out of the 8 races completed. Barring an absolute disaster Cousin has the event title wrapped up with a day to spare, such has her dominance been at this event, which would result in her claiming second place in the overall rankings.

Meanwhile, Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins), is officially the 2015 PWA Women’s Slalom World Champion as she now cannot mathematically finish outside of the top 8. Offringa now has two slalom world titles to her name and this caps off a magnificent 2015 for the Aruban gem, who won an incredible 8th freestyle world crown earlier in the year, before also securing the final place on the prestigious podium in the waves for the first time in her career.

Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360) looks as though she has deservedly cemented 3rd place in both the event and overall rankings after another solid performance today, which saw the Turk use her blistering pace to earn two, 2nd place finishes.

Behind the top 3 — Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails), Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne) and Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Severne) — remain in 4th, 5th and 6th respectively, although there is scope for that to change tomorrow with only 8 points separating the 3 sailors and whoever beats who will climb up the overall rankings.

Men’s

Heading into the final day of the event Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz) leads the fight for the world title after hauling himself from 7th place at the end of Day 4 to 2nd by the end of play today. In the first race of the day the reigning world champion finished 3rd behind the only other man left standing in the title race — Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) — and Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails), who won Elimination 7. At this point Albeau had already moved into 3rd and therefore assumed control of the title race, but he further improved his position by claiming an emphatic victory in Race 8, which he celebrated by fist pumping the air as he crossed the finish line ahead of teammate Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde), Mortefon and Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic). However, with just one race planned for tomorrow, there is still not much room for error and tomorrow promises to see a pulsating finish to what has been an intriguing title fight.

Antoine Albeau when asked about being under pressure directly after winning: "I have the same pressure since the start of the event. It's all the same, I don't look at the results and just concentrate on trying to do my best and try not to make any human mistakes — we’ll just have to see tomorrow.”

Pierre Mortefon still leads the event and holds a significant 12.4 point advantage over Albeau, so it looks as though the 26 year old will end the season with another event victory and in terms of the title race, he has done everything he possibly can and his fate now lies in other peoples hands. Either way Mortefon has enjoyed a fantastic season and he will finish the season as the vice-world champion at a minimum, which will be the talented Frenchman’s best result yet.

As things stand Taty Frans is currently on course to achieve his first podium finish on the PWA Slalom World Tour. The Bonairean has been in terrific form over the course of the week — qualifying for 6 out of 8 winners’ finals — and holds a 5 point advantage over his closest rival Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) heading into the last day.

Cedric Bordes was the days biggest mover, which sees the 31 year old rise all the way into 6th place having been outside of the overall top 10 yesterday. Bordes produced a terrific performance in Race 7 to record his first bullet of the week as he held off the stern challenge of Pierre Mortefon and Antoine Albeau, before recording an 8th place finish in the next race.

Elsewhere Laurence Carey (Starboard / North) enjoyed an excellent day as he booked his place in a winners’ final for the first time, but unfortunately the final didn’t quite go to plan as he was involved in a major pileup with Taty Frans, Cyril Moussilmani and Malte Reuscher (JP / NeilPryde) before the start line.

Marco Lang (Fanatic / North) and Enes Yilmazer (Starboard / Severne) were involved in a collision in Heat 6, Race 8, which saw Lang take a fin to the arm, fortunately the Austrian was wearing a wetsuit top so although injuring his arm there is no break or anything more serious. Meanwhile, Yilmazer was still able to recover to claim the final qualifying place into the quarterfinals.

The forecast for tomorrow should provide a scintillating conclusion to the PWA Slalom World Tour with strong trade winds expected again. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am with the action commencing from 10:30am onwards. The plan is to run one more race for the men and two for the women. Make sure you don’t miss any of the action by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com — here you’ll be able to see everything as it happens via the PWA live stream.

Women’s Current Standings After Elimination 8 — Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

1st Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails)

2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)

3rd Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360)

4th Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails)

5th Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne)

Men’s Current Standings After Elimination 8 — Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup

1st Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North

2nd Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz)

3rd Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic)

4th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne)

5th Micah Buzianis (JP)

6th Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails)

7th Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails)

8th Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails)

9th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7)

10th Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic)

Albeau ist erneut Weltmeister:

Day 6: Albeau secures 4th consecutive world title, while Mortefon and Cousin claim the final event victories of 2015
The final day of the Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup saw huge crowds gather in Noumea to see the world’s fastest sailors battling it out one final time for 2015 — and they were treated to several hours of world class racing as winds of 20-25 knots provided a fitting finale to this year’s PWA Slalom World Tour.

