PWA Worldtour 10. - 14 Mai Torbole

Slalom set to return to Italy for first time in 11 years as world’s best racers prepare to battle it out in beautiful Lake Garda

Winter training is over and the final preparations are almost complete, which means the world’s best racers are raring to fly out of the starting blocks and kick off the 2023 PWA Slalom World Tour in style. The season opener takes place in beautiful Lake Garda as the PWA returns to Italy for the first time in just over a decade for the Torbole PWA World Cup, which takes place between 10th-14th May.

Located in northern Italy, Lake Garda is world renowned for its staggering beauty, however, it’s not just its natural beauty that makes Garda famous as it also reliably produces thermal winds (The Pelér and Ora) thanks to its unique geography and towering mountains, which have made it a haven for wind enthusiasts from around the world. The Ora, or south wind, is the most well known wind on Garda and it usually blows around 15 knots plus from noon to 1pm onwards until sunset on a typical sunny day in spring and summer. Over the next 5 days Lake Garda will host the elite of the racing world - bringing world class racing to your living rooms from one of the most picturesque windsurfing destinations on earth.

Torbole PWA World Cup Official Event Poster

Slalom

Women’s

With the notable absentees of Delphine Cousin Questel (FMX Racing / S2Maui) and Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins), both of whom are multiple-time slalom world champions, defending champion - Marion Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone / LOKEFOIL) - is the only world champion in the women’s line up, which makes her the obvious favourite in Italy. The 31-year-old produced an almost faultless performance in Japan at the end of last year to clinch her second world crown and she will be an ominous force to stop here.

Marion Mortefon

It looks as though Mortefon’s main threats will come from last year’s vice-world champion - Justine Lemeteyer (FMX Racing / S2Maui / LOKEFOIL), who hit the ground running in her debut event by not finishing outside the top 5 in any of the five eliminations completed.

Justine Lemeteyer

Elsewhere, Spain’s Blanca Alabau (Starboard / Severne Sails) is another name that should be in the hunt for the podium positions, whilst the British duo of Sarah Jackson (Fanatic / Duotone) and Jenna Gibson (Fanatic / Duotone) will also be hoping to be in contention.

Blanca Alabau

Meanwhile, local girls Caterina Biagiolini (Patrik) and Anna Biagiolini (Patrik / Challenger Sails / AL360), who is a Youth European and Italian champion, will be hoping to take advantage on their home waters.

Men’s

With just 200 points separating 1st-4th last year it’s incredibly difficult to predict who will come out on top in the men’s division, which is part of the reason that slalom is so exciting at the moment. Reigning world champion - Maciek Rutkowski (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails) - will be hoping to make a flying start to his title defence, but he will have his work cut out by a myriad of sailors. The Pole had to endure an emotional rollercoaster on his way to a maiden world crown last year, so that should stand him in good stead for whatever is thrown at him.

Maciek Rutkowski

Some of those threats will come in the shape of Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails), who was the only man to claim a place on the podium at both events in 2022. The Italian agonisingly missed out on a second world title on countback and will be hoping to make a strong start to the season in his home country.

Matteo Iachino

Enrico Marotti (JP / NeilPryde) signed off 2022 in style as the Croat secured his first event victory on the World Tour, and the final place on the overall podium, with a storming finish to the event in Japan, which saw win two out of the final three races to come out on top. If Marotti can pick up where he left off then he could well be a serious force to be reckoned with for the season ahead.

Enrico Marotti

Former Freestyle world champion - Amado Vrieswijk (Future Fly / Severne Sails) - has switched his focus to racing and having won a foil event in Costa Brava in 2018, the Bonairean showed his credentials again last year by winning the Sylt Windsurf World Cup in dramatic fashion as he pipped Maciek Rutkowski to the event title in the last elimination of the event. If things had have gone slightly more in favour of the 27-year-old then a first racing world title wouldn’t have been far away as a 5th place in Japan would’ve been enough to secure him the crown - however he just missed out in 7th place. Expect to see him in and around the podium places again.

Amado Vrieswijk

2021 world champion - Nicolas Goyard (Phantom / Phantom Sails / Phantom Foils) - looked slightly out of sorts in Germany when he could only record a 9th place finish, but the Frenchman started to find his groove again in Japan, securing a solid second place and he should be there or thereabouts again.

Nicolas Goyard

Other notable names in with a decent chance include last year’s World No.6 Mateus Isaac (Severne / Severne Sails), 2022 world champion Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins / Phantom Foils), who will be looking to bounce back after missing out on a place in the overall top 3 for the first time in seven years such has been his consistency at the very top of the game. Young Dane Johan Soe (FMX Racing / Point-7) enjoyed an outstanding first season on tour - recording two top 10 finishes - 5th and 7th places respectively - to finish 8th overall, whilst the likes of flying Dutchman Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / Duotone) and France’s Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Patrik Sails / Chopper Fins / Phantom Foils, who finished 2019 as the Foil vice-world champion will be hoping to challenge for the top 10 and beyond as will William Huppert (Fanatic / Duotone / Phantom Foils) and Nico Prien (JP / NeilPryde), whilst Vincent Langer (Fanatic / Duotone) also returns to the fleet.

