PWA Fuerteventura Day 9
3 von den Top 4 schon in den Viertelfinalläufen raus - Iachino schlägt wieder zu.
Der vorletzte Tag des Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - organisiert und gesponsert von René Egli – startete nicht so, wie es aufgrund der ausgezeichneten Prognose sein sollte – starke Bewölkung störte die lokale Thermik. Die Bedingungen erwiesen sich als recht schwierig, sehr böig war es schon seit dem Vormittag. Am späten Nachmittag stabilisierte sich der Wind und schließlich war es möglich, eine weitere Elimination abzuschließen. Die Ergebnisse lieferten allerdings einige Überraschungen. Elimination 8 For the first time this week 3 out of the top 4 put a foot wrong today as firstly Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails), followed by Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) crashed out after jumping the gun in the quarterfinals. This potentially opened the door for Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Sunglasses) to reduce the margin between himself and Albeau at the top of the event rankings, but the Brit too fell at the quarterfinal stage after dropping his first gybe. Williams managed to fight back into 5th in Heat 12, but ran out of room before he could reel in Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Sailloft Hamburg), who booked his place in the second winners’ final of the week. This means that in the most likely event of one final elimination tomorrow that it will probably be a head-to-head battle between Albeau and Williams for the event title. AA holds a 6.9 point advantage over the Brit heading into the final day, so the reigning world champion only requires a 6th place finish or better to ensure his opening event win of the season — assuming both sailors qualify for the winners’ final, which as today proved is no given. Winners’ Final The wind picked up for the winners’ final and Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) made a great decision to change down to 6.2m, while Ben van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails), Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / NorthSails) and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) were overpowered on 7m sails. The race for the opening buoy saw an intense battle, but after an excellent start it was Iachino who held a closely contested lead, however, the Italian was soon given a clear advantage as van der Steen and Mortefon collided, while taking down Vonk in the process. With clean winds, Iachino, soon extended his lead and it wasn’t long before he was celebrating his second bullet of the week, which sees the 26 year old rise to 4th in the current rankings. After avoiding the carnage at the first buoy, Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic), broke through to clinch second, which is the Bonairean’s best result of the week, followed by Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti), who has sailed consistently all week and Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne), who completed the top 4. Unfortunately, Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / Challenger Sails), suffered a dislocated shoulder in the first semifinal and everyone at the PWA would like to wish the Frenchman a quick and successful recovery. Toselli had enjoyed an excellent week up until this point and looked set for a top 5 finish come the end of the event. Elsewhere, Maciek Rutkowski (Tabou / GA Sails), bounced back to form after a disappointing opening few days as the Pole qualified for his opening winners’ final of the week — eventually finishing 5th. The forecast shows excellent wind for the final day and crucially, unlike today, it predicts clear skies which should hopefully provide a thrilling finale to what has been an amazing event. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10:30am with the action commencing from 11am (GMT+1) — if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to follow the racing 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 Ranking Men’s Slalom — Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam 1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde) 2nd Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails / Mystic / Shamal Sunglasses) 3rd Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / NorthSails) 4th Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Point-7) 5th Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails) 6th Julien Quentel (Patrik / Avanti) 7th Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / Severne) 8th Pascal Toselli (99NoveNove / Challenger Sails) 9th Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic) 10th Ben van der Steen (Tabou / GA Sails)