Ulsan PWA World Cup - Day 4
Matteo Iachino and Lena Erdil claim first bullets of the season
The women’s winners’ final was completed at the second time of asking after the first effort had to be cancelled, with Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) holding a significant lead, due to a lack of wind. Upon the restart Mio Anayama (Starboard) made the best start of the fleet, but as they rounded the opening buoy it was Cagla Kubat (Starboard / Point-7) who struck to the front after a great gybe with Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) and Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7) narrowly behind. At this point Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) was towards the rear of the pack, but the reigning world champion turned on the afterburners on the second reach to move from 6th into 2nd place before taking an aggressive approach at the second gybe. This forced Kubat wide — allowing Erdil to seize the initiative and hit the front of the pack ahead of Cousin and Offringa, who wobbled away from her penultimate gybe — costing her valuable time. Erdil remained calm in the lead and after a tidy final gybe the 27 year old was soon celebrating claiming the first bullet of the season. Meanwhile, Offringa managed to out manoeuvre Cousin as the reigning world champion and vice-world champion finished in second and third place respectively, while Cagla Kubat secured a clear fourth ahead of Fujiko Onishi (Starboard / Point-7). Men's / Winners’ Final Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) immediately picked up where he left last year as the Italian flew down the opening reach to claim the lead ahead of Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne), Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) and Malte Reuscher (JP / NeilPryde). By the penultimate gybe Iachino had extended his lead and this proved to be unassailable advantage as he claimed the opening bullet to complete a fantastic day for Starboard and Point-7. Behind him Moussilmani and Williams claimed second and third, while Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) was able to move up into fourth place with Reuscher slipping back to sixth due to seaweed getting wrapped around his fin. The final wasn’t without incident either as Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) — who finished 6th — collided with Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7) — who was in third place as he entered the gybe — to end the Argentinian’s hopes in the final. Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne) almost caused a massive upset by nearly knocking out reigning world champion — Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) — in the second semifinal as they battled it out for the final qualifying place. Vrieswijk produced a fantastic gybe to move right onto the tail of Albeau, only for a piece of seaweed to cost him a chance of qualifying for the final as AA advanced. The final didn’t go Albeau’s way on this occasion as a rare poor start cos him dearly and he eventually finished in seventh place. Meanwhile, Cyril Moussilmani, was lucky to escape with just a cut ear after being squeezed into a five man pileup before the start of the semifinal. Moussilmani, to his credit, was able to remain focused at the task at hand and claimed second place in Elimination One. In the losers’ final — Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / Challenger Sails) — claimed a convincing victory to secure ninth place in the opening race ahead of Steve Allen (Patrik / Severne) and Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Maui Ultra Fins). The first five heats of the men’s second elimination were completed before conditions deteriorated and the racing was abandoned for the day. The forecast looks extremely light for tomorrow with just 6-7 knots being predicted, but the forecast for the final day now shows 11-27 knots — accompanied by heavy rain. The sailors will meet again tomorrow at 9:30am for the skippers’ meeting with a first possible start of 10am. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to follow all of the action live. To see all the latest from the event — including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images and live ticker simply click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page. Current Standings Ulsan PWA World Cup — Women’s Slalom 1st Lena Erdil (Starboard / Point-7 / AL360) 2nd Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) 3rd Delphine Cousin (Starboard / Gun Sails) 4th Ça?la Kubat (Starboard / Point-7) 5th Fujiko Onishi (Starboard / Point-7) Current Standings Ulsan PWA World Cup — Men’s Slalom 1st Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) 2nd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) 3rd Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic) 4th Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) 5th Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) 6th Malte Reuscher (JP / NeilPryde) 7th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) 8th Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Starboard / Point-7) 9th Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / Challenger Sails) 10th Steve Allen (Patrik / Severne)