Day 4 con finalmente le “classiche” condizioni da Fuerteventura. A2 torna a comandare la classifica mentre il nostro Matteo Iachino perde posizioni e dal terzo posto di ieri, scivola al 6° nella classifica provvisoria. Andrea Ferin (RRD, Challenger Sails) ci aggiorna.
Antoine Albeau
Oggi finalmente abbiamo avuto un assaggino delle vere condizioni di Fuerte, motocross con 90 e 7.1! Nel primo tabellone era ancora un po’ leggero da 7.8 e tavola media, ma nel secondo della giornata ventone finalmente e choppo incrociato con lo swell che è cresciuto con la marea durante la giornata. Il vento anche se forte è stato comunque molto rafficato ed era difficile scegliere fra 7.0 e 6.4. Oggi Matteo ha avuto una giornata dura, ma alla fine fra le avversità se le cavata bene! Malte ha qualche poblemino e scende un po’ in classifica, Cucchi si qualifica a una finale perdenti ma viene squalificato per essere partito erroneamente nella heat sbagliata… Bruno Martini sfrutta un bel colpo di fortuna, nonostante abbia rotto l’albero subito prima del via alla prima qualifica, 4 concorrenti fanno over early e passa a tavolino hai quarti dove totalizza il suo miglior punteggio del campionato con un 22,5! Rosati ha fatto un buon 18,5 nel secondo tabellone di oggi con il ventone, appena davanti a me che gli ho chiuso subito dietro!
In generale è stata una giornata adrenalinica, piena di colpi di scena, scontri e catapulte. Il migliore è stato Enrico Marotti che è catapultato al secondo bordo con le onde in faccia, ha praticamente distrutto la vela ed è rimasto indenne!
La giornata è finita a metà degli ottavi del 7° tabellone che finiremo domani e ci permetterà di ottenere il 2° scarto. Allora domani tutti on line per le 10:30 a seguire il live streaming!!! Per vedere come finirà!
Max Brunetti (RRD, Challenger Sails) aggiunge: “Quella di ieri è stata una giornata impegnativa e molto lunga, vento e onde di marea non hanno certamente reso facile la competizione, il problema era l’onda formata dal salire della marea che si scontrava con i chop formati dal forte vento che ha soffiato per tutto il giorno a 25/30 kts. In particolare l’ultima strambata era quella più difficile perché spesso arrivava un set di onde e la velocità dei rider era elevata, io stesso ho avuto problemi, essendo nella coda del gruppo ero impegnato nel tentativo di guadagnare posizioni, sono arrivato a tutta velocità alla boa, ero nel gruppo con spazi ristretti e ho dovuto trovare il time giusto per estrarre il piede dalla strap e strambare senza uccidere qualcuno.
Alla mattina è stato concluso il tabellone del giorno precedente iniziando dalla heat number 8! A seguire altri 2 tabelloni più uno che termineremo questa mattina, che poi è anche giornata conclusiva, il vento è già in aumento, credo che oggi ne vedremo delle belle!”.
Classifica provvisoria dopo 6 tabelloni Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam:
1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)
2nd Pascal Toselli (Starboard / Point-7)
3rd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North)
4th Ben Van Der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic)
5th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne)
6th Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North Sails / LSD Fins)
FUERTEVENTURA PWA GRAND SLAM
Day 4: Antoine Albeau strikes back after an amazing day in Fuerteventura
The wind returned with a vengeance on day four of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam, hosted by René Egli, as winds of 25-35 knots howled across Sotavento to produce the most exhilarating racing of the year. Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) was on fire today as he claimed two victories out of the three eliminations completed to storm to the top of the event rankings, whilst Ben Van Der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) clinched his first victory of the week in race four.
