PWA Costa Brava 2011 – Event Summary

PWA Costa Brava 2011

The 2011 Catalunya Costa Brava PWA World Cup – Event Summary: Costa Brava delivers outstanding slalom conditions seeing Albeau claim his first victory of the year. 

Round 3 of the PWA World Tour Slalom took place in the beautiful Bay of Roses, located in the Costa Brava region of Catalunya, Spain. It was slalom sailing at its best, hammering winds meant massive action allowing 8 eliminations to take place.

Hosted on the Ballena Alegre camping resort, the entrants all stay on-site in bungalows surrounding the race HQ, and just 50 meters from the beach.

Competition opened up straight away as the local Tramontana wind turned it on directly after registration. The race crew laid down an enormous four-gybe downwind course, to test the world’s best to the maximum. Winds blowing 30 knots ensured 7 races could be completed in the first three days and a further elimination was spread out over the remainder of the event.

Battling through the high winds Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde) managed to secure himself a massive lead, taking the top position in the first four rounds. As the week progressed the conditions calmed allowing Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / Dunkerbeck Eyewear) to return to form, nabbing a pair of firsts of his own. Not wanting to lose out on his event winner status Albeau put in a stunning performance, absolutely dominating the 7th race.

The conditions really backed off for elimination 8, spread over three days. It wasn’t until the closing hour of the competition that Catalunya provided winds strong enough to compete. With little to lose Albeau looked to be taking things easy.  Dunkerbeck came in second, enough to boost his ranking at this event and hold onto the series title. Special mention has to go to Alberto Menegatti (Starboard/ Gaastra) for winning his first PWA race.

Race by race

Elimination 1 – Battle commences

The big names returned to Catalunya to prove that experience pays, off easily cruising through the early heats. Dunkerbeck fell victim to a crashed gybe at the first mark of the semi-finals and failed to qualify for the winner final.

With Dunkerbeck missing in the winners final Antoine Albeau took the opportunity to get a notch on the bed post and mark his return, having played second fiddle to Dunkerbeck in the previous two events.

Elimination 2- Costa Brava carnage

Peter Volwater (Fanatic / MauiSails) and Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun / Dakine) claimed first place positions all the way to the winner’s final where they went on to take third and sixth place respectively.

Dunkerbeck took two big hits in the semi-final resulting in a broken mast and again missing out on a place in the winners final.

The loser’s final saw the Tramontana hitting speeds of 30 knots at the start line catching many of the sailors out who were still on their big gear. The sailors were barely able to hold on as they blasted around the course.

Albeau cleaned up in the second elimination by sailing the perfect round, securing first place in each heat and a well-earned victory in the winner’s final.

Elimination 3- Tearing Tramontana

Costa Brava delivered a day to remember with a cross shore breeze blowing well above 40 knots. Complex slalom conditions took the sailors to the limit. Many of them struggled to complete the course in the early heats; with gear too big, the wind proved too much to contend with.

Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North) put in a sterling performance, his childhood high wind experiences obviously paying off, as he took down challengers heat by heat.

Albeau pushed the start hard in the winner’s final but a drag race down the straight put Cyril in first. Albeau’s spectacular gybe saw him take the inside line and distance himself from the rest of the pack. It came down to Cyril and Pascal Toselli (RRD/ Point- 7) to fight it out for 2nd and 3rd.

Elimination 4- Survival mode

The wind was still howling for elimination 4 but by this time the sailors were well tuned into the crazy conditions.

The loser’s final was a really tidy affair. Faultless sailing in this heat kept the pack really close together until the final marks. Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) battled his way to the winning post closely followed by Micah Buzianis (JP / NeilPryde) and Ludovic Jossin (Loft).

Dunkerbeck’s debut in the winner’s final saw him off to a slow start but his spectacular sailing saw him push past the fleet into 3rd place. Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard / Loft Sails / Mystic) erupted out of the starting gates, but he was unable to match Albeau’s straight line speed. Albeau stole this race with a win well over 100m.

Elimination 5- Rise of Dunkerbeck

The Tramontana dropped it down a notch for day three’s racing, providing much more comfortable conditions for the sailors to compete in.

Angulo’s demise came early on in the losers final before they were even racing; his premature start ensured an early exit. Benoit Moussilmani (Tabou / Simmer) took first place having dueled all the way to the finish line with Toselli.

