THE 2011 CATALUNYA COSTA BRAVA PWA WORLD CUP, Slalom

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Das war der dritte Tag:

Zitat von PWA

The 2011 Catalunya Costa Brava PWA World Cup

Day 3: Menacing Dunkerbeck returns to form and bags two elimination victories on a blustery third day in Catalunya.

Once again the sailors awoke to the sound of rustling trees as Catalunya’s consistent cross-shore breeze blew through the Ballena Alegre campsite.

Winds reaching around 16-20 knots provided the sailors with standout slalom conditions. The riders looked to be super comfortable cruising around the course after yesterday’s beating, allow three more eliminations to be completed.

Elimination 5

Racing kicked off with a 10am start, with conditions back to normal it was time for the regular big names to return to their posts and pass through the early heats.

The big drama came from heat 11 when Jesper Orth (RRD) collided with Ross Williams (Tabou / Gaastra). Not only playing havoc with Williams’ race he managed to catch his nose in the process requiring immediate medical attention.

The loser’s final kicked off with a false start; Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun / Dakine) was too eager crossing the line slightly early. When the whistle blew Pascal Toselli (RRD / Point -7) was quick off the mark taking the lead early on. Moving quickly round the first two gybes Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Fanatic / North Sails) and Benoit Moussilmani (Tabou / Simmer) were hot on his tail. Toselli was holding his position until the next corner, Benoit managed to muscle his way through on the inside and take the lead. Determined to hold his position he bore away hard and increased the gap, claiming victory miles ahead of the rest of the pack.

An extremely exciting final saw Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / DunkerbeckEyewear) come flying out the starting gates and around the first mark. On recognizing his arch rivals return Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde) attempted to cut Dunkerbeck’s corner and take the inside line, costing him precious speed. Heading towards the 4th mark it was a two man show-down, both sailors really working the revs and traveling at full speed. Dunkerbeck managed to slide around the corner early and quickly put his foot on the gas leaving Albeau in his wake, to claim his first race victory at this event.

Elimination 6

Moving quickly into elimination 6 the wind was showing signs of dropping, blowing between 12-18 knots causing the sailors to upsize their equipment to sails around 8.6m

Heat 13 stood out in this elimination, the sailors were obviously fired up and trying to force their way into the final. Pushing the starts too hard, Angulo and Benoit Moussilmani lost out early to the winner’s final causing heat 13 to be restarted twice.

Arnon Dagan (Tabou / Gaastra) sprung over the start line, closely followed by Angulo and Julien Quentel (RRD/ NeilPryde). The whole pack made it clean around the first mark and onto the straight. Angulo unleashed and push his way to the front, opening up a huge gap away from the rest of the pack.

The winner’s final opened with a casual start the sailors were playing it cautiously not wanting to make a mistake early on. Micah Buzianis (JP / NeilPryde) took the lead around the first mark and Albeau dropped his gybe causing Dunkerbeck to pile into the back of him. Buzianis, Peter Volwater (Fanatic / MauiSails) and Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard / Loft / Mystic) led the charge around the second and third marks. Fired up Dunkerbeck cut his way upwind allowing him to unleash the fury over the pack, boosting his position from 6th – 2nd . With Buzianis in his sights he managed to squeeze out some more speed on the straight claiming first place for the second time today.

Elimination 7

After a short stop for lunch and a quick reset of the course, it was time once again to pick up the action and continue into the third elimination of the day.

An efficient set of heats saw the early round breeze by; Finian Maynard (RRD) looked back on form after a catastrophic start to the competition. He sailed his way all the way to the winner’s final securing third place.

Van Der Steen and Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North) lost out before the finals, making more room for Dunkerbeck to cruise through.

The loser’s final was really a three man race. Angulo’s aggressive starts paid off as he shot out way in front. Williams and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North Sails) were looking really tight chasing behind. At the second mark Williams had stolen the lead and he held it all the way to the third and fourth. A stumbled gybe from Williams put Mortefon in with a chance, but a quick recovery allowed him to pull on the power and blast over the finish line.

In the closing race of the day Albeau fought back, taking the start line from really high, leaving Dunkerbeck buried at the back. Cruising around the second and third corner Albeau opened up a tremendous gap. Dunkerbeck managed to reel in the rest of the pack but he was unable to make up the distance Albeau had created. Albeau absolutely stormed this final expressing his determination to make this stop on the tour his own.

After a great day of racing Bjorn Dunkerbeck gave us an insight into how he thought the competition was going.

“Today went a lot better than the last two days, I started with a crash at the first mark of the elimination 1 semi-final, and in the second semi-final I broke a mast and didn’t make it through then. Yesterday I was way over board and over sailed, my smallest kit is 90 liters and 6.2m. I was not expecting wind like that anywhere this year. Today worked really well on my 7.8 and 107 liter, I won two. I had a bad start on the final race and there was no way of catching up. I am happy with the way things went today and I hope we get some more racing tomorrow.”