Elimination Four
Winners’ Final
The first winners’ final of the day started under dramatic circumstances as both Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde) and Finian Maynard (RRD / Avanti) jumped the gun to be disqualified. Upon the restart Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun Sails) made the best start of the fleet, but a flying Ben Van Der Steen had burst into the lead by the opening mark. The Dutchman maintained his blistering pace to extend his lead over the remainder of the course and he was soon celebrating his first bullet of the week. Behind him Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) turned on the afterburners on the final straight to beat Angulo to second place, whilst Pascal Toselli (Starboard / Point-7) completed the top four after managing to overtake Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Loft Sails) and Taty Frans (Starboard / MauiSails / Mystic / MFC).
Earlier in the fourth race, heat twelve saw a photo finish as Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) and Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) all battled for the final two qualifying positions. At the penultimate gybe it looked as though Quentel and Williams were comfortably advancing, but a rampaging Costa Hoevel soon put his name into the equation. As the trio raced down the final straight their was just a few metres between them as they crossed the finish line and unfortunately Quentel was the man to miss out on the semifinals.
Bruno Martini
Elimination Five
Winners’ Final
The second winners’ final also need two attempts to be completed after Josh Angulo mistimed his start to be disqualified from heat sixteen. Reigning PWA World Champion – Antoine Albeau – sailed the perfect heat as he led from start to finish to clinch his first victory of the event, but more importantly also saw the big Frenchman move to the top of the leaderboard by half a point over Pascal Toselli. Ben Van Der Steen was able to back up his earlier success with a solid second place ahead of Julien Quentel and Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne), who finished in third and fourth respectively.
Today was clearly Bruno Martini’s (RRD / RRD) lucky day. The Italian suffered a broken mast just a few minutes before his opening heat, but still managed to advance after Kasper Larsen (Starboard / Loft Sails), Damien Le Guen (Exocet) and Aron Etmon (Starboard / Severne / Dunkerbeck Eyewear) all jumped the gun to give Martini, Josh Angulo, Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Chris Benz / Dunkerbeck Eyewear) and Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails) byes into the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North) made an incredible recovery in heat ten as he battled his way back from seventh place at the opening gybe to clinch fourth place after a photo finish with Antoine Questel (Starboard / Loft Sails.)
Elimination Six
The door was thrown wide open for Antoine Albeau in the sixth race as both Pascal Toselli and Ben Van Der Steen failed to qualify for the winners’ final. Prior to this the duo were sat in second and third place, only half a point and a point behind Albeau, respectively. Albeau actually looked as though he too would be taking an early exit after dropping his opening gybe in the quarterfinals, but remarkably managed to claw his way back from seventh place at the first mark to fourth by the penultimate gybe after showing incredible straight line speed and text book gybes.
Winners’ Final
Antoine Albeau consolidated his place at the top of the event rankings in the last winners final of the day. However, it wasn’t plain sailing for Albeau as he entered the first gybe in fourth place behind Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde), who flew down the opening straight to obtain the lead ahead of Micah Buzianis (JP / MauiSails) and Bjorn Dunkerbeck. Albeau stepped on the gas though and broke into the lead by the second mark, a position he wouldn’t relinquish, which now gives him a comfortable lead at the top. Behind him there was plenty of drama as Buzianis was taken out by Ludovic Jossin (Patrik / Loft Sails) at the third, allowing Pierre Mortefon and Ross Williams to move up to the third and fourth with Quentel claiming his best result so far – second.
The seventh elimination was started, but the wind became more inconsistent during the early evening meaning only the first five heats could be completed. With the wind showing no signs of improving the sailors were released at twenty past six after an incredible day of racing. The forecast predicts further wind for tomorrow, but slightly lighter than today. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 10:30am. Don’t miss any of the incredible action by tuning into www.pwaworldtour.com where you’ll be able to follow the event as it happens via the PWA live stream and live ticker.
If you’d like to know more about Fuerteventura or are interested in a windsurfing holiday then be sure to visit www.rene-egli.com. René Egli is a world class windsurfing centre, which opened an amazing new station in April, stocked with all the latest toys you could possibly desire.
Ben Proffit e Dani Aeberli, i commentatori del Live Streaming
FOTO John Carter