An electric final marked the return of Dunkerbeck. Timing the start to perfection he flew in front of the fleet. Albeau’s attempt to take his inside line only resulted in a loss of speed. It came down to a man on man showdown at the final mark where a stunning gybe from Dunkerbeck forced him up front providing him with enough ground to win.

Elimination 6 – Dunkerbeck’s double

Reduced winds put the sailors on their biggest gear racing on sails around 8.6m for elimination 6.

The winner’s final saw the sailors take it easy on the start line, not wanting to make a mistake at this crucial point in the competition. Buzianis took the lead around the first mark, drama came when Albeau dropped his gybe causing Dunkerbeck to pile into the back of him. Buzianis, Volwater and Van Der Steen led the charge around the second and third marks. Dunkerbeck managed to gain enough ground in the upwind bank to turn on the after burners and boost his position from 6th-1st.

Elimination 7 – Albeau strikes back

Van Der Steen and Cyril Moussilmani’s early demise saw them open up more room for Dunkerbeck to make it into the winner’s final.

Three men stole the show in the losers final; Angulo’s aggressive start put him in the lead early. Ross Williams (Tabou / Gaastra) and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) fought it out for 2nd and 3rd until the fourth mark. Williams’s return came on the final straight taking down Angulo and Mortefon.

Albeau stormed the winner’s final of elimination 7 opening up a tremendous gap early on; this race was his from the start.

Elimination 8 – Frustrating Fluctuations

Spread over three days, elimination 8 fell victim to inconsistent conditions. The sailors waited patiently for the thermal to kick in each afternoon. It wasn’t until the closing hours of the competition that Catalunya provided enough wind creating a turn in the results.

Menegatti managed to bag his first PWA race leaving Dunkerbeck to take second moving his event score up a notch whilst knocking Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North) down into fourth.

Winners Quote

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”

Event 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

Current overall standings
Men (after 3 events)

1st Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / DunkerbeckEyewear)

2nd Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde)

3rd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North)

4th Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard /Loft / Mystic)

5th Peter Volwater (Fanatic / MauiSails)

6th Josh Angulo (Angulo / Gun / Dakine)

7th Jimmy Diaz (Starboard / North)

8th Micah Buzianis (JP/ NeilPryde)

9th Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde)

10th Benoit Moussilmani (Tabou / Simmer)

Congratulations to Antoine Albeau for coming 1st at the Catalunya Costa Brava PWA World Cup.

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 Jun 12 – Jun 16 2011. The island’s trade winds provide perfect, steady conditions for flat-water sailing in 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.

Scope the action

For information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with every piece of the action, navigate to www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our: 
• Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins
• Check live elimination ladders
• View results
• Read daily news summaries
• Browse awesome action photo galleries

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Click here to read more: boards» Windsurfing News

PWA Costa Brava 2011 – Day 6

Costa Brava 2011 winners Bjorn Dunkerbeck (2nd) and Antoine Albeau (1st(

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.

Scope the action

For information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with every piece of the action, navigate to www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our: 
• Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins
• Check live elimination ladders
• View results
• Read daily news summaries
• Browse awesome action photo galleries

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Click here to read more: boards» Windsurfing News

PWA Costa Brava 2011 – Day 5

The 2011 Catalunya Costa Brava PWA World Cup – Day 5: The tension mounts but calm conditions continue to plague Costa Brava.

The event site has taken on a carnival vibe as swarms of spectators have headed to Ballena Alegre to boogie to the beat, flash some flesh in the weekend sun and witness slalom’s finest strut their stuff.

A quiet morning on the wind front put the sailors in a lethargic mood allowing them to catch up on sleep, read books and browse the Internet. Caught off-guard at the turn of 12 when the wind switched, pushing above 7 knots.

Four more heat were completed seeing Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde) squeeze through to round 2 with a fourth place finish, even on his 9.5m he struggled to plane down the final straight and over the finish line.

Stealing the top spots Sylvain Moussilmani (Tabou / Simmer), Marco Lang (Fanatic / North), Ludovic Jossin (Loft) and Jules Denel (Exocet) granted their passes into round 2.