Tune in tomorrow morning for the skippers meeting at 9:30am and a first possible start to racing at 10. See you then.

Results

1st Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde)
2nd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North Sails)
3rd Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / /Mystic /DunkerbeckEyewear)
4th Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard / Loft Sails / Mystic)
5th Julien Quentel (Fanatic / MauiSails)

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Kein Wind an Tag 4:

Zitat von PWA

The 2011 Catalunya Costa Brava PWA World Cup
Day 4: Frustrating fluctuating conditions slow down the pace in Costa Brava.
This morning the world’s fastest sailors were greeted with Catalunya’s more gentle side, providing them with an opportunity to rest any niggling injuries and take a step back to form new strategies for the races ahead.
As the morning progressed and the skies cleared the sailors tuned their equipment whilst keeping one eye on the switching wind. The onshore breeze took a turn for the better as midday approached allowing four heats of elimination 8 to be completed. With winds blowing between 8-12 knots on the inside marks the sailors took to the water on their biggest equipment.
Four heats took place seeing Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun / Dakine), Micah Buzianis (JP / NeilPryde), Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard / Loft / Mystic) and Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) claim the number one spots and sail through to round two.
Controversy raised its ugly head in the final heat of the day. Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North) was in an unfortunate position at the start and failed to plane off the line, whilst the rest of the pack caught a lucky gust and pulled away leaving him in 6 place and unable to advance further in this elimination. His protests that the wind was not strong enough fell on deaf ears as the race committee had been carefully monitoring the wind to ensure it was above the minimum threshold of 7 knots. Moussilmani will have to keep his fingers crossed this elimination won’t count in order to maintain his podium position.
Following this heat Maciek Rutkowski’s (Tabou / Gaastra) premature start resulted is his demise from this round. Competition remained on standby for the remainder of the day as it switched back to the morning’s onshore direction, insufficient for racing.
The PWA took the moments of down time to put a few questions to the sailors.
Peter Volwater (Fanatic / MauiSails)
How is the racing going for you?
“I went pretty well, I started off in 3rd in the first day but I have slipped down to 6th. I would have liked to have done a couple more races so that I could have a couple more discards, but the wind is looking a bit light now. It was really fun to do some high wind racing again, and that is definitely what we got. I was prepared with my 5.5 and 58 liter wide board. I sailed some high wind before this event and got a little bit of an injury on my shin and could hardly walk yesterday morning. I took some ibuprofen and I was happy to hang-in where I was but having a rest day today is good timing for me.”
Arnon Dagan (Tabou / Gaastra)
How do you deal with the strong winds?
“It is kind of hard, even though we are training all year round, you don’t get that many days of wind like that. It is a surprise, you have to rely on your knowledge and you go into your survival settings, longer harness lines and bigger footstraps at the front and a much more controllable fin. Once you get into the groove it is ok”
Jesper Orth (RRD)
Could you talk us through your big crash?
“It was the quarter final, usually I try to go furthest downwind. I was in a position where there were a lot of people. In front of me Ross Williams (Tabou / Gaastra) and another guy were really close to the mark, I tried to go on the inside but there was no room. Not only did I take Ross out and fall in, the guy behind me hit me in the head with his board. Looking back I was quite lucky it must have just been the rail, but I got a full impact on my nose. I went straight to the beach to get it checked out because you never know what is going on and you have a lot of adrenaline. But it feels ok today.”
Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Fanatic / North Sails)
What has been your wildest moment so far?
“My wildest moment was on the second loser’s final of event. It was the windiest race and the water was blowing everywhere. We were all on our big gear as it just picked up on the start. On the final straight I could see Jimmy Diaz (Starboard / North Sails) in front of me trying to survive to finish. I saw the opportunity and tried to go full power, I managed to pass him but on the finish I catapulted and completely exploded; for me this was the most exciting moment of the competition.
Ludovic Jossin (Loft)
Could you talk us through your massive jump?
“It was early in the morning and I was the first on the water, there were some big waves and the wind was quite side shore. I went out full speed and hit the wave like I was on my wave gear. I managed to fly really high, it was really cool and I was in control. The photo looks great!”
Chris Pressler (Starboard / Severne)
What is your most memorable moment?
“My two most memorable moment were: one day we had massive wind, I crashed on the way out and spun the whole way around with my sail like a spin loop into the waterstart position, It felt like I was going around 60kmph. My second moment was when I had the chance to qualify for the top 16. Fully powered on my 5.6m I was flying but I went a bit too wide at the inside mark, it was windsurfing at its best I never knew I could go so fast.”
This leaves the results untouched for today:
Results