Mateus Isaac

Elsewhere, the other Italians in the fleet will be hoping to make a mark in their home event such as; Bruno Martini (JP / NeilPryde) and Ennio dal Pont (I-99 / Challenger Sails).

Bruno Martini

Overall, the next 5 days promise to produce a thrilling opening to the much awaited season, with rail-to-rail racing set to make place against an absolutely stunning backdrop. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com between 10th-14th May to see how the the opening event of the season unfolds. You’ll be able to follow the action as it happens via the PWA live stream with Ben Proffitt to guide you through the best of the action.

You can stay up to date with all the latest developments from Italy— including live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply by clicking HERE and scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Also if you don’t already, follow us on our Social Media Channels:

- Facebook: @PWAWorldTourWindsurfing

- Instagram: @pwaworldtour

- Twitter: @pwaworldtour

- YouTube: @pwaworldtour

Schedule For Day 1: (All Times GMT+2)

Registration: 09:00-10:30am

Skippers’ Meeting: 11am

First Possible Start: 12:30pm

After a quiet opening day we caught up with last year’s World No.3 Enrico Marotti

The inaugural day of the 2023 Torbole PWA World Cup saw a quiet start to proceedings with a thick layer of cloud engulfing Lake Garda and preventing the usually reliable local thermal effect from kicking in. Earlier in the day a total of 61 sailors - 50 men and 11 women - signed up for the upcoming contest.

Overlooking Lake Garda

With the wind remaining light throughout we took the opportunity to quickly catchup with last year’s World No.3 - Enrico Marotti (JP / NeilPryde).

Enrico Marotti

Hey Enrico, you had a great finish to last year winning your first event on the tour…

“Yeah, it was a nice, amazing feeling. And it was a great experience. It's why we are train and work so hard. It's nice to see that it pays off.”

Does that give you more confidence coming into this year having won the event?

“It's new a year, everything is new. So we work hard on our equipment with Neil Pryde sails, NeilPryde Foils and with JP boards. So I train a lot in the winter. And I feel good. So I just have to focus on my sailing. Let's see what what will happen this season, it will definitely be interesting. There are new rules for this season, which means we can have only two wings. I already saw at registration that people are choosing really different wind sizes. So yeah, let's see, in the end it's a compromise. I think we have really good equipment, I feel ready to fight and it will come down to me focusing on my sailing and sailing as I know and as I can. So I’ll try to do that consistently and just see.”

And in terms of winter training what were you doing and where were you?

"I was in Tenerife for three and a half months and we were training very hard there, tuning the equipment etc. When I came home I was also 10 days here in Lake Garda to be here a little bit earlier in the month. I feel good. I feel ready, I feel excited to be back on the racing course and especially to be here in Garda, it's a beautiful place that provides us wind. At the moment we don't have such a good forecast, but it's something we cannot influence and we shouldn't worry about - it's nature, it's why we love it so much because it's unpredictable. In the end we just try to adapt the best we can to the situation and make the event happen. We all know it's a windy place, so even if there is not much wind, we will still try to do something and I’m definitely sure we will still race."

This is one of the few events where it's freshwater rather than saltwater. Do you think that makes a lot of difference?

"Definitely it's a bit different place you know it's fast place, it's fast water, so it will be interesting to watch to follow, and it will be also interesting to race because it is a bit different. I believe you need to tune your gear differently and you need to adapt, but I'm sure all the guys did that and all the all the guys adapt. Everyone is prepared because most of us came here quite early. We are already and I believe it will be quite an interesting event."

A lot of people at home like to know what you guys are riding… So what equipment have you registered?

"I have registered the following:

Six sails: 8.7m, 7.7m, 6.7m, 5.7m and 5.1m for Foil say and for the thin sails a 5.6m

Boards I registered a 88 Hydrofoil JP, 81 Hydrofoil JP and 62.5. Slalom fin board

For the foils I registered an 82 front wing, 72 front wing, and 95 NeilPryde mast, the fuselage is 105 and 95 and the back wings are 380 and 400."

Thanks, Enrico. Good luck for the event.

The forecast for tomorrow still currently predicts relatively heavy cloud cover and further rain, but some of the locals think there is a chance of wind in the morning, so an early skippers’ meeting has been called for 7am (GMT+2) with the action commencing from 7:45am onwards - if conditions are suitable.

Forecast for the next couple of days

You can stay up to date with all the latest developments from Italy— including live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply by clicking HERE and scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Also if you don’t already, follow us on our Social Media Channels:

- Facebook: @PWAWorldTourWindsurfing

- Instagram: @pwaworldtour

- Twitter: @pwaworldtour

- YouTube: @pwaworldtour