Women’s

Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) continued her superb form as she claimed an emphatic victory in Elimination 9 and it looked like she should score back-to-back bullets on the last day, but she dropped her final gybe when under pressure from Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / Al360) to finish second. However, Cousin, still holds an almost perfect record with 7 victories from the 10 races completed and she finishes the season with a well deserved victory, which sees her crowned the PWA Women’s vice-world champion.

There was no pressure on Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins) entering the final day of the event with the world title already safe, but the Aruban gem still wanted to end the event on a high. For a while it looked as though she may miss out on the final winners’ final of the week as she dropped two gybes at the first and then third buoy. After the third mark Offringa found herself in second last, but somehow fought back to claim 4th place, before finishing 3rd, which sees Offringa finish the event in 2nd place.

Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360) finished the event in style as she claimed her first bullet of the week after overtaking Cousin at the final mark. Erdil has performed consistently all week and her excellent form sees the Turkish beauty complete the both event and overall podiums.

Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails) and Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne) recorded identical results today with 4th and 5th place finishes in both races — meaning that Mortefon finishes 4th here New Caledonia and in the overall rankings, with Ünlü taking home 5th.

Men’s

Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) was made to sweat it out on the final day after a premature start in Heat 14, which saw 6 sailors disqualified — Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins), Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic), Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails), Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) and Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails) — before also jumping the gun in Heat 15. In the end Albeau finishes the event in 4th place, which was just enough to see AA collect an incredible 4th consecutive world title, which is his 23rd overall world crown.

Antoine Albeau said: “It feels super good, it was bit difficult with the points because I wasn’t really sure of the scenarios, but now it feels great to win one more world title.”

Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) did everything in his power to deny Albeau the world title by winning his second event of the year, but it wasn’t quite enough with both Frenchman finishing the season on 10,269 points, but Albeau wins the title on count back having beaten Mortefon more times this season - recording a better result at 4 out of the 6 events in 2015.

With 6 sailors disqualified from the second semifinal the last winners’ final of the week saw just 6 sailors battling it out to take the last victory of the year as local boy Charles Perret (Fanatic / North) lined up against Pierre Mortefon, Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails), Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7), Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Loft Sails / Mystic) and Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North). Van der Steen made the best start to the Heat 16 and the flying Dutchman led from start to finish to end the season with a bang. Mortefon recovered from a dropped gybe to claim 2nd ahead of Cousin, who recorded his best result of the week, Iachino, Costa Hoevel and Perret.

Meanwhile, Taty Frans, completed Elimination 9 in 8th place, which secures the Bonairean a hugely deserved first podium finish on the PWA Slalom World Tour as he finishes the season off with an excellent 2nd place in Noumea.

Elsewhere Cyril Moussilmani pipped Albeau to the final place on the event podium by just 0.1 of a point, which is the Frenchman’s best result of the season.

The closing ceremony was held at 4pm and a huge crowd gathered to watch the champions of both the event and the world crowned in front of them. The last 6 days have seen some of the best racing of the season and there couldn't have been a better way to conclude the season as the sunsets on the 2015 PWA World Tour.

Overall Standings of the 2015 Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup - Women’s

1st Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails)

2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)

3rd Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360)

4th Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails)

5th Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne)

Overall Standings of the 2015 Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup - Men’s

1st Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North)

2nd Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic)

3rd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne)

4th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz)

5th Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails)

6th Micah Buzianis (JP)

7th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7)

8th Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails)

9th Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails)
10th Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North)

Overall Standings of the 2015 PWA Slalom World Tour - Women’s

1st Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails)

2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)

3rd Lena Erdil (Patrik / Point-7 / Mystic / AL360)

4th Marion Mortefon (Patrik / Gun Sails)

5th Fulya Ünlü (Starboard / Severne)

Overall Standings of the 2015 PWA Slalom World Tour - Men’s

1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz)

2nd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North)

3rd Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North)

4th Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic)

5th Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails)

6th Ben Van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails)

7th Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde)

8th Steve Allen (Starboard / Severne)

8th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne)

10th Antoine Questel (Starboard / GA Sails)