Unfortunately the wind swung onshore and failed to play ball for the remainder of the afternoon, leaving the sailors to return to their bases and prepare for this evenings booming beach party.

We took some time out with the world’s full throttle sailors to unveil their big secrets to going fast, and how they dealt with the high wind conditions experienced here in Costa Brava.

Jimmy Diaz (Starboard / North)

“I don’t want to share my secrets; I was out there on a 6.3, I made all the semi-finals and one final. There were guys falling down on their 5.7’s, it’s not because I was stronger, I did the maximum I could with my equipment, I tuned it to the best of my ability to keep it under control.  I know there are guys that don’t think about this, one day they will find out when I stop racing, maybe then I will share my secrets.”

Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North)

“I just take a brand new sail put the mast in and I sail with it. My smallest sail is 5.7m North, I am part of the R+D teams for North and Starboard so I know the gear really well. I am used to sailing in high wind conditions so it is not a problem for me.”

“There are two different styles, mine is to stand on the board very upright, and I open the leach to release the wind. Other people like to get down really low in the harness and use their weight. But I like to release the wind and get the flow going fast.”

Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde)

“My secret is my secret; I am from the Caribbean and that is the best secret.  I was on my 5.5m in the strong winds, I like to have long harness lines and get my weight down really low to absorb all the power, and don’t go full speed all the time so that you don’t always crash.

Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde)

“There is no secret; just tuning your equipment and being safe on the gear, make sure you are really comfortable. I put my harness lines in the correct location; I put my boom down a little so I can get my weight down really low. I make sure my board is always in the water and I and have maximum control.”

“Bjorn was not prepared for these conditions but he has two big sails registered for the light winds, whereas I only have one. It is the gamble you have to take.”

Cedric Bordes (Tabou / Gaastra)

“Since I was young I have sailed in the strong wind, I really like it. It is really technical, more aggressive and much faster. If you pass someone the race is not over until the finish line because anything can happen, you could catapult at any time. In light winds if you are 6th after the 1st mark it is really hard to come back.”

“I was on my 5.7m; all the guys have same gear. I use a 32cm fin in strong winds, your need a small fin for control but no too small because you can spin out when the board loses contact with the water. You have to compromise with your fin, maybe you are a little slower but you have more control.”

Kurosh Kiani (Angulo / Simmer)

“In high wind it is about getting as low as possible, I put my boom down and I make my harness lines bigger. I have a waist harness for extra control so that I can get really far away from my equipment, if it gets really wild you can sit down and survive. Whereas in lighter winds I have a higher boom and shorter lines so that so you can get your weight higher. “

“I didn’t have too many crashes because I prefer to survive, sit down and hold the wind. I would rather sail slower and make it around, rather than sailing really fast and crash every 50 yards.”

Andrea Rosati (RRD / Gaastra)

“I really like the strong wind and I have the perfect gear for it. This year I registered an 80 liter board which is 53.5cm wide and a 5.2m sail. I have a fin that is great for high winds that I have used since 96; it is fast and gybes really well. I have tested this set-up and I knew it was going to work. I am used to sailing high wind and with a small board, for me slalom is 5.2-7.0 maximum and the most fun”.

What’s the plan?

Will Albeau hold the top spot? Will Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North) drop down from the podium? Will Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne) climb further up the rankings? Tune in tomorrow for the final day of action from Costa Brava. The Skippers’ meeting is planned for 11am, with a first possible start of 11:30.

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)

Scope the action

For information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with every piece of the action, navigate to www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our: 
• Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins
• Check live elimination ladders
• View results
• Read daily news summaries

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Click here to read more: boards» Windsurfing News

PWA Costa Brava 2011 – Day 4

A moody day four at PWA Costa Brava

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)

Scope the action

For information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with every piece of the action, navigate to www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our: 
• Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins
• Check live elimination ladders
• View results
• Read daily news summaries

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

Click here to read more: boards» Windsurfing News

PWA Costa Brava 2011 – Day 3

Dunkerbeck flies across the finish line

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)

Scope the action

For information on all the entrants, and to keep up to date with every piece of the action, navigate to www.pwaworldtour.com

Here you can use our: 
• Live ticker service for heat-by-heat bulletins
• Check live elimination ladders
• View results
• Read daily news summaries

Or for more information, please contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com

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