1st Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde)
2nd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North)
3rd Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic /DunkerbeckEyewear)
4th Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard / Loft / Mystic)
5th Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde)

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Das war der letzte Tag 6:

Zitat von PWA

The 2011 Catalunya Costa Brava PWA World Cup
Day 6: Albeau cleans up in Costa Brava claiming his first event of the year whilst last minute wind puts a critical spin on the event standings.
A sluggish start to the day in Costa Brava saw a morning of minimal action. Overcast skies put a pause on the thermal wind allowing the tension to mount as the day progressed. Two o’clock came and went marking the release of the sailors that were no longer in the final elimination whilst the rest of the fleet waited anxiously on the water’s edge. As the afternoon continued hopes of any wind began to fade, but as the old saying goes ‘it’s not over until the fat lady sings.’
In true Catalunya style the thermal kicked in between 8-13 knots, just enough to complete elimination 8 and enabling some last minute drama to unfold.
Six more heats down and we were into the winner’s final. Alberto Menegatti (Starboard/ Gaastra) took off with a great start closely followed by Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / DunkerbeckEyewear). With little to lose Antoine Albeau (JP/ NeilPryde) looked to be taking it easy hanging back with the rest of the pack. Menegatti and Dunkerbeck continued to work their way further in front as the marks passed by, seeing Menegatti claim his first PWA race and the legendary “sailor of day” award.
The loser’s final saw the wind dropping off slightly and the sailors really had to work their way around the course often coming to a complete stop at the marks. Micah Buzianis (JP / NeilPryde) put in an awe-inspiring performance grafting hard to keep his kit on the plane in-order to maintain first the whole way around. Ross Williams (Tabou / Gaastra) worked his way from 4th to 3rd overtaking Jesper Orth (RRD) on the third leg. Ludovic Jossin (Loft) put in a consistent performance holding second from start to finish.
This turn of results took Bjorn Dunkerbeck into second place, Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard /Loft / Mystic) into third and Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North) down into fourth.
Quotes from the Champions
We caught up with the newly crowned event winners to get their thoughts on taking their respective event titles.
1st Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde)
“I am feeling good; this is the first event I have won this year. I did really well at the beginning winning four races in a row, and then a 2nd and 3rd. Today was hard so I didn’t want to push too much. Now I am feeling confident for the rest of the season”
2nd Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / DunkerbeckEyewear)
“I feel great, I started off pretty average but I recovered every single day, I think we were pretty lucky to get the last round in the final hours. I managed to perform how I wanted making me second at this event, and most importantly a second place is great for the overall ranking. I am very happy”
3rd Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard /Loft / Mystic)
“This competition was incredible, I finished in third. This is my first podium position at a PWA event. We had strong wind and light wind we had everything, the conditions were amazing and I am really pleased”
The closing ceremony ended with an element of fun when competitors were awarded their own local ‘porons’ of wine.
Results
1st Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde) 5.5
2nd Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / DunkerbeckEyewear) 21.4
3rd Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard /Loft / Mystic) 24.0
4th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North) 32.0
5th Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) 34.0
6th Peter Volwater (Fanatic / MauiSails) 39.0
7th Pascal Toselli (RRD / Point-7) 50.5
8th Micah Buzianis (JP / NeilPryde) 53.5
9th Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun / Dakine) 54.0
10th Sylvain Moussilmani (Tabou / Simmer) 57.5
A massive congratulation to Antoine Albeau for claiming 1st place at the 2011 Catalunya Costa Brava PWA World Cup!
This turn of events keeps Bjorn Dunkerbeck at the top of the pile in the overall rankings closely followed by Antoine Albeau.
Back on the road
The PWA team will now be heading over the pond to the beautiful island of Bonaire for round three of the Freestyle world cup taking place on June 12th - June 16th. The island’s trade winds provide perfect, steady conditions for flat-water sailing in the beautiful Lac Bay. Where shallow waters and a clear sandy bottom will provide an excellent environment for the world’s top freestylers to do battle.

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Ja, wenn denn Serienmaterial verwendet würde.

Auf den nicht vorhandenen Serienstatus von Albeau's Material wurde die PWA mehrfach von zig Leuten aufmerksam gemacht. Getan hat sie nichts ausser zu erklären, daß es ja eigentlich ganz anders sei und sie sich weder personell noch technisch in der Lage sieht, die eigenen Regeln durchzusetzen.
Zig Fahrer mit Nicht-Serienboards, umgenähten Segeln, umgeshapten Boards (Heckbereich), mehrere Boards mit unterschiedlicher Breite und identischen Seriennummern, 2 aufgeriggten Segeln mit identischer Größe am Strand (um Zeit zu sparen, das eine dann im kleineren Board, es darf aber nur eines verwendet werden).

Das ist eine Sauerei und völlig unsportlich!